MPC500 and Novation X-Station 25

Hey everyone, I lurk this board pretty regularly. Had my 500 for while now and still like it though I can understand why some don't.

Anyway, I "try" to make my own style of electronic music and I like the 500 for this. I really like the portability cuz at night I can just have it with me on the back deck while my wife reads a book. Anyway, one thing that frustrates me is using the MPC500 for things other than beats. I don't want to start a war or anything but for me to set up a piano on this thing to record a piano part on track 2 is well you know what I mean.

So I'm thinking that what I could do is get a Novation X-Station 25 which has a built in synth. I could hook both units up together (midi and audio) and be able to sample the synth parts from the X-Station into the 500. This would also get around the problem of the X-Station is not multi but mono timbral. This approach would enable me to record synth parts via midi into the 500 but also sample them that I could layer up the multiple parts of the tune all within the 500. (I have 128 meg of RAM) If i do this I would also have the option of later using my Emulators to add stuff to it later.

Does anybody else work like this? I'm pretty old school and I don't use a computer for music at all, just hardware. I'm not religiously fanatic about hardware, it's just that I work as a software engineer and I don't want to play with computers (PC's) after work. Thanks in advance for any replies

hi there,

I'm a happy user of mpc 500 and xstation 25, and they work well together.
I sample small synth phrases, basslines and riffs on the mpc from the xstation, it adds some color to my beats. Or i sample individual patches to sequence on the mpc.
these 2 machines are my mini portable studio.
The only drawback of this technique is that I miss the stretch feature of ableton live, because my timing is not good, I have to rerecord a few times until my sequence is perfectly timed with the beat.
and the xstation is a great synth in its price tag, a lot of fun for the buck.

keep groovin'

Hey Square bubbles, just got the 25 today and its just like you said Pretty kewl. For me this is a great mini portable studio.

In your experience how long will the X-station run on a fresh set of batteries and is there any way to check the battery level like on the 500. I didn't see anything in the manual.

i never used the mpc or xstation on batteries, i heard about a hypothetical 9hours of running time for the xstation, but don't know.

congrats for the 25.
I was hesitating between it and the microkorg, but the mk's keyboard is absolutely unplayable. the 25 keyboard has a great feel and the aftertouch is awesome.
and as a sound card it's very reliable to get my beats on the laptop for mixing or process the sounds through guitar rig.

have fun!

"In your experience how long will the X-station run on a fresh set of batteries and is there any way to check the battery level like on the 500. I didn't see anything in the manual."

On the MPC 500 you check your battery by going to OTHER and it will tell you how much power / memory you you have availible.

Spacetimegod wrote:"In your experience how long will the X-station run on a fresh set of batteries and is there any way to check the battery level like on the 500. I didn't see anything in the manual."

On the MPC 500 you check your battery by going to OTHER and it will tell you how much power / memory you you have availible.

He was asking about the X-station...