Top Setup!

I'm new to the MPC so I'm in the process of working this out myself; I'll let you know how it goes in a few days (hopefully)..

606man - you got an MPC? which type?

No, but my wife does!

It's funny, because I never really wanted to get one (didn't see the real need + 'if everyone's got one why use it?' type mentality). However, my missus always wanted one, and when the 500 came out she was like "that's it; I'm having it!"...

So yeah, we now have an MPC500 in the house. I don't get to touch it much though (hands OFF she says; you don't like MPC's she says...). So it wont be coming with me at all - it really is her baby. She loves the 'cute' look and feel to the 500, and with a condenser mic plugged in it's a cool field recorder. Nevertheless, just to see how it works, I'm sure she'll be in on finding out how the SP and MPC go working together.

I may end up getting a 1000 myself if all goes well. Dunno though, because my MC-505 does all the things I would want an MPC for methinks (sequencing beats/ basslines).

that explains it, i knew you were anti-mpc.
i prefer the mpc-style pads to the SP ones,
but it doesn't seem as good as a performance tool...more production focused.
i've only used the 2000, and i was pretty impressed with it

Hehe the pads are the only thing she doesn't like - the have to be hit really hard, even on the most sensitive setting. This makes it a bit hard 'for a girl' (her words NOT mine!). She wants the 606 pads in her MPC as they are so sensitive and really only need a lil tap..

But yeah, I still think the SP is king for performance, no matter how good the MPC is in the studio. What we will try is using the MPC as a main sequencer, running through the SP as a 'realtime effects' box. Dunno which will be the master; will need to see which works better as a slave.

This will give us 32 tracks on the MPC, another 4 (for synced loops) on the SP, with luvverly SP FX on the whole lot! We'll see how it goes. Could be a great solution for a one-person live rig...

Oohh - nearly forgot; I would trigger one-shot vocals on the SP as well; the d-beam trigger is the BEST for that kind of 'c-c-ch-ch-che-checkthisout' stuff!!

OK we have had a crack at this.

The 606 makes a better master...tempo is locked to the current pattern so you don't get timing problems when you change BPM.

So the MIDI chain is 606-->[out] to 500-->[in]. Make sure the 500 is in slave mode.

Use the transport on the 606 to start/stop etc.

Audio Chain is....500[out]--> to 606 -->[in] to mixer.

Make sure you set the MFX up so they don't affect the internal 606 sounds (put fx on them beforehand) but do affect the 500s output.

The D-Beam filter is the last link in the signal path - a great place for it!

I think scorsese went with the 808, but anyway, if anybody's interested, there it is.

Any more news on the 500 and 606 together 606man?

Just asking because I was going to get an ESX to go with my 606 but now I am not so sure. I am thinking that if I had a similar setup to the one you showed above I could run the MPC (I am thinking of a 1K) through the 606 FX. As well as having 2 sets of pads to play with, I could get a pop up mixer case and put some rack mounted multitimbral synths in. The Synths (probably a Waldorf XT and a JP8080) could then be sequenced by the MPC. A lot of knob twiddling possibilities there and I still get the 4 track 606 sequencer and the D Beam as well!

I'd say go with the 1k because the 500 is giving us no end of trouble Bloody thing crashes all the time. We've updated the os and whatnot and it just happens at a different time! One day it'l be good but not yet. It's fine for the missus to play with at home (although frustrating) but I wouldn't trust it in a set at all. I'm busily showing her videos of the 555 and trying to convince her to dump the akai where it belongs.

So yeah, 1k it up - but mind the pads (just get a spare set)..

Sorry to hear about your problems with the 500. Hope you can resolve them soon!

God every time I think, right I will definately buy an MPC, I read something like this and it puts me right off again.

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606man, you are quite fortunate to have a woman that also enjoys slammin' down beats on the square pads, too. If she wants a portable field recorder that can also be used as a groove box, then why not suggest the SP-404, or even the BR600?

Yep I'm a lucky sob I know - especially since my ex of seven years left me because she hated the beatmaking! (among other things of course).

Yeah the 500 makes a poor field recorder anyway as it turns out (damn noisy). I had suggested the 404, but she didn't like the look of it (that's females for you). After seeing the videos of the 555 in action, she has decided she does like the look of that one (which is rather ironic as it looks so similar to the 404). It's the way it records loops that is attractive to her. Obviously it can't be used as a field recorder, but seeing as it's more my thing anyway I'll just begin looking at proper field recorders. The music teacher here at school has an edirol one and it's quite amazing ($600 though!).

Regardless, she wont be giving up on the MPC just yet; if akai can update the os so it stops crashing it'll still be worth keeping. Can't ditch a box unless you've struggled with it for at least a year methinks