Help A Not So New Newbie Out

I'm not sure if I should've put this in the newbie forums but I figured that was for more basic questions. So at a risk of having a bunch of 17 year olds flame me, here goes.


When it comes to my MPC 2000XL I'm old shool. I bought one quite a few years back and use to take samples in from vinyl or my Korg Trinity. When I had my beat down, I would sync it up with my VS-1680 and dump the tracks that way, utilizing the seperate I/O features on both machines. From there I would take it to the studio when ready and go through the pain staking process of multiple passing. As tedious as it was, I didn't want to give up that style of beat making, until my screen fried in 2003.

I put it in the shop and in the meantime was forced to learn PC production (Adobe Audition, FL5, Reason and various other synth programs etc). I relocated a few times in that short year and my MPC sat in the shop, when I finally got it out it pretty much collected dust.

I've grown tired of FL, I don't care if 9th wonder produced what record on it, I'm happy for you PC dudes that you got it doing this and that and you just sold a beat on soundclick, but sometimes it just doesn't cut it for what I need. Therefore I think it's time to bring the old girl back out and see what she can do.


So to quit rambling here's my question. For users that come from both schools (old school gear vs the new generation of PC, software and plugins etc..) What are some of the better ways I can utilize my MPC, with my more modern PC based hardware/software?


External Gear list.

MPC 2000XL - (Extra outs, SCSI)
Roland VS-1680
Yamaha MIDI Trigger



PC Hardware

Audiophile 2496
Digidesign's DIGI 001
(I only use the DIGI when transferring files into PT at the moment)

Tekram 315 SCSI (not installed right now but I still have it)



PC Software

FL5
Reason 3.0
Adobe Audition
Cubase SX 2
Pro Tools LE 6.4

(a whole slew of other apps, but these are the main ones I thought to be relevant)




I should mention, that at the moment, I have no means of saving samples (other than the MPC's floppy). I had an old SyQuest once upon a time but that bit the dust a long time ago.


So anybody out there that can tell me what options I have here?

It's a shame to not use some of this stuff to it's full potential.


P.S. I searched around a bit, but wasn't finding the answers I really need. I'd like to hear a few different possible scenarios. Please excuse me if there is a similar topic.

Thanks, your time is appreciated.

For storage I'd install an card reader in the mpc. The combination mpc 2kxl + digidesign001 + protools le should do the trick IMO. Get another usb card reader to connect to your pc so you can transfer samples back and forth between your mpc and your pc.

pt3r wrote:For storage I'd install an card reader in the mpc. The combination mpc 2kxl + digidesign001 + protools le should do the trick IMO. Get another usb card reader to connect to your pc so you can transfer samples back and forth between your mpc and your pc.

Sorry I'm so late with the response, but a topic about zips on another board reminded me that I posted this. The topic of card readers came up, and nobody seems to be using them yet, although a few others like myself are interested. I was wondering if you (or anybody else) could break it down as to the benifits,(I've read soe of the basics on these forums when I first joined, but could use a refresher seeing as I knew nothing of card readers before joining here) and what card I should be investing in. I want to look into going that route next week


Thanks

advantage of cf cards over zips drives:

- No moving parts = less wear = no click of death
- No noise
- Cheap, readily available and big storage space on one single card (my 2kxl uses a 1 Gig cf card without any trouble) .

as for the reader, see this thread for more info:

http://mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=20082&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

This is my tower. I bought both 100 MB internal zip drive (iomega) and an internal
multi card reader on ebay for about 10.00 usd for both. (thats including shipping!)




And here is the MPC with the card reader. It makes life 110% better when
loading samples to the mpc and also saving PGMs, SEQs and stuff like that
from the MPC back to the PC and/or PC to MPC or both.

I also have an external 100mb zip drive for the MPC if I ever needed it.

Shamann wrote: So to quit rambling here's my question. For users that come from both schools (old school gear vs the new generation of PC, software and plugins etc..) What are some of the better ways I can utilize my MPC, with my more modern PC based hardware/software?

External Gear list.
MPC 2000XL - (Extra outs, SCSI)
Roland VS-1680
Yamaha MIDI Trigger

PC Hardware
audiophile 2496
Digidesign's DIGI 001
(I only use the DIGI when transferring files into PT at the moment)

Tekram 315 SCSI (not installed right now but I still have it)

PC Software
FL5
Reason 3.0
Adobe Audition
Cubase SX 2
Pro Tools LE 6.4

So anybody out there that can tell me what options I have here?
It's a shame to not use some of this stuff to it's full potential.

i would use the MPC / reason for music production ..
(i like to use the sequencer on the MPC i dont use the reason sequencer
but i still use the reason seq to automate the effects)
edit waves with audition ( with a little mastering thrown in ther too)
i usually edit my samples on the PC before i import them into the MPC
or i use Recycle to chop the sample and export as an AKAI pgm..

you could use the 1680 as a submixer before running it into pro tools
to utilize its effects and such on audio coming out of your pc or synth module or what have you

just a few ideas