Contents

MPC Horns: Introduction 3

Install: Standalone MPC & Akai Force 4
Loading Instruments (Standalone MPC/Force) 8
Install: MPC Software Expansion Browser 11
Playing the Instruments with MPC Pads 16
Playing the Instruments with a MIDI Keyboard 22
Further Resources 24
Copyright & License 25

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 MPC Horns: Introduction
• MPC Horns is a fully multisampled jazz horn section with trumpets, trombone,
flugelhorn and 4 different saxophones which can be used to create realistic
jazz and funk horn performances in your MPC.

• All samples have been edited and mapped to MPC instrument programs to
provide out-of-the-box playback in the MPC.

The Expansion is fully compatible with all modern MPCs (2.10+) the MPC
Software/MPC Beats (2.10+) and the Akai Force

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 Install: Standalone MPC & Akai Force
Note: You can view the most up-to-date expansion installation instructions here:
https://mpc-samples.com/article/standalone-mpc-force-expansion-installation

From the downloaded files, enter the ‘Standalone MPC-Akai Force’ folder and
inside you’ll see a sub folder ‘MPC Horns’ – this is the folder we’re going to transfer
to your standalone MPC or Force.

Expansions must be installed to either an SD card, a USB drive or, if installed, an

internal SATA disk.

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The first step is to mount this ‘MPC disk’ in your computer. If you use an SD card or
USB disk, just eject the disk from your MPC/Force and physically insert it into your
computer’s SD card reader or USB port.

Alternatively (except the MPC One), connect your MPC or Force via USB to your
computer and go to MENU and hit the ‘MPC chip’ icon at the top of the screen (this
is the 'Laptop' icon in the Force).

Now select CONTROLLER MODE ('COMPUTER MODE' in the Force).

Whichever connection method you choose, your MPC disk should now appear as a
removable drive in your computer’s file manager (e.g. Finder or File Explorer). Click
on the drive to open its file system:

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If it doesn’t already exist, create a folder called ‘Expansions’ in the root of your disk.
Now copy the ‘Dirty Drummer 4’ standalone expansion folder inside this
‘Expansions’ folder.

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All done! If you had physically transferred the MPC disk to your computer you
should now eject the disk from your computer and put the disk back in your MPC.

Alternatively, if you used USB transfer then go back to MENU and select the
computer icon to return to standalone mode - don’t forget to eject/unmount the
MPC from your computer first, this avoids any potential data loss.

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Loading Instruments (Standalone MPC/Force)
In your MPC, go to MAIN and create a KEYGROUP type track:

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In the Force, hit the ‘+’ icon in the touchscreen matrix and select a Keygroup track:

This adds a new blank keygroup track to the matrix:

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Now go to ‘MENU > BROWSER > Expansions’ and tap on the ‘MPC Horns thumbnail.
On the right side, select the PROGRAM filter to view all the instruments:

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 Install: MPC Software Expansion Browser
Note: View the most up-to-date MPC Software expansion install instructions here:
https://mpc-samples.com/article/install-mpc-software-expansions-guide

Locate the ‘MPC Horns Expansion Installer.XPN’ file and drag & drop it directly into
the MPC Software/MPC Beats UI from your computer’s File Explorer/Finder:

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Please note that an XPN file cannot be installed from the MPC Browser, nor can it be
installed by double clicking.

After dragging the XPN into the software UI you should see the following:

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Select ‘Import’ and once installed, open the Expansion Browser (‘X’ on your
keyboard), and click on the ‘MPC Horns’ thumbnail to view:

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You will find all the instruments within the ‘Programs’ group. Instruments with
multiple articulations and/or patches will contain further expandable sub-groups.

Single click the program to hear a preview (requires ‘Autoplay’ enabled).

To load an instrument, simply double click the program or drag and drop it to a
‘KEYGROUP’ type track in your MPC sequence.

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 Playing the Instruments with MPC Pads
We’ve mapped all programs to match the natural pitch range of each individual
instrument, and as such the available note ranges will vary depending on the type of
instrument selected.

The MPC pads in a standard keygroup program are hard coded to their MIDI note
pitches with the note ranges of acoustic instruments typically starting in bank B or C
. To quickly identify ‘active’ pads, we’ve set those pads to be lit (in yellow).

We have incorporated a number of velocity sensitive features in the programs, with

velocity sensitive filter and attack, and many instruments feature round robins
and/or multiple dynamic levels – to take full advantage of these features, we
recommend that FULL LEVEL is set to ‘off’.

