MPC4000 Drum Program Editor

White Pad The currently selected Pad.

Grey Pad The Pad has 1 or more Zones assigned with Samples.

Diagonal Lined Pad The Pad has no Samples assigned to it.

Drag & Drop WAV Files from Computer storage locations onto Pads.

Zones

Each Pad in a Drum Program has 4 Zones. Think of Zones like layers.

You can put a Sample in each Zone for a total of up to 4 Samples per Pad.

Then you can Tune, Filter and set each Zones' Level, among other things, independently.

To select a Zone, visit the Zones section and look for the 4 Sample-Zones. Click in either 4 and select Assign, Search or Clear to remove a Sample from a Zone.

Label Box: Click the Zone-Label Box to toggle the display of any particular Zone. Good for checking which Zones have Samples in them!

TIP: Scroll down the Pad Mixer and toggle through the 4 Zones, plus select different Banks, via the BANK drop-down (on the panel above the Pad Mixer) to get a sense of where Samples are throughout your Drum Program

Pad Mixer

The Pad-Mixer is where you mix your Pad levels independently of each other. Each Pad has it's own individual channel where you can set it's Level, Pan, FX Channel, FX Send and Physical Output. If the selection for your Output and FX Channel is set to ML, then your Pad Channel will adhere to the Multi that your Drum Program is in.

Sometimes referred to as Keygroup Instruments, the Keygroup Program Editor is the keyboard version of the Drum Program Editor, and if you're not familiar with the Drum Program Editor, then the Drum Program Editor is the Drum Kit version of the Keygroup Program Editor, cross-eyed yet?! ..regardless, one has the iconic 16 Pads, the other has a keyboard you can allocate Samples across. Make Keyboard splits and do all kinds of cool stuff.

If you've got a Z4 or Z8 Sampler, then you're probably going to be right at home using this, along with the File Browser. Layer up to 4 Samples into Zones per Keygroup and then you've got up to 128 Keygroups to spend your memory on.

Loads of possibilities there for you to make complex synth or string instruments, multi-sample your favourite analog synth! Then, to make light work of all that, you can piece it together using the Keygroup Editor. More on how to do that will follow shortly in a video from Tonelab.

The Part Mixer is where you mix down the various Programs that are allocated to Parts within your Multi. Similar to the Pad Mixer, the Part Mixer has a broader reach with some additional features. Unlike the Pad Mixer, you can select a Part Channel and press M on your keyboard to Mute the channel, or S for Solo which will Mute all other channels instantaneously.

The Group buttons, numbered 1 ~ 8, down the left-side of each channel strip are used to bind any number of channels together. Doing this, allows you to then make changes to any member of the group and all other channel members will adhere to and follow.

This is a comprehensive File Browser that provides a method to transfer one-to-many Files or Folders between your Computer and your MPC4000. There's also a Select-ALL option which allows you to backup the contents of your MPC4000 Internal Hard-Drive.

Copy files to, and from, mounted USB Drives as well as copy files from a CD-ROM. The only thing that can get a little tricky, at first, is navigating certain folders on your Computer. Why is that?! well, simply put, there is strict-access via your Browser and folder locations on Computers system drive.

But, as long as you know that, then you can work 'within' the accessible folders that you do have access to.

The easiest way to circumnavigate the restrictions are to choose one of the familiar system drives that your computer sets up on installation, these are drive locations like Downloads, Documents & Desktop.

Select one of those and choose the 'Add Folder' option. Create a Folder within those already existing system Drive locations and you're more or less on your way to transferring files. Your MPC will happily trade files to and from that location and you can easily find that location, on your Computer, from a File Explorer (Windows) or Finder Window (Mac) fairly easily.

But if you're, only ever, sending Samples into your MPC4000 from your Computer, then the quickest way to do that is quite literally Drag & Drop WAV files onto the Drum Program Editor Pads.

Do I have to sign-in every day?!

No, the registration is valid for 30 days.

Once a month you'll have to re-register.

Can I backup my MPC4000's Hard Drive?!

Yes, it's not a DRIVE-backup feature, as such, but you can hit the check-all box at the top of the MPC4000's File Browser to select all files and copy them to a destination on your computer.

How is my information used?

Doctor Patient confidentiality. I wouldn't bother with a registration login if it wasn't for web-traffic. Crawlers, Tyre-kickers and the rest present overhead costs to host this application. Putting a lock on the door saved me 70% of unnecessary traffic.

Can you steal my beats?

Absolutely not. There's no upstream from your computer back to Tonelab. If you're concerned about privacy, turn off your Wi-Fi or disconnect your Ethernet cable. The app stays open and functional as soon as the page is loaded.

Will there be Mac and Windows installer?

I've mulled over this and, to be honest, I prefer the idea of pushing updates direct to the browser. Then I don't have to sweat so hard trying to keep up with Apple and Microsoft's OS updates on a monthly basis.

Will there be more updates?!

Yes, but what the 4000, Z4 & Z8 Operating Systems currently offer has been largely utilized in this, as it is. So any further additions to this won't be all that grandiose. There's almost nothing in the current O.S. that allows me to do anything with the Sequencer and not a lot to do with Sample Editing either.