Installing Preset Libraries Directly Inside Standalone/Force Plugins

Akai have built many native MPC plugins for use in standalone MPCs and the Force, all of which contain a set of factory ‘presets’. It is also possible to create libraries of custom presets to load into these plugins, such a our own Crush Fabric XL Presets collection.

There are two primary ways to use our custom presets in standalone MPCs and the Akai Force. The easiest method, and the one we’d generally recommend for most users, is to install the presets as part of an MPC Expansion, and we look at this in our ‘ Installing Plugin Preset Expansions’ article.

In this article we’re going to look at how we can optionally install our presets directly inside the standalone MPC/Force versions of these plugins so that your new presets appear alongside the factory presets when browsing in screens such as the Sounds Browser and Program Edit.

Please note we have separate articles for installing presets into the MPC Software and VST/AU MPC plugins.

Requirements

The installation method is suitable for any MPC/Force model where the Fabric and Fabric XL plugins are stored on an ‘attached’ disk (e.g. SD card, SATA disk, USB drive).

Please note that you may have to repeat the install procedure should Akai ever release an updated version of the plugin (typically their installation method entirely replaces the existing plugin preset folders).

Note: If you do not have your plugins installed in the ‘Synths’ folder on your attached user disk, there is an experimental workaround – I’ll cover this later in the article.

Procedure

For this example, we’re going to use our Fabric XL library, Crush.

First, from the originally downloaded expansion files, locate the folder, ‘Standalone MPC-Force Install’ and inside enter the folder ‘Presets Folder Install’:

The folder, ‘[Pad Pimps] Crush - Fabric XL Presets’ is the one we’re going to install inside the Fabric XL plugin on our standalone disk.

Now, connect your MPC to your computer via USB and enter controller mode (as described in our general MPC expansion installation guide ). Now access the disk where Fabric is currently installed and enter the Synths folder; you should see separate folders for Fabric and Fabric XL:

Let’s install the Fabric XL presets first. Enter the folder ‘AIR Music Technology – MPC – Fabric XL’. Here you’ll see two folders – we’re going to copy our presets inside the ‘Presets’ folder here:

Copy the previously downloaded folder ’[Pad Pimps] Crush - Fabric XL Presets’ insidethe Fabric XL ‘ Presets’ folder on your MPC disk, so the Crush folder sits alongside all the existing factory presets:

Now repeat the entire procedure for the Fabric versions. This time, copy the folder ‘ [Pad Pimps] Crush - Fabric Presets’ inside the ‘ Presets’ folder for ‘AIR Music Technology - MPC – Fabric’.

Now reboot your MPC into standalone mode. Go to MAIN and hit the SOUNDS icon:

Click on Fabric XL to view the first screen of preset groups:

Tap on the far right arrow to reveal page 2 of the preset groups:

Tap on [Pad Pimps] Crush to reveal all the preset groups:

Now you can load a preset from your selected group. Alternatively you can browse your installed presets the PRESET dropdown in PROGRAM EDIT:

The ‘[Pad Pimps] Crush’ group is near the bottom of the group list:

Workaround For Plugins Not Installed on the User Disk

Some MPCs have plugins such as Fabric preinstalled on the internal factory drive (e.g. MPC Key, MPC X SE). In these cases it’s not possible to access the Fabric presets folder due to Akai’s file restrictions.

The workaround is to install a duplicate copy of the Fabric and Fabric XL plugin folders on a user disk, and then place your additional custom presets inside these duplicated folders. In these cases we’ve discovered the presets stored on your attached disk will now be used instead of the internally installed presets (and if the MPC is ever booted up without this user disk attached, it simply reverts to using the internal factory presets).

Please note that this installation is experimental and we cannot guarantee that it will always work . If you have issues, or don’t feel comfortable with the installation procedure, please just use the standard MPC expansion format install option instead, as this works with any standalone MPC.

You can download the latest Fabric and Fabric XL folders from your Akai account using the Synth Content Manager app. More information can be found here.

Once you’ve downloaded and unzipped just copy the ‘AIR Music Technology - MPC – Fabric’ and ‘ AIR Music Technology - MPC – Fabric XL’ folders inside the ‘ Synths’ folder on your MPC disk (if the ‘Synths’ folder doesn’t exist, simply create it).

Now follow the instructions as detailed previously in this current article.

If you encounter any issues with this installation method, or discover other possible installation options, please let us know so we can update this guide.