BEGINNER'S EQUIPMENT

I'm gonna make this simple:

I just received a used MPC 1000. I love how it looks but i don't know shit about it. What else do I need to start? It just came with the power cord and a 1GB memory card. I sense I need something more than my computer to start, right?
Just the basics, nothing fancy.

Thanks for your help.

Salvador wrote:I'm gonna make this simple:

I just received a used MPC 1000. I love how it looks but i don't know **** about it. What else do I need to start?

The manual

"I sense I need something more than my computer to start, right?"

Not necessarily, but you didn't give too much info on what all you want to do.

But I know where you're coming from, for now just to get started a USB cable will suffice if you have some sounds on the computer. Plug the USB cable in and go to the Save/Load screen and press USB/Mount. (not looking at MPC now but it's on one of those two screens).

As long as the CF card is in the slot the MPC will show as removable storage on Windows or OS X in Explorer or Finder respectively. Then you can drag folder of 16 bit 44khz WAVS to the CF card.

To sample to the MPC's analog inputs you'll need something with 1/4" output(s). This could be a variety of things. Maybe it's a turntable and you use RCA to 1/4" adapter plugs. (Turntable would have to be grounded to a mixer or home stereo and go through a pre-amp. The mixer or receiver in a stereo act as a pre-amp in those cases. A USB turntable can avoid needing those things)

There's 1/8" headphone cables the end in 1/4" jacks that could be used for TV's, radios, phones laptop outputs, whatever.

So record some samples or load some with the CF card are the two easiest ways to get started.

I'm feeling generous tonight and have like 90+ MPC PGM's sitting on my desktop. DL, unzip and copy to the CF over USB. Navigate to the folders and load the PGM file with samples when prompted. Or you could just load the whole folder. In some cases there's a MIDI file in the folder that will load when the whole folder is loaded. On the main screen just change to a new sequence to not use that pattern.

http://www.mediafire.com/?fsj4t6j8cdbu3tb

I'm just posting all that so you can dive right in. Go ahead and ask any further questions about audio interfaces, recording software, MPC utility apps for computer.

And don't miss the banner ads here on the site, they sell PDF tutorials and sample sets that are top notch.

And what MaZe said, have the manual open at all times. It will accelerate the process 10-100x.

Bare minimum if all you have is the MPC, flash card and powercord is a set of headphones or you aint gettin far at all. . . .

Lamp, that's 90+ PGM's in my mediafire link. Everybody have at it if you like.

I'm getting started on it right now.

Thanks for your replies.

All I want to do, right now, is basically have fun: build a sequence, chop a sample, mix it and fall in love with it. Haha.

I do have a USB turntable, so I guess I can start there too.

I already downloaded the MPC PGM's. I appreciate that. I'm definitely gonna try them.

What recording software would you recommend, Metatron72? (Or anybody really)

Right now I don't have many questions, merely because I don't know much about MPC's, but I think more questions will surface when I start practicing.

Thanks again.

Lampdog wrote:

Lampdog wrote:https://www.dropbox.com/sh/n3xb0ntssfkcjr3/XpLD_vicwJ

Some samples.

Welcome to the boards.

Dope welcome from the Dog himself.

Mac.

There's the free Audacity for basic WAV editing.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/


Reaper is a low priced multi track DAW program, more fully featured than Garageband but not too difficult to learn/use. It's only $60 and is still fully functional with a brief "nag" screen if the demo expires before buying a license.

http://www.reaper.fm/

MPC Maid is nice for making PGM's on the desktop and can even slice a loop and save to pads in a PGM. (Of course you can just chop inside the MPC too. Some prefer one or the other, many do both)

http://sourceforge.net/projects/mpcmaid/

The big ticket apps, Ableton, Logic, Cubase, Pro Tools are a bigger investment so we;d have to know more about your current or future plans to get into discussing those more in depth.

And there are free plugin instruments otr FX out there to that you can use even in these free and non-crippled demo apps. Again we'd just need to know what you're interested in. Or maybe you going to use the MPC on it's own primarily and may only need software to record it's output.

Salvador wrote:Mac.

For getting started doing basic stuff you can also use garageband for a while. It should be already installed on your computer.

But before you can record your mpc into you computer you will need an audio interface. When you buy an audio interface it usually comes with a free/ light version of one of the bigger daws which also allows you to do basic tasks like recording beats and creating simple mixes.