Reviews and questions about the entry-level MPC500
By retrokid192 Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:56 am
Ok so this is my first post so this is big for me. I recently bought a mpc 500 and I love it, but I'm having problems with midi connections. I have a boss Dr.5 laying around and was wondering if I could use it as a sound module. A Dr.5 is an older drum machine from the 90's. It has tons of sounds such as drum kits, piano sounds, acoustic sounds, etc. In the manuel it shows how to set it up and I did exactly that. I have the keyboard midi out too the mpc in and the mpc out to the Dr.5 in. But I'm not getting any sound from the Dr.5 on the keyboard. In the manuel it say's to turn the program assign off so the internal sounds won't be active. How exactly do I turn the program assign off? I tried muting the track but the keyboard still playz internal sounds from the mpc when I press the keys.I alzo have the the midi channels the same on the keyboard and the boss Dr. 5. If you guys could help it would be much appreciated.
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By enotide Mon Jul 09, 2007 1:20 pm
I think you would need a MIDI Thru involved, So with your set up only the MPC will trigger sounds on the DR 5.
Try hooking up the MP and the Keys, then if the Keyboard has a MIDI thru go the DR 5 with That.
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By Lithion Mon Jul 09, 2007 5:44 pm
enotide wrote:I think you would need a MIDI Thru involved, So with your set up only the MPC will trigger sounds on the DR 5.
Try hooking up the MP and the Keys, then if the Keyboard has a MIDI thru go the DR 5 with That.


no thats not the problem, the problem is that sound is not transfered through midi cables, you need to hook the rhythm machine up to your mixer


http://www.tweakheadz.com/how_to_get_st ... _midi.html

why are you using a keyboard to trigger the sounds on your dr. rhythm? wouldn't mpc pads give you a better feel?



so your setup should look like this

Midi handshake with dr rhythm and mpc (in to out, out to in)

audio outs of mpc and audio outs of dr rhythm to individual mixer ins

midi channel on rhythm machine and mpc the same

By retrokid192 Mon Jul 09, 2007 8:33 pm
Thanks for the replies. The link given was helpful. But it states that midi can't transfer sound. The thing is that I have transferred sounds. I've used the keyboard to play the strings program from the 500. I also managed to play accoustic sounds from the Dr.5. I just might have to buy an audio interface either way to master my tracks and make midi work properly. I also wanted to know how to turn the program assign off. And will buying a sound module make things easier if so which should I be lookin at?
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By Lithion Mon Jul 09, 2007 8:54 pm
You can't transfer sound through midi, it's not possible. What was probably happening was you had your audio cables hooked up to something. Midi triggers devices, it does not, does not transfer sound. As far as turning the program off, I don't own a 500 anymore but it should be in the manual somewhere.

By Glyph Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:30 pm
As the peron who purchased Lithion's 500 (Whats upt Lithion) I will tell you how to turn of a program. Hit track then params from here turn the data wheel to off on the program assign screen. Scroll over to Midi channel change this to the channel of that the sound you are trying to record or trigger in the module if it can react to mutiple midi channels. Scroll to track type change this to midi. Yoou should then be on you way.

Thanks for the support.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... =112503297
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By Lithion Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:36 am
Whatup! Glad somebody could get some use outta that 500.