MPC 2500 DVD Tutorial

Hi dudes and dudettes,

I have been asked to write an article for Sound On Sound for MPC 2500 Tips N' Tricks.

I will be incorporating the article content in a new DVD that I am creating for Samplecraze and MPC-Samples.

I wanted to announce this here and also to ask what you would like to see in the DVD?

Thnx

Zukan
Samplecraze

Porn.




No really. I'd like to see;
Editing Samples Section.
Creating Programs.
OS / Mem / Disk / CDRom Upgrade procedures.
Copying WAVs via USB.
Sequence Editing.
Q Link Sliders and assigning them to params.
Direct Record.
Grid Edit.
Track Mute Section.
Mixer and Effects.
16 Levels Key.

These are the things that crop up the most on this board.

Cool. Thnx.

Porn's a given BTW.

dablunt wrote:These are the things that crop up the most on this board.

Then you should add

- How to stop programs and sequences from Autoloading when powering on the MPC2500
- How does Timing Correct work


as well.

wow!

Id love to see

1. sequencing
2. timestretch/ pitch shift (different use and tricks)
3. show us which vocal samples are effective at cutting up for songs etc.


Thanks!

ways of burning a cd off the mpc2500

not only the technical side of things but also "effitient workflows"

Tips and tricks with tunings. I'd like to see the use of pitch with multi samples along with autochromatic. I really wanted to try pitching say a major chord on one pad like in Live. I want to tune the same sample up say 3 and up more by 7 then assign to one pad. Then auto chromatic so you can play a chord with one key on your midi keyboard.

I also want to see how I can pitch a sample in the trim > edit menu and save the pitch to a new sample. Oh and what zookie was saying, timestretch.

When do you expect to release the dvd and how much do you plan to charge for it?

I'd like to see:
An in depth section about Chop Shop when to increase and decrease sensitivities thresholds and recovery times.

In depth look at the effects and their applications.

Patch phrasing and the different applications that it can be used for.

Timestretching and finding a samples original bpm (not just with the tap tempo button). Also when to use each preset when processing samples (i.e. when timestretching and pitchshifting).

Sampling and tracking techniques as well as drum tuning (if theres space for extra footage) and when and why use the S/PDIF connections?

All suggestions have been noted. Thank you.

I am not sure of the release date as it will be tied in with Sound On Sound as both an article to intro the product and exclusive sales through Samplecraze, MPC-Samples and Sound On Sound.

Right now I am trying to collate the material into a sensible narrative and work off that template, but am torn between providing a basic dvd tutorial for beginners, a la the manual, or an indepth advanced users guide.
It would be very difficult to incorporate the two into one dvd as this would amount to acres of material.

The idea is to integrate the 2500 into a production tutorial, offering guides and examples of it's more advanced feature sets, and incorporating these in a studio environment, tracking to a DAW and incorporating EQ, compression etc...
That way you not only learn how to get personal with the 2500 but how to integrate it into a fully fledged production tutorial.

Questions must answers seek, must I. (said in Yoda speak).
Meditate I will.

I'd like to see a really helpful instructional dvd so Im gonna give you a long chunky post about what I'd really like to see in an instructional. As well as reviews of 2 other dvds about the 2500 that I've seen. You can choose to read or you can ignore.

Personally, I do not want to see a beginners dvd for the 2500. Most users of the 2500 already have the manual that came with it otherwise they can also dl the pdf from the akai website. Likewise there are already dvd's covering the basics and pretty much anything the manual already covers.

I just recently got my 2500 but whenever I get a new piece of gear I always try to get as much instructional material about it. Right after I got it I purchased both the Samplekings and the Sounds For Samplers dvds for it.

Samplekings pretty much always makes toilet paper dvds (whatever you do please avoid making a dvd anything resembling any of the Samplekings dvds). Please no corny jokes it wastes time from actual information. No offense to the Samplekings but that guy Doc pretty much always makes himself look like an a$$ on all his dvds because he wastes time on his dvds repeating himself and making stoopid jokes (I'm sure you're a cool guy but in all seriousness as a consumer and purchaser of your dvd I could honestly care less about your personality, I want pertinent information!). Another thing they do wrong is they always only provide the most basic and obvious aspects in all their dvds (i.e. pointing out that the volume knob is used for increasing and decreasing volume). He also wasted about 3 minutes of dvd time just plugging in midi cables into the 2500 and then unplugging and replugging them into different outputs because he prefers to use outputs A and B instead of C and D. So I'd suggest just getting straight down to educational information on your dvd. Also no need for fancy animated menus and title screens avoid repeating basic information like what the Samplekings do unless your going to elaborate on what you said.

The Sounds for Samplers was a much better dvd. He spent more time providing information that could be useful for someone who's never worked with the 2500. He also wasted little time with stoopid jokes. You could tell he was trying to fit in as much information as he could into the time he was alotted. However, a few things that didn't help his cause were he mispronounced things i.e. he kept referring to the cursors as cruisers and he kept referring to presets as presents. Little things like that are usually obvious but can be misleading and confusing to someon who's never touched an MPC before. His production values were also kinda shotty. Not that its a big deal but at certain points the viewer wasnt getting a good visual of what he was doing and what buttons he was pushing because of badly executed camera angles. His dvd was good but good for a beginner. It seems as though most of what he covered could be found in the manual.

So all in all I'd much rather see a more advanced instructional dvd that focuses on stuff that cannot be found in the manual. Plus being that there are already dvds, youtube videos and other tutorials as well as the manual covering the basics you would be able to cover the market for advanced users looking for some formal guidance for aspects of the 2500 that the manuals and other instructionals do not cover which I would imagine be good for your own sales.

Hope this helps and I apologize for the long annoying to read post but I really want a dvd thats actually worth my money for once.

No apology need Toh, that was a great post.

All points noted.
Thnx

Z

Sonds great, and its awsome that you're checking in the forums first. I would say like any other turotial, make sure you go through EVERYTHING thats in the manual or as far the latest OS (and state the OS on the DVD) and after that, include all the tips and tricks you can find from the experts in the forum such as shortcuts and/or tricks that aren't in the manual.

You might also want want to have a intro chapter talking about the basical electricity meaning balanced or unbalanced cables (very brief description as it can effect the sound quality), hooking up to a mixer, hooking up to a MIDI controller and sound module, and finally using it in Protools/Logic/ or whichever other software people most prefer. Thats all I can think of for now hope that was helpful

how about how to use it in a live enviroment?

live use - good point - and as said B4 - use of the mpc in a modern DAW enviroment...