MPC Software & MPC Beats Forum: Bug reports, feature suggestions and discussion for the MPC Software and the free 'MPC Beats' application for Mac/PC. If you have hardware-specific questions, please post in the relevant MPC sub-forum.
By BrownGuyDown Mon Jan 01, 2018 7:05 am
I’ve made the box with all exact buttons, slider, rotary encoder to replace jog wheel, volume knobs and 16 pads. (relocated a bit) to make an ultra compact mpc 2000XL. Swapping the floppy for SD card slot. Will make 8 outs later on. Just need the OS. Even if someone can rewrite it for Raspberry Pi.

The icing on top, I want it programmed to sample in 12 bit.

Not looking for comments. Looking for results. If you can program or “port” or what ever it takes to do the OS it would greatly be appreciated.
Last edited by BrownGuyDown on Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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By JUKE 179r Mon Jan 01, 2018 9:13 am
Holy shit! ... wait... What now? :?
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By MPC-Tutor Mon Jan 01, 2018 5:11 pm
BrownGuyDown wrote: Just need the OS. Even if someone can rewrite it for Raspberry Pi.
The icing on top, I want it programmed to sample in 12 bit.


So you want someone to rewrite the original MPC2000XL OS so it can be ported to the Raspberry Pi? That's quite a big ask.
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By richie Mon Jan 01, 2018 11:57 pm
It's too early in the year to be trolling. You could have at least waited until January 2nd for this bullsh*t.
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By JUKE 179r Tue Jan 02, 2018 9:06 pm
Lampdog wrote:Out of curiousity I wanna know the outcome.

Me too. :popcorn:
By mxbdev Wed Jan 03, 2018 6:51 pm
I have experience in developing such projects and in this case I expect the hardware design to actually be simpler than the software development.

How have you connected the front panel interface to the pi? Through the GPIO pins? If so I guess you’ve multiplexed them down due to the number of pins? What about the pads? Analogue sensors? What’s the resolution of each sensor. Again, multiplexed?

What are your plans regarding a screen? Simple small hdmi screen connected to the hdmi output on the pi?

Are you planning to use the sd card slot on the pi for samples etc?

What about audio interface and midi ports? The audio interface on the pi isn’t the best quality and would only give a single stereo out.

If any of the above (audio, midi, screen, buttons or pads) are via USB then the latency would be really bad. The USB controller on the Pi shares its connection to the CPU with the network interface and both USB jitter and throughput isn’t great.

Anyone who would want to attempt such a software development would need detailed block diagrams, schematics and data sheets before starting work on such a project.

Furthermore, to reduce latency how were you expecting the software to run? On top of a Linux kernel with -rt patch set? Or bare metal? There are advantages to both. Using Linux means you can run the same software on any other computer if you abstract out all the I/O code, which speeds development time, but you’ll be tied to various third party libraries which are not designed for low latency work.

It’s a nice idea, but the Raspberry Pi isn’t the best board to build this around and software is much harder to develop than you think. You’d probably actually get better results trying to build a clone of the MPC2000 and using its OS as it’s x86 based (which more people know) and you just (!) need to mimic the address space as visible to the CPU.
By BrownGuyDown Sat Jan 20, 2018 3:36 am
mxbdev wrote:I have experience in developing such projects and in this case I expect the hardware design to actually be simpler than the software development.

How have you connected the front panel interface to the pi? Through the GPIO pins? If so I guess you’ve multiplexed them down due to the number of pins? What about the pads? Analogue sensors? What’s the resolution of each sensor. Again, multiplexed?

What are your plans regarding a screen? Simple small hdmi screen connected to the hdmi output on the pi?

Are you planning to use the sd card slot on the pi for samples etc?

What about audio interface and midi ports? The audio interface on the pi isn’t the best quality and would only give a single stereo out.

If any of the above (audio, midi, screen, buttons or pads) are via USB then the latency would be really bad. The USB controller on the Pi shares its connection to the CPU with the network interface and both USB jitter and throughput isn’t great.

Anyone who would want to attempt such a software development would need detailed block diagrams, schematics and data sheets before starting work on such a project.

Furthermore, to reduce latency how were you expecting the software to run? On top of a Linux kernel with -rt patch set? Or bare metal? There are advantages to both. Using Linux means you can run the same software on any other computer if you abstract out all the I/O code, which speeds development time, but you’ll be tied to various third party libraries which are not designed for low latency work.

