MPC 500, Alesis Micron. MIDI. and some more questions.

first of all i must apologies for my ignorance.

I have an alesis micron keyboard. it has MIDI out, in and through.

i don't know what any of this means because i have no knowledge of how MIDI works at all.

i was wondering, if i bought the 500, will i be able to connect the micron to it via MIDI??

i have only basic "ideas" of how MIDI works and everytime i find a guide online, it just seems overly complicated and confusing.

from what i know;
i will connect the MIDI IN of the micron to the MIDI OUT of the mpc 500 and this set-up will enable the 500 to be the "master" to the micron.

now this is where i get confused. does this mean that i will be able to play the sounds from my micron on the 500??
if so how are the parameters (decay, filter, delay) controlled?? are they still controlled from the micron.
eg. i set a sound up on the micron, edit it to how i like and then i can play the sound on the MPC pads??



im sorry if i sound like a total idiot but i am really clueless when it comes to MIDI. up until now ive been creating loops on the micron and then scratching over them and recording everything directly to tape.

finally. will the MPC be right for what i want to do?
i want to be able to sample and chop and edit my samples in the 500 without using an external computer program.
i've heard that the 500 isn't that good at chopping samples due to its screen and lack of a visible wave form, but is this just an inconvenience to people who are maybe used to the new models of the MPCs?? (i know the older "classic" models didn't have a wave form display)

what is the chopping ability on the MPC like??

i want to just do my drums and samples on the MPC. add some bass and pads (from the alesis micron).

for recording purposes i plan on running the MPC 500 directly into an analog amplifier and then running that directly into a cassette tape recorder. after i have my "song" on tape i will record it to my PC using a copy of sound forge lite that ive had for years.


i plan on making instrumental hip-hop (kind of like DJ Shadow but more scratch orientated). is the 500 the right tool for me??



hopefully somebody can help me out here.
thank you.

(P.S. sorry about the long post)

gasmask wrote:first of all i must apologies for my ignorance.

I have an alesis micron keyboard. it has MIDI out, in and through.

i don't know what any of this means because i have no knowledge of how MIDI works at all.

i was wondering, if i bought the 500, will i be able to connect the micron to it via MIDI??

i have only basic "ideas" of how MIDI works and everytime i find a guide online, it just seems overly complicated and confusing.

from what i know;
i will connect the MIDI IN of the micron to the MIDI OUT of the mpc 500 and this set-up will enable the 500 to be the "master" to the micron.

now this is where i get confused. does this mean that i will be able to play the sounds from my micron on the 500??
if so how are the parameters (decay, filter, delay) controlled?? are they still controlled from the micron.
eg. i set a sound up on the micron, edit it to how i like and then i can play the sound on the MPC pads??



im sorry if i sound like a total idiot but i am really clueless when it comes to MIDI. up until now ive been creating loops on the micron and then scratching over them and recording everything directly to tape.

finally. will the MPC be right for what i want to do?
i want to be able to sample and chop and edit my samples in the 500 without using an external computer program.
i've heard that the 500 isn't that good at chopping samples due to its screen and lack of a visible wave form, but is this just an inconvenience to people who are maybe used to the new models of the MPCs?? (i know the older "classic" models didn't have a wave form display)

what is the chopping ability on the MPC like??

i want to just do my drums and samples on the MPC. add some bass and pads (from the alesis micron).

for recording purposes i plan on running the MPC 500 directly into an analog amplifier and then running that directly into a cassette tape recorder. after i have my "song" on tape i will record it to my PC using a copy of sound forge lite that ive had for years.


i plan on making instrumental hip-hop (kind of like DJ Shadow but more scratch orientated). is the 500 the right tool for me??



hopefully somebody can help me out here.
thank you.

(P.S. sorry about the long post)

Hi there. I use the MicroKorg in this way, and it works fine! You can control any parameter from the MPC and the synthesizer at once. If you have trouble finding out what the MIDI settings for each parameter on the synts is, you can just plug it to the MIDI input on the mpc and record while you turn that specific knob, and you can see the MIDI cc in Step Edit Mode.

The chopping abilities is great, but you have to get used to the non visual feedback, and use your ears! It works for me.

