What Are Multisampled MPC Instruments?
MPC-Samples.com has a range of multisampled instruments But what are multisamples?
What is Multisampling?
MPC Multisampling is the attempt to recreate the sounds of another instrument within your Akai MPC. Take for example a grand piano. If you were to record every individual note from that piano, you could then map those individual sounds across your pads and then ‘virtually play’ that piano using only your MPC.
Why Multisample in an MPC?
Multisampling means your MPC is a completely self contained beat making powerhouse, with no reliance on external sound modules or computer software instruments. It also means you can apply MPC-specific effects and program editing to your multisampled sounds for the unique MPC feel.
Multisampling Basics
When we create a multisampled instrument we have to record a selection of the notes across the entire musical scale of notes available to that instrument. How many notes we record depends on the type of instrument and the level of realism required. Generally speaking the more notes we record, the more realistic the results, especially for acoustic instruments. To increase realism we record each note over multiple velocities (e.g. soft, medium, hard etc), and for each velocity we can also record multiple takes ('round robins').
Memory Concerns
One problem is that many MPCs have limited memory so we look at way to reduce memory usage wherever possible. When multisampling digitial synths it's not normally necessary to record every note, instead we can record 3 or 4 notes in every octave instead of the full twelve and then use the MPC's 'key tracking' capability to 'fill the gaps' by tuning the sampled notes up or down.
We can avoid sampling separate velocity layers in digital synths by emulating their velocity sensitive modulations using the MPCs own modulation options, for example, creating velocity sensitive filter cutoffs.
Another way to reduce sample memory is to employ 'sustain looping'. For example, instead of sampling a 30 second long piano note we loop a portion of the sample and use the volume envelope to decay the looped portion over time. This often means we only require a few seconds of sample time to replicate a 30+ second sample.
We cover advanced multisampling techniques in the MPC Bible.
Ready-Made MPC Multisamples
We also have created a range of ready-configured multisampled instruments which feature an incredible collection of acoustic and electric pianos, guitars, basses, horns strings and acoustic drum kits.
We’ve completed all the hard work for you and have rigorously tested all the instruments and sounds in all the supported MPCs. These are not generic multisamples created for other samplers or software – these were all created within MPCs.
Simply load the instruments into your MPC and instantly start creating realistic instrument performances.