MPC 3000 SEQUENCER + S950 SAMPLER MIDI SETUP

Cheers Clint

did you have a read, what did you think to my problems?

NicDefn wrote:2) When i have my program made with all its key groups in the S950, i can't then use the MPC 3000's 16-levels tuning function to change the pitch of sounds. I really want to achieve this as it helps keep drums in tune.

I could stretch a key groups note range to stretch over all 16 pads of say bank D on the MPC, but this takes up a lot of room and doesn't allow for many sounds to be had in the overall S950 program!

[/quote]
you might make some use of the WARP page, it's not a very broad a range of tuning but it can be velocity linked.

Another workaround is if you set the S950 to respond to multiple MIDI channels (OMNI off). That way you could be mapping different a lot more sounds to your pad banks based on the MIDI channel.

NicDefn wrote:Cheers Clint

did you have a read, what did you think to my problems?

I edited my last post on page 1.

NicDefn wrote:
1) When creating a sequence on the MPC 3000 i use my headphones plugged into the mixer to hear the sounds of the S950, but this means that i can't hear the metronome click of the MPC 3000. Which makes it difficult to keep sequences in time with the click.

Is it possible to output the sound of the metronome click of the MPC 3000?

What's nice is you can actually plug the MPC3000 output into the S950's mic/line input, and you will hear the MPC coming out of the S950s MIX output in any mode.

NicDefn wrote:1) When creating a sequence on the MPC 3000 i use my headphones plugged into the mixer to hear the sounds of the S950, but this means that i can't hear the metronome click of the MPC 3000. Which makes it difficult to keep sequences in time with the click.

Is it possible to output the sound of the metronome click of the MPC 3000?

Or is there a better way to approach sequence creation?

Plug the stereo output, or one of the individual outputs, of the MPC into the mixer.

Go to the Metronome section of the MPC "Other" page and set the metronome to be sent to an MPC output (STEREO/INDIV 1-8) that is connected to the mixer in the step above.

(As mentioned above by Harmoncj, you could also send this metronome output into the S950 Mic/Line input, so that you can monitor it through the S950 Mix output, if you have that plugged in to the mixer)

NicDefn wrote:2) When i have my program made with all its key groups in the S950, i can't then use the MPC 3000's 16-levels tuning function to change the pitch of sounds. I really want to achieve this as it helps keep drums in tune.

I could stretch a key groups note range to stretch over all 16 pads of say bank D on the MPC, but this takes up a lot of room and doesn't allow for many sounds to be had in the overall S950 program!

The drum pads are assigned to MIDI note numbers between 35 and 98.

You can record/play MIDI note numbers from 0-127, so there are 29 MIDI notes above the MPC pads, and 35 MIDI notes below the MPC pads, that are not used by the MPC pads.

That is 64 possible unused MIDI note numbers that the MPC can work with, which are not used/accessed by the pads, but you would probably need an external MIDI keyboard or other device to play/record them in real time.

Another possibility might be to use different MPC programs for different pieces/sections/songs/etc.

You can have up to 24 different MPC programs, and could set up internal/external sounds into different programs, for different sections of your songs, if you don't need all the samples to be accessible at the same time.

NicDefn wrote:3) The final problem is that sometimes i want to use the 8 individual outs of the MPC 3000, because i have sounds saved on disk that i want to use in a sequence. But this means that i have to continuously unplug cables from the S950 and plug it into the MPC.

Could i maybe use a patch bay in a rack that would allow me to easily rewire cables without having to go round the back of machines all the time?

Yes, you could use a patchbay, or maybe just use less individual outputs. Do you really need/want to use all individual outputs?

A patchbay would make things a lots easier to patch. Over time, they can become a little unreliable and need cleaning.

Or get a second mixer to submix additional outputs into the first mixer, or get a larger mixer.

NicDefn wrote:4) My final problem is that when i have a sequence created on the MPC 3000, the overdub button isnt working? i read some where on this forum that i might have enabled the MMC. But i turned this off and it didnt have any effect!

The previous question was your final problem, you can't have two final problems.