I think it would be fine for you! If you need the visuals, you should go for the mpc-1000 (whith JJ OS of course! )
Good luck!!!

thanks man.

i think i'll buy the 500 now but im wondering about the memory. do i buy the akai memory or just buy third-party RAM??

also ive been reading that ill have to buy 2 128mb RAMs because the 500 (or the 1000) only reads one side of the thing??
i have no idea what im talking about.

mate you might struggle with the micron midi hookup as it works with nrpn or something, not midi cc. you can use midi cc in the modulation matrix, but i'm not sure how you would hook it up to individual parameters.

what does that mean??

all i want to do is be able to play the samples of the micron using the 500 pads. is that possible. i wouldn't do all the editing of the samples of the micron within the micron itself, but would just like to be able to play the samples then on the 500.

is this possible??

(sorry for being totally stupid)

I did not know you could sample on the Micron . I have to get one!!!

You can't sample on the Micron... The Micron doesnt use samples at all, it's a virtual analog synth, it emulates an analog synthesizer....

I guess you can play the Micron from the MPC as every pad is linked to a keyboard key...

thats cool. thats what i want the MPC for anyway. thank you for your help.

eimer wrote:I did not know you could sample on the Micron . I have to get one!!!

sorry it cant sample!! i meant controlling the sounds in the micron, the micron is a synth.

one last question. i keep hearing that the 500 is not that good at chopping samples and most people use a computer program??

is this true??

how is chopping on the 500 different to other MPCs??

gasmask wrote:thats cool. thats what i want the MPC for anyway. thank you for your help.

eimer wrote:I did not know you could sample on the Micron . I have to get one!!!

sorry it cant sample!! i meant controlling the sounds in the micron, the micron is a synth.

Shoot, would have been cool thoug!!

gasmask wrote:one last question. i keep hearing that the 500 is not that good at chopping samples and most people use a computer program??

is this true??

how is chopping on the 500 different to other MPCs??

I don't have any trouble whith the slicing part on the mpc-500. The difference is the lack of graphics. On the bigger models the sample is represented as a graphical spline, but on the 500 you have to chop by ear. It's not that difficult, afterall you have to use your ears when you hear the music anyway!

thanks man.

i know nothing about samplers and have only been messing with drum machines and synths for a while.

but i heard that on other MPC models, there is some sort of auto-chop or something. like you have a 4 bar sample and then the MPC will chop it into like 16 separate pieces for you or something??
is this true and does the 500 have this feature??


i just want to have the micron and another tool to make beats with. then i will just connect the MPC to my DJ mixer and record everything straight to tape while i scratch over the beat (im a scratch nerd).
i dont want to be using a computer for chopping up samples because my family only has one very old computer and it is constantly in use.


i hope that i will be able to create beats totally with the 500, because i have heard some people refer to it as a "sketchpad" for the bigger MPCs...




im sorry if i sound like such an idiot here.

gasmask wrote:thanks man.

i know nothing about samplers and have only been messing with drum machines and synths for a while.

but i heard that on other MPC models, there is some sort of auto-chop or something. like you have a 4 bar sample and then the MPC will chop it into like 16 separate pieces for you or something??
is this true and does the 500 have this feature??


i just want to have the micron and another tool to make beats with. then i will just connect the MPC to my DJ mixer and record everything straight to tape while i scratch over the beat (im a scratch nerd).
i dont want to be using a computer for chopping up samples because my family only has one very old computer and it is constantly in use.


i hope that i will be able to create beats totally with the 500, because i have heard some people refer to it as a "sketchpad" for the bigger MPCs...




im sorry if i sound like such an idiot here.

The bigger models have the autoslice, but this is not found on the 500. If you want to autoslice samples i would reccomend the mpc-1000 (with JJ os!:lol: ). You can do everything you want on the mpc-500, but you have to slice it your selvf. All you need is patience .

thanks man. the manual slice is easy enough to learn on the 500??

I think so!

ok thanks for all the help guys (especially eimer)

ok before i cop this thing are there any other things i should know about??
the 500 probably isn't expensive to most of you guys but to me it will be a lot of money!!
i will be making down-tempo bass heavy tracks to scratch over.

also, do wav. files work on the 500?? and if so how do i get them on there??