new to this shit (mpc 2000xl)

after years of just having two decks and a mixer i finally got an mpc 2000xl in a plan to enter the world of production and been playing around on it for a month or so... just trying to sample stuff... and **** all else other than that really... basically though... i suck at reading / absorbing the manual... maybe it's the years of marijuana abuse... heh... but i achieve better results with shit when i'm shown how to do something or someone can break it down in dumb form for me...

so yeah... a few questions you could help me with...

1. most important functions to learn first and what they do (basically)

2. any video manuals any good?? like those sample kings ones?? there were these (undownloadable) videos on the old beastie boy site with kutmasta kurt showing basically how he makes a beat in 4 or 5 steps and that was like the most useful thing i've seen (about 2 years too early)

3. anything else you can think of to get me started...

at this point though the instruction book is **** daunting to me and it's frustrating cause i've got all these ideas in my head of what i want to do...

i have a 1210 deck, the mpc and some behringer truth b2031 speakers hooked up to a shitty dj mixer... all sound okay...

any help appreciated...

side note : i need to stop swearing

i've only been holding my mpc for 2 months so im not one to be giving too much advice but i think you should read the manual. i hated reading it too but unless you've got somebody teaching you then you kinda need to.

i've seen one of those samplekings vids. unless you have absoluetly no clue what you're doing & nobody to ask questions to i wouldnt suggest dropping the loot for them. basically he reads half the manual to you. they dont show how to do anything dope.

first let me say that there is no point in having the mpc if you dont want to read the manual. ive had my mpc for maybe a month. in that time i have learnt MOST of the manual. in the begining i was baffled by the manual and its various information. i couldnt even understand what a "track" was for a while. but as you go through it, you realise how simple it really is. the mpc is the simplest thing youll find for sure.

anyway, ill have a go at answering your questions.

1. learn how to load sounds to pads and record a sequence. u can use "record" to record live drum perfomance and "overdub" to make more detailed beats by ovedubbing.

2. dunno

3. for **** sake go gt a plate of food, turn on your mpc, put you manual in front of your face and take it one step at a time. i tick things off in the manual when i learn them.

you must read the manual. as i said, it seems complicated at first but as you go through it, it all makes sense. dont cop out on the manual just cos it seems a bit confucsing

Most important thing. Learn the principles of creating sequences. They are basicly the same in all sequencers, it's just about hitting different buttons on em. Pat yourself on the back because you have the best sequencer with the MPC, but now onto learning it.

Just read some of the tutorials around here. There are lots of ways that different people program their beats, create their samples, etc etc. To me it sounds like the most important thing for you to do is understand the basics of music production.

For example, learn what a sequence is. Know what a TRACK is and what paramaters need to be set inside each individual track. I.e...What is quantize, what is swing. Of course you have to have rudimentary understanding of music theory. What's a bar/beat/tick.

You have to learn how to sample (or at least load a sample) and then create programs.

To be honest, its the basic stuff that is the biggest hurdle when learning music production. I've been doing it with different sequencers and keyboards for years. My first keyboard was an ASR-10 and I didn't know how to use it for shiz, and I didn't really have the drive back then to learn it. I learned enough to do some stuff on it but never mastered it. But as the years went on and I learned more about the theory behind music creation, actually learning the various boards and sequencers (hardware and soft) become much easier.

Just keep at it, and like you said, find someone that knows to help you get started. Luckily, the MPC is an easy sequencer to learn.

thanks all.. was helpful.. especially jusdafied

i'm thinking a short course in music theory might be the go as i didn't really pay much attention to a lot of that shit back in high school.. wish i could afford it right now

anyways though.. back to the manual...

peace

When I first got the MPC, I watched both Sample Kings videos (ALONG WITH reading the manual.)
Being able to just watch someone do it got me up to speed really quickly.
Those videos are no replacement for the manual though, and they don't cover everything, but hell, I'd recommend them. They're a little pricey, but after I was done with mine I sold them on eBay and got most of my dough back.

I say just get hands on with it and use the manual and this site as a reference.....coming from the dj realm, you'll get the hang of this machine in no time.....Good points made by everyone........

I second what swiss says...just jump on that thang and dont worry to much about producing like kanye...I never read my manual till I had already figuered out a lot of the mpc than just went back to it for reference to try and pick up on things I hadnt known...this site is cool too for learnin some new tricks cause even though I've had mine for a few years, Ive only been coming to this site for a couple months and have picked up a handfulla things i didnt know and use on the regular now...dont let this machine intimidate ya...pz

What's "Swing"?

I've had my MP for a couple years...it's currently in for repairs...the [shift] button broke, so that basically shut ish down...


I say just keep fooling with it til you get stuck...when you get stuck go to the manual...

some of the manual's not gonna apply to you now anyway, lots of it is midi stuff, and other outboard/optional stuff...

sequences, saving, loading, tracks, and sampling...master those, and build on them


...I've read that whole manual cover to cover, not all at once, but in the method described above...

I still go back and flip though it to see if there's anything I'm up to speed on that just sounded like gibberish before...

...there's a learning curve though, you got to apply yourself, and take time to get over it...

...there's no shortcut to experience

thanks again all...

way more helpful stuff being said here than the other forums i've been to...