Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
By melodicomike1 Sat May 29, 2010 1:31 pm
Hi,
I started a few days ago to sample my own drums with my vinyls but i wonder about the volume of my samples.
Indeed, when i sample i don't know if the volume is in agreement with the classical volume that you can find in songs etc...
How can i be sure that the volume is high enough? It could be a problem when i'll dicide to mix a track and put it in mp3 format.
(I've got a MPC 2000 xl, a Technics 1200sl and a Vestax MPC 05 Pro II)
I hope someone will help me :) !
Thanks!
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By mumkai Fri Jun 04, 2010 6:09 am
yo mike
do you have any software? if something is too low you can always record your sample into logic, pro tools, etc to boost it up and compress it. especially with drums. to have those boomy, strong drums its good to EQ/compress them then sample them back into your mpc.

when i first started sampling it was mostly for melodic content and i found that i was doing waaaaay to low. even when i got to sampling my own drums it was just way too low. its the worst to have to go back and sample again. so remember its good to adjust your REC level and mixer level while listening to designated party you want. if you have to boost the REC level is past like 3 o'clock then you're doing something wrong. im pretty sure if you boost the REC level its only for really low parts. i usually have mine pointing 11, 12 o'clock on the knob and turn up the actual SOURCE of the sample i.e. computer, mixer, CD player first. in sample mode youll see two hollow boxes in the middle of the level meter. the sampled signal should pass those just a bit. i say about an inch past those two boxes. any farther youll see that it will clip. sample something too loud and you'll get clipping/distortion that you dont want.
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By peterpiper Sun Jun 13, 2010 8:06 pm
mumkai wrote:yo mike
do you have any software? if something is too low you can always record your sample into logic, pro tools, etc to boost it up and compress it. especially with drums. to have those boomy, strong drums its good to EQ/compress them then sample them back into your mpc.

when i first started sampling it was mostly for melodic content and i found that i was doing waaaaay to low. even when i got to sampling my own drums it was just way too low. its the worst to have to go back and sample again. so remember its good to adjust your REC level and mixer level while listening to designated party you want. if you have to boost the REC level is past like 3 o'clock then you're doing something wrong. im pretty sure if you boost the REC level its only for really low parts. i usually have mine pointing 11, 12 o'clock on the knob and turn up the actual SOURCE of the sample i.e. computer, mixer, CD player first. in sample mode youll see two hollow boxes in the middle of the level meter. the sampled signal should pass those just a bit. i say about an inch past those two boxes. any farther youll see that it will clip. sample something too loud and you'll get clipping/distortion that you dont want.


In case of the 2000 or 2000xl this is not a big problem, in fact this is done sometimes intentional to get a distortion / compress effect. The amp section of the 2000 seem to have some kind of limiter at the end to avoid DIGITAL distortion / clipping.

peace