Loading samples- losing patience. New user- have pity.

Hello everyone- I'm new to the forum, but not to making music- After many years of Korg Electribes and various Roland MC's I have seen the light and decided to join the world of MPC's and have recently purchased a 1000- it looks and feels great too.
I am having some difficulty in working out what will be I am sure a dismally banal and simple question. I have I promise attempted to RTFM- but I only have a PDF copy spread all over my floor and it's getting messy. I have searched this forum and on the web with no precise answer availalabe. I have also managed to break the 128mb upgrade holder round theback (thank goodness for superglue) so I am feeling a bit ratty. In all I have spent hours on this- so here I am.

On the load page (from memory card) I select a sample (after pressing play- sounds nice). I press DO IT. I then assign to pad AO1 then press KEEP. But where has it gone? When I tap pad A01 there is no sound- how can this be if I have newly assigned this sample to it? I also seem to be able to assign several samples to A01 but they are all MIA- I don't understand.

I know I can assign samples to pads in Program mode. (is there a way of filing them in folders on this page or do you have to scroll through the lot?)

If you could take the time to answer and/ or point me towards a straightforward tutorial in relation to this I would be very appreciative. Cheers

Well, you must assign samples in Program mode. Create a new program then in Sample Assign, hit the pad you want and scroll through the samples like you would on an ESX-1. Hit another pad and repeat.

What i also can suggest is to buy a binder for your loose PDF pages....at least....that's what i always do when i have no original manual.

Hi- thanks for the replies- I mentioned that I know to assign samples to pads in program mode- I was really asking what this was all about---On the load page (from memory card) I select a sample (after pressing play- sounds nice). I press DO IT. It then asks me which pad I would like to assign it to. I then assign to pad AO1 then press KEEP. But where has it gone? When I tap pad A01 there is no sound- how can this be if I have newly assigned this sample to it? I also seem to be able to assign several samples (on this same load page) to A01 but they are all MIA- I don't understand.

I usually put my manuals in a comb binder- I agree it is a good idea- I was so exited to get going that I was ot the way without it. It was trying to work out the above that caused the chaos. Why on earth on the load page does it invite you to allocate a sample to a pad- and how can you then hear it without going to the program mode.

Ps I have not loaded JJOS yet - I still have AKAI's own. Cheers.

when you are in the load screen, and you assign to A1, it will load to that pad but not until you go out of the load screen.

so if you assign a samople to a1, then one to a2, then one to a3, then go out of the load screen (push the main button) they should play on those pads.

if you overwrite a sample, ie assign two samples to a1, i think it uses the most recent sample and overwrites the older one; but it might just clear them all i dont remember for sure, experiment with it.

also if you dont have jjos 2xl you are missing out.

Thanks Damien907- I have now discovered the problem after a bit of experimentation inspired by yourself. I had gone to the load page first- so had not set the Program page on to Program1- instead it was off.
I was thinking of getting to know the machine first with the Akai OS and the manual etc before getting th JJ? What do you think?

robosardine wrote:I was thinking of getting to know the machine first with the Akai OS and the manual etc before getting th JJ? What do you think?

i think that's a great idea because the akai manual is a little easier to understand.

the basic principals of operation dont change TOO much from akai->jj, jj just has a lot more power.

i think the main principles of both are the same, but honestly i wouldent stick with the akai os for too long.

once you get comfortable building a sequence and can figure your way around programs, filters, tracks, then i would switch to jjos.

the grid edit alone is worth it imo.
(actually this might be in akai os im not sure)

they are pretty straightforward though, i learned to use an mpc on the mpc 500, then i sold that and jumped strait into jjos2xl with ease.

if your really having trouble, i would suggest getting the ebook (there might even be a jjos version) that is sold on mpc-samples.com, beat making on the mpc 1000. this will help you leaps and bounds. when i bought it for my 500, it was the best 40 bucks i had ever spent because i was so lost in the sampler game.

if your kinda techy and get the hang of things easily though, its probably not needed, but it does unlock lots of potential for more advanced functions alot quicker.

