New MPC user

Hi all. I finally received my MPC-500 yesterday. Bought it second hand and to my surprise it came with the 128 Mb RAM expansion installed (the auction didn't mention it). I already upgraded the OS and now I just have to fetch a 2 Gb CF card and start sampling stuff.

I have to say it. I should have bought an MPC sooner. I've owned quite a few cheap samplers before (Zoom SampleTrack, Korg ES-1, Yamaha SU-10, Akai S2800, Emu ESI-2000, all of which I sold, except for the ES-1), but neither has the immediacy and workflow of the MPC, and I'm sure the bigger models are even better (although the 500 is all I need for now).

I'm already dumping a bunch of drum samples into it. I got them from here, in case anyone's interested:

http://www.hexawe.net/mess/200.Drum.Machines/

Then I'll be sampling some of my synths and see where I go from there.

Here's a picture of my MPC in its current habitat

Does it have the upgraded OS? If no you can download it from the akaipro website.

64hz wrote:Does it have the upgraded OS? If no you can download it from the akaipro website.

It does now. It came with OS 1.13, which I upgraded after verifying everything was working fine. It also came with the factory 128 Mb CF card but it was empty. Is there anything in that card that is worth having?

I dont know, I never checked mine tbh lol.

64hz wrote:I dont know, I never checked mine tbh lol.

I know what you mean. First thing I did was to turn autoload off and leave the whole ram for my own stuff.

What's up shadowfac? Nice little setup there. I don't remember seeing any pics of it on gearslutz.

The 500 is a nice compliment to that NL3. It would probably fit right on that space where you have your DS. That would be a great live combo.

Also, don't just use it as a sampler! The sequencer is great.

That is shadowfac, right?

BTW al-Zarqawi is the paisley_ostrich's secret identity.

al-Zarqawi wrote:What's up shadowfac? Nice little setup there. I don't remember seeing any pics of it on gearslutz.

This setup is only part of my studio. I'm a total gear junkie, although not as much (or maybe not as loaded) as some of the people at GS. Anyway, there's a slightly older pic of my studio in the gear porn thread: right here.

al-Zarqawi wrote:The 500 is a nice compliment to that NL3. It would probably fit right on that space where you have your DS. That would be a great live combo.

Also, don't just use it as a sampler! The sequencer is great.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I plan to sequence the Nord and ESQ-1 with the MPC, and add some sounds sampled from my dotcom. I tried to do stuff using the ESQ sequencer, but it doesn't quite cut it. I do need to get a MIDI THRU box, though, so I can sync the ES-1 and Mobius along.

al-Zarqawi wrote:That is shadowfac, right?

BTW al-Zarqawi is the paisley_ostrich's secret identity.

Yeah, that's me. Although I'm having trouble following the paisley_ostrich reference. PM if you can.

fac wrote:

64hz wrote:Does it have the upgraded OS? If no you can download it from the akaipro website.

It does now. It came with OS 1.13, which I upgraded after verifying everything was working fine. It also came with the factory 128 Mb CF card but it was empty. Is there anything in that card that is worth having?

a bunch or resonable drum machine kits, 808,909, and 707, the rest are drumkits whihc are mediocre at best, you arent really missing much, but if you want the contents send me a pm and i'll see what i can do for you, since i have them here and i think that since you have the card and the 500 its pretty fair to share them with you

phono wrote:a bunch or resonable drum machine kits, 808,909, and 707, the rest are drumkits whihc are mediocre at best, you arent really missing much, but if you want the contents send me a pm and i'll see what i can do for you, since i have them here and i think that since you have the card and the 500 its pretty fair to share them with you

Nah, that's ok, thank you. It'll be more fun to roll my own samples.

You could replace the ES-1 for a ESX-1, which comes with MIDI-thru.

Is that a mochika i see? That is a sick machine!!

eimer wrote:Is that a mochika i see? That is a sick machine!!

That's right. Pretty fun piece of kit. I like running drum loops through a FilterFactory and controlling the cutoff with the Mochika's CV output, then mixing up a bit of the Mochika audio output. Crazy stuff. I'll try to post an example later.

Nice setup, fac. The Electribes are AWESOME boxed; I have an EA-1 ma'self.

Is that the DS-10 I spy on the Nintendo? Are you sequencing on it, or just playing it live?

Take some time to learn the complete ins and outs of the MPC sequencer. It's a bloody deep machine considering the size & the price; you won't regret it.

logic_user99 wrote:Nice setup, fac. The Electribes are AWESOME boxed; I have an EA-1 ma'self.

Is that the DS-10 I spy on the Nintendo? Are you sequencing on it, or just playing it live?

Take some time to learn the complete ins and outs of the MPC sequencer. It's a bloody deep machine considering the size & the price; you won't regret it.

Thanks. I also have an ER-1 and have been trying to find an EA-1 for a decent price, but no luck yet. As for the DS-10, I haven't done much with it yet, but it's fun to play with. I'm planning to sample some of its sounds into the MPC and see what I come up with.

I've been digging deeply into the MPC. I can come up with fine drum beats quite easily, but I want to experiment more and see how can I use it to make melodies and textures. I really, really wish there was at least a cutoff envelope. I guess I can use the Q-slider to modulate cutoff and then resample the sounds, and then apply a ton of effects.