The fundamental goals of the MPC Kit Creator are:

• Create customer drum kits, loops, and chromatic instruments for the MPC-1000/2500/500/5000 Series
• Maintain an organized database structure of percussive and chromatic sounds
• Allow a more organized way of viewing MPC Programs
• Allow offline methods to handle and audition MPC Program files

In this document, "MPC" will refer to all the recent MPC series of instruments - the MPC-1000, MPC-2500, MPC-500, and MPC-5000. .pgm files used on both instruments are the same.

The term "right-click" is used for both control clicking on the Mac and right clicking on both the Mac and Windows.

Also, most of the screenshots in this document are from the Mac - the Windows versions look very similar so this shouldn't be an inconvenience.

Lastly, for brevity, the acronym MPC-KC will be used for MPC Kit Creator.

Projects
When you start up MPC-KC, you are always building a Project.

A Project is simply the equivilant of a MPC Program, only it can access any WAVE or AIFF file on your computer.

Projects can be saved on your disk as small files, since they reference external samples.

Important Concept: you are NEVER working with a .pgm file in MPC-KC. When you load a .pgm file, you are loading it into a Project. Although a Project is mostly the equivilant of a .pgm file, it is a Project and NOT a .pgm file. When you click the menu File-Save, you are saving a MVKC Proejct (.mpcproject).

What does this mean? It means that when you use MPC-KC, feel comfortable working with Projects. When you want to output to .pgm, select Export to Program under File.

Each Project has a name, which is printed in main screen at the top of the interface. You can rename it using Tools-Rename Project or right-click on the Project name itself.

For more information on Projects, go to the Project chapter in this document.

Building Instruments
The purpose of a Project is to build an Program (that is, an .pgm file) to use in your MPC. You use the Pads on the Main Interface to arrange samples in the fashion you want them to appear.

You can import samples using a variety of methods - dragging samples from outside or inside your application, using the database, using right-click menus, or importing an entire .pgm file. The Sound Database in particular is well integrated into MPC-KC and offers an excellent way to organize and build your Instruments.

For more information on importing samples to build Programs, go to the Importing Samples To Pads chapter in this document. For more information on the Sound Database, go to the Sound Database Editor chapter in this document.

Playing Back Projects/Instruments
MVKC comes with an integrated multisample streaming playback engine. "Streaming" means that it does not rely wholly on loading samples into memory like the MV-8000 does, but plays the sample back from the disk as needed. This is very handy as it reduces load time to nothing, and you are more able to build and work with instruments without the engine trying to "keep up".

This is the first generation fo the streaming engne, and as a result simply plays back the samples and reproduces the tuning, looping, level, and plaback attributes. Realtime parameters such as Envelopes, LFO's, Filtering, and simlar Keygroup parameters will not be reflected when playing the pads via MIDI or by clicking on the Pads. The streaming playback engine has not been developed to that point yet, although we are working toward it and will be implemented in later versions of this software.

For more information on Playback, go to the Playback/Auditioning chapter in this document.

Editing Keygroup and Program Parameters
The MPC has a full complement of parameters that affect your sounds, and the MPC-KC is fully able to edit these parameters. For more information on editing Keygroups, Programs, and other parameters, go to the Keygroup/Program Editor in this document.

Saving MV-8000 .mv0 Files for use in the MV-8000
When you are all done and happy with your Project, it should be time to export it to a .mv0 file to use in your MV-8000. Use File-Export to .mv0 to create a new .mv0 file from your Project.