OS status?

You people that already own the mpc2500. Does it do everything it says in the manual its supposed to? And the features it was advertised with, are they all there and working?

That would be a first if so!

You people that already own the mpc2500. Does it do everything it says in the manual its supposed to? And the features it was advertised with, are they all there and working?

That would be a first if so!

Can you give me an example of an MPC that says that it can do something in the manual that couldn't be done?

As far as the 2500, I can't comment yet since the manual is in Japanese and I am still waiting for the English translation from Akai Japan.

In the English brochure I received..it says that it has MASTER sync..but as of OS 1.00, it can only be a Slave.

The patched phrase function I hve yet to figure out. The brochure states that this function creates sequence data..but I haven't been able to do that with the first OS.

I am still freestyling this with no manual though...

jahrome wrote:

You people that already own the mpc2500. Does it do everything it says in the manual its supposed to? And the features it was advertised with, are they all there and working?

That would be a first if so!

Can you give me an example of an MPC that says that it can do something in the manual that couldn't be done?

As far as the 2500, I can't comment yet since the manual is in Japanese and I am still waiting for the English translation from Akai Japan.

In the English brochure I received..it says that it has MASTER sync..but as of OS 1.00, it can only be a Slave.

The patched phrase function I hve yet to figure out. The brochure states that this function creates sequence data..but I haven't been able to do that with the first OS.

I am still freestyling this with no manual though...

First do the Auto Chop to slice each sound, then convert into Phrase Pattern by setting the original tempo, next assign the phrase pattern(which will be a copy of the original tempo phrase) to a program and a pad and finally go to main screen and hit the pad to play. Great thing about it is that the phrase is set to one shot so the whole thing plays out at whatever tempo you change too.

Blue Haze wrote:
First do the Auto Chop to slice each sound, then convert into Phrase Pattern by setting the original tempo, next assign the phrase pattern(which will be a copy of the original tempo phrase) to a program and a pad and finally go to main screen and hit the pad to play. Great thing about it is that the phrase is set to one shot so the whole thing plays out at whatever tempo you change too.

I figured most of that out but I may be missing/misunderstand something.

I thought patched phrase was slicing a sample (like Chop shop), putting it in a program, and automatically assigning the samples in a program to a seuqnece for play back.

I must ask..what is the difference between patched phrase and the timestretch function?

jahrome wrote:Can you give me an example of an MPC that says that it can do something in the manual that couldn't be done?

Oh man, youre saying the 4000 worked properly when it came out?

It was missing tons of shit and some advertised features was even abandoned (intellisample.. *.prj files). The whole reason to my post was to find out if akai has gotten any better at releasing a finished product, not really debating old mpc problems.

Kalei

jahrome wrote:

Blue Haze wrote:
First do the Auto Chop to slice each sound, then convert into Phrase Pattern by setting the original tempo, next assign the phrase pattern(which will be a copy of the original tempo phrase) to a program and a pad and finally go to main screen and hit the pad to play. Great thing about it is that the phrase is set to one shot so the whole thing plays out at whatever tempo you change too.

I figured most of that out but I may be missing/misunderstand something.

I thought patched phrase was slicing a sample (like Chop shop), putting it in a program, and automatically assigning the samples in a program to a seuqnece for play back.

I must ask..what is the difference between patched phrase and the timestretch function?

Patched Phrase is beatmapping essentially chopping the phrases into minute slices that can be sequence at fine resolutions like 1/32 or 1/64 in order to speed up or slow down the tempo without changing pitch. However the beauty of the it to what Naoya-san showed me was that you can change the pitch and tempo separately as you like. Low pitch but fast bpm.

Timestretching on the other hand is a process on breaking a sound down into grains of sound by thousands of little slices and then putting it back again with the spacing included into the sound. However if the pitch for the sound isn`t set right for example the 2xl male vocal, percussion settings for timestretch it with have artifacts in the sound.


Ableton Live, Recycle and others are based on the same process at beatmapping which is easier and better sounding than some timestretching processing maybe to the exception of Serata Pitch and Time but even that isn`t realtime.


Another thing think of part phrases as mini sequences on a different pads just like in Ableton Live 5 then the possiblilties of the new mpc 2500 comes clearer. However the technology doesn`t necessary work on a input track that you record into the 2500 until you try to break down a 24 bar vocal sample into three 8 bar phrases or eight 4 bar phrases and process with the chop and pphrase functions as the limit of phrase is 64.


Bad news kalei the 4k will not be getting the chop/phrase functions any time soon. But just do it the old school way and count the beats and the set the resolution of the region. Takes time but its doable. Plus if you got Live 5 as a midi slave to the 4k you can do without. May have great things in the future for both Live 5 and the 4kthat is beyond the 2500. Seen it in action.

