Reviews and questions about the entry-level MPC500
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By Dirty Dan Thu Mar 04, 2010 2:56 pm
how is it done? even when i save my samples, the FX dont stay with my samples. pretty frustrating!

thanks

Dirty
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By vuotesi Sat Mar 06, 2010 12:37 am
i took me also a while to understand the saving system..
nowadays i have a folder for each song and then save the project in it. that way i get no alarms and no surprises at all.
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By NearTao Sat Mar 06, 2010 1:19 am
vuotesi wrote:i took me also a while to understand the saving system..
nowadays i have a folder for each song and then save the project in it. that way i get no alarms and no surprises at all.


strong advice...
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By Lampdog Sat Mar 06, 2010 2:29 am
NearTao wrote:
vuotesi wrote:i took me also a while to understand the saving system..
nowadays i have a folder for each song and then save the project in it. that way i get no alarms and no surprises at all.


strong advice...

+100

Dan, take notice.
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By NearTao Sat Mar 06, 2010 1:54 pm
Esquilo wrote:
Dirty Dan wrote:@neartao thats not a bad idea

I would argue it is a GOOD idea!


I would argue to use only top notch samples in the first place. Should require fewer FX :P.

@Dirty Dan

While you can certainly craft amazing sounds from garbage samples, it generally takes much more effort to 'sweeten' that garbage.

As my grandfather says... no matter how much mayo you put on chicken poop you'll never get chicken salad.

So my advice...

A) if you've got samples, one shots, loops whatever figure out a way to trim the wheat from the chaff... I know I have tons of chaff, but the process of finding the wheat will really save you a ton of time in the long run as you'll have faster access to samples you think are good/usable for your style of music tastes. Certainly keep the other stuff around on a CD/HD for when you just need that certain 'something'... but you've only got so much room on your CF card, take advantage of that space and don't waste it.

B) On the MPC 500 at least don't waste too much time with your samples. Throw a LP/HP/BP filter, maybe some EQ at it, but if you're spending a lot of time tweaking on the 500 you're probably wasting your time anyways. This kind of goes out the window if you've got something like a kaoss pad or other external FX as you can be a lot more creative, but by itself the MPC 500 can realistically only get you so far with tweaking sounds. Personally I'd leave the serious tweaking to the PC or other outboard gear.
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By DPM Sun Mar 07, 2010 6:12 am
sorry if im late on this topic, but heres how i've always done it.

i make a folder for each song im working on, then i'll save the programs and sequences associated with that track all in that same folder. i've NEVER saved entire memory/project. the FX always stayed on my sounds, nothing messed up. been working for me every since i bought my 500 2 yrs ago.
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By Dirty Dan Sun Mar 07, 2010 6:34 am
Word man. Its never too late to learn new things. I'm used to an sp-303, this thing is a huge phücking upgrade. Plus I work differently than most because of that. I make a beat, record it, delete, then move on. And as far as garbage samples go, I sample off of the most haggard (not condition-wise) vinyl. This beat I just completed, it took me 3 days. That's a statement. Usually I can whip up something phreshhh in about 2 hours and get the base of the beat down. I sampled some killer bells with light violin behind it and totally scrapped it for random segments that I got from the same vinyl, just a different track. People keep telling me it sounds "too RZA" which to me is a bad thing. RZA is the man in my opinion. But anyway, still on this rant, ill post the track (it was recorded in pretty low quality) on youtube and if you have nothing to do you can have a gander. Not bad for having this thing 3 days. But I can't thank you folks enough for the help. Good $hit