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MPC - Reference Manual

1. parameters The Filter Type pop up menu lets you choose a filter type A complete list of all filter tyoes can be found in the Appendix of this manual amp ENVELOPE CUTOFF controls the cutoff frequency for the chosen filter types the center frequency for the band pass and band stop filter types RESO controls the resonance emphasis of the frequencies around B A the cutoff point Use lower values in the range of 0 80 to give more brilliance to the sound At higher values than 80 the sound will result in a strong audible boost around the cutoff frequency ENV determines the amount of influence the filter envelope has on the cutoff frequency Higher settings will increase the modulation of the Filter by the envelope lower settings will result in only subtle changes of the Filter Cutoff over time To give a sound a more distinctive attack you may try to increase the envelope amount value and set low ATK and DECAY values as well as a medium to low SUST value of the Filter Envelope This setting will start a sound with the Filter opened and close it shortly afterward giving it a bright start followed by a darker sustain String sounds on the other hand can sound much more alive with low ENV settings and a high ATK value of the Filter Envelope resulting in a slight fade in of the higher frequencies The MODULATION SOURCES set the amount for different modulation The following modulation sources are available e
2. For easier recognition Drum Program controls are colored in blue while Keygroup SAMPLE SEMI LEVEL LVE as a ca al Programs are colored in red VEE Snare 012 7 re 2 O gt SAMPLE SEMI LEVEL a TIT gt To edit the first 16 LAYER parameters located on the left of the vertical separation lines in the LAYERS section press the F2 button Samples on your MPC hardware Use the MPC hardware Q Link knobs for direct access of their respective Edit LAYERS parameters Keep in mind that a DRUM program offers fewer parameters than a KEYGROUP program To select a SAMPLE to be played in one of the layers or click and hold the pop up menu button in the MPC software Please read the chapter The File Browser on how to load samples SEMI lets you transpose the selected layer 12 semitones up or down while FINE provides fine tuning of each layer by fractions of a semitone LEVEL lets you adjust the volume of each layer to give you complete control over the balance of the samples assigned to one pad gt To edit the second 16 LAYER parameters located on the right of the vertical separation lines in the LAYERS section press the F3 button Layer 2 on your MPC hardware Use the MPC hardware Q Link knobs for direct access of their respective Edit LAYERS parameters Keep in mind that a DRUM program offers less parameters than a KEYGROUP program PAN adjusts the stereo placement of the respective layer VELOCITY defines th
3. Midi PROGRAM a Lsa id e To select a Bank Select or Bank MSB Most Significant Byte message click the Bank pop up menu and select the desired message 0 127 or Off e To select a Program Change message click the Program pop up menu and select the desired message 0 127 or Off e To select your LSB Least Significant Byte click the LSB pop up menu and select the desired message 0 127 gt To set these messages press the MAIN button on your hardware to enter Main Mode Use the cursor buttons to select the Inst field and use the data dial or buttons to select MIDI gt Then use the cursor buttons to select the Program field and press the WINDOW button Use the data dial or buttons to select the desired Program Change message 0 127 or Off gt Then use the cursor buttons to select the Bank Enable field and use the data dial or buttons to turn Bank Enable ON Use the cursor buttons to select the Bank MSB and Bank LSB fields and then use the data dial or buttons to select the desired Bank MSB and Bank LSB messages 0 127 gt When you are finished press F4 Close Prosranm Chanae Prosranm Chanae Bank Enable Bank MSE 3 Bank LSB ACCESSING NEWLY ADDED WINDOW MODE OPTIONS There are some new Window Mode options allowing you to use the MPC hardware s WINDOW button to access additional screens speeding up your workflow gt When the MPC hardware s WINDOW button is lit it means the
4. 1 1s glia 132 ves _ or selected If no notes are selected nothing will be vat ver irer 1327 vest quantized You can also press CTRL K Windows or Command K Mac on your computer keyboard to apply quantization Window Strength Range Yv From 1 1 0 To 3 1 Swing shin Timing ICS Click on Settings to open an additional window with the following functions e Time Division sets the note value to quantize to Default is 1 16 You can choose from different quantizations including triplet values 91 e Swing sets the amount of swing Values range from 50 to 75 and let you shuffle your beats from subtle to extreme e Shift Timing will shift the notes by clock ticks e Window sets the range of notes around a quantize value that will be quantized Any notes outside that range would not be quantized whereas notes inside would e Strength determines how hard notes will be quantized i e shifted toward the quantize value Lower values only move notes to an certain extent towards the closest quantize value resulting in a less mechanical feel than a strict quantization e The Range pop up menu lets you select the target range for the time correction You can apply the time correction on All note events as well as on the Selected only When Range is chosen you can define the bars as well as the instrument lanes pads of a track that will be quantized The selection is done on th
5. Chorus 4 voice A Chorus effect uses an LFO to modulate the pitch and a time delay of the input signal which is then added to the dry signal In small amounts this will create the illusion of multiple voices playing at once Turn up the Feedback and Depth for more pronounced shimmering and watery sounds eer me a a a 96 Chorus 2 voice O ow j e o O en j o o O wm f o o a Feedback 0 100 Autopan This effect uses an LFO to move the incoming signal back and forth across the stereo field creating a somewhat rotary effect Value Range Default Value Q Link No Wet Dry DRY 100 WET 100 WET E Autopan Sync Value Range Default Value Q Link No Wet Dry DRY 100 WET 100 WET e Tremolo This effect uses an LFO to increase and decrease the volume of the signal Depending on the LFO shape this can produce a smooth wave effect sine wave or a stuttering ON OFF effect square wave O p o o Tremolo Sync Value Range Default Value Q Link No Wet Dry DRY 100 WET 100 WET S 97 The Phaser is a classic effect created by ganged multiple all pass filters to create notches or sharp spikes in the frequency spectrum The frequencies of these all pass filters are usually modulated by an LFO to create a sweeping sound Value Range Default Value Q Link No Wet Dry DRY 100 WET 100 WET E Phaser 2 Value Range Default Value Q Link No Wet Dry DRY
6. buttons to select the desired instrument In the MPC software click on the INSTRUMENT pop up menu and select the desired instrument When MPC is selected as the INSTRUMENT gt On the MPC hardware move the cursor to Pgm and use the data dial or the buttons to select the desired Program In the MPC software click on the PROGRAM pop up menu and select the mismunar desired Program You can also select the Add Program option to create a smous JE new Program When Midi is selected as the INSTRUMENT gt On the MPC hardware you can select the MIDI port by moving the cursor to Pgm and use the data dial ort he buttons to select the desired port Move the cursor to Midi Ch and use the data dial or the buttons to select the desired MIDI channel on which the track sequence data is sending MIDI data to an external MIDI device PROGRAM Se 01 Mind In the MPC software click on the MIDI PORT pop up menu and select the WSiRUMENT desired MIDI port where the sequence data should be send to The pop up a list shows you every MIDI port available on your computer system moi cH PROGRAM 45 AKAI O processional Click on the MIDI CH pop up menu to select the MIDI channel from 1 to 16 you want to send data on With the PROGRAM pop up menu you are able to send a MIDI Program Change from 1 to 128 for selecting a particular preset in your MIDI sound generator When Plugin is selected as the INSTRUM
7. gt To enter Next Sequence Mode press the NEXT SEQ button on your MPC hardware In the MPC software click on the Next Seq tab in the Upper section 7 10 i Sequence i Sequence 03 Sequence G2 Se Sequence 05 4 Sequence 04 SEQUENCE LENGTH TEMPO 1 Sequence 01 2 Sequence 0z 3 Sequence 03 4 Sequence 04 5 Sequence 05 6 unused 7 unused MODE USE SEQTEMPO OFF PROJECT INFORMATION l PERFORMANCE CONTROLS ape Open Hihat 06 Crash 03 Cisd Hihat 17 Snare 020 Synth Bass 000 synth Bass 014 Electro Loop 002 Electro Loop 002511 Electro Loop 002512 Electro Loop 002513 Electro Loop 002514 8 unused 9 unused 10 unused 11 unused 12 unused 13 unused How to add Sequences to the Sequence Playlist You can select the Sequence that you wish to play next by hitting the corresponding pad This is useful for live performances as it lets you change a song structure in real time The number and name of the selected sequence will be displayed in the upper part of the Next Step mode window gt On the MPC hardware start playback by pressing the PLAY button Use the 16 pads to select the desired sequence The currently playing pad will be lit solid green Used sequences are shown in the MPC hardware display with their names unused sequences are shown as unused P You can change the next sequence by hitting the pads until the current sequence ends The pad that will play nex
8. AKAI professional MPC REFERENCE MANUAL AKAI TABLE OF CONTENTS professional 1 Welcome to the MPC 008 3 1 1 About this Manual cceeeees 3 1 2 Important Notes cceccecceeeeee ees 3 2 Overview MPC Hardware 4 2 1 MPC Renaissance Top Panel 4 2 2 MPC Renaissance Front Panel 8 2 3 MPC Renaissance Rear Panel 8 2 4 MPC Studio Top Panel 10 3 Installing the MPC Software 14 3 1 System Requirements 008 14 3 2 Installation under Windows 15 3 3 Installation under Mac OS X 16 3 4 Unlocking the MPC Software 17 4 Quick Start Tutorial 00 18 Al PISSA ene ee 18 4 2 Feeding the MPC Software 18 4 3 Recording a Drum Pattern 19 4 4 Organization amp Editing 05 19 4 5 Basic Sound Edits cccceceee 20 4 6 The Bassline Track ccccceceeee 21 4 7 Working with a Drumloop 23 4 8 Pad and Track Multe 06 24 4 9 Record and Edit a Sample 25 4 10 Step by Step with Step Recording 27 4 11 AUtOMatiOn cccccecceeceeceeeeeeeees 27 4 12 Creating a SONG ccceeeeeeeeeeeees 28 4 13 Exporting the whole Song 28 4 14 Working with the MPC as an Instrument Plugin cceeeeee eee 2
9. In the MPC software click on the EDIT SAMPLE pop up menu and select the desired sample The Q Link knobs can be used to edit the start point the loop start point as well as the end point of the selected sample The procedure for MPC hardware and software is described previously in the Waveform Display section The PAD Section In Sample Edit mode you can use the pads for playing certain parts of the selected sample regardless of the selected Pad Bank The following playback options can be triggered by hitting the corresponding pad Play Loop Pad 13 plays the sample repeatedly from BANK the loop point to the end point J JL dt Play Sample Pad 15 will play the whole sample as it has been edited You can also click in the waveform display to activate the Play Sample function Play All Pad 16 plays the whole sample regardless of any edits Play to Start Pad 10 plays the sample portion before the start point If the start point is set to 0 nothing will be played Play From Start Pad 11 plays the sample from the start point to the very end of the sample regardless of a set end point If the start point is identical to the end point nothing will be played Play To Loop Start Pad 06 plays the sample portion before the loop point Play From Loop Start Pad 07 plays the sample part from the loop start point to the end of the sample regardless of a set end point If the loop start point is identical to the
10. In the MPC software click on the Mute button M of the desired channel To view more mixer channels use the scroll bar below the channel view lf you want to solo a channel click on the corresponding Solo button S to mute all other channels You can solo as many channels as you like To deselect solo click on an active solo button gt To set the send effect level for a desired channel click on the F5 button Send use the cursor buttons to select a channel and use the data dial or buttons to select the desired effect By repeatedly pressing the F5 button you can cycle through the send effects 1 2 3 and 4 The small squares below the Send 1 field indicate the currently chosen send effect With the PAD BANK buttons you can also select different pad banks to select different sets of 16 channels In the MPC software click on the SEND button of the desired channel Click on one of the SEND dials and edit its value with your computer mouse Alternatively you can use your mouse scroll wheel To use a send effect you have to load an effect into the corresponding send effect slot to the right of the Track Mixer See the Track Mixer Mode section for more information gt To load an insert effect into a channel click on the F6 button Insert and use the corresponding Q Link knob to load the desired effect By repeatedly pressing the F6 button you can cycle through the insert effects 1 2 3 and 4 The small squares below the
11. This is a spatial effect designed to emulate a small room en ee ee ee oe Reverb In Gate This is a hall reverb that has an additional control The reverb effect is cut off when the input drops below the level set in the Gate In parameter wo omowe e to w oo v w o v s ow o 7 wa ow v n ow o v 108 Reverb Out Gate This is a hall reverb that has an additional control The reverb effect is cut off when the output drops below the level set in the OutGate parameter ee S E ewen oo O oww o o pies oe ee O ea f ow o O ra f ow o e a Decimator A Decimator downsamples the incoming signal by removing bits from the digital signal The difference between decimation and resampling is that the decimator does not use any filtering to mask or correct digital artifacts The result is an effect ranging from mild to almost completely pure digital distortion depending on the setting and the source material rinse ewe Resampler The Resampler is similar to the decimator in that it removes bits from an incoming signal The difference is that the Resampler applies a complex suite of filters and anti aliasing to attempt to retain the original sound quality This is a method used by popular vintage samplers and sampling drum machines from the 1980s The Resampler effect can be used to achieve a dirty Sound on drum loops without the harsh
12. Using this method stuttering beat juggling between two loops and other DJ style techniques can be employed Record Track Mute Events lets you record track mute events Track mute events are only recorded when you are in Track Mute mode Timing Correct settings will affect the recorded position of track mute events Play Track Mute Events lets you playback track mute events Track mute events are only played back when you are in Track Mute mode Record Pad Aftertouch Events enables the recording of Pad aftertouch data lf Place Events recorded during Count in at start point is enabled if you hit a pad during recording count in this pad will be placed at the start of the recording This is the way the MPC 3000 used to do this Parameters of the Other Tab Preferences Here you can set up additional omp OOG parameters regarding the behavior of eae your MPC hardware Filter All Notes Off CC gt Press SHIFT SONG on your Pad Threshold DS Pad Sensitivity Pad Curve nd MPC hardware to open the Other tab With the cursor buttons you can navigate to the corresponding option Use the data wheel or the Footswitch 1 buttons for changing the Footswitch 2 value option Not all options in the MPC software s Other tab are Show hardware info available through the MPC hardware display Frome Chad bas ore With Tap Tempo you can define how often you have to press the TAP TEMPO button on your MPC hardware
13. gt MPC hardware How to use the MPC hardware controls All buttons controls and parameters are highlighted in bold letters throughout the manual Example Press the PROG EDIT button or Turn the Level dial The value range of a parameter is indicated in italic letters Example VELOCITY Oto 127 1 2 IMPORTANT NOTES e READ SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS amp WARRANTY INFORMATION BEFORE USING THE MPC HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE e Before getting started and connecting devices to the MPC hardware or turning the hardware on off make sure all devices are switched off e Before connecting the MPC hardware to your computer insert the included DVD to install the MPC software visit akaiprompc com to check for available software updates For more information about installing the MPC software refer to Chapter 3 AKAI O processional 2 OVERVIEW MPC HARDWARE MPC Renaissance and MPC Studio are hardware specifically designed to control the MPC software This section describes the hardware controls for each device For a complete explanation of the software please read the corresponding chapter of this manual 2 1 MPC RENAISSANCE TOP PANEL D KAI ous O professional ae 2048 O MIC IN PHONO IN VINTAGE MPC60 IT caua MIN eM INPUT COMP REC GAIN MODE PROD NIT PRX Sra SAMO ED DA T Phe cT SFC OSICE Pea gt AM Sta 16 EVEL STFP SEQ NEXT SEQ TRACK MUTE
14. hold up to four samples Layer 1 to 4 This is a total of 512 samples 32 5 1 THE FILE BROWSER processional The File Browser lets you navigate through your computer s internal and external hard disks to load samples sequences songs etc Using the predefined and user definable folders you can easily adapt the File Browser to your preferred workflow gt To enter the File Browser press the BROWSER button on your MPC hardware Within the MPC software the File Browser can be found in the left area of the application window The File Browser section can be hidden or revealed by clicking the triangle button in the lower left corner of the window or by pressing B on your computer keyboard FILE BROWSER The main concept behind the File Browser is to easily locate and CS GS 628 E oad samples projects sequences and programs Samples can be EEE auditioned before loading a ae Hoe be ra ms nn ms T be be pra be p or Bassdrum 001 wav Bassdrum 002 wav Bassdrum 003 wav Bassdrum 004 wav Bassdrum 005 wav Bassdrum 006 wav Bassdrum 00 7 wav Bassdrum 008 wav Bassdrum 009 wav Bassdrum 010 wav Bassdrum 01 1 wav Bassdrum 012 wav Bassdrum 013 wav Bassdrum 014 wav Bassdrum 015 wav Bassdrum 016 wav Bassdrum 01 7 wav Bassdrum 018 wav Bassdrum 019 wav Bassdrum 020 wav file EZTIO In order to be able to work with the File Browser you should define a data path to your hard disk s first Ther
15. software When you start your sequencer the MPC software starts to play back at the same time The MPC plugin offers the same features and functionality as the standalone software version IMPORTANT 28 O T 5 THE MPC SOFTWARE IN DETAIL The following chapters explain the MPC software in detail Whenever the MPC hardware can be used to control a parameter or a function this is explained separately in a light grey box marked by an arrow on its left side We strongly recommend using the MPC hardware to control the software as its intuitive and fast operation will greatly enhance your creative workflow The MPC hardware display reflects what it s controlling in the software but due to space and character limitations the hardware display is slightly different e g parameter names may be abbreviated the layout may be different or spread across multiple tabs etc P You can navigate through the MPC hardware display by using the MPC hardware s cursor buttons When a parameter is selected you can change it by turning the hardware s data dial or using the buttons gt When the screen shows a series of parameters that can t be selected with the cursor buttons that means the screen is showing you what the Q Link knobs are controlling Touch a Q Link knob and the parameter s name and setting will appear in the upper right corner of the hardware display Turn the knob to adjust it If the Q Link knob does not control
16. until the tempo is recognized lf checked Filter All Notes OFF CC can filter all note off data If you have connected another device to your MPC hardware s MIDI IN checking this box will cause the MPC software to ignore an All Notes Off MIDI panic message That is if a MIDI device sending MIDI messages into the MPC hardware sends a MIDI panic message the software will not stop all notes and will continue as before recording for instance With Pad Threshold you can define a threshold that must be exceeded to start a trigger With Pad Sensitivity you can select how sensitive the pads of your MPC hardware respond to your touch professional Number OF Tarps SPs Footswitchl PLAY STOP Pad Threshold meee eee eee FEC PUNCH Pad Sensitivity Pad Curve Program Change Target Song The Other section in the display of the MPC hardware Pad Curve determines how your playing is translated into velocity values for example starting from value A a soft touch is enough to create a big velocity value up to D you have to hit the pad really hard for a high velocity value With Footswitch 1 and 2 you can select the functionality of a connected footswitch to your MPC hardware You can either select transport commands e g PLAY REC PLAY or trigger commands for pads and the F unction buttons Click on the Show Hardware Info button to open a window with information firmware version driver etc about your conn
17. use them in your production you must load them into Programs first 69 O 5 13 SAMPLE EDIT MODE In Sample Edit Mode you can edit samples using various sample editing functions gt To enter Sample Edit Mode press the SAMPLE EDIT button on your MPC hardware Use the data dial or the buttons to select a sample for editing The selected sample is displayed at the top of your MPC display In the MPC software click on the Sample Edit tab in the Upper section To select a sample for editing click on the EDIT SAMPLE pop up menu in the left section below the waveform display and select the desired sample from the Project Alternatively you can simply click and drag a sample from the PROJECT INFORMATION section onto the Waveform display You can also right click a sample in the PROJECT INFORMATION section and choose the Edit option You can select a sample this way in any mode that shows the PROJECT INFORMATION section When selecting a sample for editing the mode will change automatically to Sample Edit mode The Sample Edit window is divided in two parts The Waveform is displayed in the top section the lower section shows the editing controls Depending on the loaded sample the displayed waveform will look different Samples F 25600 51200 76800 102400 128000 153800 178200 204800 230400 256000 281600 207200 332800 356400 moO op gt ___ CHOP i 2 _ ren Play Play Loop Sample ADG AiO All A12 The Sample Edit wi
18. 999 bars In the MPC software click on the TOTAL BARS field to set the total number of bars gt On the MPC hardware click on the F1 button T C to edit the TIME CORRECT value In the MPC software click on the TIME CORRECT field to set the note quantization value Click on the LOOP button to switch the loop on or off The loop points are defined by the FIRST and LAST BAR values Click on the TIME SIG field to change the time signature for your sequence gt On the MPC hardware move the cursor to Bpm and use the data dial or the buttons to set the desired tempo in BPM beats per minute In the MPC software click on the BPM field to set the desired tempo in beats per minute Click on the SWING field to change the groove of your sequence Values range from 50 to 75 and let you shuffle your beats from subtle to extreme gt On the MPC hardware press F1 T C to locate the Swing parameter It can be changed by using the data dial or the buttons to set the desired value 44 TRACK Settings The Track section gives you an overview of various parameters TRACK regarding the selected track _1 East Coast amii verocny XJ status s gt On the MPC hardware move the cursor to Trk and use the data dial or the buttons to select the desired track You can also click on F3 Track or F4 Track to switch to the desired track or type in the number with the number keys In the MPC software click on the T
19. Compressor Opto A compressor is an effect that changes the dynamic range of a signal by automatically reducing its gain The Opto Compressor is modeled after a vintage compressor type using an optical circuit to control the volume reduction of the input signal These compressors are usually associated with soft and unobtrusive attack and release characteristics A Knee 1 100 1 Q7 Compressor VCA This compressor is more modern sounding with a slightly more transparent sound A VCA Compressor tends to have quicker attack and release times than an Opto Compressor wo oomo o oo o e a o f e om ere _ Compressor Vintage This compressor has a sound similar to classic tube compressors with their gentle yet pumping response and a dash of tube saturation Value Range Default Value Q Link No Wet Dry 0 DRY 100 WET 100 50 Q12 Threshold 50 0 dB Knee 1 100 a 106 Compressor Master This is the most transparent compressor able to perform substantial volume adjustments without artifacts a S E S O om ee oo o o Reverb Large This is a spatial effect designed to emulate the sound of a large hall remem ey ewe cn ewe a Reverb Large 2 This is a less CPU intensive spatial effect emulating the sound of a large hall rete we O ow o o a o a 107 Reverb Medium This is a spatial effect designed to emulate a medium room Reverb Small
20. EDIT mode lets you edit and assign samples The MPC software can hold a total of 128 programs in a Project There are two kinds of programs that use samples as their sound source DRUM Programs mostly used for creating drum parts and easy and quick assigning of samples to a pad and KEYGROUP Programs With Keygroup Programs you can assign one or more samples to one or more keys and play them chromatically via a MIDI keyboard or the MPC hardware pads That way you don t have to sample every note of a keyboard imstrument e g a piano How to set up a DRUM Program Click on the Program Edit tab in the MPC software Click on the PROG field in the Upper section to open a pop up menu Choose Add Program Type a desired program name and choose DRUM as Program Type This is the default setting Click on OK to create the DRUM program To load samples into a DRUM program proceed as follows gt Press the BROWSER button on your MPC hardware Choose a pad you want to assign a sample to e g Pad A1 Locate the desired sample and click on F6 Open to load it The sample is now placed on the corresponding pad 1 16a HD sers tschine Deskt MPC Samples Bassdrums Bassdrum VOl wav The Browser display of the MPC hardware In the MPC software click on the Main tab Locate the desired sample in the File Browser and drag it onto the desired pad The sample is now placed on the corresponding pad gt Press the PROG EDIT button on your
21. Mixer Mode by pressing SHIFT PROG MIX TRACK MIX on your MPC hardware By repeatedly pressing the F5 button you can cycle through the send effects 1 2 3 and 4 The small squares below the Send field indicate the currently chosen send effect With the PAD BANK buttons you can also select different pad banks to select different sets of 16 channels Use the Q Link knobs to adjust the Send Levels of the corresponding pads You can also use the cursor buttons to move to the desired Send Level parameter and use the data dial or buttons to change it In the MPC software click on the Track Mixer tab in the Upper section Click on the INSERT button of the desired channel Click on the arrow of the slot you want to assign an effect to A pop up menu lets you choose from a palette of various effects which can be loaded directly Click on a loaded effect name to open its graphic user interface for more detailed editing 93 AKAI o processional Click on the SEND button of the desired channel Click on one of the SEND knobs of the desired channel and edit its value with your computer mouse Alternatively you can use your mouse scroll wheel To use a send effect you have to load an effect into the corresponding send effect slot to the right of the Track Mixer Pad effects The following paragraph explains how to load and edit Pad Channel effects gt Enter Program Mixer Mode by pressing the PROG MIX button on your MPC hardware P T
22. Press one of these buttons to select its corresponding tab shown above the button in the display 3 CURSOR BUTTONS Use these buttons to navigate through the fields of menus and options shown in the DISPLAY 4 DATA DIAL Use this dial to scroll through the available menu options or adjust the parameter values of the selected field in the DISPLAY 5 Press these buttons to increase decrease the value of the selected field in the display NUMERIC KEYPAD If the selected field in the DISPLAY is a number use these numbered buttons as a standard numeric keypad to enter a value Press the keypad s ENTER to enter it UNDO REDO Press this button to undo your last action You can undo up to 200 actions Hold down SHIFT and press this button to redo the last action you undid PAD Q LINK KNOB CONTROLS 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 Q LINK KNOBS Use these touch sensitive knobs to adjust various parameters and settings The LEDs surrounding each knob indicate the knob s current position Q LINK TRIGGER Hold this button down then touch one of the Q LINK KNOBS to make that knob s parameter s value jump to its minimum or maximum depending on the Trig parameter in the MPC software PADS Use these pads to trigger drum hits or other samples in your software The pads are velocity sensitive and pressure sensitive which makes them very responsive and intuitive to play The pads will light up differe
23. SWITCH appropriately 10 MIC LINE SWITCH Set this switch appropriately for the device you connected to the MIC IN jacks If your sound source is a microphone set it to MIC If your sound source is a line level device like an external mixer or keyboard set it to LINE 11 PHANTOM POWER SWITCH This switch activates and deactivates phantom power When activated phantom power supplies 48V to both MIC IN inputs Please note that most dynamic microphones do not require phantom power while most condenser microphones do Consult your microphone s documentation to find out whether it needs phantom power 12 PHONO IN Connect these RCA inputs to an external sound source e g a turntable CD player etc Make sure to set the PHONO LINE SWITCH appropriately 13 PHONO LINE SWITCH Flip this switch to the appropriate position depending on the device connected to the AUX INPUTS If you are using phono level turntables set this switch to PHONO to provide the additional amplification needed for phono level signals If using a line level device such as a CD player or sampler set this switch to LINE 14 GROUND TERMINAL If you connected a phono level turntable to the PHONO IN jacks and are hearing a low hum or buzz this could mean that the turntable is not grounded If the turntable has a grounding wire connect it to this terminal Note Some turntables have a grounding wire built into the RCA connection and therefor
