What are MPC expansion packs?
MPC expansion packs are collections of samples, drum kits, instruments for modern MPCs and the Akai Force. MPC Expansion packs will normally be built around a ‘theme’, for example our Underground Crates expansions contain collections of hip hop themed construction kits and instruments.
Some expansion packs may contain collections of related instruments, for example, MPC Drummer contains our collection of multisampled acoustic drum kits while the MPC Instrument Bundle is our collection of multisampled acoustic instruments (e.g. orchestral, horns, pianos etc).
Generally speaking the kits and instruments in an expansion pack are set up and ready-to-play, with all sounds mapped across the pads for you. Professional MPC kits and instruments will also normally have FX, filters, envelopes and other parameters also configured, so you can simply load up and start creating immediately. Some expansions also include MIDI Drum patterns which you can be matched with your favourite drum kits to create realistic sounding drum grooves.
Expansions can be installed into standalone MPCs/Akai Force and into the MPC Software/MPC Beats, although each environment requires a different type of installer (we provide both types of installer with each expansion purchase). You can find out more about the installation process in our Standalone Expansion Installation and MPC Software Expansion Installation guides.
Accessing Installed Expansions
In standalone MPC/Force your MPC expansions can be accessed by going to BROWSER > Expansions:
All your installed expansions are shown on the left side of the screen. Tap on a thumbnail to open a specific expansion and on the right hand side you can browse though the various files available inside the expansion pack
Our MPC expansion packs all utilise browser previews on all files; just single tap any kit, instrument, MIDI file or plugin preset and you’ll immediately hear an audio preview. If you like what you hear, double tap to load it into your project.
For the MPC Software and MPC Beats, your expansions are listed in the dedicated Expansion Browser, where the contents of each expansion are organised by file type:
Our expansions also feature ‘tagging’ which help organise the expansion and assist with searching and browsing. In the standalone browser, enter a search word to display only files containing that word:
In the MPC Software expansion browser, tags are used to automatically group and organise the contents:
Do your MPC expansions work in an Akai Force?
Yes, installation is identical. The Force supports loading of all MPC kits, instruments and MIDI pattern files.
Do your expansions work with MPC Beats?
Yes, the provided XPN installer is compatible with MPC Beats and the MPC Software. Our kits and instruments work with both applications, although do be aware that MPC Beats is a 'limited' verison of the MPC Software, so some FX plugins (e.g. Air Flavor) are only available within the MPC Software
What’s the difference between an MPC expansion and a ‘sample pack’?
On MPC-Samples.com we use the term ‘sample pack’ to refer to older style sample collections that were made for ‘legacy’ MPCs (e.g. MPC1000, MPC2000XL etc).
Modern MPCs will not recognise these sample packs as ‘expansions’ (hence they cannot be loaded from the expansion browser). However, you can copy the legacy sample pack folder to any location on your MPC disk and load the samples and kits from ‘Browser > Places’, just like you would any other general folder of sounds.
Modern MPCs can load most legacy MPC programs and sequences, although you’ll likely need some tweaking and they will not take advantage of any modern MPC features (e.g. latest FX plugins).
Do MPC expansions work in older legacy MPCs?
Generally no, as expansions are built specifically for modern MPCs and use newer program, project and sequence formats which are not backward compatible. That said, it should be possible to load the individual WAV files from the expansion into a legacy MPC. Just be aware that most legacy MPCs only read 16 bit WAV files, so any 24 bit WAV files should first be converted to 16 bits using a suitable application.
Please note that many of our expansions do include a special ‘legacy MPC’ folder which contains a version of the expansion that’s been backward ported for select legacy models. If this is the case this will be stated on the product page (look in the ‘Technical Specifications’ section.
Can I install an XPN file into standalone MPCs?
No, XPN files are only suitable for installing expansions into the MPC Software and MPC Beats. All expansions on MPC-Samples.com will come with two dedicated installers; one made specifically for standalone MPC/Force installation (copy to the ‘Expansions’ folder on your MPC disk) and a separate XPN installer for MPC Software/MPC Beats.
How Do I Update an existing expansion?
If we’ve released an updated version of an expansion that you have previously installed, first download the new version and unzip the contents. For standalone MPC/Force, simply connect via controller mode and overwrite/replace the existing expansion folder on your MPC disk.
For MPC Software/MPC Beats, drag the new XPN file into the software and hit ‘Update’. For more information on installing MPC expansions, see our separate Standalone and MPC Software installation guides.
How do I uninstall an expansion?
In standalone MPCs/Force, simply delete the expansion from within the ‘expansions’ folder on your MPC disk. You can either do this in controller mode (where your MPC disk will be available as a removable disk) or in standalone via BROWSER > Places; navigate to the ‘ Expansions’ folder on your MPC disk, single tap the expansion folder you wish to delete, hold down SHIFT and select DELETE FILE.
Remember to select MENU > NEW PROJECT to refresh the installed browser list.
In the MPC Software, simply go to ‘ Tools > Expansion Manager’ and hit ‘ Uninstall’ under the expansion you wish to remove.
