midi keyboard w/ MPC500 to play synth/orch samples?

hey gang,
i am considering buying the mpc500 as a phrase sampler and drum machine, but I want to know if it can also be used in a manner that the traditional rack-mounted samplers worked?

Example - can I load piano, synth, bass, orchestra and other sounds into it and use a midi keyboard to play the sound, pitched/transposed across the keys?

i can't find any youtube examples where people are doing that, but I have loads of mellotron and synth samples I've collected over the years that I used to use with an ESI32 and other samplers (even software)..

your thoughts?

The MPC 500 is not a multi-timbral device, so while it can control multiple synths, you're not going to be able to play multiple sounds at the same time in the traditional way that you are referring to using an external keyboard/controller.

not sure I fully understand. It certainly is polyphonic, as highhat, basedrum and snare hit simultaneously without any polyphony issues.

what I'm asking is this:
Akai for decades, made sample cds with orchestras, keyboard sounds, etc. that could be loaded into S1000, s2000s and played across a keyboard.

I want to know, say,, if I sampled my upright piano at C, every octave,, could I stretch these 4 samples across a midi keyboard?

It's a killer drum machine, I know that. I want to know what other things I can get it to do in a pinch.

polyphonic is not the same as multi-timbral.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=multi-timbral+vs+polyphony&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

good luck... i'd read the wiki.

a square is a rectangle, but not all rectangles are squares.

idealflaw wrote:...
Example - can I load piano, synth, bass, orchestra and other sounds into it and use a midi keyboard to play the sound, pitched/transposed across the keys?..

You can, but it doesn't do it automatically so its a long process of mapping each sound you want to play with keys manually to each key.

Phrase sampling and Drums are fine on the 500.
But if your going to be using a lot of keyboard as a main tool I don't recommend it.

An ASR, a Fantom, a rackmount or one of the various computer based suites would be better for keyboards.

You could ask on the other boards, maybe the larger MPC's have a function for automatic transposing.

idealflaw wrote:what I'm asking is this:
Akai for decades, made sample cds with orchestras, keyboard sounds, etc. that could be loaded into S1000, s2000s and played across a keyboard.

I want to know, say,, if I sampled my upright piano at C, every octave,, could I stretch these 4 samples across a midi keyboard?

It's a killer drum machine, I know that. I want to know what other things I can get it to do in a pinch.

If what you want to do is sequence the bass/piano/drums one at a time on an external keyboard you'll be fine. If what you want to do is trigger the bass/piano/drums all at once from external sources then you won't be able to do it since you can only record notes for one track/program combo at a time.

However, once you have the notes recorded for the track/program then you can move on to the next track and it will play your previous track.

So it may do what you want, but make sure you understand that the MPC 500 is polyphonic (can trigger multiple samples at the same time) but is mono-timbral (you can only play one instrument/program with the pads/keyboard at a time). It is likely that ultimately it will do what you want to do, just with a few caveats.

NearTao wrote:The MPC 500 is not a multi-timbral device, so while it can control multiple synths, you're not going to be able to play multiple sounds at the same time in the traditional way that you are referring to using an external keyboard/controller.

I think I may have found a solution that might help the original poster. I don't have an mpc500 yet, but what I plan on doing is sample a string/choir layered patch from my Casio ctk6100, sampling at a low bit rate so that the patch sounds like a Mellotron. That patch will then be playable via a midi keyboard connected to the mpc500. I think this could work in a pinch no?

NearTao wrote:polyphonic is not the same as multi-timbral.



a square is a rectangle, but not all rectangles are squares.

You can't mis-interpret what someone's asking and then turn it around on them that they're asking the wrong questions or getting shit confused. And then finish it off with a sarcy riddle

NearTao wrote:I'm sorry, I must have mis-read your question homie

fixed it for ya