mpc2000xl only plays 64 notes ? is this correct

Is it me being foolish or does the mpc only spread the 4 banks of 16 keys over the keyboard via midi ?
I am using the mpc to play the keyboard via midi , i did the auto chromatic assign and then tried to play the lowest octave by selecting the lower left pad on bank A . its low , but not the lowest note on the keyboard by any means . I think its note 35 or 36 , thats the lowest i can get . Then i can play the 64 notes above that fine . But i don't understand why a plain keyboard has 88 keys or more , but the mpc can only play 64 of them ?
I then thought of the transpose feature ( which did nothing that i could hear ) as a get around , but no . and then i thought of the octave key on the keyboard , but no .
Can anyone tell me how to play a low low bass note through an attached device please ?

it's a phrase sampler.. not set up to play instrument programs that way.. it's set up like it's for drums..


essentially I dunno what you will do... but for playing like a keyboard you should get a different sound module or sampler that fits for that better.

?
I know its drum machine , but it is also a midi - controller , sampler , sequencer etc all in one . This we know . If it is a midi controller , then why would it only control 64 midi notes when over 88 exist on keyboard ?
I use it to play samples from vinyl , drum loops , chopped drums etc , but i wanna put keyboard sounds or low bass on tracks too , and at the moment i can only go as low as note 35 or 36 i think .
Surely this beast can do that ? If i attach it to my Korg electribe eamk2 i can tune a low bass sound , but there must be a way to play the ENTIRE range of a keyboard via midi from the MPC2000XL . How is it done , does anyone know ? i refuse to believe that an entire cult of users producers and genre of hip hop have used these wonderful production centres in the knowledge that they only play 64 notes !!
THATS LIKE WRITING USING TWO THIRDS OF THE ALPHABET ! or painting using only two primary colours . . . . . .
HELP !

Older MPC's are not built like that.

As mr_debauch alluded to, the era in which those machines reigned had producers using sound modules with keyboards+the MPC or synths with keys+MPC.

You'll need an MPC 4000 to do what you want.

I feel you that you'd expect it to work differently, but in 1998 a drum/phrase sampler is what they built. Things like this are often how you end up grabbing a secomnd model or sell and swap in the one that fits better.

These limitations aside it's still a great machine.

sneakydisco wrote:?Surely this beast can do that ?

That's the thing... the XL has never been or never will be a 'beast'.

Like Metatron said, you probably need to look at stepping up to a 4K if you need full keygroup capabilities.

Oh crumbs , no i shan't be getting a 4000 . Im in love with this , and its taken me 3 months to understand it enough to do things with it . I suppose i could sample a note from low down on a keyboard ? That might be the way the way forward to sequence a good low bass line then .
Next on the list is a hot swappable CF card reader . Mine is not swappable and my hard drive is noisy . . . . . .
I have heard BAAD things about the 4000 , like 3 in ten develop faults .
Thank you for the reply , it will save me rereading the manual for the tenth time !

sneakydisco wrote:I have heard BAAD things about the 4000 , like 3 in ten develop faults .

There's a lot of nonsense written about the 4K. It's actually a perfect upgrade to the XL if you ever go that route.

The XL is a great machine for what it does though.

4000's are actually built like tanks. Mostly all you see is normal wear considering many units are now 11 years old, the last ones were late 05-06. So if you ever are interested in one don't let whatever you heard put you off. A lot of people just hate the 4k ironically because it wasn't as constricted as the XL.

But that's cool you're down to explore some workarounds on the XL, a lot of times you don't use the lower most or top most octave, so what you're thinking is a good place to start.

Hot swappable CF was the best thing I did for my one XL.

Whatever, hopefully whatever sound module you have can transpose. If not you can either dial the notes in step mode, or use edit track to transpose MIDI notes

sneakydisco wrote:Can anyone tell me how to play a low low bass note through an attached device please ?

With an attached MIDI keyboard?

The sequencer records/plays all 128 MIDI note numbers, but the MPC Program only lets you assign the pads to the middle 64 MIDI note numbers, so I think you need to use an external MIDI keyboard (or other MIDI input device).

SimonInAustralia wrote:

sneakydisco wrote:Can anyone tell me how to play a low low bass note through an attached device please ?

With an attached MIDI keyboard?

The sequencer records/plays all 128 MIDI note numbers, but the MPC Program only lets you assign the pads to the middle 64 MIDI note numbers, so I think you need to use an external MIDI keyboard (or other MIDI input device).

Yep, just plug a control keyboard MIDI OUT into the MPC MIDI IN and you can input any MIDI note into the sequencer. And if you have your MIDI sound source connected to the MPC MIDI out, just set up the correct channel assignments on your sequencer track and sound module and you're all set.

The XL is set up for drums only in terms of 'sample' programs and pads. As a MIDI sequencer, it's more than capable, but you do need a control keyboard for full MIDI note range control.

Look at a 4000/5000/Ren if you need to use keygroup sample programs

...or use step record to input the notes, or step edit to modify notes recorded from the pads, transposing them down to the range you want them to be...

...or record playing the pads in the range they allow, and then transpose the recorded sequence track down to where you want it.


But, is the external MIDI device, that you are using, a keyboard? If so, can you use that?

the mpc autochromatic wont even do 64 notes - if you set middle c as pad c1 (about the middle of the 64 pads), you will notice that pads a1-a8 and pads d9-d16 are not tuned correctly - the mpc only allows tuning over two octaves either way (4 octaves total) so you only get 48 notes to play with using auto-chromatic alone.

having said that, you can use another sample on the low end and another sample on the high end to make up for the lost notes. you'd still only get 64 notes, unless you do some sort of more-involved midi hack.

at Harmoncj - you said " dial the notes in step mode, or use edit track to transpose MIDI notes "
i will give the step editing a try , that sounds a possibility ( i just need to understand the step editing sequencer)
I think i tried transpose , i got the little "hash tag # " thingy on the screen but heard no difference in the sound tho . . . . . i will re-try tonight i think .
Thanks folks !

at Simon in Australia - so my mpc can play 128 notes ? do i have to use the keyboard as the device with the midi out then ? at present i have one cable going out from midi out of mpc .
If i then play the keyboard into the mpc with the mpc on record via midi and record the midi data then that could work , hell i'm gonna try this now !

i really don't want to have to do the step time thing , that seems laborious and another huge understanding cliff to throw myself off again .