Does anyone use their mpc500 for other styles of music?

Hey guys, I'm very close to buying an mpc500 now that I know for sure it will do everything I need it to, but I was wondering if anyone here uses their mpc to create different genres of music to the usual hip-hop beats and that kind of thing? I have composed a lot of film music in the past and also some dance music etc, and probably won't use my mpc500 for any hip hop or r n b at all! Would I be better off going for something else, or should my needs still be met with the mpc, using the midi sequencer with external synth/orchestral sounds and some samples in the mpc? Thanks!

I use it for electro/ambient and it is the best hardware i have owned (exept for the mpc-1000). I can reccomend it!

eimer wrote:I use it for electro/ambient and it is the best hardware i have owned (exept for the mpc-1000). I can reccomend it!

that's cool, thanks for letting me know. I'm interested in doing some really fun dance-type stuff, possibly with talk box vocals etc, as well as maybe more traditional film music stuff if the work comes in. I suppose if I get to know the 500 and enjoy using it etc, I can upgrade to the mpc1000, since they seem to hold their value well so I could get a good price for it. I am considering buying from Thomann since they give a 3 year warranty and only charge about £30 more than the other online music retailers. Do you think that would be a good idea? What other gear do you use with your mpc? I have a yamaha djx and a korg kaossilator and love the idea of a microkorg xl but haven't got the funds right now! Looking for a good orchestral module, maybe an old jv1080 or something..

Korg MircoXL looks nice cuz of the battery power... but there are a few other options, especially since there is no audio input thru outside of record mode.

iPhone/iPod Touch... plenty of soft synths here.
PSP Beaterator and other apps
DS Korg DS-10, Electroplankton...

The kaossilator looks fun, but you said you already have that.

Good luck and have fun!

NearTao wrote:Korg MircoXL looks nice cuz of the battery power... but there are a few other options, especially since there is no audio input thru outside of record mode.

iPhone/iPod Touch... plenty of soft synths here.
PSP Beaterator and other apps
DS Korg DS-10, Electroplankton...

The kaossilator looks fun, but you said you already have that.

Good luck and have fun!

cheers mate, I will no doubt have lots of fun when I get my mpc500! Yeah I have an iPhone and a ds so I should be ok haha but I want nice warm analogue sounds with portamento and effects haha like some of the kaossilator sounds, but with a keyboard so I can actually play things properly! Any ideas? Thanks for all your help guys

The kaossilator uses the engine from the original MicroKorg, so go grab that!

I use:

Roland Juno-106
Roland MKS-50
Roland PMA-5
Roland tb-303
Roland tr-505
Roland tr-707
Roland tr-727
Roland tr-808
Roland tr-909
Paia Fatman
Korg MicroKorg
Korg N5
Korg 707
Korg DS-8
Korg Micropops
Gameboy w. Nanoloop
Commodore 64 synthcart
Commodore 64 MSIAH
Akai MPC-500
Akai MPC-1000
Akai XR-10
Doepfer MS-404
Jomox X-base09
Dr. Böhm Digital drums
Electro harmonix dr-32
Yamaha PSS-30

The rest is in the studio

I used to dismiss using "video games" as music equipment, but I have to admit the technology is getting up there.

I used a Kaossilator for a while, but found the Korg DS-10 pretty much has 2 built-in Kaossilators, although the DS can't produce the same bass frequencies as the Kaossilator can and doesn't have the presets the Kaossilator does.

I picked up a PSP just for Beaterator and I've gotta say it's the best on-the-go music app I've ever used, and I think I used every one worth anything on the iPhone. Works very well as the most portable synth/sampler/drum machine all-in-one I can find - very underrated and underpromoted. I've read that Timbaland has done a few songs entirely with it, so who knows about getting a studio-quality track out of it, not sure - but I've put together some stuff with it that I could've easily done on the 500. Don't get me wrong, it's no substitute for an MPC, as some features are definitely lacking, but it is a pretty powerful tool. Plus I can load gigabytes worth of breaks and samples on it and bring them all with me.

I also use a Nord Lead and Korg Triton in my studio.

Destinite wrote:I used to dismiss using "video games" as music equipment, but I have to admit the technology is getting up there.

I used a Kaossilator for a while, but found the Korg DS-10 pretty much has 2 built-in Kaossilators, although the DS can't produce the same bass frequencies as the Kaossilator. I picked up a PSP just for Beaterator and I've gotta say it's the best on-the-go music app I've ever used, and I think I used every one worth anything on the iPhone. Works very well as the most portable synth/sampler/drum machine all-in-one I can find.

I couldn't agree more on the gaming console, the drones on my Automageddon project are all made with the Korg-DS and I'm now also using Beaterator to add some distorted rhytmic beats that I can program while commuting to work or during lunchbreak.

Automageddon wrote:

Destinite wrote:I used to dismiss using "video games" as music equipment, but I have to admit the technology is getting up there.

I used a Kaossilator for a while, but found the Korg DS-10 pretty much has 2 built-in Kaossilators, although the DS can't produce the same bass frequencies as the Kaossilator. I picked up a PSP just for Beaterator and I've gotta say it's the best on-the-go music app I've ever used, and I think I used every one worth anything on the iPhone. Works very well as the most portable synth/sampler/drum machine all-in-one I can find.