24. This delay is a stereo delay that allows you to set different delay times for its left and right repeats Value Range Default Value Q Link No Wet Dry DRY 100 WET Feedback 0 100 Delay Multi Tap This delay is a mono delay which has three delay generators with independently adjustable delay times and stereo position re o eae 103 AKAI Pan 2 0 100 50 Gain 1 0 100 25 Distortion Fuzz This popular effect uses hard clipping of the audio signal which at extreme settings can turn a standard waveform into a square wave producing a razor effect a a S v Distortion Amp This effect is designed to reproduce the sound of a tube amplifier at high volumes Value Range Default Value Q Link No Distortion Overdrive This distortion is designed to sound like a mildly distorting amplifier at medium volumes It is the smoothest distortion type available Value Range Default Value Q Link No 104 Distortion Custom This effect is a highly customized distortion capable of a wide range of useable sounds om o w o s o ve we er a E e a T S 18 0 18 0 dB 0 0 dB o Aa D a a S a Distortion Grimey This is a unique distortion effect that distorts a frequency range in a selectable band D S E a E O eme fee Transient Shaper A transient shaper can be used to enhance or soften the Attack and Release phase of audio material Value Range Default Value Q Link No 105
25. Up to 16 different mute groups can be created gt In the MPC hardware click on the F2 button TrkGroup to activate the Track Group mode Hit a pad to select its corresponding track and use the data dial or buttons to select the desired group Pads assigned to a track group will blink yellow Use the PAD BANK buttons to switch between the 16 banks if necessary In the MPC software select the desired BANK first Make sure to activate the TRACK GROUP mode in the MODE section Select a desired pad which should be assigned to a mute group and select the desired mute group in the MODE section by clicking and dragging the group number next to the track number up or down Pads that are related to a mute group will be blinking yellow when one of the pads in the group is selected You can also click on the the miniature pads in BANK section to select a pad for assigning to a track group This section gives you an overview of all 128 pads at the same time Unused pads are greyed out The MODE Section Besides the TRACK MUTE and TRACK GROUP mode options that are explained above the MODE section offers two more parameters e The SOLO button switches the selected pad to solo and mutes all other pads and their corresponding tracks e TIME CORRECT allows you to quantize track mutes This is useful when a mute process should be placed exactly on a musical event You can define a quantization to the pressed mute pad from 1 16 up to 2 bars A value
26. Use this function to program realistic hi hats especially if only the open or closed hat should be heard With LAYER PLAY you can determine how multiple samples assigned to the same pad are played Activate the Cycle CYC function to play the next layers sample each time that pad is played In other words the samples will cycle through the layers as follows 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 etc Use Velocity VEL to switch between samples depending on how hard you hit a pad Finally the Random RAN function will allow all the samples assigned to the pad to be selected randomly This way every time you hit a pad one of the assigned samples will be randomly chosen to play With the SAMPLE PLAY function you can determine whether the pad is played as ONE SHOT from start to end or defined by NOTE ON only as long as the note is held Select ONE SHOT when you want to play short drum sounds However if you are using a long sample it is sometimes better to set it to NOTE ON so you can control a sound s duration by pressing and holding its corresponding pad PAD PLAY lets you choose between two options In MONO mode you can play only one pad ata time If you hit a pad while another or the same one is still playing the new sample s will immediately mute the sample s that are playing In POLY mode you can play several pads at the same time 53 VELOCITY SENSITIVITY SECTION In this section you set how much velocity effects various sound para
27. V gt START for Drum Programs only sets the amount of a pad or key velocity to modulate the sample startpoint KBD gt FLT for Keygroup Programs only sets the amount of aftertouch data from a pad or a MIDI keyboard to modulate the cutoff frequency e V gt ATK Velocity gt Attack sets the amount of pad or key velocity to modulate the Attack phase for the Amp envelope e V gt ENV Velocity gt Envelope enables velocity information to control the the amount of the filter envelope s effect on the cutoff frequency e V gt FLT Velocity gt Filter finally uses the velocity of a pad or key to modulate the cutoff frequency directly FILTER ENVELOPE Section This Envelope is used to control the filter frequency The four knobs control the Envelope shape or time variant modulation output The influence of the Envelope on the filter frequency can be adjusted with the ENV parameter AMP ENVELOPE Section This Envelope is used to control level change over time The four knobs control the Envelope shape or time variant modulation of a sound s level 52 Program GESS Filter TYP Cutoff Resonance Env Amt Kbd Track Vel gt Attack Vel gt EnvAmt VYelo gt Filter Fil Attack Fil Decay Fil Sustain Fil Release Ane Attack Ame Decay Ane Sustain Ame Release Master f Samples f Pan Vel Flt Env Lo Mod f Effects The Filter Envelope Edit section in the display of the MPC hardware How does an envelope work An Envelope creates a variable control
28. a recorded drum loop and save it as a new sample to use it separately You can also enter a name for the new sample The new sample will be added to the current Project NORMALIZE digitally increases a sample s level to the highest level obtainable without distortion You can use Normalize as a digital gain optimization so you don t have to worry about excessive level settings when working with Programs containing samples that have a wide range of volume amplitudes This option does not offer further parameters REVERSE reverses the selected sample This option does not offer further parameters FADE IN sets an automatic fade in between the start and end point of the sample The following fade types are available Linear fades the audio in with a linear curve A linear curve will go from start to end in a straight line Log fades the audio in with a logarithmic curve A logarithmic curve will quickly rise at the beginning and then flatten out towards the end Exp fades the audio in with an exponential curve An exponential curve will slowly rise in the beginning and then grow steeper as it reaches the end FADE OUT sets an automatic fade out between the start and end point of the sample The following fade types are available Linear fades the audio out with a linear curve A linear curve will go from start to end in a straight line Log fades the audio out with a logarithmic curve A logarithmic curve will fall gradually at the beginning and
29. and automation data In addition you can use the copy and paste functions 48 SEQUENCE LEN BPM Res from the Edit menu to copy existing tracks to new ones l 1 Sequence 01 Click on the Song tab to open Song Mode Each Sequence i ce ened is assigned to a pad Click and hold a pad with the desired ii iesmmeladd Sequence then drag and drop it onto the Sequence Playlist 9 3 Sequence 03 to the left of the pads You can also drop it onto the workspace above the pads if you prefer working in a horizontal arrangement You can easily enter repeats RPTS or drag and drop sequences in the playlist to exchange them 4 13 EXPORTING THE WHOLE SONG Want to share your new song with your friends 13 2 Sequence 02 end of song All you need to do is to export the complete song Open the File menu and navigate to Export Here you need to select As Audio Mixdown In the Audio Mixdown window you can select your mixdown settings Set the length of your song from Start to End As the song will most probably be uploaded to the internet select the mp3 file format option Choose a path for saving the file and click OK to start exporting the song 4 14 WORKING WITH THE MPC AS AN INSTRUMENT PLUGIN Are you working with an audio sequencer Then you can integrate the MPC software as an instrument plugin in addition to your production tools Once the MPC software plugin is loaded it automatically synchronizes with your host sequencer
30. and sequences in detail Depending on which type of Program DRUM or KEYGROUP is selected the grid can look different The Grid View for DRUM Programs When a DRUM Progam is selected the grid looks as in the following picture The left section shows you all available pads A01 to H16 in a vertical view with their corresponding data Use the vertical window scroll bar right of the grid windows to move up and down Under the scroll bar is a slider that can adjust the vertical zoom Below the grid is a similar scroll bar and slider for horizontal scrolling and zooming Click on the loudspeaker icon under a desired pad number to hear the sample s assigned to that pad Each track also offers a mute M and solo S button awi In the top left corner of the grid you will find a mode button to toggle between Select and S Draw mode The Select mode is indicated by a small rectangular marquee tool and lets you select one or more notes by drawing a frame around them Selected notes will have a i white border When the Draw mode is active indicated by a small pencil you can draw notes by clicking on the corresponding position in the grid You can also use it to draw automation curves in the velocity automation lane underneath the grid The default setting is the Draw mode In the top right corner there are several displays that let you edit the following functions Click on the TRACK pop up display to select o
31. any parameter in the display this area will show the Q Link knob number and no text Hints for editing the MPC software with your computer mouse lf you use a computer mouse with scroll wheel you can use it to change parameters Move your mouse pointer over the desired value and use the scroll wheel to change it If you hold down the SHIFT key you can increase the resolution The MPC software is simple and straightforward It uses the following types of control elements Knobs To set a value click on the knob hold down the mouse button and drag around the knob 4 in a circle or move the mouse up and down This depends on the setting of your host semi application Alternatively you can edit values by using your mouse scroll wheel Parameter Values Click and hold the mouse button on the value and drag the mouse up down or left right Pop up Menus East Coast Program 001 t Click on the corresponding menu display to open a pop up menu where you CAN v East Coast TI rre AL choose the desired parameter Switches Switches are represented by LEDs If a function is active its LED will be lit red To activate a function click it which will automatically deactivate another LED in its set Buttons A mouse click on a button activates deactivates a function Buttons light up in red when they are activated 29 AKA O a professional Envelope Displays Click on the respective handle of
32. are velocity tuning filter layer attack or decay NOTE REPEAT LATCH Hold this button down and press a pad to DODD retrigger that pad s sample at a rate based on the current Tempo and Time Correct settings the available Time Correct settings will appear in the display which you can select with the F BUTTONS Hold down SHIFT and press this button to latch the Note Repeat feature When latched the button does not need to be held down for Note Repeat to be activated Press NOTE REPEAT once more to unlatch it ee alel X N N MODE VIEW CONTROLS 21 22 23 24 25 26 2 1 28 29 30 31 SHIFT Hold this button down to access some buttons secondary functions indicated by orange writing MAIN TRACK Press this button to view the Main screen in the display and software Hold down SHIFT and press this button to view the Track View screen in the display and software BROWSER SAVE Press this button to view the file browser in the display Hold down SHIFT and press this button to save the current Project including its samples Programs Sequences and Songs PROG EDIT Q LINK Press this button to view the Program Edit screen in the display and software Hold down SHIFT and press this button to assign a parameter to a Q LINK KNOB use the CURSOR BUTTONS to select the desired Q LINK KNOB then use the DATA DIAL or buttons to select the desired parameter PRO
33. by clicking on the TIME 19 AKAI O processional CORRECT pop up menu We recommend to work with 8 or 16 values Hold down your keyboard s SHIFT and use the ARROW keys to nudge events without restricting to the grid Hold down the CTRL key PC or Command key Mac and click and drag a note to copy it Double click on a note to delete it Velocity data can be easily edited in the velocity lane below the Grid Click on a note event or multiple note events or place the mouse over a velocity bar in the lane A small round handle will appear at the top of the velocity bar Move the mouse vertically to change its value 4 DE RICI 4 A01 Kick02 Automation Satisfied with your work Let s keep on making some basic sound edits 4 5 BASIC SOUND EDITS What about levels and effects Don t worry we ll get there in time Prosram A15 100 gt 160 HS 106 AOF 100 Ai 100 ABZ 100 The Program Mixer display of the MPC hardware gt Press the PROG MIX button of your MPC hardware to enter Program Mixer Mode gt Press the F2 button Level to control the volume for each pad You can use the Q Link knobs of your MPC hardware as well as the corresponding fader in your MPC software Adjust the levels of each pad to suit your taste gt Press the F3 button Pan to control the stereo panorama for each pad You can use the Q Link knobs of your MPC hardware as well as the corresponding PAN knob in your MPC softwar
34. cable to connect the MIDI OUT of MPC Studio to the MIDI IN of an optional external device IMPORTANT Do NOT connect audio devices e g headphones monitors etc to the 1 8 MIDI IN or MIDI OUT jacks Use the included 1 8 MIDI adapters to connect MIDI devices only NAVIGATION DATA ENTRY CONTROLS 5 DISPLAY This LCD shows all the information relevant to MPC Studio s current operation Much of this information is also shown in the software Use the CURSOR BUTTONS to navigate through the display and use the DATA DIAL and buttons to adjust the currently selected setting parameter Use the MODE buttons to change what page is shown and use the F BUTTONS to change what tab is shown Press and hold SHIFT and turn the DATA DIAL to adjust the contrast of the DISPLAY F BUTTONS Press one of these buttons to select its corresponding tab shown above the button in the display 10 7 CURSOR BUTTONS Use these buttons to navigate through the fields of menus and options shown in the DISPLAY 8 DATA DIAL Use this dial to scroll through the available menu options or adjust the parameter values of the selected field in the DISPLAY 9 Press these buttons to increase decrease the value of the selected field in the display 10 NUMERIC If the selected field in the DISPLAY is a number you can press NUMERIC and use the pads as a standard numeric keypad to enter a value The numbers are printed in green above the
35. down SHIFT and press this button to assign a parameter to a Q LINK KNOB use the CURSOR BUTTONS to select the desired Q LINK KNOB then use the DATA DIAL or buttons to select the desired parameter PROG MIX TRACK MIX Press this button to view the Program Mixer screen in the display and software Hold down SHIFT and press this button to view the Track Mixer screen in the display and software SEQ EDIT EFFECTS Press this button to enter Sequence Edit mode Hold down SHIFT and press this button to enter Effects mode where you can select and route effects as well as edit effects parameters SAMPLE EDIT SAMPLE REC Press this button to view the Sample Edit screen in the display and software Hold down SHIFT and press this button to view the Sample Record screen in the display and MPC software SONG OTHER Press this button to view the Song screen in the display and software Hold down SHIFT and press this button to enter Other mode which allows you to set the minimum number of taps for the TAP TEMPO button pad threshold sensitivity and curve the footswitches messages and the Program Change target STEP SEQ Press this button to view the Step Sequence screen in the display and software NEXT SEQ Press this button to view the Next Sequence screen in the display and software TRACK MUTE PAD MUTE Press this button to view the Track Mute screen in the display and software Hold SHIFT and press this button to vi
36. e MIDI output ports can now be routed to the DAW in plugin mode e Plugins and their presets can be selected using the hardware e Sequence Loop parameters can be edited with the hardware IMPROVEMENTS e Support for MPC Studio hardware e Improved synchronization when used as a plugin in Ableton Live Logic Pro Tools and Cubase e Improved performance when file saving and loading when used as a plugin e Improved performance when recording long sequences and automation e Support for full screen mode and Mac retina displays e Improved support of third party VST and AU plugins e Various bug fixes FUTURE UPDATES Always be sure you re using the latest version of MPC software by checking for updates You can do this directly in MPC software s menus Windows Help gt Check for updates Mac MPC Check for updates 120 USING MPC AS AN RTAS PLUGIN You can now use MPC software as an RTAS plugin in Pro Tools 9 and Pro Tools 10 When used as an RTAS plugin MPC software offers the same features and functionality as the standalone software version Please refer to your Pro Tools documentation for instructions on loading RTAS plugins ROUTING TRACKS TO SEPARATE OUTPUTS IN TRACK MIXER MODE You can now route your tracks to Submixes or outputs e g Out Submix1 1 2 in Track Mixer Mode Submix 2 Submix 3 To do this click the Track Mixer tab in the software s upper Submix 4 section On each track click the
37. line gt Hint Click on F4 Audition to play the created slices via the pads Each slice is automatically assigned to a pad starting from Pad A01 with Slice 1 and so on gt Now we ll create a new Program containing all created slices as single samples as well as the corresponding note events to playback these slices in a row This is very easy gt Press F5 Convert to enter the Convert Slices page Use the cursor to navigate to the following parameters and select the value indicated as follows Convert to Sliced Samples Crop Samples to On Create New Program to On Create Events to On and finally the Number Of Bars to the bar length of your recorded track in our example that is 2 Press F6 Do It to proceed P Start the playback and listen how the drum loop matches your song tempo now 23 professional You can also edit the note events of the drum loop slices Enter Main Mode to do this A new Track with the note events playing their corresponding slices has been automatically created Use the Time Correct function i e in the Time Correct menu to quantize the note events to an exact timing You can also rearrange the note events thus creating a new playback order for the slices It is also possible to edit each slice sample in Program Edit Mode You can add effects for slices or use the filter function to change the frequency range of a selected slice There are almost no limits to what you can do 4 8 PAD AND TR
38. pads 11 UNDO REDO Press this button to undo your last action You can undo up to 200 actions Hold down SHIFT and press this button to redo the last action you undid PAD Q LINK KNOB CONTROLS 12 Q LINK KNOBS Use these touch sensitive knobs to adjust various parameters and settings The knobs can control one column of parameters at a time Use the SCROLL KNOB above them to change which column of parameters they currently control 13 SCROLL KNOB Use this knob to change which column of parameters the Q LINK KNOBS currently control 14 Q LINK TRIGGER Hold this button down then touch one of the Q LINK KNOBS to make that knob s parameter s value jump to its minimum or maximum depending on the Trig parameter in the software 15 PADS Use these pads to trigger drum hits or other samples in your software The pads are velocity sensitive and pressure sensitive which makes them very responsive and intuitive to play The pads will light up different colors depending on how hard you play them ranging from yellow at a low velocity to red at the highest velocity To disable or re enable these lights press PAD ASSIGN then F6 Velo Col If the selected field in the DISPLAY is a number you can press NUMERIC and use the pads as a standard numeric keypad to enter a value The numbers are printed in green above the pads 16 PAD BANK BUTTONS These 4 buttons switch among Pad Banks A H press and hold SHIFT to a
39. parameter selected in the display has an available screen in Window Mode Press WINDOW to access it The following windows have been added gt Program Change When Inst is set to MIDI press MAIN select the Program field and then press WINDOW gt Plugin Presets When Inst is set to PLUGIN and a plugin is selected Plg field press MAIN select the Program field and then press WINDOW gt Loop Measures When Inst is set to MPC press MAIN select the Loop field and then press WINDOW gt Effects Whenever the cursor is on an effect press WINDOW to open the effect s parameters 122 ASAI O proressional USING YOUR KEYBOARD TO SWITCH BETWEEN THE SELECT AND DRAW TOOLS You can now use your keyboard to switch quickly between the Select marquee 4 and Draw pencil tools when editing in the Grid Click in the Grid to make it active and then press your computer keyboard s 1 key ngn to select the Draw tool or 2 key to select the Select tool MIDI OUT PORT SELECTION AS A PLUGIN Preferences When using MPC software as a plugin you can now choose to route its MIDI to your host DAW or Active Midi Inputs jeje the physical MIDI outputs of your audio interface if Plugins lt a available or your MPC Renaissance Auto Load Bl rc studio MPC Port 1 a Sequencer To do this load MPC software as a plugin in your Other Midi Mapping host DAW then click MPC s Edit Menu and select rica Midi Out Port A CRET P
40. processional 5 17 SOFTWARE MENUS Some of the MPC software s menu items let you access features that cannot be accessed with the MPC hardware gt Keep in mind that the menu structure of the MPC software differs between a Windows PC and a Mac computer When loaded as plugin the Menu button is located to the left of the Main tab File Menu New Project creates a new empty project Use this command when you want to start with a new song from scratch New From Template loads a predefined template project The idea is to create a project with basic settings that suit your needs and save it as a preset for easy access After saving your customized default project please open the Preferences in the Edit menu and select the Auto Load tab then choose the path for your template project In the Mac MPC software Preferences is located in the MPC menu Load Recent provides shortcuts to the last five files you have been recently working with The list is chronological with the most recent file at the top Save Project saves the current MPC project Within the Save Project dialog window you can choose a data path for saving You can also name your Project The samples in the Project Information list will be automatically saved with the Project The Project file itself has an xpj extension and its accompanying information samples MIDI files Program file etc are in a folder with the same name on the same directory level Save Proj
41. regardless of the selected TIME CORRECT value In Select mode you can draw a frame around multiple notes to select them for moving or copying them as a group 40 aise O she e Hold down CTRL PC or Command Mac and move a note to copy it e Use the copy amp paste function to copy a note in the clipboard CTRL C PC or Command C Mac and paste it automatically where the audio pointer is with CTRL V PC or Command V Mac Velocity data can be easily edited in the velocity lane Select and Draw mode e Click on a note event in the Grid or place the mouse over a velocity bar in the lane A small round handle will appear at the top of the velocity bar Move the mouse vertically to change its value e Holding CTRL PC or Command Mac while editing the velocity bar increases the resolution for the displayed values e When you have selected multiple notes you can edit the corresponding velocity values simultaneously Click on the pad track DRUM Program or on a key of the virtual keyboard KEYGROUP Program to select all corresponding notes or use the Select tool as described above In the MPC software proceed as follows to record automation data 1 Click on the Main tab to enter Main Mode 2 Click and move a corresponding Q Link knob so that it is shown in the QLINK display 3 Select the desired EFFECT when FX is selected or PAD when PRG is selected 4 Select the parameter you want to automate as well as
42. section onto any pad to assign it How a sample S i can be played and edited depends on the Program Please refer A5 Borga also to the chapter Drum Program vs Keygroup Program pate CLUSTER2 COLDWIND Double click on a sample in the Sample column to load it into the CRASH Sample Edit section The Sample Edit section will open Crow automatically DOORSHUT DUENG Right click on a Program to open a context menu containing the i following options e Duplicate makes a copy of the selected Program and adds a 1 to the Program name e Delete deletes the selected Program To avoid accidental deletion a query window opens for confirmation e Save saves the current Program to your hard disk A dialog window opens automatically where you can choose a data path for saving Samples will automatically be saved with a program e Rename opens a window where you can rename your Program 46 O gt On the MPC hardware click on the WINDOW button to open the Edit Current Program display page Press F2 Delete to delete the selected Program To avoid accidental deletion a query display opens for confirmation Press F4 Copy to make a copy of the selected Program This also adds a 1 to the new Program name Press F5 Close to close the Edit Current Program display page This can also be done for Sequences Seq as well as Tracks Trk Edit Current Sequence The Edit Current Sequence section in the display of the
43. signal It can be used for instance to modulate the filter settings of a sound over a given period of time The classic Envelope comprises four separately controllable parameters Attack Decay Sustain and Release which is why it is also called ADSR Envelope Everytime you hit a pad on the MPC an Envelope is started Within the period of time you have defined with the ATTACK ATK parameter it rises to its maximum value After that it will enter the decay phase with its duration defined by the DECAY value until it reaches the sustain level set by SUSTAIN SUST parameter This level is retained until the pad or key is released It is followed by you ve guessed it the release phase which is set with the RELEASE REL dial and determines the the time span the envelope needs to reach its minimum or neutral level PAD PLAY MODES SECTION Drum Programs only Here you can set the behavior for drum samples for each pad PAD PLAY MODES __ To edit the Pad Play Modes parameters press the F5 button a Lfo Mod on your MPC hardware Use Q Link knobs Q13 G Were O Shor mono Q16 for direct access of all 4 parameters Keep in mind that mure Wve nor O ro these parameters are available only in DRUM programs croup RAN You can assign the selected pad to one of the 32 available MUTE GROUPs When pads assigned to the same mute group receive MIDI notes the last note played will mute any other sounding instrument of that mute group
44. switch is set to on Turn phantom power off when you are not recording gt Make sure to set the MIC LINE switch on the rear panel as well as the MIC IN PHONO IN switch on the top panel to match your source Incorrect settings can produce unwanted distortion gt Make sure to also reduce the level of your audio system before you make any connections to avoid peaks or feedback that may damage your speakers gt Use the REC GAIN knob to set the input level This is located next to the MPC s display gt Use the cursor buttons to navigate to the record control parameters described in detail below 67 fae A ETERNAL Mode STEREO Monitor OFF Threshold 42 Time 2bs Level Meter The Sample Record section in the display of the MPC hardware In the MPC software the Sample Record section is divided in two main parts The waveform display shows the waveform of a sample after the recording process Below is the Record Control section which offers the controls In the Q Link section you can predefine a recording threshold using Q SCOR ARM 3 link Knob Q1 In record enable mode the MPC software automatically arn fener starts the recording when the level of the incoming source exceeds the fleas threshold If you set the threshold too high the MPC software may not start the recording when you play the input source or the start of the material you wanted to record may be missing If you set the threshold too a lo
45. to the Project Information in Main Mode For further information please read the chapter Main Mode 66 D 5 12 SAMPLE RECORD MODE In Sample Record Mode you can record audio samples to use them in your tracks and sequences gt To enter Sample Record Mode press SHIFT SAMPLE EDIT SAMPLE REC on your MPC hardware In the MPC software click on the Sample Record tab in the pA section Lh m Man My Mn nf i i Hi ANAT A U ie h will i hir iy nt HV J li 1 l Ane Wha i n i uy N A AN HK Naha AM Vn Ty ily al V vi Wve pe y jn nn I RA yee oe A B o E F G H RECORD ARM 0 0 OMIT 9 9 Q wee eee Geen 000 OF Ff To record any audio you need to connect an audio source to your MPC Renaissance or to your computers audio interface MPC Studio users This section describes recording using MPC Renaissance as your sound card MPC Studio can t be used in this way but you can use a separate audio interface connected to your computer to record audio The following example describes the the sample recording procedure using the MPC Renaissance hardware gt To record a signal you need to connect a suitable microphone instrument or sound generator to the MIC IN jacks of your MPC Renaissance You can also connect a turntable or CD player by using the PHONO IN jacks If a connected microphone requires phantom power make sure the PHANTOM POWER
