Installation & User Guide

Installation & User Guide

Contents The Piano Suite: Introduction 3 Install: MPC Live & MPC X 4 Install: MPC Software Expansion Browser 7 Install: MPC Ren/Studio Controller Mode 9 Usage: Playing Instruments 10 Playing the Instruments with MPC Pads 10 Playing the Instruments with a MIDI Keyboard 12 Usage: Editing Instruments 13 Changing the Envelope 13 Adding Effects 15 Further Resources 18 2

The Piano Suite: Introduction The Piano Suite is a collection of patches created from four beautiful acoustic pianos; a Modern Grand, an Antique Grand, a Vintage Upright and a Saloon Bar Piano. Each piano has been faithfully recorded and mapped out across the MPC pads with 30 sound patches ready to load up and play out-of-the-box. The Expansion is fully compatible with the MPC Live, MPC X, MPC Touch, MPC Studio and MPC Renaissance, both in standalone mode and controller mode, and works equally well in MPC Software 2.x and 1.9. 3

Install: MPC Live & MPC X First download the zip file via the link provided after purchase and extract the contents to any location on your computer. Enter the MPC X-MPC Live- Standalone Edition folder and inside you ll see a sub folder The Piano Suite this is the folder we re going to transfer to your MPC X/MPC Live. The 16GB internal drive on your MPC is not externally accessible, so let s assume you have a USB drive called MPC DATA connected to the USB port on your MPC Live/X (you can also transfer to an SD card or internal SATA drive). Connect your MPC X/MPC Live via USB to your computer and switch on your MPC. At this point, your USB disk will appear as a removable drive in your computer. 4

If it doesn t already exist, create a folder called Expansions in the root of your MPC disk - now copy the Piano Suite folder inside this Expansions folder. You can now eject the disk from your computer and in your MPC Live/X return to Standalone mode. Make sure your disk is connected to your MPC. Now go to MENU > BROWSER and tap on the Piano Suite thumbnail: 5

All the available patches will appear on the right hand side of the screen if you have AUDITION > AUTO enabled (bottom right of BROWSER screen) you can tap a program file to hear a preview of each patch before you load it. Double tap to load the instrument into your project and assign it to a KEYGROUP type track in your current sequence in MAIN. 6

Install: MPC Software Expansion Browser Locate the Piano Suite Expansion Installer.XPN file - this expansion installer is suitable for both MPC Software 2.0 and 1.9. With the MPC Software open in MAIN mode, drag & drop this file anywhere in the MPC interface and select Import. Open the Expansion Browser ( X on your keyboard for MPC Software 2.0, shift and E for MPC Software 1.9), and click on the Piano Suite thumbnail: 7

Expand the Programs group to view the provided patches. Single click an instrument to hear a program preview. Double click an instrument (or drag and drop) to load it into your project. All programs are tagged under the Keys instrument family within the Media Browser in MPC Software 2.0. 8

Install: MPC Ren/Studio Controller Mode If you use the MPC Renaissance or MPC Studio you might prefer to use the standard File Browser from your controller. Simply go to the MPC X-MPC Live- Standalone Edition folder and copy the sub folder Piano Suite to the location on your computer where you usually store the rest of your sound library (for example, the Documents > MPC folder). Hit the BROWSER button in your blue screen MPC controller. Select the PROGRAM data select button. You can now access the instruments through the standard Browser interface by navigating to the Piano Suite folder location. 9

Usage: Playing Instruments All programs are mapped out to reflect the note range available on the original instruments themselves, the standard 88 key piano range is A-1 to B6, while the Antique Grand has a slightly shorter 85 key range of C0 to G6. For the most realistic sound, set FULL LEVEL to OFF so you can take advantage of the multiple dynamic levels offered in each program. Playing the Instruments with MPC Pads If you are playing the instruments using your pads you will find the playable notes within banks B-G. For example, the lowest note on the Modern Grand is A-1 which within an MPC keygroup program is always mapped to pad B06. So don t panic when there s no sounds in bank A; just select bank B or higher. Additionally, all instruments are fully compatible with Pad Perform Mode which can configure your pads to only playback notes from specified scales, or can be 10

used to trigger entire chords from each pad. With your instrument loaded, go to Pad Perform Mode : MPC Live/X/Touch: MODE > PAD PERFORM, MPC Ren/Studio: PAD ASSIGN 11

Select BANK A, PROGRESSIONS & under CHORD select your preferred progression & musical key. The chords of the progression are mapped across the 16 pads. Playing the Instruments with a MIDI Keyboard Instruments can be played using an attached MIDI keyboard. For the MPC X/Live you can connect a USB keyboard via your MPC s USB port, a Bluetooth keyboard via Preferences > Bluetooth, or connect a keyboard via the 5 pin MIDI ports. For MPC Renaissance/Studio/Touch you can connect the keyboard via a physical MIDI cable to the MPC MIDI in port (a minijack-to-5 pin adapter is required for the Touch/Studio). Alternatively you can connect a USB MIDI keyboard to your computer and configure it as the active MIDI input via Preferences > MIDI. 12

Usage: Editing Instruments All instruments are standard MPC keygroup programs, so you can edit the programs to suit your particular needs. Here s some customisation ideas please note that all examples use MPC Software 2.0, but the process is very similar in earlier versions of the MPC Software. Changing the Envelope Go to PROGRAM EDIT > FILTER ENV (F4 in bluescreen UI) and you ll see the default amp envelope settings the main parameter to adjust is the RELEASE (Amp Rel) which will affect how abruptly the note stops playing after you release it changing this value can alter the entire feel of the piano. 13

You can select each individual keygroup and adjust the release on a per keygroup basis, or select all keygroups simultaneously to set the same the same release across all keygroups (PROGRAM EDIT > MASTER > KG SELECT > ALL). You can also increase the AMP ATTACK setting to produce softer sounding notes, as well as changing AMP SUSTAIN and AMP DECAY to shape your notes. 14

Adding Effects You can apply effects across an entire program using the four inserts available in the program channel strip in MAIN hit the eye icon to reveal it: Tap on the INSERTS box to bring up the effects select dialog box where you can edit settings and change the applied effects. 15

In the bluescreen UI, go to TRK MIX (SHIFT & PROG MIX) and make sure Mixer:Programs is selected in the top left. Hold down SHIFT to find which box is assigned to the program you wish to edit and use the cursor to highlight that box. In the example below, the program I want to edit is in box 4. Hit INSERT (F5) to select an insert slot to edit (i.e. hit once for insert slot 1, twice for insert slot 2 etc. Below I have selected the effect in INSERT 2 (Reverb Medium). 16

Press WINDOW to edit the effect settings, or turn the data wheel to choose a different effect from the list. 17

Further Resources To learn more about editing & using MPC KEYGROUP programs, please refer to my range of MPC tutorial books at: https://www.mpc-samples.com/section.php/8/0/mpc-tutorials-courses/ 18