Does the red light above the Overdub button light up when you press the Overdub button, and does the red light above the Record button light up when you press the Record button?

Are you pressing Overdub and Play Start, or Play, at the same time?

If MMC is turned on, none of the MPC buttons will work, other than flashing the name of the sent MMC function at the bottom left of the MPC screen.

@ SIMONINAUSTRALIA

Hey thanks that was a very helpful reply!

I made a typo putting two final problems, sorry

In terms of the metronome i just plugged it into my desks, so that problem is solved!

Another i have noticed is that on the S950 i have a TR-909 kick that is sampled at C3/60 but i have it to correspond to G3Sharp/68 pad on the mpc 3000. But the kick drum doesnt play at C3/60, it plays at the pitch of '68.' Do you know why this is and how do i turn this function off. Or how do i approach my program making to ensure this doesn't happen in the future?

You also mentioned about connecting a MIDI keyboard to trigger a sound that is set over 16 pads. I have connected a keyboard once before to the MPC3000. But cant remember how to do it. How would i connect one to say the S950 to trigger the sounds that are stored internally?

In terms of the overdub button, it and the record button both light up red when pressed individually and the MMC is turned off. What i usually do to record a pattern is make sure the count-in button is turned on and then press record + play start.

then when i want to add in another instrument on a new track on the mpc 3000, i press overdub but it doesnt allow me? So confused about that one?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Thanks

NicDefn wrote:Another i have noticed is that on the S950 i have a TR-909 kick that is sampled at C3/60 but i have it to correspond to G3Sharp/68 pad on the mpc 3000. But the kick drum doesnt play at C3/60, it plays at the pitch of '68.' Do you know why this is and how do i turn this function off. Or how do i approach my program making to ensure this doesn't happen in the future?

You need to set the S950 to play back the sample at it's normal/correct pitch on MIDI note G3Sharp/68, this is called the sample base note or nominal pitch.

The range, or keyspan, across which a sample plays is set in the S950 EDIT PROGRAM screens (depending on whether velocity switching is used, you might need to set this in Page 07, for the loud sample, as well as Page 05 is for the soft sample)...

Akai S950 Owner's Manual wrote:EDIT PROGRAM

...

Now move to Page 05 which will display something like:

>05 fSoft sample TONE at C3 60
*KG# Low key CO 24 #Hi key GS 127

where # is the currently selected keygroup.

This is a very important page as it is here that you map your keygroups (and hence individual samples) across the keyboard range and it is possible to assign a keyboard range of as much as seven octaves or as little as one note.

To assign a sample to a keygroup, first select the appropriate keygroup by moving the cursor one position to the right using the 'cursor >' button and make your selection using either the CONTROL knob or the keypad. Now move the cursor one more position to the right and use the CONTROL knob to scroll through the samples in memory.

When you have found the required sample, press ENT and this will place the chosen sample in that keygroup.

To assign the samples lowest note, move the cursor to 'Low key' and use either the CONTROL knob or a three digit number on the keypad to set the lowest note.

To adjust the highest note for the sample, move the cursor to 'Hi key' and enter your note value using the CONTROL knob or a three digit number on the keypad.

You will notice that for every sample you select in any keygroup, this page will also show you that samples base note or nominal pitch (i.e. the key it was sampled onto) in the top right hand corner of the display. This is very useful in setting up a program that uses extensive multisampling.

The normal/correct pitch (sample base note/nominal pitch) of the sample is set in the EDIT SAMPLE screens (Page 03)...

Akai S950 Owner's Manual wrote:EDIT SAMPLE

The next button along is marked EDIT SAMPLE and. not surprisingly, this is the mode in which you edit your samples and where you can change the start and end points of a sample, reverse the sample, loop the sample, splice two samples together and compress or stretch a sample. You can also copy, rename and delete a sample as well as tune a sample and change its basic pitch. This is all accomplished using a page driven system as in the REC mode.

...

Move to the next page using the 'page down' button. It will display:

>03 #Loudness #Nom pitch #Fine pitch
+00 C3 60 +00

This page allows you to adjust a samples level, its basic pitch and its fine tuning.

