Installing Expansions into Standalone MPCs & Akai Force
Installing our MPC Expansions into any standalone MPC or Akai Force is quick and easy as we include a dedicated ‘standalone’ installer with all our expansions which you simply drag and drop to your MPC/Force disk.
This article covers installing our MPC Expansions into ‘standalone’ mode in standalone MPCs such as the new MPC Live 3, MPC XL, MPC X / SE, MPC One/One+, MPC Live 1 &2, MPC Key 37/61 and Akai Force. For installing expansions into the MPC Software, check out our ‘MPC Software Expansion Installation’ article.
What Are Expansions?
Expansions are samplepacks specifically formatted for installation into modern MPCs and the Akai Force. They contain samples, kits, instruments and sometimes sequences, patterns and even entire projects. They are commonly referred to as ‘MPC’ Expansions, but they also work in the Akai Force and the installation method is essentially identical.
Downloading & Extracting Your Expansion
After purchasing you can download the expansion from your File Bank. This will be a ‘zip archive’ so you will first need to extract the files using your computer’s default zip application – if you don’t have one, try the free, open source 7zip.
After extracting the files to a location on your computer, you’ll see something like this, although the exact structure will vary slightly depending on the individual expansion:
Many of our expansions are ‘multi-format’ and contain versions for different MPC models – for installation into a modern standlone MPC or Akai Force we’ll be using the files inside the folder 'Standalone MPC-Akai Force Edition' – this contains the ‘standalone’ expansion installer.
Installation: Connecting Your MPC/Force Disk
If you have a 'generation 2' MPC (currently the only gen2 model is the MPC Live 3), then you are able to transfer your expansions directly to the MPC's own internal drive, or if you prefer you can copy them to an attached removable drive such as an SD card, a USB drive or a SATA hard drive.
For generation 1 MPCs and Akai Force, the internal drive is not externally accessible, so a removable drive is the only option.
The first step is to mount your MPC disk on your computer and the most common way is to use 'Controller Mode' (or 'Computer Mode' in the Force). If you are connecting to a removable disk, ensure it is connected to your MPC (e.g. an SD card is pushed into the MPCs SD card slot).
The next step is to connect your MPC to your computer via USB. On a generation 1 MPC, connect a standard USB cable from the MPC USB-B port to a spare USB-A port on your computer:
If your computer only has USB 'C' ports, you can either use a 'USB C-to-A' adapter, or a good quality 'USB-C to USB-A' cable.
For generation 2 MPCs, connect the USB-C port at the back of your MPC to a spare USB port on your computer, ideally using the USB-C cable that came with your MPC. If you only have USB-A ports on your computer you'll need an adapter, a USB hub, or you can try a 'USB-C to USB-A' cable.
MPC users should then go to the MENU screen and click on the ‘MPC Chip’ icon at the top of the page:
In the Force, select the 'Laptop' icon. This will bring up the ‘ENTER CONTROLLER MODE’ screen. Click on the CONTROLLER MODE button at the bottom of the page.
You will now see a 'Looking for Computer' screen; this is expected behaviour and simply indicates that your MPC has entered controller mode. From the perspective of your MPC/Force, this is all that is required.
If you now go to your computer's File Explorer ('Finder' in a Mac) you should see your MPC disk(s) appear along with all the other disks attached to your computer.
Generation 1 owners will see something similar to the following, where MPC SD refers to an SD card currently connected to the MPC's SD card slot - here's the Mac version (as seen in the 'Locations' section of Finder):
On a PC go to File Explorer:
You can now double click the icon of the destination MPC disk; this will place you in the 'root' location of the MPC disk.
With Generation 2 hardware you'll discover that the internal factory drive is actually split into two separate drives; MPC Content and MPC User:
'MPC Content' contains all the factory expansions and demos and has limited free space available. I would suggest you ignore this drive; instead we'll be transferring content to the MPC User drive, so click on this drive to enter this disks 'root' location.
We are now ready to transfer files to your MPC disk.
Transferring Expansions To your MPC Disk
With your disk now available as a removable drive on your computer, the next step is to copy the standalone expansion to it.
Locate your downloaded and extracted expansion and enter the folder 'Standalone MPC-Akai Force Edition'. Inside you'll find a folder named after the product itself – for example, if you purchased MPC CS80, you’ll see a folder called ‘MPC CS80’; this is the standalone expansion folder that we're going to copy to our disk:
To ensure that this is treated as a proper Expansion in your MPC/Force, make sure you first create a folder called ‘Expansions’ in the root location of your MPC/Force disk and copy the kit folder inside this ‘Expansions’ folder:
If the ‘Expansions’ folder already exists, simply add your new expansion inside it. In the above example you can see that there are already a number of expansions already inside the Expansions folder.
You can now ‘eject’ the disk from your computer and return your MPC/Force to ‘Standalone’ mode by pressing the STANDALONE button on your screen.
Accessing Your Expansions
Once you've transferred your expansions to your MPC/Force, go to ‘MENU > BROWSER’. and select the 'Expansions' tab on the left side of the screen. Tap on an expansion image and its files will appear on the right hand side of the screen:
If your expansion is organised into folders, double tap a folder to view the files inside.
Use the filters to show specific file types:
To view kits and instruments, select the ‘PROGRAMS’ filter (this is often referred to as the ‘TRACKS’ or 'INSTRUMENTS' filter). To view only samples, choose the ‘SAMPLES’ filter. Or just use the ‘ALL FILES’ filter to view everything in the expansion.
Check out our 'Loading and Using MPC Keygroup Instruments' article for more help with using MPC instruments
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my SD card/USB stick not showing in my computer via controller mode?
First make sure your MPC disk is inserted correctly into the port on your MPC. Also try using a different USB cable and ideally connect direct to a port on your computer (rather than via a hub). Reboot your computer to rule out any random computer OS glitches.
Can I install an ‘XPN’ expansion into a standalone MPC or an Akai Force?
No, XPN files are made specifically for installing expansions into the MPC Software (see this article here). All expansion pack purchases from MPC-Samples.com include a special drag & drop ‘standalone’ installer made specifically for standalone MPCs & Force as well as a separate XPN installer for the MPC Software/MPC Beats.
How do I upgrade an installed expansion after you release an updated version?
Simply download the new version from your File Bank and completely replace the version in the ‘Expansions’ folder on your MPC/Force disk.
For more essential tips and tutorials, check out my structured course created specifically for standalone MPCs, the MPC Bible.
