Want to create Harpsichord Program.

I've been looking at getting the MPC1000 for a few months now, but there are a few things i need help with that the manual hasn't clearly answered for me. I have a nice harpsichord cd i would like to use, but don't really want a large full-featured sampler. The MPC1000 size and built in sequencer are perfect for what i would want to do.

As i understand it, i can may multisamples to 64 keys on a midi keyboard, correct? Can i have a sample play on note and on release with one key? The harpsichord cd i have has a down and release layer.

Another question i have is about how memory is measured. If one sample set is 32mb, what does that mean as far as global memory? What are the limitations i may run into? Would the harpsichord take up 32mb and then i be left with 96mb of system memory?

If i map the harpsicord across all the available keys, does that mean i won't be able to have any other samples availible to play along with the harpsichord?

Most of these seem to be basic sampling questions so hopefully the are easily answered. Thanks!

The sampler section only recognizes note on. Not note off. You can still make a very realistic sounding instrument though. You can have up to four samples per note with the ability to fire each sample off by velocity range. The program you make with the samples are loaded into Ram so yes, if you use 32 megs for a given program, this is subtracted from the total Ram. You can have up to 128 megs (some of this memory is allocated to the system) installed. You can have a different program on each track (limited by your Ram of course).

with four banks for samples I highly doubt you'll have trouble adding sounds... do you have the maximum memory?

I don't actually have one. I'm trying to see if it will do what i want it to. Thanks for the replies so far. It sounds like i could set up a decent melodic program.

You mentioned that there isn't a note off feature, but i was reading the manual and on page 32 it says in the D (duration) field you can set this to note on or off. Then in the midi chart it says note off isnt transmitted or recognized? What's up with that?

If this isn't possible, does anyone know of a workaround? Ideally i would want one sample to play on note on, and another sample to play on note off since the sound of the harpsichord depends on this. Maybe joining them and having the second part play on release?

Thanks for all the help so far.

Most midi gear now doesn't use note off, they just stop when note on stops. It happened many years ago, over a decade I think. It is faster that way, and less messages to clog the midi up.

Harpsicords are not velocity sensative, you can hit the keys with a mallet and the volume of the pluck will be the same. That's why the piano was so popular.

As for the note off sample, just use a release envelope on each sample. Harpsicords don't really vary in decay times,(there is no way of changing this by playing style AFAIK) so each sample's natural decay will do fine.

Yeah, in most cases the NOTE ON with velocity = 0 is interpreted as NOTE OFF. But, to specifically answer your quetion, NO, the MPC1K cannot trigger a sound on NOTE OFF. So it would be difficult to get that second sample as a "release" sound. You'd probably be better off with sampler like an S2000 or similar. Not only do you get the release, you get multisamples so each single sample can pitch shift across several notes very cleanly. Plus you could get a good used one for 1/2 the price of an MPC1K.

But he doesn't need that feature for the Harpsichord program ?

I guess i'm not sure if i do or not. Harpsichords strike a note when the plectrum goes back to rest. Are you saying just have the envelope end and then automatically play the release layer?

Oooh, I forgot about that! Hmm.. That's a tough one.

spiral wrote:You mentioned that there isn't a note off feature, but i was reading the manual and on page 32 it says in the D (duration) field you can set this to note on or off. Then in the midi chart it says note off isnt transmitted or recognized? What's up with that?

The section you are referring to in the manual says (talking about Duration)... "You can specify how long a note is held (length of a note). In the MIDI standard, pressing a key is called “Note on”, releasing a key is called “Note off”. In this field, you will set the time from Note on to Note off."

The phrase "you will set the time from Note on to Note off" doesn't mean you pick one or the other, but rather, Duration is the time BETWEEN Note on and Note off. The word "from" is kinda ambiguous, but if you put it in the larger context (of setting the Duration for a note) you'll see what it means.

spiral wrote:I guess i'm not sure if i do or not. Harpsichords strike a note when the plectrum goes back to rest. Are you saying just have the envelope end and then automatically play the release layer?

Spiral, I think you should abandon all hope of creating any practical way of incorporating the release samples with the Akai. Nothing can be triggered after you release a key/pad.

What you were asking above, to have the envelope end "and then automatically play the release layer" is something the Akai can't do. Don't get me wrong... you can use the MPC1000 very effectively as a "rompler" to playback all manner of musical instruments using your external MIDI keyboard. I've done this with piano samples, organ samples, bass samples, etc. And you could use it for your harpsi samples too... you just won't be able to trigger the release sounds. In a mix of other instruments (percussion, strings, vocals, etc.) the harpsichord will sound fine without the releases. However, if you're wanting to use the MPC1000 as a standalone "MIDI Harpsichord Module", it probably won't cut it.

Bummer. That's what it is sounding like. The size, built in sequencer and compact flash card were all very appealing to me. All the old "real" samplers seem to use floppys or scsi drives and take up at least 2 rack spaces. Any suggestions for a small, fairly full-featured hardware sampler? Or does this holy grail not exist? Thanks!

spiral wrote:Any suggestions for a small, fairly full-featured hardware sampler? Or does this holy grail not exist? Thanks!

Do you have a laptop? Why not get Native Instrument's Kontact sampler? It supports release samples and costs about half of an MPC1000. There are probably other soft-samplers that support release samples as well.

um have you checked out an s3000xl? here's a tip, if you fart on your harpsi cd, it will smell bad

nice to see you here jef!

just to let you all know, this man takes his harsichord samples VERY seriously! hehe

just playin boss!


peace

evan

Hey there evan. I have checked it out. But like the other stuff above, it is way big. I am on the quest which may be impossible, which is to find a small tabletop / gigable sampler that can play note on and off and load multisamples w/ a sequencer. Thanks for the tip.