Reason NNXT to MPC One Keygroup Inst tips?

This is one reason why I make my large keygroup instruments with sample chains, for example my acoustic pianos (originally350 samples) only use 4 actual sample chains , so less project clutter and much quicker loading. I guess this goes back to my comment about properly made keygroup instruments!

I guess the properly made keygroup instruments aren't made with just an MPC then. And your own instruments weren't properly made before you started to chain samples.

I tried the Steel String Guitar xpm from mpc-samples.com and it added 78 samples to the project. Not properly made.

Akai doesn't do their software properly, IMO.

HouseWithoutMouse wrote:I'm on the Force btw, I assume it's the same issue.

Keygroups are handled the same on Force and MPC.

HouseWithoutMouse wrote:And your own instruments weren't properly made before you started to chain samples.

No need to be like that. I wish I had the time to retrospectively convert all my older expansions to the new sample chain technique, I spend most of my time working on new expansions and investigating ways to make the most out of the MPC functionality, these things don't exist in a magical bubble, there's only so many hours in a day.

Comments like that show what a thankless task it's becoming to try to actually put something out there beyond all the noise of poorly autosampled packs batch-ripped off romplers.

Tutor, I guess I haven't paid attention, but are you doing more of an Ableton style sample pack, where you use one longer sample, and then map your instrument to start/end at various points in the one (or handful) of samples?

Sorry for being like that/this. I was pointing out the real problem that users have with the actual current software and the actual keygroup programs they currently have. Sure some keygroups are better made to circumvent deficiencies in Akai's software, but I can sympathize with someone not wanting to use keygroup instruments because they tend to clutter the project.

NearTao wrote:Tutor, I guess I haven't paid attention, but are you doing more of an Ableton style sample pack, where you use one longer sample, and then map your instrument to start/end at various points in the one (or handful) of samples?

Yes, a sample chain contains a bunch of samples merged into a non-destructively sliced sample. With my keygroup instruments I'm merging all 'layer 1' samples across all keygroups and so on for all layers, so you end up with 4 sample chains, each containing up to 128 slices (so a four layer, 50 keygroup instrument would have four sample chains each with 50 slices). I do it a little differently with drum kits, there I combine the layers together for each articulation (so up to 12 slices per sample chain).

Primarily this was done to speed up loading times, mainly in the Force as the browser there is very inefficient at loading sample heavy programs. a 350 sample program was taking up to 2 minutes to load in the Force, now takes a few seconds (pretty much instantly in the MPC). The more streamlined sample management within the project is a bonus.

HouseWithoutMouse wrote:I tried the Steel String Guitar xpm from mpc-samples.com and it added 78 samples to the project. Not properly made.

I have updated MPC Acoustic Guitar to now use sample chains, plus a few more optimisations, and MIDI included to recreate the demo. Instrument now only requires three sample chains.

Existing owners can just re-download from their account to obtain the latest version (1.1). If you haven't downloaded before, it's completely free:

https://www.mpc-samples.com/product.php ... itar-free/

You can also get a bunch of other freebies here:

https://www.mpc-samples.com/section.php ... xpansions/

Nice! How you do that, do you have a script to do it automatically, or are there manual steps?

HouseWithoutMouse wrote:Nice! How you do that, do you have a script to do it automatically, or are there manual steps?

Mixture of both, the original XPM file needs to meet certain criteria first otherwise the script fails, so there's normally some set up work involved, but it's much quicker than doing it all manually especially when there's sustain loops to deal with (the script can read these in the original files and append the loop points to the sample chain header).

I also normally take the opportunity to incorporate a few additional improvements and tweaks, etc. Ironically for a small pack like this it's the updating of associated resources that can take the most time, in this case having to update the user guide with the updated info and new screenshots, updated product descriptions, newsletter announcing the update etc.