2500 is cool though price 190000 but I will work on with what I have. If I was still a 2xl or a 1k owner I would definitively go for the 2500 for sure.

jahrome wrote:...In the English brochure I received..it says that it has MASTER sync..but as of OS 1.00, it can only be a Slave...

So it doesn't output midi clock? That's pretty hard to believe.

yeah morgan I was thinking the same thing.

My mistake again. Thanks for keeping me on my toes. Its syncs to MIDI clock and transmits MIDI clock. No MTC sync however......

Blue Haze wrote:
Patched Phrase is beatmapping essentially chopping the phrases into minute slices that can be sequence at fine resolutions like 1/32 or 1/64 in order to speed up or slow down the tempo without changing pitch. However the beauty of the it to what Naoya-san showed me was that you can change the pitch and tempo separately as you like. Low pitch but fast bpm.

I will test this further but I am still confused about this function. Chop Shop slices the samples and assign them to the pads. I can then assign them to a sequence. I get this part. But the Patch Phrase seems to also chop the sample but still keep it as a single sample..but with blank spaces throughout the phrase. So far, I can't find any use for that.

But back to the Chop Shop...Akai should add another function where it automatically creates a sequence (standard MIDI sequence file) for the Chopped samples to play it back.

Blue Haze wrote:Bad news kalei the 4k will not be getting the chop/phrase functions any time soon.

oh well that sucks

jahrome wrote:

Blue Haze wrote:
Patched Phrase is beatmapping essentially chopping the phrases into minute slices that can be sequence at fine resolutions like 1/32 or 1/64 in order to speed up or slow down the tempo without changing pitch. However the beauty of the it to what Naoya-san showed me was that you can change the pitch and tempo separately as you like. Low pitch but fast bpm.

I will test this further but I am still confused about this function. Chop Shop slices the samples and assign them to the pads. I can then assign them to a sequence. I get this part. But the Patch Phrase seems to also chop the sample but still keep it as a single sample..but with blank spaces throughout the phrase. So far, I can't find any use for that.

But back to the Chop Shop...Akai should add another function where it automatically creates a sequence (standard MIDI sequence file) for the Chopped samples to play it back.

The difference between Chop Shop and Part Phrase is that Part Phrase you may say is invisible( that is the sequence doesn`t show in step edit or grid edit it is like another sequence slave to your master sequence in your main window however the whole phrase is contained on a pad opposed to a track like the older mpcs series.

That way a Part Phrase Program can contain up to 16 or more part phrases on sixteen pads in one bank in the same program. As you play live each phrase acts as a one shot loop that you can trigger anytime even as you adjust the tempo up and down and the phrase with stay in sync. Great for live DJ improv similiar to Ableton Live in a way. Auto sync. Slicing is how Ableton Live and other great loop sequencers work.

The difference between Chop Shop and Part Phrase is that Part Phrase you may say is invisible( that is the sequence doesn`t show in step edit or grid edit it is like another sequence slave to your master sequence in your main window however the whole phrase is contained on a pad opposed to a track like the older mpcs series.

That way a Part Phrase Program can contain up to 16 or more part phrases on sixteen pads in one bank in the same program. As you play live each phrase acts as a one shot loop that you can trigger anytime even as you adjust the tempo up and down and the phrase with stay in sync. Great for live DJ improv similiar to Ableton Live in a way. Auto sync. Slicing is how Ableton Live and other great loop sequencers work.

Damn....I got it. Thanks Blue Haze.

I kept using old MPC logic. I was thinking how in the heck can you adjust the tempo of a triggered sample in real-time. Your explanation sums it up perfectly and I can now use this function.

My wife just called me to let me know my English manual is on the way


Now that I have played with the Patch Phrase more, it is a nice function. I just wish that it could be used on longer samples. But I guess choping samples into smaller parts and then Patch Phrase these smaller parts will be the best way to go for now.

Blue Haze, do you have acess to an MPC 2500 today?

I dunno if Ableton really works the 'chopping' way...

I would say it uses miniscule enuf slices to be considered 'timestretching' not 'chopping'... especially what about that new hi quality mode in Ableton 5?

Kalei wrote:
Oh man, youre saying the 4000 worked properly when it came out?

It was missing tons of **** and some advertised features was even abandoned (intellisample.. *.prj files). The whole reason to my post was to find out if akai has gotten any better at releasing a finished product, not really debating old mpc problems.

I said no such thing. I just asked a question.

And from my memory...a 'ton' of this in in accurate. When I got my first MPC 4000, there were just a few (2-3 things) that Akai said was coming (like streaming samples from hard disk) but never made it. But I got mine in Japan and have no idea of what Akai USA was posting on their websites. They are not really on the same page..most of the Engineers of the MPCs today are in Japan.

So far, everything thing it says on Akai Japans website is accurate.