Tips, tricks, functions that go unnoticed

I've seen people on the forum say that their pads/slider/jog wheel doesn't work properly. Here's a way to check them:

*** I WOULD ADVISE DOING THIS RIGHT WHEN YOU TURN ON THE MPC2KXL FIRST. THIS IS IN CASE YOU GET AN ERROR AND HAVE TO RESTART, NOTHING WILL BE LOST. ***

From the main screen hit SHIFT + 5 (TRIM) then SHIFT + F1.
Hit F5 (MEMCHK) then hit F5 (PADCHK) again.
From there, select either PAD, MEMORY or JOG.
- PAD lets you select a pad bank and tap on your pads for velocity/after touch (sensitivity). This will help to see if a pad switch is bad or not.
You can hold your finger on a pad, press down on it and slowly let go to see the levels of after touch (0-127. I don't know why but the after touch reading shows less to nothing from A - D bank ).
Also from this screen you can check to see if your Note Variation slider works (0-127).
- MEMORY does a CPU memory test. It tests writing and reading to the CPU. Should say test OK.
- JOG allows you to test the jog wheel in either direction (slow/fast) with a number read out.


* Hit MAIN SCREEN to go back to work.

Good one Juke. That is very helpful indeed. I'm sure my pads aren't functioning how they should.

JUKE 179r wrote:I've seen people on the forum say that their pads/slider/jog wheel doesn't work properly. Here's a way to check them:

*** I WOULD ADVISE DOING THIS RIGHT WHEN YOU TURN ON THE MPC2KXL FIRST. THIS IS IN CASE YOU GET AN ERROR AND HAVE TO RESTART, NOTHING WILL BE LOST. ***

From the main screen hit SHIFT + 5 (TRIM) then SHIFT + F1.
Hit F5 (MEMCHK) then hit F5 (PADCHK) again.
From there, select either PAD, MEMORY or JOG.
- PAD lets you select a pad bank and tap on your pads for velocity/after touch (sensitivity). This will help to see if a pad switch is bad or not.
You can hold your finger on a pad, press down on it and slowly let go to see the levels of after touch (0-127. I don't know why but the after touch reading shows less to nothing from A - D bank ).
Also from this screen you can check to see if your Note Variation slider works (0-127).
- MEMORY does a CPU memory test. It tests writing and reading to the CPU. Should say test OK.
- JOG allows you to test the jog wheel in either direction (slow/fast) with a number read out.


* Hit MAIN SCREEN to go back to work.

I've never done this fully. Thanks alot for that Juke. Today will be my MPC's judgement day.

i found this one the other day, when in the drum pad edit screen if you have tuned a pad to say -5 instead of using the jog wheel to bring it back to zero press the enter key twice while the tune option is highlighted, to bring the setting back to zero. I believe this also works with other settings too.

^^^ Nice one. Didn't know that.


I've been using the jog wheel less and less......inputing tunings, settings, pad numbers all with the key pad. So much faster.

good one Mantis beats and Juke thanks for the tip, looks like my MPC gets a bill of good health.

QUESTION:

When you're in the pad assign screen combining up to 3 pads, is there an easy way to move through the pads sequentially (A1,A2,A3...)? It takes me longer to assign than it should as I have to go through them randomly A1,B6 etc etc.

I have found if you flick the jog wheel to the far right quickly and then move backwards it moves through the pads sequentially, but it doesn't always work and is a bit slow for me. There has to be a quicker way to assign.

Thanks!

maxlifo wrote:QUESTION:
When you're in the pad assign screen combining up to 3 pads, is there an easy way to move through the pads sequentially (A1,A2,A3...)? It takes me longer to assign than it should as I have to go through them randomly A1,B6 etc etc.

When you're in the Assign screen, tap the pad that you want to add in the SIMUL layer, and look at what "Note:" number it is (not pad number.)

Then just keep that Note number in mind.

Go back to your original pad that you want to add the layers to....
...then instead of scrolling with the wheel - just enter the Note number with the keypad and press enter.

There you go. No scrolling random pad numbers.

Good one. Now all I need is someone to time me doing it all 3 ways to see which is quickest.

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a go....

^^ Even if you do use the scroll with the wheel..........go by the note number and not the pad number........because the note numbers scroll in sequential order.

Thanks Itchy I'll keep it in mind..

I don't have anything to contribute but this thread needs to continue. Come one everyone. Dig into this!

strings are your friend!

strings can add so much feeling/emotion to your beat, depending on what note/s you use (believe it or not).

Even adding a 1 note string in the higher octaves can add a lot to your beat.

Sometimes try lowering the string so its way in the back. So you can kind of hear it. It can be the difference between an empty sounding track and a finished track.

Dont be scared. Strings are your friends!

turn quantize to 'off' when recording snares or hihats......that little bit of humanity in your track can mean everything

BE THOROUGH!!!!

oh and it sounds simple, but spend a lot of time in the mixer (shift 7 dummies)

however long it takes me to get the raw mechanics of my beat done, i double that with mixing/eq/compression...........it means everything!!!!


BE THOROUGH!!!

what do you really do in the mixer?? i mean.. i know what it does.. but i end up tracking everything down seperately onto my computer and mixing there after im done with writing and sequencing..

what things are you doing in the mixer that i should be doing??