Why is my MPC so sloppy ????

I don't understand quantizing...

elmacaco wrote:make wure you are not blaming the machine for user error.

for some reason quantizing is hard to use properly for some without practice.

totally agree, mate. It takes quite a bit of practice...

Having played drums for years, I get real frustrated with how tight you can get the mpc drums. Here's one techinique for tightening. Leave just a hair of space at the front of your samples. A lot of times one of the snare hits is just a little rushed or dragged. If I want only one of the snare hits to trigger a little faster, I'll copy the original snare, and then move the start point of the copied sample up a little. Then I'll replace the snare I want to trigger faster with the new snare in the program, and reprogram the snares that were good with the original snare sound. That way you are not limited to the step edit movements. The step edit is useful, but it happens all the time where 1 tick forward or back is just a hair too much. Unfortunately it takes lots of time, though, which is why I'm planning on just running the midi into logic or something. The thing about 96 ticks being enough is not true for getting those super tight military sounding beats.

I'd like to hear a beat where 96 isn't enough. I am curious, I'd like to hear a before and after.

suenos09 wrote:How do you double the ticks per quarter note? Please explain.
Does this also double the midi ticks pqn? Because some of my keyboard lines come out sloppy as well & I thought it was a latency problem.

Thanks,
suenos

say you want a 4/4 beat at 90 bpm. You could also make a 8/4 beat at 180 bpm, and then play you're beats at the same tempo as before, but there will be twice as much 'space' used by the MPC.

For example, in a 4/4 at 90 BPM your snare may hit at 01.02.00, and at 01.04.00. If you play the same beat on an 8/4 at 180. you hit the snare at 01.03.00 and 01.07.00 and it will sound the same, but the are twice as many ticks in between the snare hits. Technically you have the same subdivision going on, but since you have twice as many beats/bar, you end up with twice as many subdivisions, and therefor a higher resoulution of ticks.

can someone post a beat where to timing is off?

The resolution could be a problem, but (no offense to your drummer) when he was playing around and the beats sounded tight as hell, there was no metronome. [metronome's can change a tight drummer to a shit drummer] Try turning the metronome click off, hit record and let him record in a beat at his own tempo. Record the audio coming out of the mpc while he's laying down the track, and then record the audio that comes out of the mpc when you play back the recorded track. Then you can see if it is in fact a ppqn resolution issue. If it's the metronome, try putting in some other instruments (ie, a bassline) for him to record to and leave the metronome off - I've found this works heaps better than a metronome and is way more comfortable for the drummer.

I been playing the mpc for about a year, and while I can tap beats on a desk top or something pretty nicely, when it comes to pads, something changes. Like a bass and a guitar, even though they're pretty much the same instrument, each needs seperate practice to get good at each one. If you play guitar you can still pick up a bass and play some sick grooves, but no where near as good as someone who's been playing bass for years. Likewise, the mpc is an instrument - get your drummer to practice with it for a bit.

**** quantizing, it's only about feeling a beat. The very same drum sequence can sound perfect or totally wack with different basslines. Listen carefully to the songs that you like (and why not try to reproduce the drums and bassline), it's very instructive.
good luck

Maybe Im misunderstanding what people are saying ehre, but as far as using the mpc for live drumming, i thought this doesn't involve the tick resolution (surely your padhits only get moved to the nearest tick hen you record the sequence, right?). What I mean is, when you hit a pad, it triggers the sound there and then regardless of sequence timing (as you canhit the pads when no sequence is running)
Also, I think 96 ticks in a crotchet (thats what we call a quarter noet where icome form) at somewhere in the 90-100 bpm range seems like plenty to me...
peace
al

I always double the tempo, old habit, and I like that because the count in clicks is slowing me down. I always turn count off after laying down a couple of elements.

MY SP1200 has 24 PPQ... I double the BPM when I work on that too, and I get what: 48 PPQ? That's about half the 2000XL when not doubled. And I can totally work with that, the SP1200 is KING, good sounding sequencer especially when it comes to Hip Hop.

doubling the tempo gives you more room to work. but it's kinda overkill to me. i haven't found it necessary really.

if you can't play drums on beat you should just use the step edit. i never played nothing out manually when i first started.

I dont see why so many people have these "problems"..... I notice a lot of cats expect magic out of the machine but if you have zero timing skills it isnt the MPC's fault its the user.

i find that the biggest problem with off beat drums is either the chops arent precise enough and matched to the tempo or the drum pattern is too erratic to fit whatever sample they are recorded over.