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By Moin Sun Aug 06, 2017 1:18 am
I bought the MPC Touch, downloaded all the sounds and samples it came with and it came with A LOT. I also have VST instrument plugins from AIR as well. I'm using MPC 2.0 and I'm having a hard time understanding the aspects of beat making. I primarily rap and I've decided to make beats to have a better grasp and control of my artistry. I'm confused on the timing of the metronome.

I understand metronome is there to help you stay within the measure and not go off beat but does it matter whether I do it from the start of the grid while it's recording or can I start hitting the pads at any time as well long as the pattern is on point? How do I sample? Every time I drag an mp3 it only gives the first 2 seconds of the track. I know I can buy a vinyl player and do it that way by playing and recording, but I want to also learn how to do it by taking a wav or mp3 file I already have and drag it on the software. At what point will a keyboard be a good addition to the MPC Touch drum machine? I know I don't necessarily need a keyboard, but I'm guessing eventually when I get better at producing beats it would help a lot in creating melodies.

As you can obviously tell, I'm very new to this and have a lot of questions and I'm going to keep experimenting and researching, but does anyone know of a go to video tutorial series that can help me hit the ground running and be more productive than I am right now?
By Cockdiesel Sun Aug 06, 2017 2:30 am
We were all new at some point. So everyone knows the feeling. On the top there is a tutorial link I suggest you check that out. Maybe even check out some videos on YouTube as well. Keyboard will work good when you learn to use the sequencer.
By 6/8 Stanley Sat Aug 12, 2017 1:45 am
Like the man said, check out YouTube. About a month ago got my MPC, plugged it in, hooked up my headphones. Hit every button on it but couldn't get any sounds to come out. The manual didn't seem to help somehow. Thought maybe I wasted my money. Then I watched a video by this cat called Overlord that made it all easy. Later that night I was pounding out some beats. Plan to buy MPC Tutor's book eventually and get deeper, though.
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By Living Bate Sat Aug 12, 2017 5:09 am
first thing is to get 3 samples: a hihat, a kick and a snare. . .

Once you learn how make these into a drum loop the rest is creativity

[hihat & kick first]
By Cypher Tue Aug 29, 2017 12:45 pm
The MPC Touch Bible is a good place to start, it'll give you a basic understanding of the different parts of the hardware. It'll show you how to use the pads as a keyboard so you can play melodies from the MPC. But like you I'm a beginner myself so I can't give you much help.
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By lolwat Mon Sep 11, 2017 11:00 pm
Living Bate wrote:first thing is to get 3 samples: a hihat, a kick and a snare. . .

Once you learn how make these into a drum loop the rest is creativity

[hihat & kick first]

Hihat is almost like metronome, whenever I start beat without it, it's so offbeat.
But yeah, it's all about grind, been having mpc for almost 3 months, sometimes I don't touch it for a week, but I always come back to it just to mess around and have some fun. But damn, still can't make a full song, just bunch of loops, lately I switched to 8 bars to add some variety, but one thing for sure is that mpc has helped me with is making my ideas sound good and not offbeat etc. Back in the day I just used to open logic, play my instrumental idea and then just play drums on top of it and whola "full song'" ready lmao - sometimes it worked, but most of times it's was just some messy, trashy offbeat throwup. Still had fun tho.
Just keep jamming and have fun! :smoker: