Controls

There are 3 ways to control VMPC2000XL:

• Keyboard

• Mouse/touchscreen

• MIDI

It is strongly recommended to get familiar with basic keyboard shortcuts rather than relying on the mouse. The more keyboard shortcuts you use, likely the greater the sense of immersion.

The other buttons are also mapped to keyboard shortcuts, but you can pick these up as you go.

Note

The degree of MIDI controllability is the same as on the real MPC2000XL, i.e. not every button can be mapped to a MIDI control change parameter, and there’s a limit to 4 mappings at a given moment.

Keyboard

For most controls you can display a tooltip that shows you which key on the keyboard is associated with it. In the case of the DATA wheel it’s 2 keys – one for clockwise and one for anti-clockwise. To display a control’s keyboard shortcut in a tooltip hover over the control while holding one of the modifier keys on your keyboard (Shift, Control, Alt/Option, Command):

Below are the default keyboard shortcuts for most of the UI components.

Some letter keys are written in uppercase for disambiguation. For example, Record is mapped to the letter L and is written in uppercase to clarify it is not letter i or number 1, so there is no need to press Shift here.

In the same vein some special characters are clarified by appending their name in parentheses, for example ; (semicolon).

Note

The default keyboard mapping is geared towards US keyboard layout, but it’s fully configurable. See Configuring the keyboard for instructions.

Basic operations

Operation	Key(s)
Up/Down/Left/Right	Up/Down/Left/Right
Data wheel up/down	+/-
Numeric keypad	0 … 9
Shift	Left shift
Record	L
Overdub	; (semicolon)
Stop	‘ (quote)
Play	Space
Play start	\ (backslash)
F1 … F6	F1 … F6
Main screen	Escape
Open window	i

Hold 1 modifier (Ctrl, Alt or Shift) to increase DATA wheel by 10. Hold 2 to increase it by 100. Hold 3 to increase it by 1000. Note that increment modifiers in the TRIM, LOOP and ZONE screens are relative to the sound length: the bigger the sound length, the bigger the jumps.

Pads

g	h	j	k
b	n	m	,
a	s	d	f
z	x	c	v

Advanced operations

Operation	Key(s)
Bank A	Home
Bank B	End
Bank C	Insert
Bank D	Delete
Previous step/event	q
Next step/event	w
Locate/Go to	e
Previous bar/Start	r
Next bar/End	t
Tap tempo/Note repeat	y
Erase	F8
Full level	o
16 levels	p
Next seq	[
Track mute	]
After/Assign	F9
Undo seq	F10

VMPC-specific operations

Operation	Key(s)
Direct-to-disk recorder	Shift + Play start (defaults to L)

Mouse & touchscreen

Pads

The pads can be hit by by clicking them with the mouse, or, if you have a touchscreen, by touching them. The further away from the center of the pad, the lower the velocity. When a pad is hit, it will light up blue.

Buttons

All buttons can be pressed by clicking them with the mouse, or, if you have a touchscreen, by touching them.

Data wheel

The data wheel can be turned by dragging or scrolling. Precise, single-step changes can be performed by holding any of the modifier keys (Shift, Ctrl, Alt/Option) while dragging.

On iOS you can drag the data wheel with one finger for precise, single-step changes, or with 2 fingers for large increments.

Slider/Rec gain/Main volume

These controls can be operated by dragging or scrolling.

Note that, like on the original MPC2000XL, you can use the slider to change many of the values in the TRIM, LOOP and ZONE screens, by holding SHIFT while moving the slider.

Note

If your mouse or touchpad emits momentum/inertia events, VMPC2000XL will process these accordingly. The data wheel, slider, rec gain and main volume controls will come to a gradual stop.

Resize and Reset window size

The first time you run VMPC2000XL it opens in its minimum window size, which is 649 x 497 plus the border that your operating system or DAW adds to it. This should fit on most computer screens. Then you have the option to resize it up to two times that resolution, making 1298 x 994. Resizing is done by dragging the bottom right corner of the window.

To reset the window size back to its minimum size, click the “Reset window size” button in the top-right.

The “Reset window size” button

Configure computer keyboard

Click the “Configure computer keyboard” icon in the top-right to go to the KEYBRD tab. See Configuring the keyboard for instructions.

The “Configure computer keyboard” button

Hover over the button to show an overlay with all current keyboard mappings. Every keyboard-controllable component of VMPC2000XL’s UI will temporarily show a glowing square with a description of the key that is mapped to it.

MIDI

Read more about MIDI control in the MIDI control mode and MIDI control sections.

Import files and folders (iOS)

Importing files and folders is the process of copying files from arbitrary locations on your iPad onto VMPC2000XL’s default virtual disk volume. In the standalone version this is located in On My iPad -> VMPC2000XL -> Volumes -> MPC2000XL. In the AUv3 version this location is in an undisclosed sandbox (due to limitations beyond my control).

The “Import” button

After tapping the “Import” button, a document browser opens. Tap a file or folder to import it. Alternatively tap “Select” to perform a multi-selection:

The document browser after tapping “Select”

Importing files from iCloud is fully supported. Google Drive (and possibly other 3rd party cloud service providers) currently does not support importing folders.

After tapping a single file or folder, or after making a multi-selection and tapping “Open”, you might see some quick graphics flashing. These are progress indicators. After each file is processed, you are back in VMPC2000XL.

When a file or folder already exists, you will be asked if you want to overwrite the existing file. You can also choose to overwrite none or all of the existing files of your selection.

The imported files and folders are located in the MPC2000XL ROOT. Navigate to the ROOT like this:

1. Shift + 3 to go to the LOAD screen

2. Open Window to open the Directory window

3. Press left arrow repeatedly until arriving at ROOT

Note

In the standalone version of VMPC2000XL for iOS, you can also copy sounds, programs and other files into VMPC2000XL’s documents in the Files app by going to the “On My iPad” location. You will find a VMPC2O00XL folder there, with the usual file locations. Typically you will want to place some sounds, and maybe some programs and sequences, in VMPC2000XL/Volumes/MPC2000XL (the default virtual disk of VMPC2000XL).

Due to a limitation beyond my control, in the AUv3 version this is not possible.