46. to this output Keep in mind that to be able to use this function you will need an audio interface that is equipped with more than two outputs When working with the MPC Renaissance Out 1 2 are routed to the STEREO OUT jacks Out 3 4 are routed to the ASSIGNABLE MIX OUT jacks gt To set the level for a desired channel click on the F2 button Level and use the corresponding Q Link dial for editing With the PAD BANK buttons you can also select different pad banks to select different sets of 16 channels 57 In the MPC software click on the desired channel fader and move your computer mouse up and down Alternatively you can use your mouse scroll wheel To view more mixer channels use the scroll bar below the channel view gt To set the panning for a desired channel click on the F3 button Pan and use the corresponding Q Link knob for editing With the PAD BANK buttons you can also select different pad banks to select different sets of 16 channels In the MPC software click on the desired channel panning dial and move your computer mouse up and down Alternatively you can use your mouse scroll wheel To view more mixer channels use the scroll bar below the channel view gt To mute a channel click on the F4 button Mute and touch the the top of the corresponding Q Link knob to toggle between mute and mute off With the PAD BANK buttons you can also select different pad banks to select different sets of 16 channels
47. up or down The transport controls can be found on the MPC hardware as well as in the software so the description below applies to both Click on the REC button to put the MPC software in Record mode Pressing it on the MPC hardware or in the software will light up its LED to show that Record is armed To start recording press PLAY or PLAY START When the sequence starts to loop in Record mode it will switch to Overdub mode OVERDUB allows you to add data to the existing data on the selected track It is additive and non destructive It will operate like RECORD which means that it is also an arm button Pressing it with the MPC stopped will make its light red while the PLAY LED flashes The PLAY LED will go solid when you press PLAY or PLAY START 36 STOP will stop the playback Quickly pressing STOP 3 times will act as a MIDI panic and shut off all voices and stop all audio processing STOP will also stop loading any files that are being loaded If you select a Project or Program by accident pressing STOP will cancel loading and clear the loaded files PLAY will start playback from the current time position PLAY START will start playback from the beginning of the Song or Sequence or from the First Bar setting LEVEL controls the MPC software s master output level gt The MPC hardware s UNDO button can be used differently while in Record Mode Normally pressing UNDO will undo just the last event When there is an e
48. will also be lit gt To delete a note event press on its corresponding pad which will become unlit 84 O EZ gt Press and hold the NOTE REPEAT button to change the time division of the sequence grid The F buttons allows you to select the desired value e g with F1 you can select 1 4 with F2 1 8 etc In the MPC software you can use the Pad section for step input Use the TRACK field at the top of the Grid or the TRACK pop up menu in the TRACK section to select the desired Track first Click on the PAD field in the Pad section and move the mouse up or down to select the desired Pad you want to edit With the PREVIOUS and NEXT buttons you can select the desired bar you want to edit create note events in You can also use the CURRENT BAR field to enter the number of a bar directly If there are note events already present in a selected track the corresponding pads will be lit with colors corresponding to their velocities If you set a new note by clicking on its corresponding pad it wil also be lit with colors corresponding to its velocity Keep in mind that in Step Sequence mode a bar consists of 16 note events which correspond to the pads 1 to 16 To delete a note event press on its corresponding pad which will become unlit gt Programming drums with Step Input is also very useful when you want to emulate the step recording of drums the way it was done with those famous drum machines back in the 1980s 85 AKAI O
49. your MPC hardware and use the cursor to navigate to the Seq field Use the data dial or the buttons to select the desired Sequence In the MPC software click the name display or the small triangle to open a sok pop up menu to select the desired sequence The SEQUENCE pop up menu is only available when Main Program Mixer Track Mixer Track View or Step Seq tab is selected gt Click on the PROG EDIT button of your MPC hardware and use the data dial or the buttons to select the desired Program This can also be done in the PGM field on the MAIN page In the MPC software click the name display or the small triangle to open a proc Te pop up menu to select the desired program The PROGRAM pop up menu is only available when Program Edit or Program Mixer tab is selected With the SONG pop up menu you can select one of the 32 songs in the currently loaded Project gt Click on the SONG button of your MPC hardware and use the cursor to navigate to the Song field Use the data dial or the buttons to select the desired Song sons KACEY In the MPC software click the name display or the small triangle to open a l pop up menu to select the desired song The SONG pop up menu is only available when the Song tab is selected Read more about songs on Page 63 The Screen Scroll button lets you toggle between Scroll mode and Page mode Depending on the zoom setting Scroll mode will make the grid display turn over to G follow
50. your computer system When the MPC Renaissance is connected and powered on the two available ports are displayed By checking the corresponding input you can select the audio input you want to use You can also select your desired Sample Rate What you should select depends on the sample rates provided by your audio interface for example 44100 Hz up to 96000 Hz With the Audio Buffer Size you can set the latency of your audio system Lower values result in a more immediate playing response but also result in more CPU consumption If you are working with larger projects audible clicks and pops may occur with lower latency settings Higher values are much more CPU friendly but produce a larger latency which results in a delay between hitting a pad and hearing the corresponding sound The perfect setting of this parameter depends also on the performance of the CPU in your computer You should experiment with some settings to find the perfect value for your needs The Latency Adjust parameter is for setting an offset in milliseconds in case there is a delay in your audio system If you are hearing any latency we recommend experimenting with this setting after you set your Audio Buffer Size 88 Cs D Preference Parameters of the MIDI Tab The Active Midi Inputs displays the Active Midi Inputs Mec Renaissance MPC Public i Plugins inanan active installed MIDI inputs on your Auto Load BFC Renaissance MPC Port 2 comp uter system W
51. 100 WET 100 WET _ Phaser Sync Value Range Default Value Q Link No Wet Dry DRY 100 WET 100 WET SS LP Filter Sweep Phaser 1 This effect is a filter with its cutoff frequency modulated by an LFO Both high pass and low pass filters are available C ewe LP Filter Sync Value Range Default Value Q Link No aay P el ae 98 C a E S HP Filter Sync Low Freq 0 100 Auto Wah This effect is a low pass filter modulated by an envelope The envelope is triggered by the incoming audio signal s amplitude The amount of the envelope on the cutoff frequency is user definable This yields a classic funky wah wah like sound O wow ow f w o HP Filter This effect is a static filter without modulation Value Range Default Value Q Link No LP Filter Value Range Default Value Q Link No HP Shelving Filter This filter differs from the standard filter type as it attenuates all frequencies after the cutoff point equally Feneney tonriene amie fe a a LP Shelving Filter Frequency 10 19999 Hz 1500 Hz ee a a a a PEQ 2 Band 2 Shelf This effect is a combination of one two band parametric equalizer and two shelving filters wer oe O e o O raoe aoe amore a A e a a S E a Low Gain 18 0 18 0 dB 0 0 dB 0 or Gain 2 18 0 18 0 dB 0 0 dB High Gain 18 0 18 0 dB 0 0 dB E A PEQ 4 Band This effect is a powerful four band parametric equalize
52. 8 5 The MPC Software in Detail 29 5 0 DRUM Program vs KEYGROUP PLOQIAM cceeececeseeeneeeeeeeeeeseeeseeens 31 5 1 The File BrowSet sccceceeeeees 33 5 2 The Upper Section cceeceeeeeeee 35 5 3 The Lower SecCtion ccccsceseeeneees 36 54 TNE GUC eciassntcotsameieeiawesauctinimewetmwensioens 38 5 5 Main WO GG vincctnsctvnscedacentiteriesiteeseatias 42 5 6 Program Edit Mode 000088 47 5 7 Program Mixer Mode 0c00008 57 5 8 Track Mixer MOde ccccceeseeeeees 59 5 9 Track View Mode cccecceeeeeeees 62 5 10 Song MOde orare ana aer 63 5 11 Next Sequence Mode 65 5 12 Sample Record Mode 06 67 5 13 Sample Edit Mode l a 70 5 14 Pad Mute Mode snose 80 5 15 Track Mute Mode c ccceceee 82 5 16 Step Sequence Mode 08 84 5 17 Software MenusS ccccceeeeeeees 86 6 Appendix ince seeders coenterecaretacossueteuesiese 93 6 1 Effects amp Parameters 008 93 6 2 Keyboard Shortcuts c 000e 111 6 3 Specifications cccceceseeeeeeeeeees 113 6 4 Support amp Updates e 114 BGO SSL Y acseucananancns cncentantoaenudetaceutec 115 Manual Addendum v1 1 005 120 Manual Version 1 1 Pn 1E 070 5 K o E i 20 ad Thank you for purchasing the MPC Fusing Akai Professional s legendary MPC layou
53. ACK MUTE In this section we will mute different pads and tracks to see what the sequence sounds like without some of these parts The Pad Mute display of the MPC hardware P First go back to your basic Drum track gt Press and hold the SHIFT button on your MPC hardware and press the TRACK MUTE PAD MUTE button to enter Pad Mute Mode gt You can now mute a pad by pressing it once The muted pad will be lit red This is useful for listening to a sequence without the muted sample gt To mute pads on another track press SHIFT MAIN TRACK and click on F3 Track or F4 Track to switch between the recorded tracks Press SHIFT TRACK MUTE PAD MUTE again to perform the desired mutes You can also mute entire tracks by using the Track Mute function 24 processional unused curse The Track Mute display of the MPC hardware Press the TRACK MUTE button on your MPC hardware to enter Track Mute Mode P You can now mute a Track by hitting the corresponding pad once The muted pad is lit red gt If you want to mute a track only at precise note intervals quantizing your mutes essentially you can set a musical timing value by clicking on the F4 button Time Div Use the data dial to set a musical value for example 7 bar Click on F4 Close to close the page When you now hit a pad while in Track Mute mode the mute will occur precisely at the beginning of the following bar This lets you test musical combinat
54. ENT gt On the MPC hardware move the cursor to Pgm and use the data dial or the buttons to load the desired plugin Move the cursor to Midi Ch and use the data dial or the buttons to select the desired MIDI channel on which the track sequence data is sent to the loaded virtual instrument plugin In the MPC software click on the PLUG IN pop up menu and select A the virtual instrument plugin you want the sequence data should be E a sent to he pop up list shows you every plugin installed to your Be E computer that is recognized by the MPC software Keep in mind that mipicH jj you have to specify the disk directory where your plugins are located PROG a This can be done in the MPC Preferences Click on the EDIT button to open the user interface of the loaded plugin Click on the MIDI CH pop up menu to select a MIDI channel from 1 to 16 on which to send data to the virtual instrument Keep in mind that most of the virtual instruments are capable of recognizing data on all incoming MIDI channels Use this setting when you are working with a virtual instrument that supports multimode With the PROG pop up menu you are able to select a preset for the loaded virtual instrument PROJECT INFORMATION The Project Information section shows all Programs and samples loaded into the MPC software s current project PROJECT INFORMATION You can simply drag amp drop a sample from the PROJECT jg Sample ALIEN INFORMATION
55. FUL EVEL PAD ASSIGN FA F2 Fa FA FR FR WINDAW 2 OoOO0O0067 l i PAD 13 PAD 14 PAD 15 PAD 16 o d o o BPOMCER n S 10 10 10 10 S xy N N gt o gt gt a l gt l gt A gt A gt h Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 ll 1 2 3 j V OY MAIN 4 5 6 PAD 9 PAD 10 PAD 11 PAD 12 gt l gt gt Q o aa oe o o o o So o o Ss o Ss o Q 2 8 2 gt 2 gt 2 gt Q9 Q10 an Q12 PAD 5 PAD 6 PAD7 PAD 8 D 10 D s0229 s0209 gt l 8 oo o o o a Ss o Q 2 gt 2 gt 2 gt 2 gt a7 a8 Q5 Q A S k lt 01029 lt 01029 x01209 su N JEN Jj i E f j SoIsEeLg Ned Nella AD 1 ey gt 2 gt a o aa o o o o o So e Ss o 8 Q Q 2 8 2 gt l gt Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 oo INK FDacE NOTF P amp DEAT The top panel of the MPC Renaissance NAVIGATION DATA ENTRY CONTROLS 1 DISPLAY This LCD shows all the information relevant to MPC Renaissance s current operation Much of this information is also shown in the software Use the CURSOR BUTTONS to navigate through the display and use the DATA DIAL and buttons to adjust the currently selected setting parameter Use the MODE buttons to change what page is shown and use the F BUTTONS to change what tab is shown You can adjust the display contrast by holding down SHIFT and turning the DATA DIAL You can adjust the display contrast by holding down SHIFT and turning the DATA DIAL 2 F BUTTONS
56. G MIX TRACK MIX Press this button to view the Program Mixer screen in the display and software Hold down SHIFT and press this button to view the Track Mixer screen in the display and software SEQ EDIT EFFECTS Press this button to enter Sequence Edit mode Hold down SHIFT and press this button to enter Effects mode where you can select and route effects as well as edit effects parameters SAMPLE EDIT SAMPLE REC Press this button to view the Sample Edit screen in the display and software Hold down SHIFT and press this button to view the Sample Record screen in the display and software SONG OTHER Press this button to view the Song screen in the display and software Hold down SHIFT and press this button to enter Other mode which allows you to set the minimum number of taps for the TAP TEMPO button pad threshold sensitivity and curve the footswitches messages and the Program Change target STEP SEQ Press this button to view the Step Sequence screen in the display and software NEXT SEQ Press this button to view the Next Sequence screen in the display and software TRACK MUTE PAD MUTE Press this button to view the Track Mute screen in the display and software Hold SHIFT and press this button to view the Pad Mute screen in the display and software 33 34 35 36 37 WINDOW FULL SCREEN When this button is lit it means the selected field in the display contains additional f
57. Insert field indicate the currently chosen insert effect With the PAD BANK buttons you can also select different pad banks to select different sets of 16 channels gt Essentially when you select an insert effect it will automatically be routed to Submix 1 If you want you can change where it is routed to any one of the following outputs Submix 1 to 8 Out 1 2 to Out 15 16 In the MPC software first click on ROUTE and after that on the ON button of the desired channel Click on the arrow of the slot you want to assign an effect to A pop up menu lets you choose from a palette of various effects which can be loaded directly Click on a loaded effect name to open its graphic user interface for more detailed editing Essentially when you activate the insert effects by clicking on the ON button it will automatically be routed to Submix 1 If you want you can change where it is routed to any one of the following outputs Submix 1 to 8 Out 1 2 to Out 15 16 This can be done by clicking on the arrow below the last insert effect slot 58 AKA OO professional 5 8 TRACK MIXER MODE In Track Mixer Mode you can set the levels stereo panning and effects for each track gt To enter Track Mixer Mode press SHIFT PROG MIX TRACK MIX on your MPC hardware In the MPC software click on the Track Mixer tab in the Upper section While the Program Mixer gives you control over the individual pads and its sounds within a program the Tra
58. LL knob above the Q Link knobs to move through the different columns On the following pages we will create a short song to show you important aspects of using the MPC software in conjunction with the MPC hardware Let s get started 4 1 FIRST START e Make sure that the MPC hardware driver and software are both properly installed on your computer e Connect your MPC hardware to your computer with a suitable USB cable and switch it on After that start the MPC software Now you re ready to go 4 2 FEEDING THE MPC SOFTWARE Let s start with a simple drum set The Browser display of the MPC hardware gt Click on the BROWSER button of your MPC hardware and use the cursor down button to navigate through your hard disk folders To enter a selected folder click on the right cursor button to open it Navigate to where your drum sounds are located gt To preview a selected sound click on the F3 button Play You can also activate the Auto Preview option with the F2 button Auto gt First let s load a bass drum Hit Pad 1 to select it The pad will be lit in green Navigate to a bass drum sample you like and click on the F6 button Open to assign it to the selected pad Now the bass drum sample can be played with Pad 1 18 AKAI O processional gt To create a simple drum set we repeat the steps described above for other pads We recommend to load a snare drum on Pad 2 a closed hi hat on Pad 3 and an open hi ha
59. MPC hardware Right click on a Sample to open a context menu with the following options e Delete deletes the selected sample To avoid accidental deletion a query window opens for confirmation e Save saves the current sample to your hard disk A dialog window opens automatically where you can choose a data path for saving e Rename opens a window where you can rename the selected sample This doesn t affect the original file s name e Edit opens Sample Edit Mode for the selected sample For more information on that please refer to the chapter Sample Edit Mode 5 6 PROGRAM EDIT MODE Program Edit Mode contains all parameters for editing each layer of a sound program as well as all synthesis parameters and the insert effect settings If a virtual instrument Plugin or a MIDI instrument is selected Program Edit Mode will look different When working with the MPC Renaissance you will recognize that all parameters of Program Edit Mode are arranged in a grid with up to 16 parameters These parameters correspond to the 16 Q Link knobs of the MPC Renaissance and are fast and intuitive to use The MPC Studio is equipped with 4 Q Link knobs which can be assigned to the corresponding Q Link knob column with the SCROLL dial above the Q Link knobs gt To enter Program Edit press the PROG EDIT button on your MPC hardware In the MPC software click on the Program Edit tab in the Upper section The appearance of Program Edit Mod
60. MPC hardware Click on F1 Master With the Q9 Q5 and Q1 Q Link knobs on your MPC hardware you can assign additional samples to the selected pad These samples are placed in up to four Layers per pad Prosram MATIE Mono FPoly emi Tune Fine Tune Sim Play 1 Sim Ply 4 Mute Tat Mute Tat Mute Test 3 Mute Tat 4 Flt Env Lfo Mod ff Effects Master Samples Pan Vel The Master section in the PROG EDIT display of the MPC hardware for a Drum Program In the MPC software click on the Program Edit tab With the pop up menus of Layer 2 to Layer 4 you can load additional samples to the selected pad Each pad can hold up to four layers Keep in mind A DRUM Program holds 128 pads Each pad can hold up to four samples Layer 1 to 4 31 How to set up a KEYGROUP Program Click on the Program Edit tab in the MPC software Click on the PROG field to open a pop up menu and choose Add Program Type a desired program name and choose KEYGROUP as Program Type Click on OK to create a KEYGROUP program To load samples into a KEYGROUP program proceed as follows gt Press the BROWSER button on your MPC hardware Locate the desired sample and click on F6 Open to load it The sample is now loaded into the current Project Now press PROG EDIT Click on the F1 Master button and use the Q13 Q Link knob on your MPC hardware to assign the sample from the Project Information to the KEYGROUP program wale UL Cass Mono Poly Semi Tune Fi
61. Mute section in the display of the MPC hardware In the MPC software select the desired BANK first Make sure to activate PAD MUTE Mode in the MODE section Click the corresponding pad to mute unmute the sound that is assigned to it Muted pads are lit in red unmuted in yellow You can also click on the the miniature pads in BANK section to mute or unmute the desired samples This section gives you an overview of all 128 pads at the same time Unused pads are greyed out 80 The PAD GROUP Mode You can set up pad mute groups to mute or unmute multiple pads simultaneously This is useful when you have several samples assigned to different pads and you wish to mute a group of sounds or simultaneously isolate a group of specific drum hits Up to 16 different mute groups can be created gt In the MPC hardware click on the F2 button PadGroup to activate the Pad Group mode Hit a pad to select it and use the data dial or buttons to select the desired group Pads assigned to a mute group will blink yellow when one of the pads in the group is selected Use the PAD BANK buttons to switch between the 16 banks if necessary In the MPC software select the desired BANK first Make sure to activate the PAD GROUP mode in the MODE section Select a desired pad which should be assigned to a mute group and select the desired mute group in the MODE section by clicking and dragging the group number next to the pad number up or down Pads that are r
62. OD PITCH BEND determines the range of the pitchbend in semitones via a connected MIDI keyboard WHL gt LFO Wheel to LFO determines the effect of the modulation wheel on the LFO intensity via a connected MIDI keyboard And finally AFT gt FILT Aftertouch to Filter Cutoff determines the effect of aftertouch on the filter cutoff via a connected MIDI keyboard LFO FILT To use these parameters make sure that a connected MIDI device is able to send Pitch Bend messages as well as Aftertouch and Modulation Wheel data PAD PROGRAM INSERT EFFECTS SECTION Here you can select up to four audio insert effects for each pad You can use various effects included in your MPC software as well as optional VST AU plugins installed on your computer gt A list of all available MPC effects including their parameters can be found in the Appendix on Page 93 gt To load and edit the effects press the F6 button Effects on your MPC hardware Use the cursor buttons to move to the desired insert slot of the Send level With the data dial or the buttons you can open an additional display page to select the desired effect type as well as change the effect send level Click F3 Back to close the Select Effect display page Click on F4 Select to load the selected effect gt The Q Link knobs can adjust the parameters but you first need to assign them to the Q Link knobs in the software s Q Link section For more information on that please refer to Pa
63. PC Tutorial xpj Plugins to choose an autoload file on your hard Template File g MPC Tutorial MPC Tutorial xpj disk so the MPC software automatically Sequencer loads your desired settings on start up Other This file can be a Project xpj as well as a Program xpm You can also select a Template File which allows you to choose a Sequence template to start from when you create a new Sequence rogers Parameters of the Sequencer Tab Audi vat Here you can activate the following E instant Track Mute Plugins options ae K Record Mute Events e Instant Track Mute The MPC Sequencer software has the ability to mute tracks using two different Ej Record Pad Aftertouch Events methods If this option IS deactivated Note On messages will be ignored This is how legacy MPCs machines track muting worked This method allows samples and notes that are playing to finish playing through their entire length This is useful when using loops and you want to have a loop finish playing to the end of a measure then not play the next time the sequence loops If Instant EJ Play Mute Events Ej Place Events Recorded During Count In At Start Point 89 O D Track Muting is activated MIDI track volume is sent This is useful when you want to have the track muted immediately The advantage of this method is that the loop will continue to play but at zero volume allowing the loop to continue playing when the track is unmuted
64. RACK pop up menu and select the desired track gt On the MPC hardware move the cursor to V and use the data dial or the buttons to edit the overall velocity of the selected track in percent In the MPC software click on the VELOCITY display to change the overall velocity of the selected track Velocity determines how loud or soft a track plays relative to how it was recorded When set to 50 the track will be played with half the velocity it was originally played When set to 200 the track will play twice as loud up to a full velocity level of 127 gt On the MPC hardware click on F5 MUTE to mute the selected track Click on F6 SOLO to set the selected track to solo You can toggle between MUTE SOLO active and inactive In the MPC software click on the M button to mute the selected track Click on the S button to solo the selected track When a SOLO is activated from the MAIN page the SOLO function follows the current track In other words if you have soloed Track 1 and turn to Track 2 now Track 2 will be soloed INSTRUMENT Settings Here you can select whether the MPC software uses the internal sound generation MPC for playing tracks and sequences an optional external sound module Midi connected via MIDI or an optional virtual instrument Plugin in VST or AU format Depending on the selected instrument the INSTRUMENT section will look different gt On the MPC hardware move the cursor to Inst and use the
65. RDWARE Display 360 x 96 dot graphic LCD w backlight Dimensions 11 2 x 10 1 x 0 89 W x D x H 284 mm x 257 mm x 22 6 mm Mioi inputs in DIN xt via Ve TRStoMIDI adapter WiDr Outputs in DIN x1 via Ve TRSto MIDI adapter Use use 20t0computerxt OOOO 113 AKAI O sh MPC Software Maximum events unlimited based on computers CPU Resolution 960 pulses per 1 4 note Sequences 128 Tracks per sequence 128 Drum pads 16 velocity and pressure sensitive Drum pad banks 8 Sync mode MIDI clock MIDI Time Code Transport Controls MIDI Machine Control Polyphony 64 Dynamic filtering 1 State Variable Filter per voice up to 8 pole depending on type Filter types Low Pass Band Pass High Pass Band Boost Band Stop Analog Modeling Vocal Formant Number of programs 128 Memory capacity System dependent Plugin Supported as Host VST Mac PC AU Mac Plugin Formats available to other DAWs VST AU Mac Only Data Compatibility MPC1000 MPC2000 2000XL MPC3000 MPC4000 MPC5000 Z4 Z8 S1000 3000 S5000 6000 6 4 SUPPORT amp UPDATES For additional information technical support and the most current versions of software firmware or drivers please visit akaiprompc com 114 O Ova 6 5 GLOSSARY To avoid confusion the terminology in this manual is based on the MPC parameter names In this glossary you will find the various terms explained Aftertouch The majority of contemporar
66. ROUP PLAY MODES parameters press the F1 button Master on your MPC hardware Use Q Link knobs Q9 Q11 for direct access of all 3 parameters Keep in mind that these parameters are available only in KEYGROUP programs You can assign the selected pad to one of the 32 available MUTE GROUPs When pads assigned to the same mute group receive MIDI notes the last note played will mute any other sounding instrument of that mute group With LAYER PLAY you can determine how multiple samples assigned to the same pad are played Activate the Cycle CYC function to play the next layers sample each time that pad is played In other words the samples will cycle through the layers as follows 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 etc Use Velocity VEL to switch between samples depending on how hard you hit a pad Finally the Random RAN function will allow all the samples assigned to the pad to be selected randomly This way every time you hit a pad one of the assigned samples will be randomly chosen to play With the SAMPLE PLAY function you can determine whether the pad is played as ONE SHOT from start to end or defined by NOTE ON only as long as the note is held Select ONE SHOT when you want to play short sounds However if you are using a long sample it is sometimes better to set it to NOTE ON so you can control a sound s duration by pressing and holding its corresponding pad KEY GROUP Keygroup Program only Here you can set additional parame
67. TRANSPORT RECORDING CONTROLS 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 PLAY Press this button to play the Sequence from the audio pointer s current position PLAY START Press this button to play the Sequence from its start point STOP Press this button to stop playback REC Press this button to record arm the Sequence Press PLAY or PLAY START to start recording Recording in this way rather than using OVERDUB erases the events of the current Sequence After the Sequence plays through once while recording Overdub will be enabled OVERDUB Press this button to enable Overdub which allows you to record note events in a Sequence without overwriting any previously recorded note events You can enable Overdub either before or during recording lt gt lt gt Use these buttons to move the audio pointer left right one step at a time Hold LOCATE and press one of these buttons to move the audio pointer to the previous next event in the Sequence Grid lt lt gt gt START END Use these buttons to move the audio pointer left right one bar at a time Hold LOCATE and press one of these buttons to move the audio pointer to the start or end of the Sequence Grid LOCATE Hold this button down to activate the secondary functions of the lt gt and lt lt gt gt buttons i e lt gt and START END respectively ERASE As a Sequence is playing hold this button do
68. am The WAVE parameter sets the LFO waveform The following waveforms RATE determines the frequency of the LFO At low values it might take some time for the LFO to complete a cycle while higher values will come close to audible range When SYNC is activated the LFO is synced to the tempo based on the rate selected in the pop up menu when None is selected SYNC is off The RATE setting controls the speed of the LFO and lets you dial in musically useful values When RESET is deactivated the LFO runs independently If activated the LFO resets at the beginning of each note The LFO modulation destinations determine the amount of effect of the LFO has on PITCH Filter Cutoff frequency FILTER Volume AMP and Panning PAN Program grins Mute bre Layer Play Sample Play Pad Play Vel gt Pitch Wel gt Attack Vel gt Ame Vel gt Pan LFO Wave LFO Rate LFO Sync LFO Reset LFO gt Pitch LFO gt Filter LFO gt Ame LFO gt Pan Master J Samples J Pan Vel f Flt Env JERE Effects The LFO Mod section in the display of the MPC hardware 54 CONTROLLER MOD SECTION Keygroup Program only In this section you set the influence of additional play controllers on various sound parameters gt To edit the CONTROLLER MOD parameters press the F5 button Lfo Mod on your MPC hardware Use Q Link knobs Q2 Q4 for direct access of all 3 parameters Keep in mind that these parameters are available only in KEYGROUP programs CONTROLLER M
