Easy Everyone

Hi all.

My names Dubsy (nickname given from the Old skool VW scene before you laugh lol) i'm 22, and from Just outer north London, England. i have literally just received a 2 month old Akai MPC500. i have never done this sort of stuff before, only scratch on the turntables when i'm feeling stressed ha. so i might be needing quite a bit of advised from you guys in the very near future!! to me, it seems quite involved and loads of modes etc, to you guys its probably a walk in the park.

my first question is, is the MPC500 meant to come WITH the USB cable and a software disc so i can swap stuff onto my mac? or are these extras?

i have got loads more questions but it can't think how to write them for the time being!


sorry to babble on, by the way, wicked forum!! very impressive.

thanks

theres no software disk. you can get sounds on to the mpc by transferring them from the computer via usb, or recording (sampling) them through the inputs of the mpc.

ah! thanks so much Cozy! so its basically and click and drag affair? you can buy drums and samples online can't you, i take it this is the best way to get your different drums etc?

god, feels like its going to take me ages to get to grips with this lol.

you can buy drums, but the preferred for me is to find drum breaks. the best ones for me are ones that i stumble upon while listening to a record. there are a ton of free drum samples out there too, so dont think that you have to spend money in order to get started.

http://www.google.com/search?client=saf ... 8&oe=UTF-8

google is your friend, and you may have to sift through a lot of garbage to get some decent samples, but that is part of the game. also, people have posted drum packs on these forums as well, which most likely will be decent since most people here tend to have a good ear.

there are a number of drum break packs that people have put together and put out on the intergoogleweb. you just have to find them.

one tip, since you are going to be looking for these drums, know that a lot of people are going to have the same drums. the best way to get your own sound is to layer them, eq them, filter them, compress them, spit on them, shit on them, kick them around. own them joints and make them yours.

as long as you read the manual and get the basics down, it will come down to you to practice. that is the only magic thing here that will help you get better. the more time you put in on the machine, faster it will come to you. the mpc is really a simple concept. way easier than most daws. its very limited, but thats what makes it fun, you have to learn to bend those limits into something you want, unlike software where it is right there at the click of a mouse. thats what keeps me in hardware, the limitations of it.

you will get it. just keep at it.

Welcome Dubsy.

Plenty of Londoners around here, like myself.

Good luck with the 500.

youll get ahold of it, and if your really struggling, buy the mpc 500 ebook that they sell at the sister site of this one. i dont remeber what its called, mpc-tutorials or something

its only 40 bucks and i bought it, it was well worth it.

it teaches you everything from the most basic to the most advanced in a step-by-step easy to read structure.

i find manuals very hard to read and i cant really teach myself from them as easily as i could from this book because of the structure of it.

and no im not selling theese things or endorsed by them lol, but i think one of the mods here wrote them.

dude don't do anything with your 500 besides READ THE MANUAL, start to finish. simple as that. you'll understand. either buy a physical copy of the manual or download the .pdf format of it on akai's official website. just read the manual. it'll save you a million headaches a million times. and all of us too.

this message is for all newbs on all mpcs. just download the manual's of mpc's for FREE on akai's website. i read the manual start to finish on the 1k before i even had one sitting in my lap. it will get you over the hump. i'm here to help the newbs.

Thanks for all the advise fellas! i've started reading the manual now, even though i learn best by "Doing" rather then "Reading". I will persist!!

thanks again.

welcome Dubs... another londerner hey... as myself...

good luck wid your 500 and i also say grab the tutorial off of the sister site to this. i copped the 1000 tutorial myself and learned a great deal of stuff.

jmessyuk1 wrote:welcome Dubs... another londerner hey... as myself...

good luck wid your 500 and i also say grab the tutorial off of the sister site to this. i copped the 1000 tutorial myself and learned a great deal of stuff.

Nice man! what part you from? You heard of Watford? cos thats where i'm from mate. cheers, i will have to take a look at this other tutorial, is it actually better then the manual itself...?

Dubsy wrote:

jmessyuk1 wrote:welcome Dubs... another londerner hey... as myself...

good luck wid your 500 and i also say grab the tutorial off of the sister site to this. i copped the 1000 tutorial myself and learned a great deal of stuff.

Nice man! what part you from? You heard of Watford? cos thats where i'm from mate. cheers, i will have to take a look at this other tutorial, is it actually better then the manual itself...?

yh i know Watford... im from the Wimbledon side... you must know it.

also imo the tutorial is much better than the manual.

lol @ 'heard of watford?' !!

hasn't everyone in the UK?

welcome...I used to know some dudes in Watford and played there a few times...a punk band called Captain Everything.

watford...now that does ring a bell. ah yes, the parody of that 'little fluffy clouds' song...'waht were the clouds like when you grew up.." "**** grey and overcact.. i come from watford."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__QqQq9XBsQ

oh damn, it's walford.