Nothing is a quicker block to creativity than setup. In this guide we're going to talk about changing your default setup so that it resembles something that you can immediately get yourself working with when you start. Please note these settings will apply to an empty project: Demo projects are going to have their setups override this default. 


To open the Preferences, tap the gear icon at the bottom right corner of the screen. Changes to the Preferences are saved automatically except for Vintage Mode (in the General tab) and Start Time (in the Sync tab), unless something changes in the device's physical status, for example if an audio device is disconnected it will not be selectable in the audio tab.


Select the Project Defaults tab. The settings on this screen determine various default values for any new project that you create.


  • New Project Dialog: This determines what options you see when you start a new project. When set to Off, a new project will be empty with no preconfigured settings except for the project defaults shown here. When set to Demo, you can choose to load a demo project (from several different genres) as a starting point or an empty project. When set to Demo/Template/Recent, you can choose to load a demo project, a project template file, or an empty project. You must have a project in the Template File field of the Project Load/Save tab to select a template in this window.
  • Default Tempo: This is the default tempo in BPM.
  • Default Master Tempo: When enabled, the default tempo value will be used for the master tempo. When disabled, the default tempo will be used for sequences.
  • Default Sequence Bars: This determines the default number of bars of a new sequence.
  • Default Time Signature Numerator: This determines the number of beats per bar of a new sequence (the top number of a time signature).
  • Default Time Signature Denominator: This determines the value of each beat of a new sequence (the bottom number of a time signature).
  • Default Pad Slice: This determines how new samples will play when you load them or record them into a project. When set to Pad, the Slice menu in Program Edit Mode will be set to Pad, which lets you set the start point, end point, etc. for the layer. When set to All, the Slice menu in Program Edit Mode will be set to All, in which the entire sample plays.
  • Default Drum/Keygroup Filter: This determines the default type of filter that drum and keygroup programs will use. See the appendix of your user manual to learn about this.
  • Default Plugin Synth: This determines the default instrument plugin that a new plugin program will use. Use the window that appears to select it.
  • When finished simply back out of here and from then on every new project, track, or sequence should follow those defaults you've setup.


Questions? Concerns? Feedback? If you are still having trouble with your MPC's Project Default settings, please use the New Support Ticket button at the top to contact our support team for further assistance.