69. amples by hitting the corresponding pads simultaneously gt To select the sample input on your MPC hardware navigate to Input and choose between EXTERNAL or RESAMPLE Click on the INPUT MONITOR button to control the incoming audio source through your audio system Make sure to reduce the level of the audio sources to avoid clicks or feedback which can occur by using the INPUT MONITOR function 68 gt To activate the monitor function on your MPC hardware navigate to Monitor and switch it to ON The SAMPLE LENGTH display shows you the length of your sample during the recording procedure This is for control purposes only Click on the RESET PEAK button to reset the peak hold which shows the highest level of your input signal as a red bar within the level meter P To reset the peak hold on your MPC hardware press the F1 or F2 button Reset Peak The peak hold is shown as a vertical bar within the Level Meter With the SAMPLE REC and STOP butions you can start and stop the recording procedure Keep in mind that when the Threshold parameter is set to a higher value the recording will not start after clicking the REC button The level of audio input signal needs to reach the threshold for recording to start If you do not click on STOP recording will continue to the end of the previously set sample length gt To start recording on your MPC hardware press the F6 button Record After that you can cancel the procedure b
70. an envelope and drag into the desired direction to change an envelope parameter Pencil Select Box Icon Clicking this icon will switch between Draw Mode Pencil icon and Select Mode I teed Select box icon Draw Mode e Clicking once on an empty square in the grid will place a note in that square e Double clicking a note will erase it Select Mode e Clicking and dragging the box over notes on the grid will highlight them e Double clicking an empty grid square will add a note e Double clicking an existing note will erase it Plug in ar All LS 7 1o J The MPC software can be used as a standalone application as well as an instrument plugin in your host application The MPC plugin differs in the following ways from the standalone version e The MPC plugin doesn t offer a top menu like in the standalone application The corresponding menu button is located to the left of the Main tab e The MPC plugin is automatically synchronized to the tempo of your host application e The start and stop commands are always synchronized to the host application When the playback of the host application is started the MPC plugin playback starts simultaneously 30 O D 5 0 DRUM PROGRAM VS KEYGROUP PROGRAM A Program in the MPC is a file which contains a list of all samples used and settings for each sample i e pad assignments loop points pitch tuning effects etc The MPC s PROGRAM
71. andled by a signal processing system it is fed into The curve of a clipped signal is dependent on the system where the clipping occurs In the analog domain clipping effectively limits the signal to a given maximum level In the digital domain clipping is similar to a numerical overflow resulting in negative polarity of the signal s portions exceeding the maximum level Control Change Controllers MIDI messages enable you to manipulate the behavior of a sound generator to a significant degree This message essentially consists of two components e The Controller number which defines the parameter to be influenced It can range from O to 127 e The Controller value which determines the extent of the modification 115 Controllers can be used for effects such as slowly swelling vibrato changing the stereo panning position and influencing filter frequency Cutoff The cutoff frequency is a significant factor for filters A low pass filter for example dampens the portion of the signal that lies above this frequency Frequencies below this value are allowed to pass through without being processed Decay Decay describes the descent rate of an envelope once the Attack phase has reached its maximum and the envelope drops to the level defined by the Sustain value Envelope An envelope is used to modulate a sound shaping component within a given time For instance an envelope that modulates the cutoff frequency of a filter open
72. anges by pressing F4 Cancel The editing options are described below 13 ARF itch Shift The Process Sample display for Pitch Shift of the MPC hardware In the MPC software click on the desired sample editing option A new window will open Some options offer additional parameters To execute a selected option click on Do It Otherwise you can cancel your changes by clicking the Cancel button When the sample edit option window is open you can click on the Function field to choose another edit option if desired Keep in mind that all START END processes will only affect the part of the sample between the start and the end point except BIT REDUCE and STEREO gt MONO which will be affected the whole sample regardless of its start and end points The following sample editing options are available DISCARD automatically deletes unwanted parts from a sample before the start point and after the end point This option does smamemo not offer further parameters DELETE automatically deletes the sample portion between start SAMPLE and end point and closes the created gap This option does not offer further parameters SILENCE automatically inserts silence to the sample portion between start and end point This option does not offer further parameters EXTRACT automatically crops the sample portion between start and end point and saves it as a new sample For example you can extract the snare sounds from
73. ar command allows you to delete the content of the clipboard if you no longer need it Preferences opens the MPC s Preferences dialog window which contains many adjustable elements of this application Click on the corresponding tab in the left windows area to select that page e g Auto Load Click on the OK button to close the Preferences window Preferences will be automatically saved Inthe Mac MPC software Preferences is located in the MPC menu Parameters of the Audio Tab AS With the Audio Device Type Input and Output parameters you can select an MIDI Output MPC Renaissance Test audio hardware driver that is installed in p puan er your computer system If you want to use RIE Active Input Channels input 1 2 the MPC Renaissance s input and Other BB input 3 4 outputs to record to and play back from your computer select ASIO as the Sample Rate EE ng Audio Device Type and MPC Audio Buffer Size pai nae sii Renaissance ASIO Driver as the Device Latency Adjust 864 Otherwise you can select an ASIO hardware driver of your audio interface for Windows users If you are using the internal soundcard of your computer we recommend downloading the latest ASIO4ALL driver at asio4all com Click on the Test button to start a test tone This is for checking your audio output Careful You should lower the volume on your audio system beforehand The Active Input Channels displays the active installed inputs on
74. ation program 2 3 4 5 Follow the on screen instructions Refer to the folder where the downloaded MPC zip archive is located Double click on the archive file to extract it Double click on the MPC Installer icon This launches a special installation program Row NM Follow the on screen instructions 15 AKA 3 3 INSTALLATION UNDER MAC OS X How to install the MPC software 1 Disable any system activity monitoring software or extension Then insert the MPC DVD into your computer s DVD drive 2 If required double click on the MPC icon to open the DVD window 3 Double click on the MPC Installer icon to load the installation software 4 Follow the on screen instructions Refer to the folder where the downloaded MPC zip archive is located Double click on the archive file to extract it Double click on the MPC Installer DMG icon This launches a special installation program e oO PY gt Follow the on screen instructions 16 AKAI O proressional l 3 4 UNLOCKING THE MPC SOFTWARE You ll need to unlock your MPC software before using it Follow these steps to unlock it Welcome to MPC This software must be unlocked before you can run it Before being unlocked it will only run in demonstration mode Unlock Now Connect your MPC hardware to a USB port on your computer If you are using MPC Renaissance connect it to a power source too Power on the MPC hardware Ope
75. bes the descent rate of an envelope to its minimum value after a trigger is terminated The Release phase begins immediately after the trigger is terminated regardless of the envelope s current status For instance the Release phase may be initiated during the Attack phase Resonance Resonance or emphasis is an important filter parameter It emphasizes the frequencies around the filter cutoff frequency by amplifing them with a narrow bandwidth This is one of the most popular methods of manipulating sounds If you increase the emphasis i e to a level where the filter enters a state of self oscillation it will generate a relatively pure sine waveform Root Key The root key defines the original pitch of a recorded instrument or of a sample Samples in the MPC software contain the dedicated root key information This information will be created automatically during recording or importing Sample When you tap the pads on your MPC you can trigger sounds that we call samples Samples are digitized snippets of audio that can either be recorded using the recording function of your MPC software or loaded from the File Browser Once a sample is present in the MPC software it can be manipulated in different ways For example a sample can be trimmed looped pitch shifted or processed using various effects offered by the MPC software When you have finished editing your sample you can assign it to one or more drum pads to play it Samples ca
76. ccess Banks E H Between these 8 banks with 16 pads per bank you can access up to 128 MIDI events using the pads 17 PAD ASSIGN PAD COPY Press this button to assign a sample to a pad In the display the 4x4 grid that appears represents the 16 pads Use the CURSOR BUTTONS to navigate through the grid and use the DATA DIAL or buttons to select a Program when the Program field is highlighted or a sample when a pad is highlighted Hold down SHIFT and press this button to copy the samples and parameters from one pad to another Use the CURSOR BUTTONS to select the From Pad source or To Pads destination field and hit a pad to select it you can copy to multiple pads Use the F BUTTONS to confirm or cancel the operation 18 FULL LEVEL HALF LEVEL Press this button to activate deactivate Full Level When activated the pads always play back at a maximum velocity 127 no matter how hard or soft you hit them Hold down SHIFT and press this button to activate deactivate Half Level When activated the pads always play back at half velocity 63 11 20 16 LEVEL Press this button to activate deactivate 16 Level When activated the last pad that was hit will be temporarily copied to all 16 pads The pads will now output the same note number as the initial pad but a selectable parameter will be fixed at the values shown in the diagram on the right regardless of how hard you hit them The available parameters
77. ck Mixer is the tool to mix your tracks within a sequence up to 64 tracks are available LE SEND INSERT ELN INS y w y ta y p y b Pel gt a r a a a a SEND EFFECTS The Track Mixer works like a regular audio mixer and offers various settings per channel All channels are identical in functionality By default used tracks are named Track 01 Track 02 etc gt To set the level for a desired channel click on the F2 button Level and use the corresponding Q Link knob for editing With the PAD BANK buttons you can also select different pad banks to select different sets of 16 channels The Track Mixer section in the display of the MPC hardware In the MPC software click on the desired channel fader and move your computer mouse up and down Alternatively you can use your mouse scroll wheel To view more mixer channels use the scroll bar below the channel view gt To set the panning for a desired channel click on the F3 button Pan and use the corresponding Q Link knob for editing With the PAD BANK buttons you can also select different pad banks to select different sets of 16 channels In the MPC software click on the desired channel panning dial and move your computer mouse up and down Alternatively you can use your mouse scroll wheel To view more mixer channels use the scroll bar below the channel view gt To mute a channel click on the F4 button Mute and press the top of
78. d note with up to 4 possible velocity layers A single keygroup can be edited by using the KG SELECT parameter in the KEY GROUP section Alternatively you can select ALL Keygroups for simultaneous editing In EDIT ZONES only available in DRUM programs the small squares give you an overview of any selected pad s EDIT ZONES current MULTIPLE A A G ALL B c D E F G lf CURRENT is selected only the currently active pad can be edited Tap on the desired pad on your MPC hardware to select a pad you may also select a PAD BANK The current pad is shown as a purple square In the MPC software you have to select the desired pad in Main Mode lf MULTIPLE is selected all selected pads can be edited at the same time All selected pads are shown with an orange border the current active pad is also shown also in purple In the MPC software you can select pads directly in Program Edit mode by clicking with your computer mouse lf ALL is selected all pads can be edited simultaneously 51 o Ez FILTER amp ENVELOPES SECTION TED ay pu Select the pad you wish to filter by hitting it on your MPC hardware or l by selecting it in Main Mode of the MPC software TYPE MODULATION sounces P To edit the FILTER FILTER ENVELOPE amp AMP ENVELOPE parameters press the F4 button Fit Env on your MPC hardware w Use the MPC hardware Q Link knobs for direct access of all 16 W gt 5 T Vv FILTER ENVELOPE
79. e nothing needs to be connected to the grounding terminal 15 MIDI IN Use a five pin MIDI cable to connect the MIDI OUT of an optional external MIDI device to the MIDI IN of MPC Renaissance 16 MIDI OUT Use a five pin MIDI cable to connect the MIDI OUT of MPC Renaissance to the MIDI IN of an optional external device For more information about the specifications of the MPC hardware please refer to the corresponding chapter in the Appendix section of this manual ASAI O processional 2 4 MPC STUDIO TOP PANEL 0000 professional OOOOD The top panel of the MPC Studio POWER amp I O 1 COMPUTER USB PORT Use the included USB cable to connect this high retention force USB port to an available USB port on your computer This connection allows MPC Studio to send receive MIDI and audio data to from the MPC software POWER SWITCH Turns MPC Studio s power on off MIDI IN Use the included 1 8 MIDI adapter and a five pin MIDI cable to connect the MIDI OUT of an optional external MIDI device to the MIDI IN of MPC Studio MIDI OUT Use the included 1 8 MIDI adapter and a five pin MIDI
80. e We recommend spreading the panning of the bright sounds a little gt The snare drum needs a small amount of reverb to give it a more spatial sound Press the F6 button Insert 1 to enter the insert effect page Use the cursor buttons to navigate to the pad here A02 where your snare sample is located With the data dial you can now select the desired effect Let s try the Reverb Medium gt Could the bass drum use some tuning No big deal press the PROG EDIT button and hit Pad 1 to select the bass drum Click on F2 Samples and use the Q14 and Q15 Q Link knobs to tune the sound You can also use the corresponding SEMI and FINE parameter in the Layer section of the MPC software We re on the move now Time to add a new sound 20 AKAI O 4 6 THE BASSLINE TRACK To complete our musical experiment we need a bassline In this case it is important to be able to play a bass sound chromatically How does that work First of all we need to select a new track Go back to Main Mode and select Track 02 in the TRACK pop up menu above the Grid P In the MPC hardware you have to press the MAIN button With F4 Track you can switch to the next track This new and empty Track should be assigned to a new Program You can do this in Program Edit Mode Click on the PROG pop up menu above the Grid and select the Add Program option A new window opens Enter a name e g Bass and select KEYGROUP as the Program Type This is nece
81. e an LFO can be used to modulate a sound shaping component MIDI The acronym MIDI stands for musical instrument digital interface Developed in the early 1980s MIDI enables interaction between various types of electronic music instruments from different manufacturers At the time a communications standard for heterogeneous devices did not exist so MIDI was a significant advance It made it possible to link various devices with one another through simple standardized connectors Essentially this is how MIDI works One sender is connected to one or several receivers For instance if you want to use a computer to play a MIDI synthesizer the computer is the sender and the synthesizer acts as the receiver With a few exceptions the majority of MIDI devices are equipped with two or three ports for this purpose MIDI In MIDI Out and in some cases MIDI Thru The sender transfers data to the receiver via the MIDI Out jack Data are sent via a cable to the receiver s MIDI In jack 116 eee O proressional MIDI Thru has a special function It allows the sender to transmit to several receivers It routes the incoming signal to the next device without modifying it Another device is simply connected to this jack thus creating a chain through which the sender can address a number of receivers Of course it is desirable for the sender to be able to address each device individually To achieve this a MIDI channel message is sent with each MIDI even
82. e you can set the levels stereo panning and effects for of each individual pad of a program If a virtual instrument PlugIn is selected this mode will look different To enter Program Mixer Mode press the PROG MIX button on your MPC hardware In the MPC software click on the Program Mixer tab in the Upper section The Program Mixer offers 128 track channels when using a DRUM program each for every pad If a KEYGROUP program is selected or MIDI or Plugin is choosen for the instrument the Program Mixer offers one channel only Route Beta Teme 99 Eoma SEND COA SEND ROU jimserts CI a Phaser 1 lial SEND _ jan FX Sounds 007 The Program Mixer works like a regular audio mixer and offers various settings per channel All channels functionality is identical If a sample has been assigned to a pad its name is displayed right below the channel fader The Program Mixer section in the display of the MPC hardware gt To set the routing for a desired channel click on the F1 button Route and use the cursor buttons to select a desired pad Use the data dial or buttons to select the desired output With the PAD BANK buttons you can also select different pad banks to select different sets of 16 channels In the MPC software click on ROUTE tab of the desired channel first then on the pop up menu at the bottom the ROUTE tab Select the desired output e g Out 3 4 to route the audio signal directly
83. e MPC hardware gt When Range is selected you can define the instrument lanes pads to be quantized by pressing their corresponding pads on the MPC hardware Selected pads are shown in the Time Correct window Use the cursor keys to navigate to the Events Range parameter to select the range of bars for quantization You can apply the settings you made in the Time Correct windows by pressing the Do It button Sync Menu In the Settings window you will find a lot of parameters regarding the synchronization of your MPC Send lets you you to choose whether or not the MPC software sends MIDI Clock or MIDI Time a 7 MTC Frame Rate Code MTC to the individual ports of the MPC MIDI Clock E 24 hardware or any connected MIDI interface Make Ed 25 E 30 drop E 30 non drop sure to check the port s over which you want to send this information You can select two MIDI devices connected to your computer to send MIDI mere Control Clock or MTC data to Select your device from the ore eee dae chee oer pop up menu and make sure the box next to it is aeee checked The MTC Frame Rate sets the frame rate for MTC sync In most cases you will choose the 25 FPS frames per second option The correct frame rate is important especially when working on film scoring projects The Device Control allows you to send MIDI Machine Control MMC from the transport buttons on the MPC MMC only sends transport commands it does not include track arming a
84. e are 5 buttons labeled 1 to 5 at the top of the File Browser Here you can select up to five locations on your hard disk s that will offer you a quick access to the corresponding files For example If your MPC projects are saved within your User s Documents folder click on the 1 button to select browser path 1 After that click on the file browser s pop up menu for an overview of your hard disk structure which looks quite similar to the Windows Explorer or the Mac Finder After selecting the desired location the content of your folder is shown in the target window To load a project just double click on its corresponding xpj file in the target window You can filter your search results using the respective filter buttons The selected buttons will light red Click on NO FILT to switch the filter function off Click on the PROJ button to show only Project files in the target window Click on SEQ to show only sequence files Click on PROG to show Program files only Keygroup and Drum Programs Click on SAMPLE to show only audio samples ind that the target window does not display irrelevant files like Word documents PDF or pictures e g JPEG TIFF gt On the MPC hardware you can use the following buttons for the Browser filter functions NO FILTER to deactivate the filter same as the NO FILT button in the MPC software PROJECT for Project filter SEQUENCE for Sequence filter PROGRAM for Program filter and SAMPLE fo
85. e end point gt Use Q Link knob Q16 to select a slice for editing gt Use Q Link knob Q12 to set the threshold for slice detection in Threshold mode or the number of regions in Regions mode or the number of bars in BPM mode gt Use Q Link knob Q8 to define the numbers of beats in BPM mode This dial has no function in Threshold and Regions modes gt Use Q Link knob Q4 to set the Time Signature in BPM mode This dial has no function in Threshold and Regions modes In the MPC software you can use the Q Link knobs Q13 Q9 Q5 or Q1 s to adjust the start point of the sample The smaller the Q Link knob M EEEN number the more precise the adjusting of the start point Use Q Link knobs Q15 Q11 Q7 or Q3 to adjust the end point of the sample The smaller the Q Link knob number the more precise the adjustment of the Q end point Q Q 9 i E 4 Start x1000 8 g 8 d A 70 50 Use the Q Link knob Q16 to select a slice for editing sal Depending on the Chop mode Threshold Regions BPM the Q Qo Link knob section offers different parameters for editing for the Q Link knobs Q12 Q8 and Q4 O O Use the Q Link knob Q12 to set the threshold for slice detection in Threshold mode or the number of regions in Regions mode or the numbers of bars in BPM mode 3 3 g Use the Q Link knob Q8 to set the number of beats in BPM mode This dial has no function in Threshold and Regions m
86. e its corresponding pad is hit But the sound will not be affected by changing the Q Link knob after hitting the pad If Midi is selected in the INSTRUMENT section the Program mode will look slightly different To control a desired parameter Be More Sars of an external sound generator by MIDI you can define a MIDI CC MIDI Control Change This can be any MIDI Control Change from 1 to 128 for every Q Link knob Make sure that your external MIDI device is able and set to recognize MIDI control change data Click on the FX button to activate the FX mode for the Q Link qunx giire CTE GPa knobs The next steps describes how to assign an effect crrecr Geer j PARAM GCC parameter to a Q Link knob in the MPC software Keep in mind that you have to load an effect before its parameters can be assigned to the Q Link knobs All effects loaded to the pads or to the track independent from their routing can be used for parameter assigning gt On the MPC hardware you can touch the top of a Q Link knob to select it e First click on the Q Link knob and move the mouse to select it for assigning The QLINK field will show the number of the selected knob e Click on the TRIG field to open a pop up menu for selecting Min or Max When you hold down the Q Link Trigger button on your MPC hardware and touch the top of one the Q 43 Link knobs the corresponding parameters will jump to either its minimum Min or maximu
87. e may vary depending on the selected program If you have created a DRUM program there are fewer parameters than for a KEYGROUP program To familiarize yourself with DRUM and KEYGROUP Programs please refer to Chapter 5 0 gt To edit the play and sound parameters of a particular pad in a DRUM program you can simply select it by striking the corresponding pad of your MPC hardware Use the PAD BANK buttons to select a desired bank The program settings will change automatically in the display of your MPC hardware This procedure is not possible for KEYGROUP programs To select a DRUM program for editing in the MPC software you have to select the desired pad first in Main Mode 47 O D MASTER SECTION gt To edit the Master section press the F1 button on your MPC hardware Use the Q13 Q14 and Q15 Q Link knobs for direct access of all Master section parameters Keep in mind that a DRUM program offers fewer parameters than a KEYGROUP program In the Master section you can select MONO or POLY mode In MONO mode only one pad will sound at a time If a pad sounds while another or the same one is still sounding the new sample s will immediately cut the sample s that are playing In POLY mode several sounds can be triggered at the same time limited only by the total number of voices available SEMI lets you transpose the selected program 12 semitones up or down while FINE provides fine tuning of the Program by fractions of a
88. e next zero crossing of the waveform This can ree 0 19798 help to avoid clicks and glitches when playing a slice C mon E e NUMBER shows you the number of the selected slice Keep in mind that you have to create slices before a slice can be chosen sermos r e START defines the start point of the selected slice You can move the start point of a slice by using the position pointer in the waveform display Alternatively double click on the display to enter a desired start point Keep in mind that the start point of a slice is also the end point of the previous slice e END defines the end point of the selected slice You can move the start point of a slice by using the position pointer in the waveform display Alternatively double click on the display to enter a desired start point Keep in mind that the end point of a slice is also the start point of the next slice e When AUDITION is activated the pads can be used to play the created slices Each slice is assigned to a pad automatically starting from pad A01 with slice 1 and so on If your sample contains more than 16 slices you need to use the BANK buttons to switch through the pad banks for showing all playable slices When you hit a pad in Audition mode the corresponding slice will be selected 1 e With LINK SLICES active editing the start or end point of a slice will alter the start and end points of its adjacent slices respectively For example editing the end point of a s
89. e opens a pop up menu to select one of the 32 songs the Project can hold You can also convert a song to a sequence using the CONVERT gt SEQ function Click on SONG LOOP to loop your song so it will play continuously In the EDIT STEP section you can manually insert a selected pad sequence behind a selected sequence in the playlist INSERT STEP You can also delete a selected sequence from the playlist DELETE STEP In the STEP section you can exchange the selected sequence in the playlist The various fields give you an overview of the play parameter of the chosen sequence gt The following buttons are available in the MPC hardware s display when a song is playing SUDDEN switches to the next sequence before the MPC software has finished playing back the current sequence This is useful in live performances if you need to switch to the next sequence at a certain cue NEXT jumps to the next sequence at the end of the current sequence These buttons can be also used in conjunction with HOLD to get the MPC out of a HOLD sequence If you want to learn more about how to create a song please refer to the Quick Start Tutorial chapter on Page 18 The PROJECT INFORMATION This section is identical to the Project Information in Main mode For further information please read the chapter Main Mode 64 AKAI O processional 5 11 NEXT SEQUENCE MODE In Next Sequence Mode you can select sequences to launch them with the pads
90. e pads will now output the same note number as the initial pad but a selectable parameter will be fixed at the values shown in the diagram on the right regardless of how hard you hit them The available parameters are velocity tuning filter layer attack or decay NOTE REPEAT LATCH Hold this button down and press a pad to retrigger that pad s sample at a rate based on the current Tempo and Time Correct settings the available Time Correct settings will appear in the display which you can select with the F BUTTONS Hold down SHIFT and press this button to latch the Note Repeat feature When latched the button does not need to be held down for Note Repeat to be activated Press NOTE REPEAT once more to unlatch it MODE VIEW CONTROLS 16 SHIFT Hold this button down to access some buttons secondary functions indicated by orange writing 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 2 1 28 29 30 31 32 MAIN TRACK Press this button to view the Main screen in the display and software Hold down SHIFT and press this button to view the Track View screen in the display and software BROWSER SAVE Press this button to view the file browser in the display Hold down SHIFT and press this button to save the current Project including its samples Programs Sequences and Songs PROG EDIT Q LINK Press this button to view the Program Edit screen in the display and software Hold
