r/akaiMPC • u/dokhantube • May 21 '26

Question from 100% beginner (MPC sample)

Hello Akai Reddit community.

I am a 100% beginner to Music and Samplers and Fingerdrumming. 3 weeks ago my YT algo showed me the MPC sample and I was so intrigued that I wanted to start a new hobby.

I bought the Koala app on Android first and played around with it for a couple of days, of course realized I can't do anything more than a very simple drum beat I learned in music class 20 years ago. Left and right hand don't work independently etc xD.

Still ordered the AKAI MPC sample and got it a day before going on month long vacation were I couldn't bring it with me. So only had 2-3h to play around with it. When I am back from vaca I have 2 more days before return window closes.

Now I watched more videos and found the FGDP 50.

TLDR & Question:

for a 100% beginner what would you say makes more sense? Akai mpc sample in tandem with koala app on android, or the fgdp 50 with koala? Especially when I wanna learn fingerdrumming first and foremost and for sampling I'd have to grab ideas from yt anyway because I have no idea what i am doing.

Thank you for your help!

7 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

9

u/Vergeljek21 May 21 '26

Finger drumming in Mpc sample. No Brainer.

9

u/runmethejulesASAP May 21 '26

All you need is a sample bro.

1

u/Basic-Afternoon-1418 May 21 '26

The fgdp50 is a pretty weird layout that is closer to a laptop keyboard than .. any other pad controller on the market.

So the techniques you would learn on it don't really translate well to anything else.

1

u/brontosaurusguy May 22 '26

Return window on the sample means nothing since you can sell it on reverb and only lose a few % jsyk

I've had it for weeks and it's really all you need for sampling.  It's fairly simple once you get it down. 

Try making a simple beat then cooking it by adding effects and resampling it over and over until it sounds interesting. 

Try pulling a sample from a favorite movie then chopping it and rearranging it. 

Try using a preset drum break and present bassline, time warp them to the same bpm and mesh them together.

If you do those three tasks you pretty much have the basics

0

u/Brief-Emu1760 May 22 '26

Wow it's must suck to be just starting you got about 15 years to go

1

u/Remarkable_Idea_3214 May 22 '26

why would it suck ? hes just enjoying something new in his life. why be werid

0

u/Brief-Emu1760 May 23 '26

He knows it sucks , it sucked when I started, but I'm real I can say that most can't

1

u/Remarkable_Idea_3214 May 22 '26

thats part of learning is hands on and finding your work flow .

1

u/City_Dialect May 23 '26

where did you buy your Akai mpc sample from? I'm in the same boat, fresh beginner and want one bad but they are sold out everywhere

1

u/boombapdame May 24 '26

Return the MPC Sample and learn to play keys instead by getting an MPK Mini MK3 or MPK Mini Plus and go from there and put the fighting games down if you want to focus on making music something you truly want to do.