It’s a nice idea, but the Raspberry Pi isn’t the best board to build this around and software is much harder to develop than you think. You’d probably actually get better results trying to build a clone of the MPC2000 and using its OS as it’s x86 based (which more people know) and you just (!) need to mimic the address space as visible to the CPU.



Like I said I’m looking to find someone to help with all the things your saying. I really don’t care if it’s raspberry pi or another thing like it. I did use force sensitive resistors and found similar small scale individual “pads” in Japan. Was planning on mapping them in the software individually. The SD card slot would replace the floppy and function just as normal on an mpc. The screen is a 3cm x 15cm compatible with most project pi type devices. Very close in size to a 2000xl screen and I will mold a bezel out of epoxy. I made the box out of 20 ga steel and formed it on a break press and powder coating within the next week. The midi ins and outs will still be 5 pin din ports. I’m making custom bread boards for The tactile buttons and a friend will be silk screening all the labels and logos.

Please add your suggestions for the mini computer or other computer type hardware I could use instead of just complaining about my first choice. This is as far as I have made it on this project and nobody has responded with anything helpful. Again, help or move along.
By HonorYourCraft Fri Oct 18, 2019 1:46 pm
OP, how did this turn out? Did you give up or did you get something made? I was thinking about using a RPi3 or 4 with an MPC studio I have laying around. After some googling this thread was the first thing to pop up. I also was kicking around the idea of making a sampler with arcade buttons etc. I haven't dedicated any time into it but I am an electrician with a background in control work. I don't have much coding experience, that's why I was thinking it would be easier using the MPC studio with a Pi.
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By Monotremata Fri Oct 18, 2019 4:41 pm
HonorYourCraft wrote:OP, how did this turn out? Did you give up or did you get something made? I was thinking about using a RPi3 or 4 with an MPC studio I have laying around. After some googling this thread was the first thing to pop up. I also was kicking around the idea of making a sampler with arcade buttons etc. I haven't dedicated any time into it but I am an electrician with a background in control work. I don't have much coding experience, that's why I was thinking it would be easier using the MPC studio with a Pi.


Well considering no one has the source code for the MPC2000 at all, Im pretty sure absolutely nothing ever became of it and he made himself a useless box of parts.

No one can "port" the MPC2K OS to anything, if it was that simple, someone would've done it 20 years ago jeez. Software does NOT work like that at all.
By HonorYourCraft Sat Oct 19, 2019 1:38 am
Monotremata wrote:
HonorYourCraft wrote:OP, how did this turn out? Did you give up or did you get something made? I was thinking about using a RPi3 or 4 with an MPC studio I have laying around. After some googling this thread was the first thing to pop up. I also was kicking around the idea of making a sampler with arcade buttons etc. I haven't dedicated any time into it but I am an electrician with a background in control work. I don't have much coding experience, that's why I was thinking it would be easier using the MPC studio with a Pi.


Well considering no one has the source code for the MPC2000 at all, Im pretty sure absolutely nothing ever became of it and he made himself a useless box of parts.

No one can "port" the MPC2K OS to anything, if it was that simple, someone would've done it 20 years ago jeez. Software does NOT work like that at all.


Thanks for the quick reply. I thought this thread may have been dead! I was on a google search for "mpc studio raspberry pi" and this thread popped up first. I have never written any software nor am I familiar with with the MPC2k software.

I *asked only to see if anything developed from this ambitious project, my real interest was if the MPC Studio software could run on an SBC and then interface with the MPC Hardware. It's looking like the specs for the studio sw are looking for a 2.5 GHz duo core, 4 GB of RAM and 2gb of storage. I am sure there is an SBC that has better than those specs.

I'm not here to wire a bunch of shit together and then pretend as if any software developer that has the ability "to port" the mpc2k OS over to my contraption would be lucky to be a part of my project.

I already own the MPC Studio. I am about to pull the trigger on the MPC X soon and was looking to set up the MPC studio (I have sitting around collecting dust) for my kids to play with via a SBC (ideally). I may end up craigs listing a laptop that can support the MPC studio, but thought it would be a cooler project to put it on an SBC. :smoker: :smoker: :) :)