91. e red arrows triangles in the measure bar indicate the start and the end of a sequence When a sequence is played back using PLAY START the audio pointer will start playing from the first beat of the first bar If the loop function is in the Sequence panel underneath the grid the sequence will loop between the beginning of the first bar and the end of the last bar When creating a new sequence the first bar will default to Bar 1 You can change the start point and end point of a sequence by adjusting the First Bar and Last Bar parameters in the Sequence panel below the grid The red arrows in the measure bar will be placed accordingly For more information on this please view also the chapter SEQUENCE Settings The section under the grid is the velocity automation lane Here you can edit MIDI velocity data of your recorded notes and or create and edit complex automation data for various parameters The default parameter visible in the automation lane is NT Velocity 39 AKA O The Grid View for KEYGROUP Programs When a KEYGROUP Progam is selected the grid looks as in the following picture 1 4 4 i v The only difference to the DRUM Program view is the vertical miniature keyboard in the left grid window section Click on a key to select the corresponding track You will also hear the note assigned to that key a a Everything else works exactly as in the DRUM Programs How to enter notes and automation data Yo
92. e velocity range of each layer The values are set either by pressing the F3 button on your MPC hardware and changing the displayed values or by clicking in the segment chain on the right side of the LAYER area in your MPC software window and dragging its left and right ends to the desired value A range from 0 to 127 lets the layer respond to the entire velocity 50 O D range which is input from the respective pad while for example a range from 100 to 127 lets the layer respond only to high velocity levels By assigning several samples of one instrument e g a drum that was hit at different levels you can create a convincing velocity layer multisample by adjusting the velocity ranges of each layer accordingly With ROOT NOTE you can change the root key of each loaded sample The virtual keyboard only available for KEYGROUP programs shows the NOTE RANGE which can be set in the KEY GROUP section In the MPC software you can also drag the left or right range with your computer mouse AAAA MbLddddbbdbddbudhi at Click on the red bar above the virtual keyboard to set the overall key range for the selected keygroups With the Number of Keygroups NO KG you can create up to 128 keygroups within a KEYGROUP Program This is very useful when working with multisamples For ae example if you want to create a realistic sample piano you can use different keygroups e g 88 for a grand piano with every Keygroup containing its own sample
93. ect as allows you to save the current project under a new name The Save dialog is similar to the Save Project dialog Save All Programs saves all Programs of your Project Save Current Program saves only the current Program Save Current Sequence saves only the current Sequence With the Export function you can export your project or sequence data in various MPC formats and as standard MIDI file as well as an audio mixdown file Select the desired option from the submenu AS MPC1000 MPC2500 Seq exports the current Sequence in MPC1000 2500 format so that it can be read with the respective MPC hardware As MPC1000 MPC2500 Prg exports the current Program in MPC1000 2500 format The same applies to As MPC5000 Seq Prg lf you choose Midi Export a separate window will open to let you export the actual Sequence as a standard MIDI file This is useful when you want to import your sequences into a sequencer software or exchange your sequences with another musician In the Export Midi dialog window you can choose a data path for saving You can also name your MIDI file MIDI files are always saved with the file extension mid 86 If you choose As Audio Mixdown a separate window Audio Mixdown opens which offers you the following options e You can define the length of your audio file by Set et EE tatoo GENS choosing measure Start and End point This way gender option Fis tartnat Gu n R you can also bounce a certain number of E master Elwa
94. ected MPC hardware With Program Change you can define what an incoming MIDI Program Change will change You can choose between switching a Program Sequence or Track In Vintage Mode pop up menu you can toggle between the different audio quality emulations You can choose to emulate the particular sonic qualities of for example the MPC3000 or MPC6O or of course no emulation None Click Metro Menu This menu contains all settings regarding the Metronome Count In enables or disables the metronome pre count before recording Off disables the metronome pre count Record enables the pre count during recording only while Record Play enables pre count in both recording and playback modes Metronome offers the settings for the metronome Off disables the metronome Play enables the metronome sound during playback only Record enables the metronome sound during recording only Record Play enables the metronome to happen in both recording and playback modes The Rate allows you to choose the time division for the metronome to play at You can select between 1 4 1 4T 1 8 1 8T 1 16 1 16T 1 82 and 1 32T T stands for triplet Sound allows you to choose the sound that you want to hear for the metronome You can select between Sidestick1 Sidestick2 Clap Metroclick Shake Tambourine and MpcClick Time Correct Menu Here you can select the Quantization settings Click on Apply to quantize the notes that are currently Time Division
95. ection allows MPC Renaissance to send receive MIDI and audio data to from the MPC software 5 USB HUB OUTPUTS You can connect additional USB devices controllers hard drives etc to these powered high speed USB 2 0 ports In addition to being an audio interface these ports allow MPC Renaissance to function as a powered USB hub when it is powered on 6 STEREO OUT Connect these 1 4 TRS outputs to your speaker system not included The signal sent out of these outputs is the main mix In the MPC software you can set what is routed to these outputs in the Program Mixer tab by selecting OUT 1 2 as the OUT for one pad or multiple pads 7 ASSIGNABLE MIX OUT Connect these 1 4 TRS outputs to an external mixer not included The signal sent from these outputs is full volume 0 dB In the MPC software you can set what is routed to these outputs in the Program Mixer tab by selecting OUT 3 4 as the OUT for one pad or multiple pads 8 S PDIF IN OUT Use standard RCA cables to connect these jacks to devices that can send receive digital audio 9 MIC IN Connect an external sound source or microphone to these jacks using standard 1 4 TRS or XLR cables Make sure to set the MIC LINE
96. elated to a mute group will be blinking yellow when one of the pads in the group is selected You can also click on the the miniature pads in BANK section to select a pad for assigning to a mute group This section gives you an overview of all 128 pads at the same time Unused pads are greyed out The MODE Section Besides the PAD MUTE and PAD GROUP mode options that are explained above the MODE section offers another parameter e TIME CORRECT allows you to quantize pad mutes This is useful when a mute process should be placed exactly on a musical event You can define a quantization to the pressed mute pad from 7 16 up to 2 bars A value of 1 bar for example will mute the corresponding samples exactly at the beginning of the measure that follows the pressing of the pad gt On the MPC hardware click on the F4 button Time Div to edit the TIME CORRECT value Press the F5 button T C to activate or deactivate Time Correct The PROJECT INFORMATION This section is identical to the Project Information in Main Mode For further information please read the chapter Main Mode 81 O D 5 15 TRACK MUTE MODE In Track Mute Mode you can define track mutes and track mute groups to use with the pads gt To enter Track Mute Mode press the TRACK MUTE button on your MPC hardware In the MPC software click on the Track Mute tab in the Upper section PROJECT INFORMATION Program Sample Bass Drums Drum Sounds Drums 11 Drums 12 Dr
97. end point nothing will be played Play To End Pad 02 plays the sample portion from the start point to the end point Play From End Pad 03 plays the sample part from the end point to the end of the sample If the end point is identical to the end of the sample nothing will be played 72 The SETTINGS Here you can directly edit various parameters affecting playback and loop functions gt On the MPC hardware you can edit the sample start the end and the loop start by navigating with the cursor to the corresponding option Start Loop End Use the data dial or the buttons for precise editing Alternatively you can enter a value by using the number buttons Confirm your entry by pressing ENTER 20m E E lectro Loor 003 Start 19956 Loop 19956 Loor Lock ON Root Note C3 Tune 66 Hssisn The Sample Edit section in the display of the MPC hardware In the MPC software you can edit the SAMPLE START the END or the LOOP START by double clicking on the corresponding value Use your computer keyboard to enter the desired values gt On the MPC hardware you can activate the loop function by pressing F4 Loop You can also snap to zero by pressing the F3 0 Snap button You can edit the loop options by navigating with the cursor to the corresponding option Loop Lock Use the data dial or the buttons to change the setting In the MPC software you can activate the loop and samples options by clicking on t
98. enu you can select the desired Pad sample you d like to control We recommend using Q1 for Pad A01 Q2 for Pad A02 etc so your controller mapping is easier to remember e In the PARAM Parameter field you can open a pop up menu with the parameter you want to assign to the Q Link knob The following parameters are available o Sample Layer allows you to switch between sample layer 1 to 4 Keep in mind that to use this function you need to have different samples assigned to the layers o Tuning controls the sample s pitch o Filter Cutoff controls the cutoff frequency of the Filter The filter type for a given pad is chosen in PROGRAM EDIT mode o Filter Resonance controls the resonance value of the Filter o Filter Env Amount controls the filter envelope amount o Qlink Pancontrols the sample s panning position in the stereo field o Levelcontrols the sample s volume level o Env Attack controls the attack time of the Amp Envelope o Env Decay controls the decay time of the Amp Envelope o Env Release controls the release time of the Amp Envelope o SEND 1to 4 controls the corresponding FX send levels for the selected pad e In the CHANGE field you can open a pop up menu to select the condition for changing a parameter In most cases you will work with Continuous which changes the sound immediately by changing the Q Link knob If Note On is selected the sound will be affected by the position of the Q Link knob at the tim
99. ew the Pad Mute screen WINDOW FULL SCREEN When this button is lit it means the selected field in the display contains additional functions press this button to access them Use the F BUTTONS CURSOR BUTTONS and DATA DIAL or buttons to execute or cancel these additional functions Hold SHIFT and press this button to switch between Full Screen and Half Screen modes In Full Screen mode the workspace occupies the whole screen In Half Screen mode the parameter controls Q Link knobs pads Sequence and Track information Project Information etc are shown underneath the workspace PROJECT FOLDER 1 Press this button to view only Project files in the File Browser Hold down SHIFT and press this button to select the Browser s Folder 1 shortcut SEQUENCE FOLDER 2 Press this button to view only Sequence files in the File Browser Hold down SHIFT and press this button to select the Browser s Folder 2 shortcut PROGRAM FOLDER 3 Press this button to view only Program files in the File Browser Hold down SHIFT and press this button to select the Browser s Folder 3 shortcut SAMPLE FOLDER 4 Press this button to view only Sample files in the File Browser Hold down SHIFT and press this button to select the Browser s Folder 4 shortcut NO FILTER FOLDER 5 Press this button to view all files in the File Browser Hold down SHIFT and press this button to select the Browser s Folder 5 shortcut 6 professional
100. g one will be replaced The Sequence playlist shows the following information e The BAR column shows the start measure of a sequence This depends on the length of the preceeding sequences For example if a sequence with a length of 4 bars is dragged on Position 1 of the playlist the next sequence will start at Bar 5 e The SEQUENCE column shows the name of the played sequences You can click on a sequence to open a pop up menu where you can exchange the sequence with another one e The LEN Length column shows the bar length of a sequence e The BPM column shows the tempo of a sequence in beats per minute e The RPTS Repeats column lets you define how often a sequence is going to be repeated Normally a sequence is played only once but you can expand it to four repeats for example Up to 999 repeats are possible The BAR column will automatically be updated once you make changes for a sequence in the RPTS column If set to HLD Hold a sequence will go on playing until you activate on the STOP button In the PAD BANK section all sequences are assigned to a pad Unused empty sequences are marked unused The pads can be used to easily drag and drop sequences into the sequence playlist You can also drag and drop from the pads onto the workspace above them if you prefer working in a horizontal arrangement In the SONG section a song can be named by clicking on the song name Clicking on the small arrow to the right of the song nam
101. ge 42 gt Or you can open all effects parameters by pressing SHIFT SEQ EDIT EFFECTS on the hardware Here you can add effects and edit their parameters with F6 Edit The effects can be applied to individual pads entire tracks or the master mix Note that effects assigned to the master mix cannot have their parameters assigned to the Q Link knobs though Program Drums Insert 1 Flangser CFT TTT TTT TTT TTA TTT TAT TTT PTTL TTC TTT TPH THRs Insert 2 The Effects section in the display of the MPC hardware O1 O1 O VW PAD INSERT EFFECTS D n the MPC software you can load an insert effect by clicking the button at the top of the panel so it reads On then clicking on the small triangle on the right of the corresponding insert slot Select the desired INSERT 1 effect from the pop up menu To edit the parameters of a loaded effect _ click on the effect name to open a window The effects user interface KAERA depends on the loaded effect type Optional VST AU effects mostly offer a graphical user interface INSERT 3 The insert as well as the send effects can also be loaded and edited in Program Mixer Mode For more information on that please refer to the chapter Program Mixer Mode Revers Medium INSERT 4 For more information about effects and its parameters please refer to the Appendix of this manual ALTERNATE VIEW OF PROGRAM EDIT MODE lf you have selected a virtual in
102. gh the available Vintage Modes The MPC3000 and MPC60 settings emulate the sounds of those classic MPCs while the OTHER setting emulates the sound of vintage sampling drum machines When none of the LEDs are lit Vintage Mode is off AKAI O professional 2 2 MPC RENAISSANCE FRONT PANEL ee 1 FOOTSWITCH INPUTS Connect optional 1 4 TS footswitches to these inputs The front panel of the MPC Renaissance 2 MIX KNOB Use this knob to adjust the balance between the MAIN and ASSIGN signals in your headphones The MAIN signal is the STEREO OUTS The ASSIGN signal is the ASSIGNABLE MIX OUTS 1 and 2 3 HEADPHONES Connect your headphones not included to one of these standard TRS outputs 1 8 or 1 4 Use the MIX KNOB to determine what signal is heard in the headphones 4 HEADPHONES VOLUME Use this knob to adjust the headphone volume 2 3 MPC RENAISSANCE REAR PANEL z i i Amn Frm Amm Fn _ A N a Q O Eom TOTOO O GOH The rear panel of the MPC Renaissance 1 POWER INPUT Connect the 12V DC 2A power adapter center pin positive to this jack then into an electrical outlet 2 POWER ADAPTER RESTRAINT You can secure a power adapter cable to this restraint to prevent it from accidentally unplugging 3 POWER SWITCH Turns MPC Renaissance s power on off COMPUTER USB PORT Use the included USB cable to connect this high retention force USB port to an available USB port on your computer This conn
103. gned to a Sequence starting from Pad A01 with Sequence 1 The selected pad will be green Used sequences are shown with their names unused sequences are shown as unused During playback you can change the next sequence by clicking and holding the corresponding pad until the current sequence ends If no other sequence is selected the MPC software will continue to playback the current sequence over and over During the playback of a sequence the MODE section gives you the following options e NEXT BAR changes the sequence at the beginning of the next bar This enables you to change sequences in a musical grid without having to hit a button in perfect timing e SUDDEN switches to the next sequence before the MPC software has finished playing back the current sequence This is useful in live performances if you need to switch to the next sequence at a certain cue e CLEAR deletes the seleted sequence from the sequence playlist e HOLD keeps playing back the current sequence until you press F5 again This is useful for live performances to prolong the playing of a sequence for example to respond to the audience When playback is stopped the MODE section gives you the following options e COPY TO SONG opens a pop up menu to select a song the sequence playlist is copied to To read more about Song mode please refer to the Song Mode chapter e ERASE SONG erases the active playlist The PROJECT INFORMATION This section is identical
104. hat the F5 Send button Use the cursor to navigate to the desired slot With the data dial or the buttons you can open an additional display page to select the desired effect type Click F4 Select to load the selected effect or click F3 Back to close the Select Effect display page gt To set the send effect level for a desired channel click on the F5 Send button and use the cursor buttons to move to the desired Send Level parameter Use the data dial or buttons to change the Send Level gt Another way to change the Pad Send effect Level Enter Program Mixer Mode by pressing PROG MIX on your MPC hardware By repeatedly pressing the F4 button you can cycle through the send effects 1 2 3 and 4 The small squares below the Send field indicate the currently choosen send effect With the PAD BANK buttons you can also select different pad banks to select different sets of 16 channels Use the Q Link knobs to adjust the Send Levels of the corresponding pads You can also use the cursor buttons to move to the desired Send Level parameter and use the data dial or buttons to change it In the MPC software click on the Program Mixer tab in the Upper section Click on the INSERT button of the desired channel Click on the arrow of the slot you want to assign an effect to A pop up menu lets you choose from a palette of various effects which can be loaded directly Click on a loaded effect name to open its graphic user interface for
105. he corresponding button e LOOP activates the loop function to repeat the sample portion between the loop start point and the end point SETTINGS sna Tozero I SAMPLE e SNAP TO ZERO activates the snap to zero function For gt easier sample editing the MPC software can snap the END ELIJA TUNE start or end point of a sample to the next zero crossing OOF m ROOT NOTE This can help to avoid clicks and glitches when playing a sample both looped or as one shot Loor Gi Loor Lock ii e TUNE lets you transpose the sample based on its original pitch The value range is up down two octaves in semitone steps e ROOT NOTE lets you select a Root note for the sample The Root note defines which note will play the sample at its original pitch when in a KEYGROUP Program e LOOP LOCK activates the Loop Lock option The adjusting of the sample start point and the loop start point can be linked This will allow simultaneous adjustments e g when you need to find a loop with a defined length The PROCESS Section The PROCESS section gives you various editing options for the selected sample gt Press the F6 button Edit to open a new page where the editing options are located Use the data dial or the buttons to select the desired editing option Some options offer additional parameters which can be accessed by using the cursor buttons To execute a selected editing process click on F5 Do It Otherwise you can cancel your ch
106. hen the MPC Sequencer hardware is connected and powered on Other puna se the available ports as well as the MPC Midi Out Port Aea Public port are displayed The Midi Midi Out Port B aiheina Mapping lets you define the four Midi Midi Out Port C Out Port A to D Here you can select the Midi Out Port D A MIDI output your sequencer data is routed to RTE Parameters of the Plugins Tab Here you can choose up to four data P ala paths on your hard disk where the MPC Auto Load st itl a Has Sah software will look for installed VST or AU Sequencer Ubrary Audio Plug Ins VST Mac only effect plugins These plugins ft can be used as insert or send effects within your MPC software Library Audio Plug Ins VST a E s Library Audio Plug ins Components EJ Use AudioUnits Click on the button to the right of the Rescan all ScanNew Cancel data path field to select a desired data path After setting up a new data path we recommend using the Scan New function When you make settings for the first time you should click on the Rescan All button to perform a complete scan of all selected plugin data paths If you are working on a Mac computer we recommend checking the Use AudioUnits option This enables you to use also the AudioUnit plugin format Parameters of the Auto Load Tab Preferences Audio MIDI The Auto Load File function allows you Auto Load File e MPC Tutorial M
107. highlighted Within the MPC software click on the AUTO PREVIEW button to activate the moe automatic preview function An audio file is played automatically when selected This is very useful when scrolling through a list of samples to find e g to compare different snare drum sounds without having to load them 34 AKAI O 5 2 THE UPPER SECTION The Upper section contains the MPC s tabs as well as further control for selecting Programs Sequences Songs etc depending on the selected mode tab on the left This section is always visible The different modes are described in detail in the next chapters inl reseed Miser atau iva Seq Record Edit Mute Mute Seq PROS ESISTI G MPC A sl Main Edit Mixer Mixer View sone 5e Record Edit Mute Mute Seq l SEG E m ay 1 gt To select a mode with the MPC hardware press the corresponding button To select a mode within the MPC software click on the corresponding tab You can choose from Main Program Edit Program Mixer Track Mixer Track View Song Next Seq Sample Record Sample Edit Pad Mute Track Mute and Step Seq Depending on the selected mode some Upper section functions can change With the PROGRAM PROG pop up menu you can select one of your created programs in the currently loaded Project With the SEQ SEQUENCE pop up menu you can select one of the 128 sequences in the currently loaded Project gt Click on the STEP SEQ button of
108. ing the UNDO button will flash In this case pressing UNDO will erase all events from that recording i e since the PLAY or PLAY START was pressed gt How about a crash cymbal Let s create it directly in the MPC software by clicking on the desired position in the grid in the same row as the crash sample Does your drum pattern sound OK If not Keep on reading 4 4 ORGANIZATION amp EDITING We recommend doing some naming and editing before recording other patterns gt Click on the MAIN button of your MPC hardware to enter Main Mode Let s use the MPC software which is much better for editing The pad assignment of your drum sounds is arranged in a Program Let s rename the exisiting Program as we will want to create more Programs later on Right click on the Program 07 in the PROJECT INFORMATION in the right section of the Main area and select the Rename option Name the program e g Drums and click OK Right click on the name of a sample e g the bass drum and select Rename Enter a suitable name for the sample e g Bass Drum 1 or Kick1 Repeat this for the other samples in the Program This will help keep your Program organized as you add more and more sounds to it In the Grid you can see your recorded note events Click and hold on a note to move it to a different position By default you can only position notes by quantization values defined by the previously set TIME CORRECT value You may change the value
109. ing its degree of faithful reproduction A common application is achieving a dirty old school sizzle on drum loops but with a digital edge The sound is similar to the Resampler effect but it will permanently alter the sample You can reduce the bit rate down to 1 bit STEREO gt MONO converts a stereo sample to a new mono sample The following options are available Left will only use the left channel for conversion Right will only use the right channel for conversion Sum will combine the left and right audio channels to a single mono channel You can also enter a name for the new mono sample The new sample will be added to the current Project The PROJECT INFORMATION The Project Information section shows all available Programs and PROJECT INFORMATION O Sampe all available samples in the current Project lan ALIEN Double click on a sample in the Sample column to load it into the Ses Sample Edit window CARSTART CLUSTER Right click on a Program to open a context menu with the following COLDWIND options CRASH Crow Duplicate makes a copy of the selected Program and adds DOORSHUT a 1 to the Program name aioe EXPLO Fire Delete deletes the selected Program To avoid accidental deletion a query window opens for confirmation Save saves the current Program to your hard disk A dialog window opens automatically where you can choose a data path for saving You can also name your Program file Rename o
110. ions of patterns the stage preliminary to building a song structure Now let s add some human feeling to our song 4 9 RECORD AND EDIT A SAMPLE Let s record some vocals with a connected microphone MPC Studio users This section describes recording using MPC Renaissance as your sound card MPC Studio can t be used in this way but you can use a separate audio interface connected to your computer to record audio Input Mode STEREO Monitor OFF Threshold 42 Time 26s Level Meter Left The Sample Record display of the MPC hardware gt Press and hold the SHIFT button on your MPC hardware and click on the SAMPLE EDIT SAMPLE REC button to enter Sample Record mode gt Connect a suitable microphone to a MIC IN jack of your MPC Renaissance Make sure to set the input switch to MIC gt Set the MIC IN PHONO IN switch on the top panel of the MPC hardware to MIC LINE and turn up the REC GAIN dial In the MPC software you should now see the input signal Make sure that the signal gain does not exceed the maximum level the top input level display segment should be hardly lit gt Use the cursor buttons to navigate to the Threshold parameter and set it to a fairly low level e g 70 dB 25 gt Now press F6 Record and shout something like Uhhh or Yeah into the microphone The recording procedure starts immediately when the input signal level reaches the threshold value gt Now press F6 Stop again t
111. its settings For example To automate Filter Cutoff make sure that the PARAM is set to Filter Cutoff CHANGE should display Real Time the MPC hardware display will show Continuous 5 Click the OVERDUB button and start automation recording by pressing PLAY It is very important to use the OVERDUB function otherwise you will delete any data previously recorded to that track for the duration of your recording 6 Move the corresponding parameter dial during the recording process Stop the recording when finished To edit the recorded automation data proceed as follows 1 Under Automation to the left of the velocity lane select the recorded Real Time parameter e g RT Filter Cutoff 2 The automation data is displayed in the lane 3 Click on an anchor point to move a value vertically or horizontally to edit amount and timing Anchor positions can be moved within the choosen musical grid set by the TIME CORRECT value By holding the SHIFT key of your computer keyboard you can move the anchor points independently from the chosen quantization e Double click anywhere in the automation lane to add a new anchor point e Double click on an anchor point to remove it e Use the Draw mode tool to draw an automation curve e In Select mode you can draw a around several adjacent anchor points to select them for simultaneous editing e You can add a variety automation parameters using this procedure 41 AKAI O proressional Mai
112. lice automatically changes the start point of the following slice Turn LINK SLICES off when for example you want slice 1 to be the entire sample and slice 2 3 and 4 be just portions of that sample The CHOP To Section in CHOP Mode This section determines the slicing process gt On the MPC hardware you can select the desired processing option by navigating to the Chop to option with the cursor Use the data dial or the buttons for selecting the various Chop to options Each option offers further parameters which can also be edited using the data dial as well as with the buttons You can choose between three slicing processes The Threshold process uses an adjustable detection algorithm that ior derives the number of regions created from the volume levels present in THRESHOLD MIN TIME the sample You can set a threshold level by using the THRESHOLD 50 parameter The higher the selected value the more slices will be created With the MIN TIME Min Slice Time parameter you can define the minimum length of a slice in milliseconds The Regions process divides a sample into several regions of equal horto length With the NUM REGIONS Regions parameter you can define NUM REGIONS the the number of regions you wish to divide the sample into Usually sixteen is a good start for a single measure loop The BPM process is very similar to the Region process The sample is iom divided in several regions of equal length based on the loo
