New To The MPC5000

So, I decided to make the switch from the Maschine to MPC5000. My goals are to play live shows (i.e. Jeremy Ellis or Araabmuzik) and I've come across a problem. I am very new to the MPC so try not to rip too hard lol.

I understand that the MPC has 64mb memory, and I want to load 4 different programs of 4 full pad banks each for live performance. Obviously 64 mb won't be enough to last me an hour's time. Is there a way around this/ a better way to play this thing live? because I can't seem to find one.

Thanks guys.

This is what I've recorded thus far, and I wish to do things like this.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/wt6wRsiZoqE

The RAM is upgradeable to 192MB. Unlike other MPC's I believe you may be stuck having to buy the official Akai RAM stick though.

Looking at your video I want to point out that single hit sounds don't take much memory. Like that JB horn hit you're using for example, that's like probably less than 200kilobytes in it's file size. So you could actually get a lot in there if single hits/stabs/one shots are your thing.

If you start loading full 4, 8 and 16 bar loops yeah you could run out of RAM quick. Don't forget also that an MPC has multiple MIDI outs so if your live set includes sounds/instruments inside of a computer the MPC can control those as well.

Man, I really didn't wanna have to do that. lol. But thanks for the reply!
I had a mix of long samples and short ones in my other banks, so it got full pretty fast.

do some math.. whats the longest sample your gonna use?!? remeber that if the samples dont have stereo stuff going on you can half each size by making them mono... and things like drums dont really need to be in stereo when performing live... most places dont really have great rooms for people to hear the stereo effect anyway...

I would recommend the RAM upgrade, simply because it is still widely available and you will most likely need it in the future. It is overpriced in my opinion, but since it's only a fraction of the cost of the 5K its probably worth it, especially if you plan to use 24bit samples. You can also turn off the autoload, which will free up some memory when you boot up.

I don't usually need the extra memory for live performance, but when I was working on an industry remix, it definitely came in handy because of the long samples.

BTW, NICE JOB on your performance from the link above. I dig the beats!

Multiple MPCs, share the workload. Or better memory management as others have mentioned.

You can also use zones/ q-links to get up to 64 samples per bank which could be helpful in some situations.

THETV wrote:My goals are to play live shows (i.e. Jeremy Ellis

Stick to Maschine. Even if you upgrade the ram, it won't be enough for what you want to do.

The problem with maschine is that your stuck with the 8 banks ... So if you fill up the 8 banks, you have to load another project..You;ll have rather uncomfortable pauses in yr set. The problem with mpc5000 is the ram, but it can load many programs, each having 8 banks.. so one load time...


I'd actually say use both live... Use maschine for the long samples, and mpc for the drumming stuff.. prgram the mpc to trigger maschine via midi .If you still own both.. It's stupid to ignore the strengths of both systems...

see every piece of gear has its limitations, whether be mpc or mashines..another thing you could do to minimize mpcs ram usage is use mono samples instead of stereo.

I believe people been doing live shows with mpcs and maschines, so it's just a matter of getting your workflow down to fit equipments capabilites.

maybe software route like live for example with midi controller is what you're after

good luck

THETV wrote:I understand that the MPC has 64mb memory, and I want to load 4 different programs of 4 full pad banks each for live performance. Obviously 64 mb won't be enough to last me an hour's time. Is there a way around this/ a better way to play this thing live?

Most drum sounds should be mono and when you get sample packs most samples come in stereo and most samples in the sample packs have little snippets of blank space at the end of each sample that takes up space. What I have done is edited all the sounds in each kit, changing the drum sounds to mono, and literally chopped over 3/4 the space out of my samples. Even some samples that had a really long decay I chopped in half and faded out to save even more space. If you play music that isnt super ambient you will never notice longer decays shortened. I have over 20 kits that are all edited with 16 sounds in them each and all programmed to autoload. I have about 40mb in the autoload folder.. That also still saves room to load other random kits too. So far that lasts me much longer than an hour when using another machine.

So what I do is create drum kits in sample groups of 16 using the same banks for the same type of sound. I rename them (001, 002, 003 etc..) when editing them in Audacity so the sounds load in the 16 banks where I want them. On every kit I make The kicks will always be in the same spot, same with clap, snare, etc... and on every drum kit I save a few banks for vocal samples, organic sounds, one shots, etc.. It really helps when playing drunk or "altered" to know exactly where the sounds are supposed to be on each and every kit.

emptysea wrote:

THETV wrote:My goals are to play live shows (i.e. Jeremy Ellis

Stick to Maschine. Even if you upgrade the ram, it won't be enough for what you want to do.

Don't listen to this guy.