Do I need the memory expansion?

Greetings!

I am an absolutely newbie of mpc, but plan to get a mpc 500 to creat some beats.

It is a shame that I can not get the free 128MB memory expansion because I am in UK instead of US...

Just want to ask if it is necessary to spend extra money to buy the 128MB memory for MPC500. And what is the differen between the CF card memory and the on-board memory? I have already had a 1GB CF, should I pay more for the on board memory expansion?

Thanks a lot!

Onboard RAM and CF card are different things. The CF card can only save your work and samples, like a harddrive. Everything you want to play needs to be in RAM first, so if you have a pretty complex song with a lot of samples you might quickly exceed the 16 MB standard RAM.

Just see if you need the extra memory when you got your MPC, then you can easily upgrade it later if needed.

Thanks a lot. By the way, is it true that a standard laptop memory can be used on MPC?

Obviously yes, at least it seems to work with the 2500 and 1000 if you pick the right memory. In the 1000 forum there's a thread listing the RAMs that work for other people already.
Problem is, you need a 256MB stick because of the way the MPC handles the memory, so you save less money than you could. I would recommend using the official Akai RAM to avoid any problems.

Do what you do without adding additional memory (expense).....if you end up needing more memory, you will find out soon enough by simply going through your processes.