113. m Max value e In the EFFECT pop up menu you can select one of the effects which have previously been loaded e Inthe PARAM Parameter field you can open a pop up menu with all parameters of the selected effect The available parameters depend on the chosen effect type BANK amp PAD Selection In the Bank amp Pad section you can easily select a pad to edit gt On the MPC hardware simply press a pad to select it To choose a different bank use the PAD BANK buitons to specify a bank from A to H In the MPC software simply click on a desired pad to select it To choose a different bank use the BANK buttons above the pads to specify a bank form A to H SEQUENCE Settings The Sequence section gives you an overview of various parameters relevant to the selected sequence SEQUENCE gt On the MPC hardware move the cursor to Seq and use the data FiRsTeaR Loor aa dial or the buttons to select the desired Sequence Last BAR Py mese We In the MPC software click on the SEQUENCE pop up menu and rovat pans EI G 120 0 select a sequence CORRECT kaa Swine E With the FIRST BAR and LAST BAR you can set the corresponding bar position pointer e g to create a cycle for a loop Keep in mind that the LAST BAR value depends on the total length of the sequence gt On the MPC hardware move the cursor to Bars and use the data dial or the buttons to set the desired bar length of your sequence You can set up to
114. m parameters of the selected Program In FX mode the 16 Q Link knobs can be assigned to the parameters of used effects By switching between these two modes you are able to define two parameters for each knob This offers maximum flexibility when controlling parameters in realtime gt On the hardware you can access the Q Link section by pressing SHIFT PROG EDIT Q LINK gt You can touch the top of a Q Link knob to select it gt Press F1 Prog Q to switch to Program mode Press F2 FX Q to switch to FX mode gt Press F4 Edit to change further parameters which are described below gt You can also use F5 Params to see what parameter each of the 16 Q Link knobs controls Pressing F6 Values displays the parameter value of each Q Link knob Click on the PRG button to activate the Program mode for the Q Link knobs The next steps describes how to assign a qunkx ric SM x kz parameter to a Q Link knob in the MPC software PAD CMa PARAM TOT Hance TC ke nd e First click on the Q Link knob and move the mouse to a select it for assigning The QLINK field will show the number of the selected knob e Click on the TRIG MPC hardware Touch To field to open a pop up menu for selecting Min or Max When you hold down the Q Link Trigger button on your MPC hardware and 42 touch the top of one the Q Link knobs the corresponding parameters will jump to either its minimum Min or maximum Max value e Inthe PAD pop up m
115. meters gt To edit the Velocity Sensitivity parameters press the F5 button Lfo Mod on your MPC hardware Use Q Link knobs Q9 Q12 for direct access of all 4 parameters Keep in mind that a DRUM program uses different dials for controlling than a KEYGROUP program The parameters of this section determine how much influence the velocity has on PITCH Filter Envelope Attack ATK Amplifier AMP aave Z J W E A eee ten O A pee Sony Oy e modulation is applied When you hit it harder the modulation amount also gets stronger depending on the setting of the corresponding dial VELOCITY SENSITIVITY LFO SECTION An LFO Low Frequency Oscillator generates a periodic waveform with adjustable frequency and shape which can be used for modulation purposes o w P To edit the LFO parameters press the F5 button Lfo Mod on your LN v2 7 D MPC hardware Use Q Link knobs Q1 Q8 for direct access to all 8 WAVE SYNC parameters Keep in mind that a DRUM program uses different r DESTINATIONS a H e P are available e Triangle suited for smooth modulations e Sine suited for smooth modulations e Square interesting for hard pan modulations e Saw can generate interesting filter or volume changes e Saw Down can generate interesting filter or volume changes e Noise generates random values and glides e S amp H samples a random value and holds it until the next value is generated controls than a KEYGROUP progr
116. more detailed editing Essentially when you select a pad insert effect it will automatically be routed to the Track Mixer If you want you can change where it is routed to any one of the following outputs The Track A w Gl u T Mixer Submix 1 to 8 Out 1 2 to Out 15 16 The outputs that are not available in your audio hardware will show up as greyed out If a loaded project has outputs routed that don t exist on your audio hardware these will shown in red This can be done in Program Mixer mode by clicking on the arrow above the first insert effect slot Click on the SEND button of the desired channel Click on one of the SEND knobs of the desired channel and edit its value with your computer mouse Alternatively you can use your mouse scroll wheel To use a Pad send effect you have to load an effect into the corresponding send effect slot to the right of the Track Mixer Master effects The following paragraph explains how to load and edit Master effects gt To load a master insert effect press SHIFT SEQ EDIT EFFECTS on your MPC hardware First press the F1 Master button and after that click on the F4 Insert button Use the cursor to navigate to the desired insert effect slot With the buttons you can open an additional display page to select the desired effect type Click F4 Select to load the selected effect or click F3 Back to close the Select Effect display page gt To load an send effect fo
117. more steeply at the end 74 ASAI O processional Exp fades the audio out with an exponential curve An exponential curve will fall quickly in the beginning and then flatten out as it reaches the end PITCH SHIFT changes the pitch of the sample without changing its length This is useful when you want to change the pitch of the phrase sample in the sequence without changing the tempo The pitch can be set in a range from 12 semitones Keep in mind that the audio quality will decrease with more extreme settings TIME STRETCH can lengthen or shorten the sample without changing its pitch This is useful when you want to match one sample to another which has different tempo You can enter the original tempo of the sample and the desired tempo after processing If you want to change the sample length in percent you can use the following method For example if you wish to lengthen the sample by 20 you set the original tempo to 100 then set the new tempo to 80 This way you will obtain a sample that is 20 longer GAIN CHANGE allows the volume of a sample to be raised or lowered by up to 18dB Note that this function is different than Normalize because it will allow volumes beyond clipping level This may be a desired effect but please make sure to watch your output level COPY makes a copy of the selected sample and adds a consecutive number after the sample name BIT REDUCE diminishes the bit resolution of a sample effectively lower
118. n Mode gives you an overview of the most used functions To enter Main Mode press the MAIN TRACK button on your MPC hardware or click on the Main Tab in the Upper section of your MPC software window aunk FE tre C ca ea BANK SEQUENCE PROJECT INFORMATION untitled PAD YT Param GUUS ROGRAN CHANGE im Cl dl Ie 6 i FIR ST BAR LOOP Si VMH1 Minimal Loops 001 EE cn i 1 Fx001 FX005 FxO14 audio_warp saxophone VMH1 Minimal Loops 0015 1 VMH1 Minimal Loops 001812 Ea ze 1885 cp vocr BL status VMH1 Minimal Loops 001513 me eee VMHi1 Minimal Loops 001514 bss areca VMH1 Minimal Loops 001815 INSTRUMENT Aa I AAE T J VMH1 Minimal Loops 001516 ama ca VMH1 Minimal Loops 001SI7 es yee VMH1 Minimal Loops 0018518 PRUGRAM VMIH Minimal anne Mi GIO Keep in mind that the MPC hardware cannot display as many parameters at the same time as the MPC software Some of the MPC hardware functions are located in different screens than in the MPC software Q LINK Settings Here you can set the functionality of the Q Link knobs Keep in mind that the MPC Renaissance offers 16 Q Link knobs with direct access while the MPC Studio is equipped with 4 Q Link knobs which need to be assigned to the corresponding Q Link knob column with the SCROLL dial above the Q Link knobs The Q Link section can work in two modes The PRG Program mode and the FX mode In Program mode the 16 Q Link knobs can be used to control specific Progra
119. n be either mono or stereo Sample Rate This is the frequency representing the amount of individual digital sample scans per second that are taken to capture an analog siginal digitally For normal CD audio recordings 44100 samples per second are used also written as 44 1 kHz The MPC offers sampling rates up to 96 kHz Sequence A sequence is the most basic building block of music you can compose on the MPC software MIDI information from the MPC s pads buttons and data from your MPC hardware s Q Link knobs controls or an external keyboard are recorded to the tracks of a sequence Each sequence has 64 tracks and the MPC software can hold up to 128 separate sequences at the same time The length of a sequence can be set from 1 to 999 bars which would be enough to create an entire song using only one sequence However the MPC software has a dedicated SONG mode that lets you chain sequences together to create a song Song The MPC software has a special song mode that allows you to arrange different sections verse chorus hook etc in order to build a song Each song can have up to 250 parts and the MPC software can hold 20 songs in its memory Sustain The term Sustain describes the level of an envelope remaining constant after it has passed the Attack and Decay phases Once reached the Sustain level is kept until the trigger is terminated Track A sequence offers 64 tracks and each track can record notes and c
120. n cycle through the insert effects 1 2 3 and 4 The small squares below the Insert field indicate the currently chosen insert effect With the PAD BANK buttons you can also select different pad banks to select different sets of 16 channels gt Another way to load Track insert effects Press SHIFT SEQ EDIT EFFECTS on your MPC hardware First press the F2 Track button after that the F4 Insert button Use the cursor to navigate to the desired slot With the data dial or the buttons you can open an additional display page to select the desired effect type Click F3 Back to close the Select Effect display page Click on F4 Select to load the selected effect P To load a Send effect that can be used on Track you need to load it before into the corresponding Send effect slot Press SHIFT SEQ EDIT EFFECTS on your MPC hardware First press the F2 Track button after that the F5 Send button Use the cursor to navigate to the desired slot With the data dial or the buttons you can open an additional display page to select the desired effect type Click F4 Select to load the selected effect or click F3 Back to close the Select Effect display page gt To set the send effect level for a desired channel click on the F5 Send button and use the cursor buttons to move to the desired Send Level parameter Use the data dial or buttons to change the Send Level gt Another way to change the Track Send effect Level Enter Track
121. n the MPC software In the dialogue box that appears click Unlock Now Enter your information in the window that appears If your computer is connected to the Internet click Unlock Now and enjoy your MPC h D Ol S wN lf your computer is not connected to the Internet follow these additional steps Click Use Web Form The window that appears will have your name serial number and software ID number Click Save Details to save this information as a txt file or copy the information from each field into another file of your choosing 9 On a computer connected to the Internet go to http authorizations akaipro com MPC enter the copied information and click Unlock My MPC 10 Copy the unlock code from the window that appears 11 In your MPC software go to the window from Step 5 and click Enter Code 12 Enter your name and the unlock code generated by the webpage 13 Click Unlock and enjoy your MPC Unlock your MPC Q Please enter the following details to unlock your MPC software The software is tied to your name so make sure you enter it correctly coo N became gabe VOE MEG dma E adage sent your unlock code click on Enter code Senal number Full name Peter Smith Email address peterSthisisnotanemailadress com United Stated Drive 123 City Postal ZIP code New York 12345 Country Phone number aroa us a 1 Do not contact me with news or information Your privacy is important to u
122. nd more advanced features Help Menu About MPC shows information about the particular version of the MPC software you are using Check for Updates checks online if a newer version of the MPC software is available You need an active internet connection to use this function MPC Help opens this PDF manual In the Mac MPC software About MPC and Check for updates are located in the MPC menu 92 In this section you will find some additional tips and useful information regarding the MPC software 6 1 EFFECTS amp PARAMETERS The MPC software offers various effects for processing samples and sound programs In the following section you will find a detailed descriptions how to use effects as well as a list of all available effects and their corresponding parameters with a short explanation of each effect Here are the different ways you can load effects Track effects The following paragraph explains how to load and edit Track effects gt Enter Track Mixer Mode by pressing SHIFT PROG MIX TRACK MIX on your MPC hardware gt To load an insert effect into a channel click on the F6 button Insert and use the cursor buttons to move to the desired insert slot With the data dial or the buttons you can open an additional display page to select the desired effect type Click F4 Select to load the selected effect or click F3 Back to close the Select Effect display page By repeatedly pressing the F6 button you ca
123. ndow 70 The Waveform display shows the entire waveform of a sample with a start and end point marked as a green line If either of these lines is moved the most recently moved one will be red instead of green The start end points define the portion of the sample data which will be played A recorded sample may have a portion of silence at the beginning which makes it rather difficult to time it correctly when playing it in a musical context You can fix this by adjusting the start point You can also adjust end point to play only the middle section of the sample If the sample has extra silence or unwanted audio at the end you can delete it by adjusting the end point and using the edit feature gt Use the Q Link knobs Q13 Q9 Q5 or Q1 of the MPC hardware to adjust the start point of the sample The smaller the Q Link knob number the more precise the adjustment of the start point gt Use the Q Link knobs Q15 Q11 Q7 or Q3 of the MPC hardware to adjust the end point of the sample The smaller the Q Link knob number the more precise the adjustment of the end point gt Use the Q Link knobs Q14 Q10 Q6 or Q2 of the MPC hardware to adjust the loop start point of the sample The smaller the Q Link knob number the more precise the adjustment of the loop start point e Inthe MPC software you can use the Q Link knobs Q13 Q9 Q5 or Q1 to adjust the start point of the sample The smaller the Q Link knob number the more precise the adjus
124. ne Tune Transros Mute Group ae oe EE Sample Play ESTEET TTT TFS TT TSS TTC SST TST TT FFT TC THK TTT TFT FFT TTC HSS TT FFT TC FCH TTC FHT FTTH TTF SKF FFT TFC HFT THF T TFT TTC FHT FCF HFKFL FCP FTF TTT FFF TF HH Ko Select Key Track PVE Pan Low Note Hish Note Ka Semi Tune K Fine Tune The Master section in the PROG EDIT display of the MPC hardware for a Keygroup Program In the MPC software locate the desired sample in the File Browser and double click it The sample is now loaded in the current Project Now click on the Program Edit tab Click on the Layer 1 SAMPLE pop up display to choose and assign a sample from the Project Information to the KEYGROUP program The loaded sample can now be played chromatically with the pads or a connected MIDI keyboard gt Press the PROG EDIT button on your MPC hardware Click on F1 Master With the Q9 Q5 and Q1 Q Link knobs on your MPC hardware you can load additional samples to your existing one These samples are placed in Layers In the MPC software click on the Program Edit tab With the pop up menus of Layer 2 to Layer 4 you can assign up to four samples that were loaded into the Project Information beforehand e g to create velocity layers To create complex KEYGROUP Programs you can add more KEYGROUPS up to 128 This is useful when working with multi samples e g when programming a real piano Keep in mind AKEYGROUP Program offers up to 128 KEYGROUPS Each KEYGROUP can
125. ne of the 128 tracks Click and vertically slide the TOTAL BARS field to change the length for the selected track The default setting is 2 bars The maximum length is 999 bars In the TIME CORRECT pop up menu you can set the note value to quantize to Default is 1 16 16 note SWING sets the amount of swing with values ranging from 50 to 75 so you can shuffle your beats from subtle to extreme 38 gt On your MPC hardware press the MAIN button to edit the described parameters For selecting a track use the cursors to navigate to the Trk parameter You can select the track by using the data dial as well as the buttons To change the number of bars navigate to the Bars parameter Time Correct and Swing can be edited after pressing the F1 button T C and setting corresponding Note value and the Swing parameter To confirm your changes and return to the Main menu press F5 Do It F4 Close closes the window without making any changes 004 unused Inst MPC gt Drums _r c _ _crick_ _Track _Track _Mute_ _ Solo The Main section in the display of the MPC hardware Across the top of the grid is a blue measure bar that indicates where you are in the sequence The number in the upper half is the bar number and the number in the lower half of the first beat of the first bar is the time signature To change the latter double click in the measure bar and enter the desired signature in the pop up window Th
126. ness of distortion Value Range Default Value Q Link No Wet Dry DRY 100 WET 100 WET 109 proressional Frequency Shifter A frequency shifter changes the frequencies of an input signal by a fixed amount and alters the relationship of the original harmonics This can produce a chorus like effect as well as very crazy artificial timbres Parameter Value Range Default Value Q Link No Wet Dry 0 DRY 100 WET 100 WET Asynchrony O 1000 O Q11 O ae a O 110 AKAI 6 2 KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS Here you will find all computer keyboard shortcuts for the MPC software Keyboard modifiers Function Command ALT SHIFT ALT CMD CTRL CTRL Main Grid Click and drag to Clicking on Drag Lasso Lasso tool copy selected background events to add to events switches to eraser selection tool Track View Click and drag to region mode copy selected events Main grid Pen_ Click and drag to Clicking on tool copy selected background events switches to eraser tool Drag selected Click events to events without send to back snap Click events to add to selection RealTime and Final value edit Clicking on Track selected events background Automation switches to eraser Pen tool tool Drag selected events without snap Clicking on an event Drag selected events with no time constrains 1 NT Automation Final value edit Pen tool selected events Lasso Drag adds eve
127. nt colors depending on how hard you play them ranging from yellow at a low velocity to red at the highest velocity To disable or re enable these lights press PAD ASSIGN then F6 Velo Coll PAD BANK BUTTONS These 4 buttons switch among Pad Banks A H Between these 8 banks with 16 pads per bank you can access up to 128 MIDI events using the pads PAD ASSIGN PAD COPY Press this button to assign a sample to a pad In the display the 4x4 grid that appears represents the 16 pads Use the CURSOR BUTTONS to navigate through the grid and use the DATA DIAL or buttons to select a Program when the Program field is highlighted or a sample when a pad is highlighted Hold down SHIFT and press this button to copy the samples and parameters from one pad to another Use the CURSOR BUTTONS to select the From Pad source or To Pads destination field and hit a pad to select it you can copy to multiple pads Use the F BUTTONS to confirm or cancel the operation FULL LEVEL HALF LEVEL Press this button to activate deactivate Full Level When activated the pads always play back at a maximum velocity 127 no matter how hard or soft you hit them Hold down SHIFT and press this button activate deactivate Half Level When activated the pads always play back at a half velocity 63 16 LEVEL Press this button to activate deactivate 16 Level When activated the last pad that was hit will be temporarily copied to all 16 pads Th
128. nter s current position PLAY START Press this button to play the Sequence from its start point STOP Press this button to stop playback REC Press this button to record arm the Sequence Press PLAY or PLAY START to start recording Recording in this way rather than using OVERDUB erases the events of the current Sequence After the Sequence plays through once while recording Overdub will be enabled OVERDUB Press this button to enable Overdub which allows you to record note events in a Sequence without overwriting any previously recorded note events You can enable Overdub either before or during recording lt gt lt gt Use these buttons to move the audio pointer left right one step at a time Hold LOCATE and press one of these buttons to move the audio pointer to the previous next event in the Sequence Grid lt lt gt gt START END Use these buttons to move the audio pointer left right one bar at a time Hold LOCATE and press one of these buttons to move the audio pointer to the start or end of the Sequence Grid GO TO Hold this button down to activate the secondary functions of the lt gt and lt lt gt gt buttons i e lt gt and START END respectively ERASE As a Sequence is playing hold this button down and press a pad to delete the note event for that pad at the current playback position This is a quick way to delete note events from your Sequence without having t
129. ntical to the Project Information in TRIM mode 19 AKAI O proressional 5 14 PAD MUTE MODE In Pad Mute Mode you can define pad mutes and mute groups for each pad gt To enter Pad Mute Mode press SHIFT TRACK MUTE PAD MUTE on your MPC hardware In the MPC software click on the Pad Mute tab in the Upper section oso os ms PROJECT INBOBIOATION LNS Baniel A B C D E F G H SAMPLE VMH1 Bassdrums 003 VMH1 Claps amp Snares 006 VMH1 Closed Hats 007 VEE Synth Bass 028 Ball Code Carzillascratch 120 Drug Dealer 96 I Eg Wammer 88 Fatal Shocks 135 Calm Down 135 Angry Alien2 130 Junked Speeder 129 29 Kaata Rhythm 87 07 Moving Lo End 119 kinach Pr 74h PAD MUTE Mode You can mute unmute individual sounds in a particular program on a particular track in real time by hitting the pads This is useful when you have several samples assigned to different pads and you wish to remove a particular sound or isolate specific drum hits gt In the MPC hardware the 16 blocks displayed represent the 16 pads Click on the F1 button PadMute to activate Pad Mute Mode Hit the corresponding pad to mute or unmute the desired sound that is assigned to this pad Muted pads are lit in red unmuted in yellow Unused pads do not show a sample name Use the PAD BANK buttons to switch between the 16 banks if necessary Drums Mosh Pit 140 Carzil tch 120Ansrs en2 1356 bR sae 3 88 eee ets Calm Down 135 The Pad
130. nts to selection Grid events Fine time nudge nudge using without shift keyboard events are cursors nudged according to current TC 1 in normal dragging RT automation events are not allowed to move beyond the selected event groups previous and next event 111 File Menu Command ee New Project COMMAND N CTRL SHIFT N COMMAND SHIFT N Open Preferences CTRL COMMAND Edit Menu Function Command Pc Command ac CTRL Y SHIFT Z Cut CTRL X COMMAND Z CTRL C COMMAND C Duplicate CTRL D COMMAND D Misc Command PC Command Mac Select All CTRL A COMMAND A Play SPACE SHIFT SPACE SHIFT Play from Start SPACE SPACE When running as a plugin in Cubase all keypresses need to be combined with ALT 112 ASA O 6 3 SPECIFICATIONS Technical overview and specifications of the MPC hardware and software MPC Renaissance HARDWARE Display 360 x 96 dot graphic LCD w backlight Dimensions 19 75 x 12 9 x 2 75 4 9 at max display angle W x D x H 502 mm x 328 mm x 70 mm 124 mm at max display angle Power Supply External 12V DC 3A center pin positive Monitoring Zero latency hardware monitoring via adjustment knob 1 4 stereo phone x 1 200 mW 100 Q 1 8 inch stereo phone x 1 200 mW 100 Q MiDlinputs SpinDINX2 SSCS O MiDloutputs Spn O O OoOo oooO USB USB 2 0 to computer x 1 plus 2 por powered USB hub MPC Studio HA
131. o Loop 002513 Electro Loop 0028 14 2 2 2 2 2 2 F 2 2 B ee ee ee ee ee ee ee In Song mode you can set an order of sequences and play them subsequently Song Mode is useful when you are creating a song by combining short sequences You can edit the structure of a song during playback for easy composing The Song Mode section in the display of the MPC hardware A Project can handle up to 32 songs each consisting of up to 999 steps You can create a song by assigning a sequence to each step in the list and also set the number of times the MPC software will repeat the sequence gt Using the cursor buttons as well as the data dial or the buttons to navigate the Sequence playlist gt Press F6 Insert to insert a Sequence under the selected one press F5 Delete to delete the selected Sequence gt Press F4 Convert to convert a Song into a Sequence gt Press F1 Clear to delete all Sequences of a Song The Sequence playlist in the MPC software on the left of the pads under the Grid gives you an overview of the arranged sequences As sequences are assigned to the pads you can add a 63 sequence to the playlist by dragging and dropping it from a pad onto the list You can also drag and drop from the pads onto the workspace above them if you prefer working in a horizontal arrangement Sequences can be inserted between existing sequences and by dragging a sequence directly over an another the existin
132. o load an insert effect into a channel click on the F6 button Insert and use the corresponding Q Link knob to load the desired effect By repeatedly pressing the F6 button you can cycle through the insert effects 1 2 3 and 4 The small squares below the Insert field indicate the currently chosen insert effect With the PAD BANK buttons you can also select different pad banks to select different sets of 16 channels gt Essentially when you select a pad insert effect it will automatically be routed to the Track Mixer If you want you can change where it is routed to any one of the following outputs the Track Mixer Submix 1 to 8 paired Out 1 2 to Out 15 16 Keep in mind that the MPC Renaissance offers the following physical outputs 7 2 main out and 3 4 assignable This can be done in Program Mixer mode gt Another way to load Pad insert effects Press SHIFT SEQ EDIT EFFECTS on your MPC hardware First press the F3 Pad button after that the F4 Insert button Use the cursor to navigate to the desired slot With the data dial or the buttons you can open an additional display page to select the desired effect type Click F4 Select to load the selected effect or click F3 Back to close the Select Effect display page P To load a Send effect that can be used on Pad you need to load it before into the corresponding Send effect slot Press SHIFT SEQ EDIT EFFECTS on your MPC hardware First press the F3 Pad button after t
133. o stop playback TAP TEMPO Press this button in time with the desired tempo to enter a new tempo in BPM in the software 13 professional 3 INSTALLING THE MPC SOFTWARE This chapter explains how to install the MPC software including the plugin version on your computer It also guides you through the process of authorization 3 1 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS In order to be able to use the MPC software you will need at least Windows PC e Windows 7 82 or 64 bit e 2 GHz Pentium 4 processor or better multi core recommended e 2 GB RAM 4 GB recommended e 14 GB free hard disk space e Dual Layer DVD ROM drive e Mac OS X 10 6 8 or above e 2 GB RAM 4 GB recommended e 14GB free hard disk space e Dual Layer DVD ROM drive se Li Ss _ i AOAACA AICA ANAL AAO CVVCTAOA Ailio o check the s y Ste ATR PN pr AN A IA A at A at a 1 A m t i 14 AKA professional 3 2 INSTALLATION UNDER WINDOWS How to install the MPC software 1 Start your computer and launch your operating system Insert the MPC DVD into your DVD ROM drive If you have enabled the Autostart function in Windows the Installer will start automatically and you can proceed with Step 5 below If not please proceed as follows Launch the Explorer or open the window My Computer Double click on the icon for the drive that holds the MPC DVD Double click on the MPC Installer icon This launches a special install
134. o stop recording lf you re happy with your recording please name the new sample in the MPC software in the small window which will pop up automatically after finishing the recording procedure Let s call it Vocal for now You should also assign the sample to an unused pad e g Pad 13 Hit it to assign the sample After that click on Keep Now we can edit our newly recorded sample Select the sample in the PROJECT INFORMATION section and right click on it In the pop up menu choose the option Edit Sample Edit Mode will open gt Press F2 Trim on your MPC hardware to enter the trim mode for editing gt Use the Q Link knobs Q1 Q5 Q9 or Q13 to define a suitable start point of your sample With Q3 Q7 Q11 or Q15 you can define a suitable end point gt To hear your edits press the Pad A15 to play the sample from the new start point to the new end point Finally let s apply some transformations to the sample The MPC software offers some great options OAA itch Shift Pitch 5 The Process Sample display of the MPC hardware gt Press F6 Edit on your MPC hardware to enter the Process Sample page P With the data dial you can select the desired option Let s try some Pitch Shift to change the overall pitch of your sample gt Use the cursor to navigate to the Pitch parameter and set it to 5 0 This will transpose the sample by 5 semitones but will not affect the length of the sample gt Press F5 Do I
135. ob Q1 to activate it for assignment Now click on the PAD field to select the pad that Vocal is assigned to In the PARAM field select Filter Cutoff as parameter In the CHANGE field select Real Time as the parameter Do the same steps for Q Link knob 2 assign it to the Vocal pad and select Rea Time as the CHANGE parameter but select Filter Reso resonance for PARAM gt Press the OVER DUB button on your MPC hardware to arm your automation recording Press PLAY to start it gt Use Q Link knobs Q1 and Q2 to record filter movement as desired After that press STOP to finish the automation recording Want to see what you ve recorded In the MPC software to the left of the velocity lane under the Grid click the Automation menu select Real Time and select AT Filter cutoff and RT Filter resonance The parameters will appear below it Click either one to show its automation data By clicking on an automation anchor point you can edit the automation 2 AKA professional f 4 12 CREATING A SONG In the last few chapters we have learned how to record tracks But how can we create a song from our track recordings The next steps will guide you Make sure that you have recorded some tracks All of your tracks combined are called a Sequence You can create a new Sequence by clicking on the Main tab button and use the SEQ pop up menu above the Grid to select a new empty sequence Within a Sequence you can record notes
