By
cyrus
Sat May 29, 2004 5:23 am
i use timestretch. You can also tune your sample like toecutter said. But if you dont want the pitch effected, use timestretch. i find that sometimes tuning works more effectively because most of what i sample is near the tempo i need. Lots of times its all relative to how you chop your sample, and put drums too it.
to use timestretch the best: first, timestretch is in the trim mode-where you chop and trim your samples. Go into the edit menu. Scroll through all the way to the end. You will see timestretch. on the main screen you can use ratios, and pick the type of music the sample is. If you dont undertsand the ratios, like most dont. Click on the bpm menu. This is where i use timestretch. FIrst select the amount of beats. Do this with rough estimation i.e. if the sample is 1 bar-4 beats is what you want, 2 bars, 8 beats. If its a "stab" or oneshot, try 1 beat, or 2 beats.
Even if your sample is nothing near a normal bar, you still want to use either 1,2,4,8,16,32 beats because they are multiples of 4 for a hiphop beat 4/4 time signature; however, its not always true, sometimes other beats may work, sometimes its a stab in the dark, but if timestretch does not work on something you properly calculated, tempo, beats, etc. its worth a try-its worked for me.
next you have the original tempo and the new tempo. You will notice when you flip through the beats, you will see the original tempo change. Sometimes if im unsure of the 'beats" ill go to 4, or 8 and look at the tempo to see what is closest to the tempo i want. sometimes you can take double time into consideration.
in anyevent. Do not always trust the calculation of the original tempo, it is based on the relative length of the sample, not the actual song. The best way around this is to calculate the bpm of the original "song" you sampled from. I use my ttx turntable to do this (has bpm counter) or you can use the tap tempo on the mpc, or a computer.
Once you have the OG tempo calculated from the actual song, then you can enter this in the mpc in the original tempo space-Assuming you have the aproximate beats calculation you want. Next select the new tempo, and change it to your desired tempo.
Hit do it, and it should work. Keep in mind that the type of sample you can choose on the original timestretch menu, effects the bpm menu-i.e. where you can change the "hi freq rythym" to "lo freq rythym" low vocal", etc. So try to select the most appropriate type, then go through the bpm menu.
btw it will take time, be patient. Oh and sometimes it wont work first try, you may have to adjust the beats, even if you thought your were correct, especially for the shorter samples, and you dont always have to know the original song bpm, because that may not always work exactly-depending on the length of your sample and the bpm you are going for, so realize that sometimes too much change can **** things up. also mess with double time, when you choose bpms.
ive also tried this been successful: when choosing the beats, i get the mpc calculated original tempo closest to what i want, then i enter in the calculated bpm of the song, then the new bpm, (regardless if the beats are multiple of 4) and it works. im not exactly sure the best way, but most samples arent in 4/4 time sig, so sometimes you need experimentation to get the sample to work right. when i timestretch, i dont really worry about the sample being exactly 1 bar, or 2 bars or whatever, thats not my goal-my goal is to get the bpm right, so the sample hits on the beats at the right time so they match the drums regardless if they fit exactly in the measure- so this is why i dont always use the beats of 4, 8, 16, or 32-ya know.....
peace.
