Reviews and questions about the entry-level MPC500
By fourroses Fri Jul 26, 2013 1:36 pm
Hello everyone. Sorry if I do not understand well, I write from the google translator.
Well, I just want to connect my mpc 500 to ableton as midi controller, and as I have seen on the website of akai possible, and also show a small tutorial on how to do it, but I did not succeed.
The thing is that I left my USB cable that I have connected another piano via midi and use as a controller, so it should not be by midi-usb cable that I have, but when I connect the mpc I get nothing. I hope someone can help me, thank you very much.
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By Lampdog Fri Jul 26, 2013 4:22 pm
Use midi cable for midi. No usb midi.
Usb is for card only.
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By Lampdog Fri Jul 26, 2013 11:38 pm
Midi on mpc500 works with microkorg via usb?
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By Ill-Green Sat Jul 27, 2013 5:24 pm
Ok, so what you're trying to say that the Microkorg is slaved to Ableton and you would like to have the 500 slaved to Ableton as well?? Ah dawnt knaw, but I think in order to do that you'll need a USB to MIDI regardless. Stop being cheap and shell out for your hobby and quit hobbling like an old toad.
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By Ill-Green Mon Jul 29, 2013 4:00 am
fourroses wrote:yeah, it's just that I wanted to say. which is usb midi cable you're referring to? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017H4EBG this is the midi usb cable I have. So what's the cable I should buy to connect my mpc 500 to ableton in this way?

The USB on the 500 is not for streaming MIDI. Its for your PC to read the CF card in the 500 and to import and export wave files. Thats it.

If your interface has MIDI then a standard MIDI cable will do. If not, then a USB-to-MIDI is what you need. Be sure to connect the MIDI end of the cable to the MIDI IN of the 500 to slave it to Ableton.
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By crossings Mon Jul 29, 2013 4:25 am
get a standard MIDI cable [not usb] and use that to connect the MPC's MIDI OUT to your microkorg's MIDI IN and keep your microkorg connected via usb to the computer... that should be it really... you might have to configure the microkorg to receive MIDI input... but the MPC's MIDI signal can go thru the keyboard all the way to the software.
By fourroses Mon Jul 29, 2013 2:31 pm
To Ill-Green :

I mean use midi-usb cable that I have (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017H4EBG), I do not mean the entry that says "USB" (http://cachepe.zzounds.com/media / quality, 85/MPC500_back-75a98dd6224dff3308930d08eb2028e0.jpg), I know this entry is only for compact flash storage. anyway thanks for your answers.

To Crossings:


Is a very good idea, had not thought of, I just use and can be used, but I would like to do this without having to do so through the piano, I guess if you can do in this way may not directly with the mpc? thanks for answering.
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By crossings Mon Jul 29, 2013 2:39 pm
fourroses wrote:To Ill-Green :

I mean use midi-usb cable that I have (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017H4EBG), I do not mean the entry that says "USB" (http://cachepe.zzounds.com/media / quality, 85/MPC500_back-75a98dd6224dff3308930d08eb2028e0.jpg), I know this entry is only for compact flash storage. anyway thanks for your answers.

To Crossings:


Is a very good idea, had not thought of, I just use and can be used, but I would like to do this without having to do so through the piano, I guess if you can do in this way may not directly with the mpc? thanks for answering.



then connect the MPC with the USB/MIDI cable and have the microkorg's MIDI OUT going into the MPC's MIDI IN... same thing just other way around.

other than that...... not muich else you can do other than swap out the keyboard with the mpc or just get another usb/midi cable and use both at the same time.
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By crossings Mon Jul 29, 2013 4:54 pm
how is it rare that you can't connect something to a port you don't even have?

even if you got an actual interface, chances are you'll only have 1 MIDI IN and 1 MIDI OUT to your computer. if you want to use multiple MIDI devices you need to link them up and use MIDI thru.

i've already told you how to accomplish it... if you want a miracle, find a God to pray to or something, homie... i'm not gonna spend any more time stating the obvious here... good luck.
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By inflict3 Mon Jul 29, 2013 5:05 pm
maybe you need to make sure ur mpc500 settings are right, u need to go into track params and make sure its set to midi.. its not just about the settings in mode/midi.. its about the track/program settings too.,read up on it, or look for some youtube vids where peeps are using mpc500 to control reason/abelton/cubase, or what have you...
By fourroses Mon Jul 29, 2013 8:22 pm
To Crossing :

I'm sorry, I have not explained well, I'm from Spain and I write from the google translator and I find it a bit difficult. what I meant is that I do know how to connect the mpc and microkorg while using the microkorg midi thru, and I want to ask is how to connect directly the mpc to ableton with the same cable that connect the piano (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017H4EBG midi-usb),without having to use the microkorg. It is not easy to understand, I hope you now have become clear, but anyway with your help I have managed to connect through the microkorg, now I want to do it without going through the microkorg, thank you very much for your answers!

To Inflict3 :


I checked out the track of this position in channel mpc midi, midi track type, etc ... I've also adjusted the settings mpc / sync as described on the official website of akai, but to connect directly mpc usb-midi to Ableton does not recognize it. Greetings.