MPC Renaissance first view

 

 



Im using MPC Long years ago and I really love my MPC2000XL. But now its 2014 and I had to try out the MPC Ren. First of all I need to say, this piece of gear is looking awsome! Very good quality of used materials with a smart vintage touch.

But... where is my lovely MPC sequencer? Why I cant rename my Tracks on the MPC (without the daw)? why is everything new and the great mpc workflow has changed? I better stop here or maybe I will start a shitstorm...

I really thought the daw Integration within pc usage is an improvement of the old mpc workflow. Its not that bad but its something new and it will need some time for oldschool mpc users like me :)

Install the MPC Expansion Content

Why I Need to install the Expansion content on my C drive? You dont need! Here is the hack!

Installing the MPC Expansion „The Bank“

If you were running the latest MPC Software 1.6 x64 Bit first of all you need to install the bank expansion from the DVD. It won’t work yet because you need to install the x64 Bit update first.

There is no location for the content you can choose. All will be installed on your c:\ Partition.

The content is stored in C:\ProgramData\Akai\MPC\Content

Now we manually copy the content to another location.

 

Edit the file TheBank.txt in C:\ProgramData\Akai\MPC\TheBank

 

You delete the path C:/ProgramData/Akai/MPC/Content/TheBank/Samples

 

And type in your new one:

 

H:/Audio Programm Data/Akai/MPC/Content/TheBank/Samples

Important use the Slash “/” not a backslash “\” and at the end of the path “/Samples”

Otherwise it won’t work!

Akai S950 Tips and Tricks

 

 

 

The Akai S950 is known for its rich, powerful, warm, dirty sound that makes him even today still a popular studio tool. Apparently the same AD converters have been installed as the 60th. MPC Many producers tell him also: "It sounds like old vinyl. Who knows Premo's, or Pete Rock's drum samples and may (especially the hi hats and snares) will understand what is meant. Many hip-hop and R & B producers use it in connection with an SP 12 / 1200 allude to a longer able to sample. I use it for example together with my S1100 and my MPC 2000XL or Cubase as sequencer.

 

The S950 is the advanced version of S 900 and also works with 12-bit technology, but has a higher sampling frequency of up to 48 kHz and more memory Ram. By default, the S 950 750 kbytes of RAM, which can be "upgraded" to up to 2.25 MB's (installation of up to two EXM 006). The built-in 3.5 "floppy drive handles both DD and HD floppies. In addition to this, another IB-105 are incorporated Atari disk interface that the connection of a 60 MB SCSI 1 hard drive. Like his predecessors, he also has The indispensable for studio use eight individual outputs. An editing options are available in the S 950 is a low-pass filter, two envelope generators and an LFO acting on the pitch ready. The display offers two times 40 characters. The rack unit (3U) also impresses with its load-While - Play feature, which plays while the S950, new sounds can be loaded again, if the total RAM memory is not consumed. Because of the individual outputs of the S is 950 particularly popular as a drum sampler. As the S700, so also has the S950, the voice-out jack to connect there, such as an Akai VX 90 or another synthesizer to influence the samples of the finishing options.

 

The S950 was the first Akai sampler to implement time stretching, enabling you to alter sample length without altering pitch. Considering the S950's continued popularity as a drum-loop sampler, that capability proved crucial to its success. If you stray too far from the original sample length, recordings begin to sound a little metallic and artificial, which might be the result you're aiming for.

 

A vast range of Akai and third-party sounds are available for the S950. Impressively, the S950 is downwardly compatible with S900 disks and upwardly compatible with S1000 disks. Although the S950 converts the S1000's 16-bit data to 12 bits and stereo to mono, most samples transfer extremely well.

 

Produced: 1988-93

 

Made in: Japan

Designed by: Dave Cockerell, H. Takemura

Number produced: 15,000

System: 12-bit linear sampling

Price new: $2,500

 

Files:

Akai S950 Manual

 

 

Tools:

EMXP - Dos tool for transfering files between S950 and pc

OmniFlop - Floppy driver (you need for EMXP)

Awave Studio - Audio converter, easy to create own S950 programs and keygroups

 

 

Tutorial for EMXP and Awave Studio

1. Install OmniFlop Drivers

2. Create programm with samples, and save as S1100 programm

4. You can use MPCEditor, or directly Awave Studio to create a programm

3. Rename files - p to akp and s to aks (Joe is a nice tool for renaming files)

4. Copy files to S1100 folder

5. Start EMXP foramt your floppy and copy files to you disk

 

 

Akai S1100 floppy drive replacement

Hello, and welcome to my floppy drive replacement tutorial. I did this on my S1100 and its really easy if you dont got 2 left hands. You dont need to be a technican, but be carfull of everything what you are doing. First of all, remove the powerchord. Dont touch any chips on the board, you can easy damage them with static voltage. If you got, use antistatic equipment.

01. Open the S1100, loose the screws from display panel on the top and bottom. Remove power and data cable from floppy drive.

02. Pull the front panel, so you can see the floppy holdin screws.

03. There are 3 screws holdin the floppy drive on case, loose them.

04. Now pull the floppy drive diagonal backwards. Be carefull!

05. Now you got the floppy in your hand. Good job :)

06. Loose 4 screws from the drive holder. Be careful of the power switch.

07. This was my original floppy drive, a Teac 235HF 217 U. You are lucky if u got the same replacement drive! If you dont got the same, you can buy a Akai drive for 70$ on Ebay or you look for an old drive which works with the akai sampler. 

Teac 235HF 217 U. Jumper: FG, D0, LHI (works 100% )

Teac 235HF 3217. Jumper: DS0, LHI, RY34, HF, REN, and FG. Use this Jumper Setting for the Akai S1100 on my picture (works 100%)

The Teac 3201, 3217,3240, 3291 are same series, they should all have the jumper like in my picture and same settings.

This is the standard jumper setting for pc use.

 

Amiga mod for Sony 920 MPF z/121 floppy drives

Here is an Amiga mod for Sony 920 MPF z/121 floppy drives using in Akai S1000/S1100 samplers, tested by my friend Takis (Zombie).

This is what i came up with, i did see some schematics on a Czech site for the "Z" series but they did not work properly. I tested their fix using "The killing Game show" which took great delight in refusing to load the actual game with their fix. My fix works fine. I do not have X-copy so I'm unable to check that function, but i am pretty confident that it will work fine.

The model i used is the Sony MPF 920 z/121 which is still on sale in stores (and also the z/131 which i have not
seen).


The mod itself is pretty easy, 2 wires, cutting a trace and moving a Zero ohm resistor. The low res pic is shown below and the hi-res pic (Link below) shows everything you need to know.





Here is the HD disable pic (This forces the drive to treat all inserted floppys as Double Density) AKA 880k Amiga discs.





As you can see we just need to short the two points on SW3.


Here is what is needed to be done in order for the A1200 case to close properly. All the marked area has to be removed or bent back in order for the top case to fit properly. It is really easy to do, just use a dremel or hacksaw blade on the left and right side and then use a pair of pliers to bend the metal up and back.





and here is if finished and fitted. Notice that the button had to be trimmed on the left side so it didn't interfere with the top portion of the case. The button is a little on the short side, but works ok. Overall the drive is a lot quieter than the POS that was in there originally. I'll probably fashion a button extension piece out of scrap plastic and glue.



The original Post is from kipper2k on http://eab.abime.net