LOUDNESS: This is where you can adjust the level of the sample so that it matches the level of other samples taken. To change the value, move the cursor one position using the 'cursor >’ button so that the cursor is flashing on the + character and use either the CONTROL to enter a new value or type in a + or - value using the ON(+) or OFF(-) key in conjunction with the keypad.

Note: This value is a velocity based parameter. If you set the value to +50, there will be no change in level with varying velocity dynamics. Similarly, with the setting at -50, velocity dynamics will be extreme... Note also that these values do not represent dBs but are purely an arbitrary volume unit.

NOM PITCH: This value was set in REC and represents the note on which the sample was placed in REC. To change it, move the cursor one position to the right using the 'cursor >' button so that it is flashing on the first character and use the CONTROL knob to raise or lower the pitch in semitones.

You can also use the keypad for data entry here.

Note: If you are using the PB button to playback the sample, a higher note number will actually produce a lower pitched sound and vice versa. This is because as the sample gets higher in pitch, the PB button sends out the same note lC3) and so the sample will actually get lower in pitch.

FINE PITCH: This is used to fine tune samples and can be effective if you are taking a lot of samples from instrument such as piano so that you can ensure that all samples are in tune with each other. To fine tune your sample, move the cursor so that it is flashing in this field using the 'cursor >' button and change the data using the CONTROL knob or a + or -value using the ON(+) or OFF(-) buttons and a numeric entry on the blue keypad.

NicDefn wrote:You also mentioned about connecting a MIDI keyboard to trigger a sound that is set over 16 pads. I have connected a keyboard once before to the MPC3000. But cant remember how to do it. How would i connect one to say the S950 to trigger the sounds that are stored internally?

In your current MPC3000/S950 setup, you would use a MIDI cable to connect the MIDI output of a MIDI keyboard to a MIDI input of the MPC.

Then you would use either the MPC pads, or the MIDI keyboard keys, to play MPC samples, that are assigned to MPC pads/MIDI note numbers in the MPC, or use the MIDI keyboard only to play S950 samples, that are assigned to MIDI note numbers in the S950 that are above and below the 35-98 MIDI note number range of the MPC pads.

The MIDI keyboard becomes a MIDI input device for the MPC, in the same way as the MPC pads are, but with an extended MIDI note number range (hopefully a MIDI note number range of 0-127, as long as the chosen MIDI keyboard outputs the full range, instead of the MIDI note range of 35-98 that the MPC pads are limited to).

You could then use the full 4 banks of MPC pads (64 MIDI note numbers) for playing back internal MPC samples, and use the MIDI note number ranges above and below the MPC pad MIDI note number range (an additional 64 MIDI note numbers), to trigger samples in the S950.


If you don't like keyboards, you could use a MIDI pad controller, like an MPD, as long as the pads can be set to send out MIDI note numbers within the ranges of 0-34 and 99-127.



You could probably do it a different way, without using a MIDI keyboard/device, by setting the S950 keygroups to respond to the MPC pad MIDI note number range (35-98), and then access the S950 samples by changing the Drums/MIDI and/or MIDI channel settings on separate MPC sequencer tracks.

You would have to change MPC sequencer tracks to different track numbers to access the different sample sources, so they would not all be immediately accessible on the pads/keyboard at the one time.

You could, for example, record a drum pattern using the MPC pads/internal MPC samples onto one MPC sequencer track, then record onto additional MPC sequencer tracks using the same MPC pads to only trigger samples from the S950, and not internal MPC samples.


The S950 allows different keygroups to be assigned to different MIDI channels, so you could have multiple different sets of samples, all played from the MPC pads, but selected by using differing MIDI channels on separate MPC sequencer tracks, and changing between MPC sequencer tracks to access the different sets of samples.

NicDefn wrote:In terms of the overdub button, it and the record button both light up red when pressed individually and the MMC is turned off. What i usually do to record a pattern is make sure the count-in button is turned on and then press record + play start.

then when i want to add in another instrument on a new track on the mpc 3000, i press overdub but it doesnt allow me? So confused about that one?

