A few questions about track mute, sequencing and memory

Hey i just got my mpc500 since im serving in the army and wouldn't/couldn't take my pc with reason with me.. Soo i obviosly got a few questions obut this nice little gadget since im totally new to the whole mpc series.. I pretty much got the basics now and could say i can make a beat from scratch, but i was wondering if it's possible to actually record track mute in a sequence. Let's say i wan't to make a short break in my drumtrack so i mute it at the end of the second bar and record the whole thing.. It aint working though.. Why not? Do i really have to use the delete events function or whatsoever..? I mean isn't that just a matter of midisequencing? Or is there some way to make a track out of samples -lets say some short melody- and PLAY that track in sequence mode just like you're able to play the samples in the track using the assigned pad like track one=pad A1 and recording that in the sequence. Another question: What do you recommend to do, if i run out of ram? Should i record the project to my fourtrack, start a new one with the samples that wouldn't fit before and record it to the two other tracks or is there another way? I DO know there's a memory expansion available but i can't afford buying one. And before somebody posts one of those useful "read the manual"- replies i want to say that i HAVE read it and still havent found answeres to my questions.. Thanks in advance guys.. This is a great forum you've got here!

supasnashbuhl wrote:Let's say i wan't to make a short break in my drumtrack so i mute it at the end of the second bar and record the whole thing.. It aint working though.. Why not? Do i really have to use the delete events function or whatsoever..? I mean isn't that just a matter of midisequencing? Or is there some way to make a track out of samples -lets say some short melody- and PLAY that track in sequence mode just like you're able to play the samples in the track using the assigned pad like track one=pad A1 and recording that in the sequence.

I had the same problem, and this is my first MPC. You can use the track mute when you are playing it, but once you use SONG mode or just make one long sequence out of it, that track will stay muted until you unmute it yourself. I learned to break down each element (instrument or whatever) to a separate track. I even went as far as putting the drums on each of their own tracks.
(Ex. Track A1-Kick, A2-Snare, A3-Hi_Hat, etc.) As far as I know (remember, I'm also fairly new to this), you can do it one of two ways.

#1. Build the sequence in pieces, recording 4 or 8 bars or however you do it. Hit the TRACK button, then RECORD just A1-KICK, for example, and do that until the end. Press the TRACK button again, scroll to A2-SNARE, then RECORD the snare to that track, and so on. It takes time to do it, but it seems that the more you assign things individually, the more control you will have over it.

#2. Record the whole performace on one track, if you want. Go to SEQ. EDIT. Scroll to COPY EVENTS. If you already have everything on track 1, copy events - select which pad (like, if you had the snare on pad 2 originally) and assign it to track 2. You can pick which bars to copy, or not to copy. This way, you can cut out parts of the beat you don't want, without having to mess around with track muting and whatever else. I hate to say it, but read the manual on the SEQ. EDIT thing. Personally, I think the book is for people who know something about MPC's already (yeah, I called Akai tech support, so what?), but read it and try what I suggested. It's probably better to do like 4 or 8 bars at a time. If your patience level is like mine, working with anything more will piss you off and you'll just want to Frag the whole thing.


The memory thing - if you start off with one long sample (ex. Sample01), and then chop it up into as many pieces as you need, it uses up more memory. Once you have the pieces that you need from TRIM mode and you are sure that you won't need the original sample, just delete it. Also, I try to sample in MONO as opposed to STEREO. You get like double the sample time this way. Other than all of that, I'm still learning myself. I hope you get it to work out. Take it easy.

supasnashbuhl wrote:Let's say i wan't to make a short break in my drumtrack so i mute it at the end of the second bar and record the whole thing.. It aint working though.. Why not? Do i really have to use the delete events function or whatsoever..? I mean isn't that just a matter of midisequencing? Or is there some way to make a track out of samples -lets say some short melody- and PLAY that track in sequence mode just like you're able to play the samples in the track using the assigned pad like track one=pad A1 and recording that in the sequence.

I had the same problem, and this is my first MPC. You can use the track mute when you are playing it, but once you use SONG mode or just make one long sequence out of it, that track will stay muted until you unmute it yourself. I learned to break down each element (instrument or whatever) to a separate track. I even went as far as putting the drums on each of their own tracks.
(Ex. Track A1-Kick, A2-Snare, A3-Hi_Hat, etc.) As far as I know (remember, I'm also fairly new to this), you can do it one of two ways.

#1. Build the sequence in pieces, recording 4 or 8 bars or however you do it. Hit the TRACK button, then RECORD just A1-KICK, for example, and do that until the end. Press the TRACK button again, scroll to A2-SNARE, then RECORD the snare to that track, and so on. It takes time to do it, but it seems that the more you assign things individually, the more control you will have over it.

#2. Record the whole performace on one track, if you want. Go to SEQ. EDIT. Scroll to COPY EVENTS. If you already have everything on track 1, copy events - select which pad (like, if you had the snare on pad 2 originally) and assign it to track 2. You can pick which bars to copy, or not to copy. This way, you can cut out parts of the beat you don't want, without having to mess around with track muting and whatever else. I hate to say it, but read the manual on the SEQ. EDIT thing. Personally, I think the book is for people who know something about MPC's already (yeah, I called Akai tech support, so what?), but read it and try what I suggested. It's probably better to do like 4 or 8 bars at a time. If your patience level is like mine, working with anything more will piss you off and you'll just want to Frag the whole thing.


The memory thing - if you start off with one long sample (ex. Sample01), and then chop it up into as many pieces as you need, it uses up more memory. Once you have the pieces that you need from TRIM mode and you are sure that you won't need the original sample, just delete it. Also, I try to sample in MONO as opposed to STEREO. You get like double the sample time this way. Other than all of that, I'm still learning myself. I hope you get it to work out. Take it easy.