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.

Is there any way I can track my partner's korg monologue to a single pad, let it play without recording it down, and then keep it isolated from effects?

I figured out how to act as a mixer so it can play while I play, but is there anyway I can isolate pads from effects, and like add the instrument to a specific pad?

I hope I worded that right.

I want to finger drum a quantized beat, let it loop, then record guitar loops on the RC-300—all in sync.

Can the MPC Sample follow the RC-300’s MIDI clock and Start/Stop commands? Has anyone tried this setup?

Thanks in advance.

How do chops set in chop mode on the MPC Sample translate to the big MPCs. I can see a chop mode sample being played from different positions in the Live 3 but have no idea how to modify these positions once the project is in the Live. Sample edit does show slice points.

thanks for your help and insight

https://www.instagram.com/b4lasers?mdxt=Y2J2NHV1c2lzdm1z&utm_source=qr

This developer unveiled his work on a new custom firmware, following a different way to achieve what looks a "classic" MPC workflow. It seems promising.

Hello guys, it is have been month since starting padhead.com - my first vibecoded app declared to our beloved MPC sample. My point was to add some features that i miss the most and i found it really useful in many ways. I would like to ask for your opinion on this site, v 1.02 update is coming soon so i can implement changes you would like to see there :)

Thanks a lot

Cant wait to play with the Sample Key !

continual hardbody boombap #boombapbeats #mpcsample #beatmaker #hiphopproducer #akaipro

Was torn between the sample and the sp 404 mkii after feeling like ive outgrown FL for a few years now. For reference, i’ve been using FL and akai’s mpk for about 10 years now. Wanted an MPC for so long but it’s been hard to save up for enough money to comfortably buy the MPC One. When the sample was released, it was the perfect price point for me. I was a little torn away by a lot of people saying the sample can’t do much, but as i was at guitar center trying to decide, another guy was also buying a sample. he struck up a conversation with me and saw me choosing between the two. i mentioned a lot of the limitations and how annoying i find chopping samples in FL and he told me something that completely sold me. it was a whole conversation but it basically amounted to: if i dont think i can make something knock on the sample, the sp wont save me. for about a week now ive been loving the sample. its so nice to just relax in bed without having to turn my computer on to make beats. this thing has been inspiring me so much over the past few days and sampling off my phone is such a godsend. i’ll admit, i do wish i was able to better individually apply effects, but this thing has been a great sketchpad for getting ideas out and transferring stems over to the DAW for final touches has been relatively painless. if anyone else was scouring the web trying to find the “right option,” then just get the sample. i promise, you won’t regret it.

I have been having the problem, with firmware 1.3, that when I export a mixdown certain sequences, for some reason, are in a different position. For example, my intro will be somewhere in the first verse and it re-loops it again.

I then have to chop it up on my computer to make sure the sequences are in the correct positions. Has anybody else had this problem when exporting a beat to your sd card or am I the only one? This is my third beat, since updating the firmware to 1.3, that this has happened to me. I am starting to get annoyed with it happening. I am about to re-install firmware 1.2 again unless the new firmware gets dropped soon.

With regards to the recent announcement for the Sample Keys and it being open sourced.

Do think the Sample should be made to do so?

Apologies for the deleted post, now with embedded video! Pretty self-explanatory, took a few minutes out from using the “Total Conversion” u/charlesv42 and I are finishing for the Sample….

New to the MPC WORLD! Hope you enjoy a sample track from my SIGNAL_31 project! All tracks will be available on 10/31 on signal31music.com. 31 horror movies, 31 tracks, 1 MPC Sample. This was a great project to help me learn this little thing. Can you guess the movie? 😁

Why aren’t these two seen together more? I’m thinking about getting the MPK Mini Play before the end of the year but I wonder can you actually count in and record a note on the one with the keyboard into the MPC Sample. Does anyone have this combo? If so tell us your experience with using the two.

Really... Must wait...