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By 6/8 Stanley Thu May 31, 2018 9:09 pm
Mostly using MPC2500 to make beats to play guitar to. MPC has plenty of samples from the previous owner on the hard drive so I haven't bothered hooking anything up to it other than sound system. Don't have any music programs on the computer except it's got VLC player that can loop mp3's etc. Computer has one audio out that goes to sound system.

Sometimes like today I want to play along with my beats without hooking up MPC due to space limitation. Some of my guitar songs are like 12 minutes long so need to loop the drum tracks. Also will probably use simul sequence when I sort it out so will want to have 2 sequences playing same time. CD player on MPC is broken so that's not an option for now. I do have a usb cable for it though. Also have a CF card, haven't needed it though. Have the manuals (all 4 of them, AKAI, Beat making on MPC2500, JJOS128xl and OS-XL) but didn't see the answer.
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By Lampdog Thu May 31, 2018 10:19 pm
Audio onto computer without a DAW, download and install REAPER. It's a shareware DAW.
Meaning there is a 5 second banner upon startup, buy it if you like it, otherwise keep using it with the banner startup. It's fully functional and can record your mpc audio without a problem at all.
By 6/8 Stanley Fri Jun 01, 2018 7:17 pm
So how does that work ? Unclear on some basics I guess. I thought I could connect MPC digital out to the HDMI port on the computer but just found out the HDMI port is output only. Looks like the 1/8 inch audio jack is also output only. So to input the MPC digital output I'd need a USB converter box right ? And for MPC audio I'd need a USB DAC ?

I use computer for work so like to keep it off when doing music but figured I could hook MPC digital coaxial out to HDMI, record and loop it with VLC and listen through sound system. Wrong, wrong wrong apparently.

Maybe I want to go a different way with this and keep using MPC audio outs, or get a two-track digital and/or audio recorder.
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By Wormhelmet Fri Jun 01, 2018 8:52 pm
Why don’t you use one of the programs selected to play the guitar clips and use a single stereo 3.5mm mini to right/left 1/4” on the headphone or speaker out of the computer to the input on the MPC and sample them. Then arrange how you like.

I assume the MPC has 1/4” right and left inputs for sampling. (I don’t own one so just guessing as most samplers have similar)
By 6/8 Stanley Sat Jun 02, 2018 3:53 am
I've got a setup for doing music production for my own stuff but I'm not doing that right now. For sampling, I've got plans to multi-sample an 23 key mbira, and I've been reading about how to do it in MPC-Tutor's book but it will need to wait until I've practiced basic sampling. MPC does a lot so there's a lot to learn.

My work flow is like this: Built a kit, lay down 16 bars of 12/8 beat for example, layer the drums til it's heavy, lay a 4/4 on top of it on another track, heavy it up some more. Then crank up the guitar, hit play on the MPC and jam. I find it's tightened up my playing considerably, even when it's just the guitar, and I'm learning more about music. No computer involved, nothing boring or complicated. Just playing the pads and guitar. If I knew a couple days ago what I know now I wouldn't have even started this thread. I thought I just needed the right cable. Besides, it's nice having the MPC running while I'm playing guitar, then I can reach over and play some fills on the pads between guitar licks.
By 6/8 Stanley Sat Jun 02, 2018 6:46 pm
I will get one of those audio editors or something similar. I plan to get a small hardware SD recorder for mixing MPC beats with real instrument tracks and will need something to edit the files unless there's some good software that goes with it. My 8 track setup can sound very good but recording and mixing with it is a lengthy process.

Don't need it for what I'm doing on MPC now but probably will in the future. Need to get better at finger drumming before I have something worth recording, except for experimentation and practice. It sounds great to me but I expect most of you would listen and say "good try".
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By Ill-Green Sat Jun 09, 2018 6:21 am
The way I do it, there's two methods.

1-my preamp records wav to SD cards. Record to SD and slip it over to the PC. Alternative to the preamp, I have a handheld with XLR inputs that I can record into and onto an SD card in wav form.

2-The MPC itself should have a card reader. I know the CD burner is broken, so I'm guessing you have an MPC2500SE, but that has a CF reader. And if your computer does not take CF cards, there are CF-to-USB adaptors.
By 6/8 Stanley Sat Jun 16, 2018 3:43 am
[quote="Ill-Green"]
I have a handheld with XLR inputs that I can record into and onto an SD card in wav form.

Planning to do that. Found an A/V audio recorder that can record the audio outs to wav, and send the files to it's SD card or to computer on USB, so that's what I plan to use. Should be handy for other stuff too.

Yes, my MPC has the CF card but didn't see anything in the manuals about it being able to record the audio outs internally. As far as I know the USB connection on MPC can only send or receive data with the card, not audio. Maybe I'm wrong. I could fix the MPC's CD recorder instead but I want the A/V recorder anyway.
By 6/8 Stanley Sat Jun 16, 2018 6:16 pm
Wrong again. Looks like I can record a stereo sample from the main audio outs, save it to the CF card or hard drive, and upload it to the computer on USB cable. Guess it helps to read the manual.

Since it has a hard drive, don't know why I'd need to use the CF card, except for an extra 2 GB storage.
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By Wormhelmet Sat Jun 16, 2018 7:23 pm
6/8 Stanley wrote:Wrong again. Looks like I can record a stereo sample from the main audio outs, save it to the CF card or hard drive, and upload it to the computer on USB cable. Guess it helps to read the manual.

Since it has a hard drive, don't know why I'd need to use the CF card, except for an extra 2 GB storage.


You just answered yourself why you’d need a cf card - to transfer easy as wav file to computer or use the usb cable - options are good

Cf card readers are cheap and some older computers had them built in

:)
By 6/8 Stanley Sun Mar 31, 2019 7:46 pm
Saragnn4, that seems more like a bump than a question, but that's OK with me. When I originally posted the question I was wondering if there a way to bring the analog and/or digital stereo output into the laptop without using an audio interface or digital line out to usb converter.

There's an implied gripe here about lack of connectivity on newer computers, especially laptops. Back in the early 2000's I could import audio to my soundcard (that was installed in the computer at my request at the factory) at the left & right audio input jacks. Since computers all have built in mics these days there are usually no stereo inputs. My laptop has no audio input at all. I didn't know that when I posted the thread which is slightly embarrassing.
There are some workarounds, like copying the audio to CF card as a long sample and importing it on usb , but since I go to a lot of trouble getting my MPC instruments placed for stereo, and since my songs are very long with a lot of vocal verses and very long instrumental breaks, that's not a very useful solution for me. On the other hand, Ill-Green's idea about the handheld 4-track that exports wav by usb sounds perfect. I'll get one when I'm ready to record. Either that or get a usb interface. Or both. Dammit!