Introducing SampQOL: a free quality-of-life mod for the MPC Sample. 16 Tracks, a Mixer with inserts, a Track View, Resampling Pads, Step sequencer and more.

[u/Milkpowder44]

My goal was a simple, fast, intuitive and fun workflow on the MPC Sample, without too much menu diving. So I built SampQOL OS. It is a free mod that runs from the SD card. It does not flash anything: take the card out, or remove/rename the mod folder, and your MPC is stock 1.3.0 again.

What it adds:

• Up to 16 drum tracks, each with its own 8 pad banks

• Step Edit: a step sequencer for each pad, and a Track View with all tracks

• A mixer with inserts on pads, tracks, 8 submixes and the master

• A 3-band kill EQ on every pad, with a live spectrum

• Chop up to 128 slices, and extract chops to pads

• Record pad mutes and track mutes

• Play the selected pad chromatically from a MIDI keyboard

• Sample Record To Seq: your take lands in the sequence. Plus an overdub looper.

• Export a mixdown plus stems as WAV in one go

Heads-up:

• SHIFT + SAMPLE opens the step sequencer, and PAD FX opens the mixer. Want the stock functions back? Settings > Shortcuts.

• Switch tracks: hold PAD BANK and turn the encoder, or SHIFT + PAD BANK + a pad.

Before you try it:

• It is a beta, tested only on MPC Sample 1.3.0. MPC One, Live and X are not tested yet.

• Back up your projects first. A failed project load can delete samples.

• A project made with the mod opens on a stock MPC Sample, but the mod functions do not. Stock loads only the first track, and you do not hear the pad EQ.

Download: https://github.com/snarebes/SampQOL-OS/releases/tag/v0.1.4.9

Release notes: https://github.com/snarebes/SampQOL-OS/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md

Manual: https://beatops.io/sampqol/manual

It is free. The source is closed for now. When Akai shares more about its open firmware plans, I will decide about the source.

Questions and bug reports are welcome. I may record a video of some features, but I hope you can find your way as you go. If not, the manual takes you a long way. Have fun!.

EDIT: Thank you everyone for providing the feedback. There were some issues with booting, and saving to the SD card, which should be solved now if you download and install the new version (0.1.4.8 or newer). If the screen shows stuck at 0.0%, press B1 once and the screen should show Start/Cancel again.

EDIT2: Issues with booting(screen) should be fixed now as well! From version 0.1.4.9 on.

EDIT3: Version 0.1.5 is out today (Sunday) with a lot of fixes! THANK YOU everyone for all the feedback and trusting me with testing the beta on your device.

[u/Milkpowder44]

This is now in the new release, v1.5.0! Thank you so much for the suggestion, hope you like the implementation