I couldn't agree more on the gaming console, the drones on my Automageddon project are all made with the Korg-DS and I'm now also using Beaterator to add some distorted rhytmic beats that I can program while commuting to work or during lunchbreak.

And you know, you would THINK that if someone were composing electronic music that a video game system would the place to look. Doesn't get more digital than that. I think people place a stigma on using a gameboy for music because Gameboy=video games=kids stuff=not serious. Then they go listen to dance radio, and I guarantee that with half of that stuff, if you isolate each track you'll hear something that sounds like it was made with a Gameboy. I don't get the negative attitude regarding games as music tools. If you were shakin' your ass to the drums in the forest area of "Snake's Revenge" on the NES, why not shake your ass to it when you're 30 years old? Music is music.

eimer wrote:The kaossilator uses the engine from the original MicroKorg, so go grab that!

I use:

Roland Juno-106
Roland MKS-50
Roland PMA-5
Roland tb-303
Roland tr-505
Roland tr-707
Roland tr-727
Roland tr-808
Roland tr-909
Paia Fatman
Korg MicroKorg
Korg N5
Korg 707
Korg DS-8
Korg Micropops
Gameboy w. Nanoloop
Commodore 64 synthcart
Commodore 64 MSIAH
Akai MPC-500
Akai MPC-1000
Akai XR-10
Doepfer MS-404
Jomox X-base09
Dr. Böhm Digital drums
Electro harmonix dr-32
Yamaha PSS-30

The rest is in the studio

you lucky b*tard!! Haha wow.. Anyway, you say the microkorg has the same engine as kaossilator, if that's the case I might sell my kaossilator and buy a microkorg xl. I want to have better control over pitch of sounds etc (ie keys!) and midi connectivity. Is the xl much better than the microkorg? I know the xl is 2-part multitimbral and has a better vocoder. I also prefer the way it looks. I just love amazing lead sounds with adjustable portamento and stuff, can't wait to start working with my new mpc though, it should arrive Wednesday!

I will definitely make use of the korg ds-10 once I start using my mpc. I don't like the limited looping on it (and the kaossilator) so as soon as I have the mpc with 128mb I will start sampling stuff from ds-10, kaossilator, old casio mini keyboard, iPhone etc then I should be able to finally start putting things ogether and see what I can create!!

I can't decide if I should get a rocktron banshee talkbox for £150 or a microkorg xl and use the vocoder on that. I *think* I prefer the sound of the talk box but that also means I need a good mic in order to record the vocals, whereas vocoder box would be sampled thru the microkorg straight into the mpc500. Talk box seems to be clearer than vocoding, anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on this?

Thanks to everyone for all their input so far!

Destinite wrote:I used to dismiss using "video games" as music equipment, but I have to admit the technology is getting up there.

I used a Kaossilator for a while, but found the Korg DS-10 pretty much has 2 built-in Kaossilators, although the DS can't produce the same bass frequencies as the Kaossilator can and doesn't have the presets the Kaossilator does.

I picked up a PSP just for Beaterator and I've gotta say it's the best on-the-go music app I've ever used, and I think I used every one worth anything on the iPhone. Works very well as the most portable synth/sampler/drum machine all-in-one I can find - very underrated and underpromoted. I've read that Timbaland has done a few songs entirely with it, so who knows about getting a studio-quality track out of it, not sure - but I've put together some stuff with it that I could've easily done on the 500. Don't get me wrong, it's no substitute for an MPC, as some features are definitely lacking, but it is a pretty powerful tool. Plus I can load gigabytes worth of breaks and samples on it and bring them all with me.

hey, have you used psprhythm?? its a sweet psp app, its been out for a while, and its updated regularly.. how is beaterator?? i know traxxpad sucked azz

I never tried Traxxpad, so I can't say anything about it, I tried PSP rhytmn but I couldn't find my feeling with it.
I'm using regularly Beaterator and I really love it, it's portable, flexible, plenty of effects (2 different insert effects per each of the 8 tracks available plus a master reverb), fairly good monosynth with 3 oscillators, one filter, 2 LFOs, AMP and Modulation envelopes, a built in sound editor.
Too bad the recording grid is limited to 16th resolution per bar (but you can cheat and use to bars and you have 32th).
I wish I could sync this via midi, but this will never be doable, so I either resample the sounds or export the loops.
By the way, did I mention that you can import/export midi files?

Sucks I had to create a new account for this forum but anyway

I make HipHop and R&B mostly but ive been making an abundance of house/dance tracks lately.
When i incorperate samples to dance beats its an amazing result.
I've also just started dabbling in the "Miami" sound ( if your unsure google Grind Mode)

Just noticed the waldorf Blofeld, does anyone use one? It's got so many sounds and is pretty cheap! Could be a choice between blofeld module and microkorg xl.. Sounds good according to some of the YouTube videos I've been watching

Musical.

I'm doing a project for a musical where I have to remix some old musical stuff from 1939. Don't know why but I love to do this one on my 500 when I'm on the road or at work