136. ob for loading a desired effect By repeatedly pressing the F6 button you can cycle through the insert effects 1 2 3 and 4 The small squares below the Insert field indicate the currently choosen insert effect With the PAD BANK buttons you can also select different pad banks to select different sets of 16 channels In the MPC software click on the INSERT button of the desired channel Click on the arrow of the slot you want to assign an effect to A pop up menu lets you choose from a palette of various effects which can be loaded directly Click on a loaded effect name to open its graphic user interface for more detailed editing ParametricEa4Bands 8 8 Freal 226 Fre42 820 Frea3 2200 Frea4 5660 01 5 Q2 5 Q3 5 Q4 5 Gainli 6 6 Gain2 0 0 Gain3 6 6 Gain4 6 6 The Effect Edit page in the display of the MPC hardware To select the audio output of a channel click on the output pop up menu at the bottom of the channel insert slots Select the desired output e g 3 4 to route the audio signal directly to this output Keep in mind that to be able to use this function you will need an audio interface that is equipped with more than two outputs gt When working with the MPC Renaissance the Out 1 2 are routed to the STEREO OUT jacks Out 3 4 are routed to the ASSIGNABLE MIX OUT jacks On the right end of the track mixer you have access to four send effects Click on the arrow of the slot you want to assign an effect to A pop u
137. odes Use the Q Link knob Q4 to set the Time Signature in BPM mode This knob has no function in Threshold and Regions modes 76 AKAI O T proressional The PAD Section in CHOP Mode In Chop mode you can use the pads for playing back certain portions of the selected sample The following playback options can be obtained by hitting the corresponding pad BANK Cno E E E E E S A B c D E F G H e Play Loop Pad 13 plays the sample from the loop point to the end point repeatedly e Play All Pad 16 plays the whole sample regardless of any editings e When AUDITION in the SETTINGS section is activated the pads can be used to play the created slices Read more about this below The SETTINGS in CHOP Mode Here you can edit various parameters regarding the Chop mode gt On the MPC hardware you can select the desired option by navigating with the cursor to the corresponding option Slice Select Snap To Zero Link Start and End Use the data wheel or the buttons for changing the value Audition can be activated by pressing the F4 button Audition Sample Name Electro Loor 803 m Lill wes Linki ON Start 5 End Threshold Threshold Min Slice Time Chor Trim ion Convert Edit The Chop mode display of the Sample edit section in the MPC hardware e SNAP TO ZERO activates the snap to zero function For easier slice editing the MPC software can snap the start or end point of a slice to th
138. of 1 bar for example will mute the corresponding tracks exactly at the beginning of the measure that follows the pressing of the pad gt On the MPC hardware click on the F4 button Time Div to edit the TIME CORRECT value Press the F5 button T C to activate or deactivate Time Correct Press the F6 button Solo to solo the selected pad The PROJECT INFORMATION This section is identical to the Project Information in Main Mode For further information please read the chapter Main Mode 83 AKAI O 5 16 STEP SEQUENCE MODE In Step Sequence Mode you can create sequences from scratch as well as edit an existing sequence It also includes further information about your sequence and track settings gt To enter Step Sequence Mode press the STEP SEQ button on your MPC hardware bbe Edit Bar 1 Pad AB1 Bassdrum Inst MPC Working with Step Sequence Mode in the MPC hardware display In your MPC software click on the Step Seq tab in the Upper section In the lower section of Step Sequence Mode you will find various controls that are also available in other modes like Main Mode Please refer to this chapter if you want to know more about the Q Link Knob section the SEQUENCE TRACK and INSTRUMENT sections as well as the PROJECT INFORMATION The only difference is the Pad section which is used to enter note events just like in a step sequencer This can be done when the sequence is playing or stopped How to u
139. ons to select the Loop field You can use the data dial or buttons to select ON or OFF To edit more parameters press the WINDOW button gt Use the cursor buttons to select the First Bar Last Bar or Number of Bars fields and use the data dial or buttons to set the desired values Press F4 Close to confirm your selection First Bart Last Bari 2 Humber OF Bars 2 For more product information and support visit akaiprompc com 124 AKAI WWW AKAIPRO COM
140. ontroller data For example you can record the verses of a song on Track 1 while recording the choruses on Track 2 Alternatively you can record different instruments on each track Note that your performances are recorded as MIDI events and the actual digital audio is not recorded onto a track That way you can edit your performance in many different ways once the performance has been captured Trigger A trigger is a signal that initiates events Trigger signals are very diverse For instance a MIDI note or an audio signal can be used as a trigger The events a trigger can initiate are also very diverse A common application for a trigger is its use to start an envelope 119 MPC SOFTWARE MANUAL ADDENDUM v1 1 We re always improving the MPC software Version 1 1 includes the following features and improvements Click a feature from the list below to jump to the section of the addendum NEW FEATURES e Support for Pro Tools MPC software can now be used as an RTAS plugin in Pro Tools 9 and Pro Tools 10 Pro Tools 10 is recommended for the best performance e Extensive new options for routing MIDI and audio in Track Mixer mode e Individual submixes and software outputs can now be exported separately e MIDI Program Change messages now include bank select options e Several new Window Mode options are now available to speed up workflow e Grid editing Draw and Select tools can be quickly selected with the computer keyboard
141. our bass sample sounds perfect to you gt Use the Q Link knobs Q1 to Q4 to set the amplifier envelope This controls the overall level characteristics of the sound gt Do you want to add some effect e g Chorus Press F6 Effects and select the desired effect type for your bassline Remember to turn the Inserts parameter to ON Now we ve created a simple drum pattern with a bassline But there s much more 22 AKA O 4 7 WORKING WITH A DRUM LOOP Modern music producers often use drum loops to add grit and dimension to programmed beats And this is exactly what we want to do now Use the FILE BROWSER to locate a drum loop on your hard disk It is not necessary that it does match the tempo of your recorded tracks Double click the desired drum loop so that it is added to the currently selected Program The Chop mode of the MPC hardware s Sample Edit page gt Press the SAMPLE EDIT button of your MPC hardware to enter Sample Edit Mode gt Use the data dial to select the loaded drum loop You can scroll through all loaded samples seen the top of your MPC hardware display gt Press F1 Chop to enter the Chop mode We are going to cut the drum loop into slices gt Use the cursor to navigate to the Threshold parameter and select a desired value The higher the selected value the more slices will be created Make sure to choose a threshold value so that every transient peak of the drum loop is shown with a slice
142. p length First BARS BEAT TIME SIG of all you should set the BARS If your sample loop length is two bars a ANE you need to enter 2 here You can also set the BEAT which means the number of beats in a bar In most cases this will be 4 beats per bar Finally TIME DIV lets you select a note division for the slicing You can select 1 4 1 8 1 16 or 1 32 In most cases you will set this parameter to 7 76 The PROCESS Section in CHOP Mode The PROCESS section gives you various editing options for the selected sample It is nearly identical to the PROCESS section in TRIM mode gt Press the F6 button Edit to open a new page where the editing options are located Use the data dial or the buttons to select the desired editing option Some options offer additional parameters which can be accessed by using the cursor buttons To execute a selected editing process click on F5 Do It Otherwise you can cancel your changes by pressing F4 Cancel The editing options are described below The following editing processes can be executed on a selected slice ipRoOGESS SILENCE EXTRACT NORMALIZE REVERSE FADE IN FADE OUT PITCH SHIFT and GAIN CHANGE For a detailed description please read the corresponding explanations earlier in this chapter THE Wil 78 AKA O sW g The PROCESS section in CHOP mode offers an additional option which affects the whole sample regardless of the selected slice e CONVERT offers three ways of e
143. p menu lets you choose from a palette of various effects which can be loaded directly Click on a loaded effect name to open its graphic user interface for more detailed editing Use the RETURN dials to set the effect return levels This is usefull when the overall volume of a send effect is too high 60 Os SEND EFFECTS Next to the send effects you have access to 8 submix dials which control the volume of the corresponding submix channel In the Program Mixer you can route the audio signal to the desired submix bus Please read more on this on Page 57 Below the Submix section you can find additional master insert effects These can be used to apply effects such as Compressor Master or Transient Shaper to finalize your entire mix Click on the arrow of the slot you want to assign an effect to A pop up menu lets you choose from a palette of various effects which can be loaded directly Click on a loaded effect name to open its graphic user interface for more detailed editing 61 5 9 TRACK VIEW MODE The Track View mode gives you an overview of the tracks of each sequence Use this mode to edit tracks and sequences simultaneously gt To enter the Track View mode press SHIFT MAIN TRACK on your MPC hardware In the MPC software click on the Track View tab in the Upper section Depending on what kind of Program is selected the Track View mode will look different When a DRUM Program is selected the Track View di
144. pens a window where you can rename your Program Right click on a Sample to open a context menu with the following options Delete deletes the selected sample To avoid accidental deletion a query window opens for confirmation 5 ae EEE proressional e Save saves the current sample on your hard disk A dialog window opens automatically letting you choose a data path for saving e Rename opens a window to let you rename the selected sample This doesn t affect the Original sample name e Edit opens the sample in the waveform display for further editing The CHOP Mode The Chop function will divide a sample into multiple regions The MPC software offers three different ways to use this function REGION divides a sample into several regions of equal length BPM divides a sample into several regions based on the beats per minute and finally THRESHOLD uses an adjustable detection algorithm that derives the number of regions created from the volume levels present in the sample The EDIT Section in CHOP Mode gt Click on the F1 button Chop to activate the Chop mode gt Use the Q Link knobs Q13 Q9 Q5 or Q1 of the MPC hardware to adjust the start point of the sample The smaller the Q Link knob number the more precise the adjustment of the start point P Use the Q Link knobs Q15 Q11 Q7 or Q3 of the MPC hardware to adjust the end point of the sample The smaller the Q Link knob number the more precise the adjustment of th
145. pop up menu above the Pan oy knob and select the desired Submix or output Submix 7 Submix 8 Out 1 2 Out 3 4 Out 5 6 Out 7 8 Out 9 10 Out 11 12 Out 13 14 Out 15 16 Track 02 Track 03 EXPORTING SUBMIXES AND OUTPUTS You can now export your Submixes or your mixes routed Audio Mixdown the outputs e g Out 1 2 This can be useful if you want to export separate parts of a project for instance an instrumental track and the a cappella vocal track Audio length Start bar EW end bor ED Tail GEIB sacs Render option File format Bitdepth Sample rate wav Mis D 44 1 kHz E aifi 16 48 kHz mp3 E 24 E 88 2 kHz Maer Ws kHz To select a Submix or output to export click the File menu and select Audio Mixdown In the Audio Mixdown window under Render option click the pop up menu to select the desired Submix or output By default this will be set to Out 1 2 which is also the default setting for all track routings Submix 4 Submix 5 Submix 6 Submix 7 Submix 8 wv Out 1 2 Out 3 4 Out 5 6 Out 7 8 Out 9 10 Out 11 12 Out 13 14 Out 15 16 121 AKAI USING BANK SELECT AND PROGRAM CHANGE MESSAGES The MPC software now lets you send Bank Select and Program INSTRUMENT Change messages ent To set these messages first enter Main Mode and go to the MIDI PORTE esa ee Instrument section click the Instrument pop up menu and select MIDI CH ad BANK E
146. r with four independent EQ ranges O a E mmm High Frequency 560 19999 Hz 5600 Hz S 0 100 G l o O 100 a hihi or 100 Delay Mono Delays the original signal for a specified period of time and plays it back over an adjustable period of time Delay Mono Sync re ee ee Delay Stereo Stereo delay operates similarly to Mono delay but in true stereo Delay Stereo Sync Value Range Default Value Q Link No WetlDry ORY 100 WET a es ee 101 Delay LP The LP and HP Delay is identical to the Mono Delay but they use a resonant filter in the delay line ee S E a S a Delay HP ree mene Delay Analog Analog Delay is similar to Mono Delay except that it s designed to sound like an analog Bucket Brigade style delay This delay has a unique character to it that gives a warmer the sound by adding subtle inaccuracies in phase and timing ree mone Delay Analog Sync Value Range Default Value Q Link No Wainy ee i dal E a 102 Delay Tape Sync Tape Delay emulates a delay system using an analog tape loop and a series of tape heads to produce an echo effect This delay type yields a very distinct echo sound often heard in reggae and dub style music Parameter Value Range Default Value Q Link No Wet Dry DRY 100 WET _ Feedback O 100 ore conf ae i ae ae Ee E O 3 5 T Wow amp Flutter Delay Ping Pong By A prap O
147. r sample filter gt Use the SHIFT button in conjunction with the five FOLDER buttons to select the desired data path location on your hard disk gt Once a data path is selected you can choose any file with the data dial the buttons or the cursor buttons P With the left and right cursor buttons you can go up or down one level to the previous or next directory gt Click on the F6 button Load to load a sample on the selected pad 33 processional Ee Fa D E Users tschings Deskt MPC Samples Bassdrums Bassdrum VOl wav Bassdrum 002 wavy Bassdrum 005 wav SEnnSnnnSnnnnnnnnnn Senn ssnnnnnnn nn Snnnnnn nenn nnn nnn unnn nananana Bassdrum 664 way The Browser display of the MPC hardware With the Parent Directory arrow button in the MPC software to the right of the data path selector you can go up one level to the parent directory FILE directly under the file list window shows the name of the selected file in the list file BESS ieee gt Click on the F3 Play button to preview any selected audio sample O In the MPC software the Preview Button is located below the File Browser Keep in mind that only audio samples can be previewed Make also sure that your audio hardware is connected properly to listen to the audio file P Click on the F2 Auto button on your MPC hardware to activate the Auto Preview function An audio file is played automatically when selected When active Auto is
148. r the Master chain click on the F5 button Send Use the cursor to navigate to the desired send effect slot With the buttons you can open an additional display page to select the desired effect type Click F4 Select to load the selected effect or click F3 Back to close the Select Effect display page Use the cursor to navigate to the desired send level Use the data dial or buttons to change the Send Level In the MPC software click on the Track Mixer tab in the Upper section The Master effect section is located on the right end of the Track Mixer Click on the arrow of the master insert effect slot you want to assign an effect to A pop up menu lets you choose from a palette of various effects which can be loaded directly Click on a loaded effect name to open its graphic user interface for more detailed editing These can be used to apply effects such as Compressor Master or Transient Shaper to finalize your entire mix 95 The Effect Types Some effects offer a sync version e g Flanger Sync which enables the effect to synchronize to the tempo Flanger A Flanger is an effect that uses a modulated delay line to emulate a classic effect formerly produced by running two analog tape machines in parallel with a slight time disalignment Slow rates can produce a jet engine whoosh effect faster rates add a warble to the sound e o o Festa co a ae oreo ee Flanger Sync Te at tee ae E a a O w f ow o a o
149. r to the loaded one Double click on it PAN VELOciITy oor SAMPLE SEMI FINE LEVEL NOTE Back in the Layer section click on the Layver2 LAYER 2 pop up menu and select the SynthBasso14 new bass sample If you hit a pad both 7 e ccn SE 4 samples will be played at once Maybe you find that new sound interesting as it is right now but let s go further _ i ROOT PAN VELOCITY NOTE Use the VELOCITY slider of Layer 1 and Layer 2 to create a sound with the velocity range of Layer 1 ranging from Oto 80 while Layer 2 covers within the range of 81 to 127 Now when you hit a pad the lower velocities will trigger Layer 1 only while higher velocities play Layer 2 only Now let s record a bassline Prepare your recording as described above and record some bass notes You can edit your recording just like we ve done earlier 21 professional 2 gt o Oo 2 A i Finally let s tweak the bassline sound This can be done in the FILTER section of the Program Edit menu Back to the MPC hardware The Filter and Envelope display of the MPC hardware gt Press the PROG EDIT button of your MPC hardware to enter Program Edit Mode Click on the F4 button FIt Env to enter the Filter page gt Use the Filter Type option to select a suitable filter type We recommend to work with the Low 4 type for a start gt Turn the Cutoff and Resonance knobs Q Link knobs Q14 and Q15 until y
150. references In the Preferences window click the Midi Out Port e PE MIDI tab Click the Midi Out Port pop up menus Midi Out Port G Y lt lt none gt gt and select either DAW or the desired MIDI port Click OK when you are finished Midi Out Port D DAW EIE MPC Studio MPC Public MPC Studio MPC Port 1 SELECTING PLUGINS AND PRESETS WITH THE HARDWARE You can now use the MPC hardware to select your plugins and their presets gt To select a plugin press the MAIN button on your hardware to enter Main Mode Use the cursor buttons to select the Inst field and use the data dial or buttons to select PLUGIN gt Then use the cursor buttons to select the Pig field and use the data dial or buttons to select the desired plugin Press F4 Select to confirm your selection gt To select your preset back in Main Mode use the cursor buttons to select the Program field and press the WINDOW button A list of your plugin presets will appear Use the data dial or buttons to select the desired preset Press F3 Select to confirm your selection You can also press F2 Back to go to the previous window F4 Copy Plg to copy the preset or F5 Del Pig to delete the preset 123 AKAI O hE EDITING SEQUENCE LOOP PARAMETERS WITH HARDWARE You can now use the MPC hardware to set the Loop parameters of the sequencer gt To edit the sequencer s Loop parameters press the MAIN button to enter Main Mode use the cursor butt
151. s Akai Professional will never share your details with any other company P nica Now Use web Form JM ner code B Conce D 4 QUICK START TUTORIAL This Quick Start Tutorial was written to help you to familiarize yourself with the MPC In order to get the most out of this tutorial we recommend reproducing each of the described steps The MPC hardware display reflects what it s controlling in the software but due to space and character limitations the hardware display is slightly different e g parameter names may be abbreviated the layout may be different or spread across multiple tabs etc P You can navigate through the MPC hardware display by using the MPC hardware s cursor buttons When a parameter is selected you can change it by turning the hardware s data dial or using the buttons gt When the MPC hardware screen shows a series of parameters that can t be selected with the cursor buttons that means it is showing you what the Q Link knobs are controlling Touch a Q Link knob and the parameter s name and setting will appear in the upper right corner of the hardware display Turn the knob to adjust it If the Q Link knob does not control any parameter in the display this area will show the Q Link knob number and no text MPC Studio users MPC Studio s Q Link knobs control one column of parameters at a time Whenever this manual instructs you to use the Q Link knobs to adjust parameters you can use the SCRO
152. s and closes this filter over a period of time An envelope is started via a trigger usually a MIDI Note The classic envelope consists of four individually variable phases Attack Decay Sustain and Release Hence called an ADSR envelope Attack Decay and Release are time or slope values while Sustain is an adjustable level Once an incoming trigger is received the envelope runs through the Attack and Decay phases until it reaches the programmed Sustain level This level remains constant until the trigger is terminated The envelope then initiates the Release phase until it reaches the minimum value Filter A filter is a component that allows some of a signal s frequencies to pass through it and dampens other frequencies The most important aspect of a filter is the filter cutoff frequency Filters generally come in four categories low pass high pass band pass and band stop A low pass filter dampens all frequencies above the cutoff frequency A high pass filter in turn dampens the frequencies below the cutoff The band pass filter allows only those frequencies around the cutoff frequency to pass all others are dampened A band stop filter does just the opposite i e it dampens only the frequencies around the cutoff frequency The most common type is the low pass filter LFO LFO is an acronym for low frequency oscillator The LFO generates a periodic oscillation at a low frequency and features variable waveshapes Similar to an envelop
153. sample Panning The process or the result of changing a signal s position within the stereo panorama Pitchbend Pitchbend is a MIDI message Although pitchbend messages are similar in function to control change messages they are a distinct type of message The resolution of a pitchbend message is substantially higher than that of a conventional Controller message The human ear is exceptionally sensitive to deviations in pitch so the higher resolution is used because it relays pitchbend information more accurately Program A Program is a file that contains a list of all samples to be used and settings for each sample i e pad assignments loop points pitch tuning effects etc The MPC s PROGRAM EDIT mode is where you can edit and assign samples The MPC software can have a total of 128 programs ina Project 117 There are two kinds of programs that use samples for their sound source Drum Programs mostly used for creating drum programs and easy and quick assigning of samples to a pad and Keygroups Programs With Keygroup Programs you can use one sample or more and spread it across two or more keys and play the sample chromatically over a keyboard That way there is no need to sample every key of for instance a piano Program Change These are MIDI messages that select sound programs Program numbers 1 through 128 can be changed via program change messages Release An envelope parameter The term Release descri
154. se the Step Input lf a track contains events you have recorded with the pads the Step Input function allows you to edit each event separately by Le Ds ah Gam using the pads of your MPC hardware or MPC software This is how it works in detail gt On the MPC hardware navigate to the Trk parameter and select the Track you want to work with The track does not have to contain any note events gt Use the F5 Pad and the F6 Pad buttons to select the pad corresponding to note events you want to edit create The pad number and its sample name will appear in the upper right corner of the hardware display In a DRUM program A01 to H16 are available in a KEYGROUP program the notes from C 2 to G8 can be chosen gt Use the F2 Bar and the F3 Bar buttons to navigate to the bar you want to edit create note events in Keep in mind that the number of steps depends on your Time Correct settings which you can adjust by pressing the F1 T C button For example If the set Time Division is 1 16 a bar will consist of 16 steps represented by the 16 pads If the set Time Division is smaller such as 1 32 a bar will consist of 32 steps and therefore be represented by two banks of the 16 pads In this case use the Pad Bank Buttons A and B to view all the steps within a bar gt If a note event already exists in a selected track its corresponding pad is lit If you assign a new note by hitting on the corresponding pad it
155. semitone up or down TRANS only available for Keygroup Programs transposes incoming notes it does not change the pitch of a sample SIMULTANEOUS PLAY Drum Programs only SIMULTANEOUS PLAY This function allows you to define up to four pads that are triggered aaa y Aos x aoe ua by hitting one pad only gt To select the pads for SIMULTANEOUS PLAY press the F1 button Master on your MPC hardware Use Q Link knobs Q5 Q8 to select the corresponding pads Keep in mind that this function is only available in DRUM programs Use this function to trigger a stack of sounds e g layered bass drums MUTE TARGET Drum Program only The MUTE TARGET function works similarly to the MUTE MUTE TARGET GROUP function which is explained below The main difference aot v ao2 A03 x poe x is that Mute Target can be set to work only in one direction PAD PAD PAD PAD gt To select the MUTE TARGET pads press the F1 button Master on your MPC hardware Use Q Link knobs Q1 Q4 for selecting the corresponding pads Keep in mind that this function is only available in DRUM programs For example you can use Mute Target to have Pad A02 muted by Pad A01 The advantage of this is that when Pad A01 is played Pad A02 will be muted You can set a maximum of four mute targets per pad 48 aise aa KEYGROUP PLAY MODES Keygroup Programs only Here you can set the behavior for keygroup samples for each pad gt To edit the KEYG
156. splays the drum grid When a KEYGROUP Program is selected the Track View displays the piano roll editor TRACK GTE TOTAL BARS SER time correct GERRY swinc EE 2 4 4 A07 Cowbell Ee Pe ee eee ee ee ee A06 Snare03 A05 IFS01a A04 HHC 02 A03 HHC 01 A02 Snare01 O E E E E E E E E E E E E E A01 Kick02 Track View DRUM Program TRACK EGA TOTAL BARS SER time correct GERRY swinc E Track View KEYGROUP Program 4 gt Working in the Track View is similar as working in the basic grid For more information about the parameters and functionality of the Track View please refer to the chapter The Grid mode We recommend using the Track View when you want to switch quickly between Tracks for a faster editing process 62 AKAI O proressional q 5 10 SONG MODE In Song Mode you can arrange sequences to create songs gt To enter Song Mode press the SONG button on your MPC hardware In the MPC software click on the Song tab in the Upper section SEQUENCE SONG PROJECT INFORMATION 1 Sequence0i F Sample amp Sequence 05 Bassdrum Sequence 03 Open Hihat 06 amp Sequence 05 Y Crash 03 5 Sequence 05 E 17 amp Sequence06 T Snare 020 5 Sequence05 T Synth Bass 009 7 Sequence 07 7 Synth Bass 014 19 amp Sequence06 Electro Loop 002 1 Sequence 01 PE Electro Loop 0025 1 end of song A A03 O MA FIRST BAR EHE REPEATS CN Electro Loop 002512 5 Electr
157. ssary because we want to play the bass sound chromatically with the drum pads Now let s load a bass sound We will use the Browser in the MPC software Click on the file browser s pop up menu for an overview of your hard disk structure Locate and select a bass sample You can double click on any displayed folder to open it Click on the Preview button to preview any selected audio sample If you found a sample to your liking double click it to add it to the MPC software s currently loaded Project Keep in mind that the sample is not yet assigned to a pad gt Press the PROG EDIT button of your MPC hardware to enter Program Edit Mode if not selected already In the Layer section click on the LAYER 1 pop up menu and select the bass sample you just loaded into the MPC software s currently loaded Project In this list you will also find your drum samples Keep in mind that you are working with a KEYGROUP program so the selected sample is playable across all pads gt Press the PAD BANK D button of your MPC hardware to switch to pad bank D and hit Pad 13 You should hear the bass sample played back with its original pitch You can use the other pads to play your sample chromatically To step it up even further we want to add a second layer The idea is to have a bass sample that sounds different when played at a higher velocity Go back to the File Browser and choose a different bass sample that sounds similar but a little bit brighte
158. strument for example a VST synthesizer or an external MIDI instrument for example a hardware sound generator Program Edit Mode looks different You will be presented an overview of all available parameters of your loaded virtual instrument including a corresponding rotary knob for editing We recommend editing a virtual instrument by using its own graphical user interface though gt To edit virtual instrument parameters press the corresponding F button Page1 to Page6 on your MPC hardware Use the MPC hardware Q Link knobs for direct access of all 16 parameters that are displayed You can use the cursor buttons to navigate to a desired parameter location in the display and change the parameter with the buttons or the data dial You can use Program Edit Mode to directly edit a set of parameters in a section with your MPC hardware MPC Renaissance s 4x4 Q Link knob matrix corresponds to the MPC software s controls as well as virtual instrument parameters MPC Studio s Q Link knobs can control one column of parameters at a time Use the SCROLL KNOB above them to change which column of parameters they currently control To assign a parameter to one of the controls click on the pop up menu above the corresponding controller and select it from the pop up menu In this way you can easily set up arrangements of 16 knobs which can be controlled by your MPC hardware ASAI O WEEE 5 7 PROGRAM MIXER MODE In Program Mixer Mod
