Installation & User Guide
Contents Vintage Organs: 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 Editing/Adding Vibrato 13 Changing the Envelope 16 Adding Effects 17 Further Resources 20 2
Vintage Organs: Introduction Vintage Organs is a collection of patches created from two of the most iconic organs ever produced; the B3 and the Continental. Each organ has been faithfully recorded and mapped out across the MPC pads with 50 sound patches ready to load up and play out-of-the-box. 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 Vintage Organs 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 Vintage Organs 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 Vintage Organs 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 Vintage Organs 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 Vintage Organs 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 Vintage Organs 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 Vintage Organs folder location. 9
Usage: Playing Instruments All programs are mapped out to reflect the note range available on the original instruments themselves. For the Hammond B3 this is C1 to C6, for the Continental this is C1 to C5. All samples are sustain looped to allow infinite sustain on all notes. The original organs are not velocity sensitive so the programs have been configured to reproduce this effect (hence you can set FULL LEVEL ON or OFF, it makes no difference). Playing the Instruments with MPC Pads If you are playing the instruments using your pads you will find the playable notes within banks C-F. For example, the lowest note on both organs is C1 which in an MPC keygroup program is always mapped to pad C05. So don t panic when there s no sounds in bank A or bank B; just select bank C or higher. 10
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 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. Editing/Adding Vibrato On some patches we have used LFO to emulate the vibrato effect found in the original instruments. This vibrato can be easily edited, removed or added. LFO is set per keygroup so to edit all keygroups simultaneously you ll first need to go to PROGRAM EDIT > MASTER and under KG SELECT choose select All keygroups. 13
Now go to PROGRAM EDIT > LFO MODULATION (F5 in bluescreen MPCs) - here you can see that each keygroup has been assigned a sine wave LFO which modulates pitch. 14
To change the speed of the vibrato, change the RATE value (a rate of around 80 works really well). To change the intensity of the vibrato, adjust the LFO>PITCH destination value; the pitch modulation benefits from being quite subtle, so a value of 1-3 is normally sufficient. 15
Changing the Envelope With ALL keygroups selected, 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. 16
Organs have a very short release compared to an electric piano, so values under 40 tend to sound more realistic, while longer releases can be used to create more piano style releases. 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. 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: 17
Tap on the INSERTS box to bring up the effects select dialog box where you can edit settings and change the applied effects. 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. 18
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). Press WINDOW to edit the effect settings, or turn the data wheel to choose a different effect from the list. 19
Further Resources To learn more about edi/ng & using MPC KEYGROUP programs, please refer to MPC-Tutor s range of MPC tutorial books; the MPC X & MPC Live Bible, the MPC Touch Bible, and the MPC Renaissance & MPC Studio Bible. Email: support@mpc-samples.com Web: MPC-Samples.com 20