Uploading Drum Kits to My Formatted CF card.

I just formatted my 4 gig card in the mpc500
I have plenty of .wav sounds already. Is this the type of file I need to use, or do I need to convert them? And are there any command files I need to add additionally to the card to get the kits to load?

In summation what I really need is a simple walkthrough on loading drum kits to my flash card.

As long the wav files are 16bit @ 44.1kHz you'll be good.

Will I need more ram to load the samples? It says insufficient memory.

Thanks for your help

Well you can't just load ALL the samples at once pretty much. You gotta create programs with a program like MPC Maid. When you use that, you can just load up all the specific sounds that you want, and then load the program it creates from the CF card into the MPC. That way, you're saving space and only keeping what you need.

EDIT: Also, there's a thread somewhere around here telling you what ram to get.

"U NEED PC 133 144PIN CL3 SODIMM 256MB (ANY BRAND!)"

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Kingston-KVR100X64SC2L-256-256MB-PC133-DIMM-CL3-/400206754578?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d2e2e7312

You can get that to upgrade your RAM to 11 minutes of recording time in stereo. Also, try using Mono samples to save yourelf even more space!

your pc should recognize your mpc as a storage device via usb, open the folder and put the files you want in that folder. then you can audition them and load em into a program. try making sure they're mono drums to save space, cut off any unnecessary air after drum hits.. a whole bunch of mono sampling until you upgrade RAM..

does the pgm file have to be before or after the .wav files or does it matter? Im using MPC maid now, and some of my pads will work while others wont or are scattered...

Ok in MPC Maid, make sure that it is set to MPC 500 mode, not MPC 1000 mode. Go to file preferences, and then the second one down change it to MPC 500. Should work after that.

thanks guys youve taught a man to fish

You're good with the wave files, now just drag them into your card via usb and then you can load them into a program. then you can edit the program by mode->program->then scroll right and it will allow you to do almost anything with your samples in the program.

As for the RAM, everyone who first buys an mpc has this problem. The mpc only allows like 4 gb of sampling time, which is basically the amount of sounds that can be stored on your mp at one time. They have upgrades for this if you need more RAM like a 128 mb (its all over other posts). You can give yourself more sampling time if needed but you'll soon see once you get used to the mpc that it is very possible to make good beats with that amount of sampling time

Felly you got the sampling time wrong. Sampling time = the amount of samples that can be loaded onto your MPC's RAM at one time. The MPC uses the RAM to hold the samples, allowing them to be edited via Trim mode and to be played with the pads. All other sounds that are on your compact flash cannot be used during play mode. You have to load them onto the RAM. With internal RAM, it's like 3 minutes of stereo I think. I only opted to upgrade the RAM so that I could record the songs into the MPC's RAM and then load the saved song into the compact flash, then to the computer. You cannot load from the RAM to the computer. It must be put onto the RAM to the compact flash to be able to save it to the computer. Otherwise, you'll have to use a sound card or the line-in on your computers sound card, which degrades quality badly. Unless you have a nice sound card.

Sm0keydaBear wrote:Also, try using Mono samples to save yourelf even more space!

If you're sampling from a vinyl source, consider recording samples with your turntable set to 45RPM. With the 500, you can simply press Mode[Trim] and scroll over to Tune to drop the pitch down to match-up with the original--"a tuning of -05.00 should do it" (http://www.mpc-tutor.com/tutorial/7/mpc ... ulation-1/).

(You can hit Mode[Program] and change the tune from there as well. For permanent changes like this, however, I prefer to go with Trim because I can save the sample, turn off the machine, load it back up -- and it will remember that it was last set to -05.00 in Trim. This way I can preview the sample sounding like 33RPM rather than all chipmunk-ey. Also, I don't have to tune down from Program every time I load the sample up or save any random programs that I don't need. The key is saving space, right?)

Also, because you're just tuning down - it will sound normal (like you sampled at 33RPM) but only take up the space of something sampled at 45RPM.

This method, coupled with sampling in Mono, can allow you to make the most of the space you have available to you.

NOTE: I've read that tuning records down from 45RPM in this way can even color the sound of your samples and help bring out artifacts. This method of sampling was frequented by users of the E-mu SP1200 because of limited sampling time--"roughly 10 seconds" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mu_SP-1200). I have also read claims that sampling in this way is part of unlocking that true SP sound.