I think that is exactly what I am going to do. Funnily enough it was the grid edit feature that seems to attract me more than anything.
Going back to the original question- I have got the hang of loading samples from the card. What I cant get my head round is- What exactly is the point of allocating samples to pads in load mode- then when in order to make a sequence you have to allocate them to your pads AGAIN? in program mode. Can't you access the samples directly in program mode? How many samples can be available to pick from in program mode- is it only 64?- from the pads allocated previously in load mode?- I'm sure that can't be the case. I'm hopeful once I get beyond this I shall out of the traps. Confused for the time being though. Thanks.

its only 64 differrent samples at a time in each program, if you dont layer. if you layer samples under each other, its 64X3 samples per program. (you can layer 4 samples using akai os, but only 3 using jjos, most people are fine with 3 samples with all the other stuff you get with jjos though)

a sequence can have more than 1 program its taking samples from too, i think you can have up to 99 programs a track. when im making a song i usually have 1 program that is just my chops, then another entirely different program thats drums, and these both work simultaneously within the same project.

practically speaking, yes you can only have 64 samples of chops from your song cd/record or whatever you sampled per program (because if you layer another chop under a chop, it will sound like a jumbled mess most of the time).
but if your loading drums, you can layer away (because drums layered sound good) ie. 3 kicks, 2 snares, 3 hats, ect.ect. ect. thus making more than 64 samples at a time available.

hope that helps.

Yes it has! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply again damien907. I was totally confused as to what a program actually is. I now know that it is a collection of samples/ parameters for use in sequences. What I also did not know was that when you are loading and allocating samples in the load page then the MPC assumes that you want them loaded into the program you were working with most recently (without sating this) or program one if you are going straight there. I had read the manual- but not cover to cover before starting. I had assumed that starting with getting samples loaded was the most obvious place to get going, (stupidly?) went straight there in the manual loaded them up- got confused as previously stated- and the rest is history. I also had it in my head- for no good reaso - that the whole thing would be as straightforward as the Korg ESX-1-- Load Samples into machine then allocate to patterns-- then press play. I am going to team up the MPC with the ESX- I and a raft of effects- should be good- it willbe fun trying anyway.
I don't think I'm going to bother with the JJ. I'm going to be sampling mainly phrases from other instruments (edit them in Audacity) then work out where is best to put them by jamming on the pads etc- We shall see in the future I suppose.
Anyway thanks to everyone for all the replies. Let the good times begin!

cool, glad you got everything sorted out.
heres a breakdown of teh basic mpc workflow,

sequence (the main plane for building songs on) all tracks are build under the sequence.


track: what is umbrella-ed under the sequence, think of it as the building blocks for your sequence.
once you figure tracks out, youll see why everyone is raving about mpcs. you put each seperate part of your song on a track, for example you can put your snare one one track, kick on another, and sample on another. now you have full individual control of each track without affecting the other tracks.
for example, say you lay your beat down and you dont like the snares, now you can just scrap that by holding rec+playstart (or however you want to delete them) and play all new snares without affecting the other stuff in your sequence that you want to keep. if you hold overdub and playstart, it will sned the mpc into overdub mode and it will keep your previous notes in the track, but you can still add other ones.

you can assign one program per track, but a different one each track if you want, i usually have a track with my chops program, and a few more with my drums programs, then one with my bass. youll figure out how to organize your mpc so it works for you once you get into it.

and keep in mind, once you get the akai os figured out, there is a free version of jjos that is def worth checking out, id actually say youd be doing yourself a disservice if you didnt check it out; you can always revert back to the akai os the akai os \ afterwards if you didnt like it, but everyone i have heard of hasnt looked back once they have gone with jjos.

glad your enjoying your new machine, keep at it man!