Thought this thing could make arrangements!!???!!!

OK so I have only ever used my red and blue baby to make 4/8 bar loops that I usually take to the studio and then sample into cubase, however I just got a digital multi track and wanted to arrange the whole song in the mpc, Intro, hook, verse and so on.....

WELL SEEMS IT DOESNT DO THIS.

Question - Is the only way to arrange a complete song with intro, drop outs, verse etc to copy it to like 64 bars and then cut out each part you dont want manually in step edit? or can this somehow work like cubase/pro tools or logic ie cut out or mute tracks at selected bars

Read up on SONG MODE.

Thanks bro, nice to see we can still get decent answers round here but that doesnt seem to be the answer, I tried that but a few problems arose:

1. It really only plays the sequences you add to it in the order you add them which would mean i need to save one my loop under minimum of 4 new sequences (intro,verse1,hook, etc) then add them to 1 song

2. the song changes the pmgs and sounds in second sequence I add to
so ends up not playing as it was recorded.

Am I the only person trying to use the MPC this way?

"nice to see we can still get decent answers round here"


When more "decent" questions are posed more "decent" answer will be rendered.

Like yours is a good example of a decent situation but it's also in the manual and you should read up on song mode.

Song mode plays back EXACTLY what you put in it, your seq's tracks aren't lining up (this "lining up" seq's is not in the manual, that's the reason why I'm answering.

For example when you make seq1:
track 1 = kick
track 2 = snare
track 3 = hhat

Your seq2, needs to follw this same pattern of tracks.
Hence "lining them up".

Now when you put them in song mode, the mpc plays out EXACLTY what samples are lined up with the tracks, it cannot switch tracks and samples around to misaligned tracks. YOU have to make sure all your tracks on every seq line up together. ie. all seq's track1 is kick, all seq's track2 is snare etc.... After that you are golden.

True some questions deserve the 'Noob, Read the manual, Search answer!!!

Yeah tried the maunal and found nothing on the fact that the seq's have to be 'Lined' up the same, only info was saying that the sequences in song can follow the same track pgm's as the first seq.

Also in regards to making a full arrangement is this 'Song mode' the only way of doing it, cutting one loop up, saving it as different seq's then putting them all together as one song....I know, i know sounds confusing but surely I cant be the only person trying reord this way.

Any tips, tricks are welcome

Agains thanks for your input

if i do a whole song on the mpc, i usually make the length of hte sequence (just 1 sequence) the total length of the song. edit the stuff in seq edit and just play the whole thing out from start to finish and tweak it accordingly. kinda a pain in the a$$ but it works for me. then ive just started tracking out onto my computer, so i might be able to avoid that, just record 4 bars of each track and then tweak it on the laptop...

im not too good with the mpc yet, so you may not want to listen to me...haha

Thanks man, thats what I do in the studio, just record 2/4/8 bars then copy the bars to the computer and arrange it that way (copy and paste, cut/mute the tracks I use/dont use), I was under the impression you could do this all in the 1000.

The way you do it is the way I think I may have to do it, use step edit on ever track to have it how I want.

Interesting so does everyone do it this way or the song mode way I wonder....

You got to be kidding me??!!!

I totally hate this forum...no one can think for themselves to find the answer, so they come here for shortcuts.

Look at how the MPC is working, comprehend how the track mode and song mode works then see how it can for you.

Yes it can do arrangements, so well in fact I have a whole hours stage show programmed in song mode. I never have a problem.

However it can be a problem when you convert all your tracks in song mode to one track, in track mode. avoid this cause i have no idea why it does not stay lined up, well that because it was never lined up to start with so it does help to have track 1 on seq 1 the same as track1 on seq 2 (to avoid this if you have a track thats differnt leave the other one blank.)
but to be honest why convert? its best to stay in song mode with all your organised tracks and your good to go.


Think out the box dude!! and see whats actually happening.

i also had this prob when i started as it didn't suite my existing workflow, but once you have a nice 4 bar, make it 16 32 whatever and then copy each sequence to a new sequence ( the mpc is really fast at doing this ) then to get a sketch just mute tracks in each sequence in your preferred order to get your skeleton track then sculpt from there, we hoping this new OS will have recordable track mutes, as i feel this will make for quicker sketching, but its fine this way as well

i think people get to worked up over track mutes. just don't program those notes to begin with. seems easier than programing them just to turn around and mute them.

no track mutes mean u can stop a sample half way thru or bring it in halfway thru or watever.... it gives your music a completely6 raw sound that i for one love!!!!! if u mess with a boss sp303 youll know exactly wat i mean!!! its kinda the same sound like real stuttery but organic.

Mr I3rown wrote:Think out the box dude!! and see whats actually happening.

I think Mr Brown is right. I'm going to close with that.