just bought without manual

when i switch the 500 on at first the pads all have sounds.do i have to mode - program - select pad then highlight sample then wheel left til the screen is blank everytime i want a new sample? i want to keep the pads that have drums.
how do i get rid of the sounds on pads so that when i switch it on the pads are blank apart from the drum kit?
thanks for any help

you can download the manual, just click the menu bar at the top of this page

you can also buy a tutorial e-book from this site, which is a lot easier to read than the manual

Definitely get the manual at http://akaipro.com/mpc500 and the tutorial book from this site.
Not having a manual is no excuse to learn your machine. You don't put a ring on a girl's finger just because the guys say the pussy is good. You study her and get to know her.

What those two butt nuggets said ^^^

Definetly get the manual and the tutorial book... Btw if you have sounds on your mpc when you power it on it means you have the autoload function on. If you want to start with an empty program (a program is a set of layered samples) go to the load/save menu and set autoload off. This way as you start the unit you load samples one by one from the cf card, assign them to the pads and create a new program to work with. To get samples check the mpcsample link up here, surf the net or sample whatever you like with your unit. Remember to name your new program in the program menu and to save it in a new folder you`ll create in the load/save menu. Good practice is to create a new folder for beat, and to save in there programs and all seq & songs, or alternatively (does this word exist?) entire memory project.

thanks carloboranga,thats what i was after.i'll download the manual too