A great way to play instruments with your pads is to use Pad Perform Mode (‘Notes
Mode’ in the Akai Force) which will allow you to set your pads to only play back
notes from specified scales, or even trigger an entire chord from each individual
pad.

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With your instrument assigned to a track, in the MPC go to Pad Perform Mode by
hitting the PAD PERFORM icon on the ‘PROGRAM’ row in MAIN. Alternatively, press
SHIFT & 16 LEVEL. The following assumes to you running at least MPC 2.11.

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To create melodic leads and riffs, select NOTES & under ‘SCALE & OCTAVE’ select
your preferred scale, octave & musical key.

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The 16 pads on your MPC will now only play back the notes in this specific scale. Red
pads indicate the ‘root’ note in the scale. We suggest you select bank A and use the
OCTAVE +/- buttons to select a suitable octave range.
You can also play a complete chord on a single pad by selecting the CHORDS or
PROGRESSIONS options.

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Important: If you wish to return the pads to a ‘chromatic’ layout, select CHROMATIC
mode, or CUSTOM. In CHROMATIC mode the pads will light up to show the currently
selected scale, but you’ll still be able to play the (unlit) notes outside of the scale.

In the Force, hit the NOTE hardware button to enter NOTES mode. Now press and
hold the NOTE button to select the preferred note mode:

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Press SHIFT and NOTE to launch the full NOTE CONFIG screen:

You can now play the instrument across the Force’s 64 pads.

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Playing the Instruments with a MIDI Keyboard
Instruments can be also played using an attached MIDI keyboard. For standalone
MPCs/Force you can connect a USB keyboard directly to your MPC’s USB port and
you should immediately be able to play the instrument assigned to the current
track, no additional configuration needed.

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If your MPC has Bluetooth support you can configure a Bluetooth controller via
Preferences > Bluetooth. Alternatively connect a keyboard via the 5 pin MIDI ports.

If you are using the MPC Software/MPC Beats you can connect your controller to
your computer directly via USB or use a 5 pin MIDI cable connected to a suitable
USB-MIDI interface. If you have an MPC controller such as the MPC Touch, MPC
Renaissance or MPC Studio already connected to your computer, you use the MPC
itself as the MIDI interface.

For more information about connecting MIDI controllers to the MPC, check out my
dedicated article:

https://www.mpc-tutor.com/mpc-midi-tutorial-connecting-midi-controllers/

Many instruments in this expansion are configured to allow subtle vibrato control by
using the modulation wheel of a MIDI keyboard. You can also assign mod wheel to
the touch strip if your MPC model has one.

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 Further Resources
To learn more about creating your own MPC programs, sequences, sounds and
expansions, please refer to MPC-Tutor’s range of MPC tutorial books at:

https://www.mpc-samples.com/section.php/8/0/mpc-tutorials-courses/

MPC Horns is part of our growing range of ‘virtual’ MPC instruments – check out our
entire range here, with loads of acoustic keys, pianos, drum kits, bass, synths &
much, much more:

https://www.mpc-samples.com/section.php/73/0/mpc-instruments/

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 Copyright & License
‘MPC Horns Expansion Edition’ published by MPC-Samples.com, 2018.

Sample editing, MPC program files, audio previews & artwork by Pad Pimps.
Copyright © 2018. All rights reserved.

License
MPC-Samples.com (‘The Publisher’) grants You a royalty free, non-exclusive, non-
transferable, non-sublicenseable, worldwide License to use MPC Horns (‘The
Product’) to create Musical Compositions for You and for third party projects, such
as songs, albums, soundtracks, video and computer games as well as for use in
public performances and media presentations. All other rights in and to The
Product, including, without limitation, all copyright and other intellectual property
rights relating to The Product are fully retained by the Publisher.

Under no circumstances can The Product, or modified versions of The Product, be

re-distributed, re-sold, sub-licensed, or used to form any part of a commercial

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sample library.

THE SOUNDS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT REPESENTATION, WARRANTY OR

CONDITION OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF
MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE PUBLISHER DOES
NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT THE SOUNDS WILL MEET YOUR
REQUIREMENTS. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY, PERFORMANCE AND USE OF
THE SOUNDS IS WITH YOU.

This License may be terminated without notice by The Publisher if at any time You
fail to comply with any of its terms. Upon termination, You must immediately cease
using The Sounds, delete all copies and archives of The Sounds and if requested,
confirm to the Publisher in writing that You have complied with these requirements.

If You are unsure if this License covers Your intended use, please contact the
Publisher for clarification; [email protected].

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