159. t MIDI Channel This is a very important element of most messages A receiver can only respond to incoming messages if its receive channel is set to the same channel as the one the sender is using to transmit data Subsequently the sender can address specific receivers individually MIDI Channels 1 through 16 are available for this purpose MIDI Clock The MIDI Clock message transmits real time tempo information to synchronize processes among several connected devices e g a sound generator s delay time to a MIDI sequencer Modulation A modulation influences or changes a sound shaping component via a modulation source Modulation sources include envelopes LFOs or MIDI messages The modulation destination is a sound shaping component such as a filter or a VCA Note On Note Off This is the most important MIDI message It determines the pitch and velocity of a generated note A Note On message will start a note Its pitch is derived from the note number which can range from O to 127 The velocity lies between 1 and 127 A velocity value of O is equivalent to a Note Off message Normalize Normalize is a function to raise the level of a sample to its maximum 0 dB without causing distortion This function automatically searches a sample for its maximum level and consequently raises the entire sample s level until the previously determined maximum level reaches O dB In general this results in a higher overall volume of the
160. t to finalize the edit process Sounds cool so let s include the new sample in your track In the next chapter we ll show you an easy way to record note events 26 AKAI O 4 10 STEP BY STEP WITH STEP RECORDIN You ve already learned how to record note events on a track But there s an easier way to do it Edit Bar 1 ad AbB1l1 Bassdrum Inst MPC The Step Seq mode display of the MPC hardware It makes sense to use a new track so use the cursor buttons to navigate to the Trk parameter to select an unused track Let s say Track 04 Navigate to the Bars parameter the number of bars for the sequence and set it to Bars 7 gt Press the STEP SEQ button on your MPC hardware to enter the Step Seq mode gt Press the PLAY button to start your sequence P Hit one of the 16 pads to insert a note event in the new track You can instantly hear and see new events The green cursor is indicating the current time and the pads represent steps of the timing correct For example hit pads 1 5 9 and 13 to create a four on the floor kick Pretty easy right 4 11 AUTOMATION Now let s add some spice to our sequence First we ll add an effect to our new recorded sample e g a reverb In the MPC software click on the Main tab to open Main Mode Locate the pad that shows the name Vocal indicating that our sample has been assigned to it In the Q Link section click on the PRG button Turn Q Link kn
161. t and workflow with the power of your computer MPC Renaissance and MPC Studio are unrivaled instruments for music production The new flagship is a fully integrated hardware software system MPC Renaissance allows you to create using classic hardware controls and an integrated pop up display while its exclusive MPC Software empowers you with unprecedented expandable production capabilities on your Mac or PC MPC Studio offers the most streamlined MPC experience yet At under one inch thin with low profile controls and a brushed aluminum body it s made to move MPC Studio merges real MPC pads iconic workflow and the same MPC Software used by MPC Renaissance to give you a fully integrated portable production solution Welcome to production anywhere The world is now your studio We hope your investment will bring you many years of creative enjoyment and help you achieve your musical goals 1 1 ABOUT THIS MANUAL This manual was written to help you to become familiar with the MPC hardware and software It will also aid experienced users with routine tasks To avoid confusion the terminology in this manual is based on the MPC parameter names You will find the various terms explained in a glossary at the end of this manual We also used a uniform set of symbols to show topics of particular interest or significance Important terms are highlighted in bold letters gt Info Additional information on a given topic
162. t on Pad 4 Feel free to add a crash sample to Pad 5 Now you re ready to record a simple drum pattern 4 3 RECORDING A DRUM PATTERN Let s start to record a drum pattern gt Press the REC button of your MPC hardware to activate the recording mode To start the actual recording press the PLAY button The precount starts to count one measure We recommend recording the drum sounds one after the other especially if you are not familiar with playing on the pads gt Play a simple bass drum pattern The initial measure length is 2 bars After the two bars the pattern plays again from the beginning and keeps looping Don t stop the recording gt Play a snare drum pattern then a hi hat pattern gt Press the STOP button to finish the recording gt The note events you just recorded will automatically be placed in the grid in this case on 16th notes gt If you want to repeat the recording keep in mind that the pads you play in your new recording will automatically replace existing notes played with the same pads To prevent this you can use the OVERDUB function which enables you to record additional note events to an existing pattern When the sequence loops around the MPC is automatically placed in OVERDUB mode gt The MPC hardware s UNDO button can be used differently while in Record Mode Normally pressing UNDO will undo just the last event When there is an event to undo the UNDO button will be lit solid While record
163. t will flash green When no other sequence is selected the MPC software will continue to play the current Sequence over and over P You can also switch to the next sequence before the MPC software finishes playing back the current sequence by pressing the F4 button Sudden This is useful for live performances if you need to switch to the next phrase at a certain cue gt If you press the F5 button Hold the MPC software will keep playing back the current sequence until you press F5 again This is useful for live performances if you need to repeat the phrase according to the response of the audience P Press the F6 button Clear to delete a selected sequence from the sequence playlist gt Press F3 NextBar to change sequences at the beginning of the next bar gt Press F1 To Song to copy your changes directly into a Song The Copy to Song windows opens automatically after pressing F1 In the To Song popup menu you can select a desired song number where your data is copied to 65 Now ELEM aa Seq To Sons Next Bar Sudden Hold Clear The Next Sequence section in the display of the MPC hardware In the MPC software you will find all parameters to create a sequence playlist in the lower section of the Next Seq mode window The Playlist window gives you an overview of all used Sequences in your MPC project as well as the number of bars and the tempo of each sequence In the Pad section every pad is assi
164. ter which note is triggered by pads or a connected MIDI keyboard LEVEL controls the overall volume level of the loaded sample s 49 PAN sets the overall stereo placement of the loaded sample s With NOTE RANGE you can restrict the key range used for a sample s playback Only notes with a key number higher or equal LO or lower and equal HI to the selected value will trigger a sound Set the LO parameter to C 2 and the HI parameter to G8 if you want to use the full keyboard range The settings for LO and HI are also shown in the virtual keyboard in the EDIT LAYERS section SEMI lets you transpose the sample 12 semitones up or down while FINE provides fine tuning of each layer by fractions of a semitone up or down In the EDIT LAYER section you will find some parameters similar to those in KEY GROUP LEVEL PAN SEMI FINE NOTE RANGE Keep in mind that KEY GROUP parameters control the overall settings for the sample while the EDIT LAYER parameters controls the settings for each layer up to 4 EDIT LAYERS SECTION Each pad can trigger up to four samples which LAYER 1 VEE Synth Voc J Q O Q J are assigned in four individual layers Each layer SAMPLE SEMI MNE LEVEL PAN velocny Nore has separate parameters for SAMPLE SEMI LAYER 2 Z da aa a l si FINE LEVEL PAN and VELOCITY and ROOT YEE Seth ee 7 7E 2V aam vaocry seor NOTE available in Keygroup Programs only LAYER 3 er ry
165. ters for KEYGROUP programs gt To edit the KEY GROUP parameters press the F1 button Master on your MPC hardware Use Q Link knobs Q1 Q8 for direct access of all parameters Keep in mind that these parameters are available only in KEYGROUP programs In a KEYGROUP program you can also use the pads on your MPC hardware to play samples assigned to keygroups The 128 pads A01 to H16 correspond to MIDI notes from from note number O to 127 allowing you to easily play a melody with a single sample over a wide range How to setup a KEYGROUP program is described in Chapter 5 0 on Page 31 Keep in mind that the root key of a loaded sample will determine where the original pitch is located If the root key for example is C3 the original sample is located at pad D13 With KG SELECT Keygroup Select you can select a particular Keygroup for editing This parameter works in conjunction with the NO KG Numbers of Keygroups parameter in the EDIT LAYERS section that lets you create up to 128 keygroups within one Keygroup program A default Keygroup program contains only one single Keygroup When you have created more than one Keygroup with NO KG you can use KG SELECT to select any Keygroup for editing ALL selects all available Keygroups of a Keygroup program for simultaneous editing KEYTRACK allows you to switch the automatic transposition of a sample on or off If inactive you will always hear the same pitch of the sample no mat
166. the corresponding Q Link knob to toggle between mute and mute off With the PAD BANK buttons you can also select different pad banks to select different sets of 16 channels 59 In the MPC software click on the Mute button M of the desired channel To view more mixer channels use the scroll bar below the channel view lf you want to solo a channel click on the corresponding Solo button S to mute all other channels You can solo as many channels as you like To deselect solo click on an active solo button gt To set the send effect level for a desired channel click on the F5 button Insert use the cursor buttons to select a channel and use the data dial or buttons to select the desired effect By repeatedly pressing the F5 button you can cycle through the send effects 1 2 3 and 4 The small squares below the Send field indicate the currently choosen send effect With the PAD BANK buttons you can also select different pad banks to select different sets of 16 channels In the MPC software click on the SEND button of the desired channel Click on one of the SEND knobs of the desired channel and edit its value with your computer mouse Alternatively you can use your mouse scroll wheel To use a send effect you have to load an effect into the corresponding send effect slot to the right of the Track Mixer gt To load an insert effect into a channel click on the F6 button Insert and use the corresponding Q Link kn
167. the song position marker whereas Page mode will make the screen scroll along in the background keeping the song position marker centered gt Click on the SHIFT WINDOW FULL SCREEN buttons of your MPC hardware to toggle between fullscreen for the grid and the divided view with grid and main view In the MPC software click on the Half View mode button to toggle between fullscreen for ms the grid and the divided view with grid and main view 35 AKAI O processional 5 3 THE LOWER SECTION The Lower section contains the overall controls such as the measure tempo display and the nanepet CONO Mii section is Aaye visible ngepencencort of me selected MoA 2 2 561 120 0 The CPU meter shows the computer CPU usage of the actual project Keep in mind that an excessive use of synthesis functions such as filter and effects will increase the CPU usage If the CPU meter is very high software response may slow down Triple clicking the STOP button in this lower section or on the MPC hardware will send a MIDI panic message This will halt all messages being sent to your computer by the MPC software and you can resume normal operation With the Metronome dial you can set the volume of your metronome click gt Press the MAIN button of your MPC hardware and press F2 to enter the CLICK menu Use the cursor to navigate to the Metronome field Use the data dial or the buttons to select the desired metronome setting Yo
168. ting In the Mac MPC software the Exit command is named Quit MPC and located in the menu MPC Edit Menu This menu contains all the standard commands for undo redo as well as also cutting copying and pasting The Undo command undoes the last action you performed up to 200 actions When there are no actions left to undo the Undo command will be unavailable and appear grayed out The Redo command undoes the Undo command If you wish you can continue redoing actions until there are no items left to redo In this case the Redo command will be unavailable and appear grayed out The only limitation in using the Redo command is that if you perform a new action when a redo action is available you will no longer be able to redo In other words as soon as you perform an editing action other than Undo Redo is no longer available The Cut command removes selected events from the grid and copies it to the MPC s clipboard Once you have cut events you can paste or insert them at another location in the same or any other sequence The Copy command copies selected events within the grid to the MPC s clipboard without removing them from the copying source Once you have copied you can paste it or insert it at another location in the same sequence or another sequence 87 O D The Paste command allows you to paste the contents of the clipboard by placing the position marker on a grid location of your choice and perform Paste The Cle
169. tment of the start point e Use Q Link knobs Q15 Q11 Q7 or Q3 to adjust the end point of the sample The smaller the Q knob number the more precise the adjustment of the end point e Use Q Link knobs Q14 Q10 Q6 or Q2 to adjust the loop start point of the sample The smaller the Q Link knob number the more precise the adjustment of the loop start point e Alternatively you can adjust the start loop end points by clicking on the corresponding small arrows right below the sample timeline and moving them with your mouse to the desired position Keep in mind that the loop start point cannot be placed before the start point of a sample Click on the waveform and hold the mouse button to play the edited sample Right click in the sample timeline to switch between Time in seconds and milliseconds and Samples Below the waveform you will find a scroll bar and a slider for horizontal scrolling and Zooming 11 AKAI O sh The Sample Edit Controls The lower section offer various controls for editing a selected sample The EDIT Section This section offers control elements for editing a sample as well as selecting the edit mode CHOP or TRIM To read more about the CHOP mode please refer to the end of this chapter The description below refers to the TRIM mode only P Use the data dial or the buttons on your MPC hardware to select a sample for editing The selected sample name is shown at the top of your display
170. u can easily insert notes and data with your computer mouse A much more intuitive way to record notes though is using the recording function of your MPC hardware Playing notes with the pads and recording automation data with the Q Link knobs give you much faster results gt Press the REC button on your MPC hardware to activate the recording mode Now press the PLAY button The metronome will precount one measure before the recording starts Play on the pads to record a sequence Press the STOP button to finish your recording In the MPC software you can use the Select tool as well as the Draw tool to create notes e Double click Select mode or click Draw mode the desired location in the grid to create a note The note length depends on the TIME CORRECT value If set to 76 the note length will be a 16 note e Click and drag the start or end of a note to shorten or extend a note event in steps corresponding to the TIME CORRECT value e Double click a note to delete it You can also press the Backspace or Delete of your computer keyboard to delete a selected note e You can hear the corresponding sample by clicking on a note e Click and drag a note to move it to another position Keep in mind that you can only position notes on quantization values defined by the set TIME CORRECT value indicated by vertical lines in the grid However if you hold down the SHIFT key while moving a note you can drag it to any position you like
171. u can switch between Off Play Record and Record Play see also Page 91 To activate the metronome from the MPC software click ON located right of the Metronome dial It will light up red when active Read more about the Metronome on Page 91 The measure tempo display shows the actual song position in measures and beats and the song tempo in BPM beats per minute gt To navigate to a particular song position you can use the lt gt buttons on your MPC hardware to move step by step within a measure or advance measure by measure with the lt lt gt gt buttons You can also click on the MAIN button and use the cursor to dial in the desired value bars beats and ticks and select it by using the data dial or the buttons You may also use the numeric buttons to enter a desired value and confirm it by pressing ENTER gt Use the TAP TEMPO button on your MPC hardware to tap in the Beats per Minute of your desired tempo An amber LED will blink indicating the current beats or quarter notes You can also click on the MAIN button and use the cursor to move to the Bpm parameter Select the desired value by using the data dial or the buttons You may also use the numeric buttons to enter a value and confirm by pressing ENTER In the MPC software you can change a value by double clicking its digits and entering the desired value with your computer keyboard You can change the BPM value also by clicking it and dragging the mouse
172. umss13 DrumssS14 DrumsS15 Dru mss16 DrumsS17 Drums 18 DrumsS19 DrumsS110 Drums 111 a a E TRACK MUTE Mode You can mute unmute individual tracks in a particular program in real time by hitting the pads This is useful when you have several instruments assigned to different tracks and you wish to use the pads to switch tracks on off while playing a song gt In the MPC hardware the displayed 16 blocks represent the 16 tracks Press the F1 button TrkMute to activate Track Mute Mode Hit the pad to mute or unmute the track that assigned to it Muted pads are lit in red unmuted in yellow Use the PAD BANK buttons to switch between the 8 banks if necessary Cunused CUunuUused Cunused Cunused adie TrekGrour Time Div T c J soto The Track Mute section in the display of the MPC hardware In the MPC software select the desired BANK first Make sure to activate TRACK MUTE Mode in the MODE section Click the corresponding pad to mute unmute the desired track that is assigned to it Muted pads are lit red unmuted yellow You can also click on the miniature pads in BANK section to mute or unmute them This section gives you an overview of all 128 pads at once Unused pads are greyed out 82 The TRACK GROUP Mode You can set up track mute groups to mute or unmute multiple tracks simultaneously This is useful when you wish to mute a group of tracks or simultaneously isolate a group of specific tracks
173. unctions press this button to access them Use the F BUTTONS CURSOR BUTTONS and DATA DIAL or buttons to execute or cancel these additional functions Hold SHIFT and press this button to switch between Full Screen and Half Screen modes In Full Screen mode the workspace occupies the whole screen In Half Screen mode the parameter controls Q Link knobs pads Sequence and Track information Project Information etc are shown underneath the workspace PROJECT FOLDER 1 Press this button to view only Project files in the File Browser Hold down SHIFT and press this button to select the Browser s Folder 1 shortcut SEQUENCE FOLDER 2 Press this button to view only Sequence files in the File Browser Hold down SHIFT and press this button to select the Browser s Folder 2 shortcut PROGRAM FOLDER 3 Press this button to view only Program files in the File Browser Hold down SHIFT and press this button to select the Browser s Folder 3 shortcut SAMPLE FOLDER 4 Press this button to view only Sample files in the File Browser Hold down SHIFT and press this button to select the Browser s Folder 4 shortcut NO FILTER FOLDER 5 Press this button to view all files in the File Browser Hold down SHIFT and press this button to select the Browser s Folder 5 shortcut TRANSPORT RECORDING CONTROLS 38 39 AO 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 PLAY Press this button to play the Sequence from the audio poi
174. vent to undo the UNDO button will be lit solid While recording the UNDO button will flash In this case pressing UNDO will erase all events from that recording i e since the PLAY or PLAY START was pressed Keep in mind that the audio level coming out of MPC Renaissance s STEREO OUTS is determined by its MAIN VOL knob The MPC software s LEVEL knob controls the level before the hardware s MAIN VOL knob In other words the software s LEVEL knob and hardware s MAIN VOL knob are separate controls P Click on the VINTAGE MODE button of your MPC Renaissance to toggle between the different audio quality emulations This works only if the MPC Renaissance is set up as the audio output in the Preferences You can choose to emulate the particular sonic qualities of the MPC3000 the MPC60 Other and of course no emulation no LED will be lit The Vintage display directly below the output level meter indicates the selected emulation mode If your MPC Renaissance is set up as audio interface you can use the MAIN VOLUME dial to adjust the volume level 3 AKA O proressional f 5 4 THE GRID The Grid is the section where you can record program and edit your sequences and arrange your songs The Grid is always visible independently from the mode selected except Sample Record Mode and Sample Edit mode gt Click on the SHIFT WINDOW FULL SCREEN buttons of the MPC hardware to enlarge the grid This is ideal for working on tracks
175. w the MPC software may start the recording before you play the external source Set this parameter to an appropriate level using the level m 5555s meter With the Q Link knobs Q3 and Q4 you can define the maximum sampling time You can record up to 59 minutes and 59 seconds We recommend feiss setting the recording time to values that matches roughly with your estimated recording duration gt To adjust the Threshold use Q Link knob Q1 on your MPC hardware With Q3 and Q4 you can set the record time in Minutes and Seconds The Record Control section offers all the relevant controls for recording Use the RECORD ARM buttons to define which side of the incoming audio signal is going to be recorded You can select L for the left channel R for the right channel or both buttons for stereo recording Keep in mind that you don t need to record both channels when a microphone is connected to the left MIC IN jack only gt To select the input channel s on your MPC hardware navigate to Mode and choose between STEREO LEFT or RIGHT With the INPUT SOURCE parameter you can define whether you are going to record an external audio signal Extern an internal signal from the MPC software Resample A resample recording does not need any audio connection because the source signal created by the MPC software is recorded directly without any signal and quality loss You can for example use the Resample function to record two or more s
176. wn and press a pad to delete the note event for that pad at the current playback position This is a quick way to delete note events from your Sequence without having to stop playback TAP TEMPO Press this button in time with the desired tempo to enter a new tempo in BPM in the MPC software I O amp LEVEL CONTROLS 43 44 45 46 47 MIC LINE PHONO SWITCH Use this switch to select the MIC IN or PHONO IN jacks on the rear panel If you are using a mic or line level audio source connected to the MIC IN jacks select MIC IN If you are using a phono level device like a turntable connected to the PHONO IN jacks select PHONO IN REC GAIN Use this knob to adjust the gain of the incoming signal from the MIC IN or PHONO IN jacks on the rear panel Monitor the recording level by viewing the level meter LEDs above the MIC LINE PHONO SWITCH Be careful when setting this knob at higher levels which can cause the signal to distort DIRECT MON Use this knob to adjust the balance between the INPUT and COMP signals in the headphones The INPUT signal consists of the MIC IN or PHONO IN jacks turn the knob all the way to INPUT for zero latency direct monitoring The COMP signal is the normal software playback When not recording we recommend turning this knob all the way to the COMP position MAIN VOLUME Use this knob to adjust the volume level of the STEREO OUT jacks VINTAGE MODE Press this to toggle throu
177. xporting the sliced sample o Patched Phrase creates a new sample based on your edits done in the Chop mode and places it in the current Project o Sliced Samples creates single samples of the sliced sample If Crop Samples is activated a new sample for each slice is created You can also activate Create New Program to create a program where each slice is automatically assigned to a pad If Convert To CEPET Create New Program is chosen you also moe Sans get the option to Create Events If Create Events is activated a new sample for each slice will be created automatically E Create Events and loaded to the pads in the new Number of Bars Program It will also automatically create a a new Track in which each pad plays its corresponding slice The samples will be named with sl and a consecutive number attached to their original name E Create New Program o Assign Slice assigns a single slice to a chosen Pad With Pad you can choose the Convert To C corresponding Pad where the sample is ped oo assigned to If Extract Region To New Sample is activated the slice is also extracted as a new sample With Program Program ed you can choose a Program where the assigned slice is added to The sample will be named with pp attached to its original name El Extract Region To New Sample Track with events after using the Sliced Sample Create Events function The PROJECT INFORMATION in CHOP Mode This section is ide
178. y Wis WH 44 1 kHz measures only In addition you can define a the E Separate tracks El aitt ie Ej 48 kHz length of a bounce tail Tail in seconds This is Emp m24 M 88 2kHz useful when working with audio effects like reverb EszF 96 kHz or delay which will sound longer than the defined export range e For the render option you can choose between Master and Separate tracks Master will render an output that will be the same as the final output from the MPC software Separate tracks will render at the Track Mixer The rendered audio will not include Track Sends but will include the Track insert effects e You can also select your desired export File format wav aiff or mp3 For WAV and AIFF files the Bit depth can be selected from 8 Bit 16 Bit 24 Bit or 32 Bit floating point If you select mp3 the display automatically changes from Bit depth to Bitrate offering useful MP3 rates from 128 kbps and 320 kbps e The Sample rate can be set to 44 1 kHz 48 KHz 88 2 kHz or 96 kHz In most cases you will use the 44 1 KHz option e After you select your mixdown options click on the Export button to open an additional window Here you can set a data path on your computer s hard disk to where the export file will be saved Cancel closes the Audio Mixdown window without starting the exporting process Exit closes the MPC application If you haven t saved any changes made to a currently open project it will prompt you to do so before quit
179. y clicking on F5 Cancel or aa ieee start the recording independently from the threshold setting by pressing F6 Start Press the F6 button again while recording to stop recording Now Name Assign to Pad A03 Root Note C3 When the recording is finished a small window opens automatically with further options Click on Retry to abort the recorded sample It will be deleted Click and hold Play to listen to your sample before storing it lf you want to keep your recorded sample we recommend entering a New Name You should also define a pad to assign the sample to Assign to Pad You can also set a Root Note which defines the original pitch of a sample Click Keep to save your sample gt When the recording procedure is finished the MPC hardware s display changes to a new page Here you can navigate to the Assign to Pad option and choose a pad for assigning Alternatively you can hit the pad directly Root Note sets the root note for the recorded sample Press F4 Play to playback the recorded sample If you want to abort the recorded sample press F2 Retry If you want to save the recorded sample press F5 Keep We recommend editing your recorded sample in Sample Edit Mode The PROJECT INFORMATION This section is identical to the Project Information in Main Mode For further information please read the chapter Main Mode Newly recorded samples will be shown in the Sample area of the PROJECT INFORMATION To
180. y keyboards are capable of generating aftertouch messages On this type of keyboard when you press harder on a key you are already holding down a MIDI Aftertouch message is generated This feature makes sounds even more expressive e g through vibrato Aliasing Aliasing is an audible side effect arising in digital systems as soon as a signal contains harmonics higher than half the sampling frequency Amount Describes to which extent a modulation source influences a given parameter Amplifier An amplifier is a component that influences the volume level of a sound via a control signal It can be modulated by a control signal e g generated by an envelope or an LFO Attack An envelope parameter Attack is a term that describes the ascent rate of time relevant process e g an envelope from its starting point to the point where it reaches its highest value The Attack phase is initiated immediately after a trigger signal is received i e after you play a note on a trigger pad or a keyboard Bit Rate Bit rate also Known as Word Length is the number of bits used to store the level information of each single sample slice within a whole sample The higher the bit rate the more precise the information about a sample i e its dynamic s resolution Normal audio CDs use 16 bit The MPC supports full 24 bit resolution Clipping Clipping is a sort of distortion that occurs when a signal exceeds the maximum value that can be h

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