Question by freshpotatoeblog: How do I make a Akai MPD24 work with FL Studio 8?
I’m having trouble with setting my Akai MPD24 to work with my demo of FL Studio 8. I know the only way is make it work is with the FPC and I know how to add my own sounds to the FPC but thats it. I need help.
I have absolutely no experience with anything like an MPD.

Best answer:

Answer by xcaluber09
18 July, 2007 – 23:10 — equalibrum

If you are using FL studio…
FL built in channel called “FPC”

to add an “FPC” channel in FLstudio goto:
channel -> addone -> FPC

set your MPD24 to the preset “MPC2500”.
this will work with the FPC perfectly…
this will set it so when you hit PAD1 on the MPD it will hit PAD1 on the FPC.

Each FPC can have 16 different sounds on them.
You can add as many FPCs as you want to a song wich is liek having infinate banks of sounds.
The FPC is not a memory hog..so you can add as many of them as you want to a project without FL studio bogging down.

When the FPC opens…
a window will pop up that looks similar to the face of the MPD. Once the FPC is open clear out the default samples on the pads by clicking on each PAD and then click delete button to clear out the sounds. You can do this alot fast by loading the “empty” preset in the top left corner of the FPC window by the little plug icon…This is alot faster then maually deleting all the sounds off the pads every time you open an instance of an FPC.

Once loaded and all sounds deleted you can drag and drop your own samples to the pads from the sample browser. Hit (F8) to make the sample browser appear. If you want to add your own samples folder to the browser goto :

OPTIONS -> GENERAL SETTINGS -> click the FILE tab..then chosoe your folder.

Your samples folder will be in the sample browser on the left and you can preview the sounds by clicking them before dragging them over to the FPC pads..


**NOTE** the pads on the screen will not light up unless you have a sounds on them. If you are hitting the pads and there are no sounds on them don’t freak out and think its not working..when you first load the FPC hit all the pads and make sure they are all working with the default FPC sounds before clearing them off and loading your own.

Each Pad can also be sent to its own separate FX bus track if you want, wich helps for breaking the drums up and other samples and eqing or putting different effects on different pads. you can put all your kicks on FX bus 1, snares on FX bus 2, stabs on FX bus 10..this way each pad can be Eqd differently or you can put effects on one pad but not another…to do this you click on a pad and set the FX bus track of the pad where it says “OUTPUT”..

If you want to send the whole FPC to one FX bus Track you would do this the same way you would if it were a regular sample in the channel settins window.

You can aso set pads to cutt off the sound coming from another pad. Just like the MPC..you set this where it says “CUT” and “BY” …say you have a long sound you want to get cut when you hit another pad..set the CUT and BY of both those pads to the same group numbers. its pretty much based on how the MPC works internally…I imagine FLstudio is still working on the FPC cuz its pretty new to FL and has been updated and changed a little since version 6…so i only imagine it will get better over time in newer releases..but it works pretty much perfect how it is now.

If anyone here is new to FL..it helps to know FLstudio already as far as actually making beats and sequencing your songs…but im sure you can figure that part out using the HELP files and youtube videos..or buy the FL studio bible.

to assign the sliders and and knobs in FL…
Right click on any knob or slider you want to assign to the MPD.
Scroll down to *link to controller*…
A pop up window will appear..from there you just move the slider or knob you want to assign on the MPD…and the window will auto detect the movement and assign it…from there you can move the slider or knob on the MPD and it will do it on the screen.
When you save you song/beat the slider and knobs that you assign will be saved as well..so you dont have to reassign them every time you want to open that beat up…if you ahve certain knobs and sliders you want assigned all the time…open a new file in FL…assign the slider and save the .flp file in the Templates folder in the program files folder. from there evertime you open FL those sldier and knobs will be assigned…but i usually assign them as i make a beat..every song has different things assigned to sliders depending on what i wanna do with that beat at the time..

One downfall of using FL with the MPD24 is that there is no way to assign the Transport buttons (PLAY, STOP REWIND, RECORD)at this present time. MMC is the code being sent from the transport buttons on the MPD24. As of right now FL studio7 does not recognize MMC messages. Hopefully this will be fixed in a later version of FL. I’m hoping they will see that the MPD24 is probably going to be a popular item used with their software…so only time and many posts in the FL studio forum will get them to fix this..

Other then the minor MMC flaw of FL. This thing is really versatile..your imagination and computer savyness is your only limitation…

Oh yeah. It is important to ahve a sound card that supp

Add your own answer in the comments!