You have to press Overdub+Play, or Overdub+Play Start, pressing Overdub by itself does nothing.

Just like you have to press Record+Play, or Record+Play Start, and pressing Record by itself does nothing.

Clint wrote:@Nicdefn

It won't work. The S950 has keygroups, use them to pitch a sample over 16 keys and trigger the keygroup from a bank on your MPC. Use the MPC template and assign Bank X to a suitably programmed keygroup. You could make a template for the S950 whereas Bank A is for drums, Bank B is a 16 key keygroup, etc etc. Whatever you're likely to need in a typical session.

To do this would I have to copy the sample 16 times and make 16 different pitches? Or is there an easier way ti do it without making multiple copies?

thanks.

Bewareofthewolves wrote:

Clint wrote:It won't work. The S950 has keygroups, use them to pitch a sample over 16 keys and trigger the keygroup from a bank on your MPC. Use the MPC template and assign Bank X to a suitably programmed keygroup. You could make a template for the S950 whereas Bank A is for drums, Bank B is a 16 key keygroup, etc etc. Whatever you're likely to need in a typical session.

To do this would I have to copy the sample 16 times and make 16 different pitches? Or is there an easier way ti do it without making multiple copies?

You can use a single sample.

This is set in the S950 EDIT PROGRAM and EDIT SAMPLE screens, as described in my quotes above from the Akai S950 Owner's Manual.

You need to set the keyspan for the keygroup, which is the range of keys (MIDI note numbers) that one sample will be spread across, in EDIT PROGRAM (Page 05 and/or 07).

And you need to set the nominal pitch of that sample, the MIDI note number on which it will be played at it's original pitch, in EDIT SAMPLE (Page 03).

NicDefn wrote:Thats a shame that it doesnt work for the 16-level tuning, and i could stretch the key group notes to cover all 16 pads, then only problem is that this doesnt allow much room on other pads!

Turn off OMNI in the MIDI menu on the 950, then you have 64 pads x 16 (for each of the midi channels) all available at once.
Then you go and assign a Midi channel to each keygroup in your Program.

Use different Tracks on your mpc 3000, each sending out on a different midi channel.
E.g have drums on Midi 1A, bass and synths on Midi 2A, vocals on Midi 3A, etc, etc.

does the 3000 not read 950 disks? wouldn't it be much easier to insert the 950 disk with the samples in the 3000 and sequence from there? and you get all you want. of course you get the 12 bit samples playback in 16 bit. but i reckon it sounds great

No, it only reads S1000/S3000 samples, not S950.

SimonInAustralia wrote:

Bewareofthewolves wrote:

Clint wrote:It won't work. The S950 has keygroups, use them to pitch a sample over 16 keys and trigger the keygroup from a bank on your MPC. Use the MPC template and assign Bank X to a suitably programmed keygroup. You could make a template for the S950 whereas Bank A is for drums, Bank B is a 16 key keygroup, etc etc. Whatever you're likely to need in a typical session.

To do this would I have to copy the sample 16 times and make 16 different pitches? Or is there an easier way ti do it without making multiple copies?

You can use a single sample.

This is set in the S950 EDIT PROGRAM and EDIT SAMPLE screens, as described in my quotes above from the Akai S950 Owner's Manual.

You need to set the keyspan for the keygroup, which is the range of keys (MIDI note numbers) that one sample will be spread across, in EDIT PROGRAM (Page 05 and/or 07).

And you need to set the nominal pitch of that sample, the MIDI note number on which it will be played at it's original pitch, in EDIT SAMPLE (Page 03).

Thanks very much man!

i am also working with a 60 + S950

and the solution with the different tracks works fine for me too !

i have saved a blank program on a zip / or floppy for the mpc with the midi note numbers in chromatic order starting with the first pad bank 1 with number 35 till bank 4 the laste number 98

also have a floppy in the S950 with a program saved with all keygroups combined with the midi note numbers, but then like keygroup 1 = 035 till 038 , keygroup 2 039 till 045

so i have each sample which is placed in a keygroup, directcly with 4 varations in tuning. this can give some great results.

Good tips fellas, keep 'em coming.