Setting Global BPM

I use my mpc1000 for live sampling mainly. I cannot figure out how the BPM setting works with the tap tempo. Can i not tap tempo and have it set the BPM for every sample im using in a certain loaded program??

Also, i cannot figure out to set it where i hit a sample pad once and it just repeats the sample in the set bpm forever without me having to hold anything down.

Any help??

thanks in advance

gasparilla13 wrote:I use my mpc1000 for live sampling mainly. I cannot figure out how the BPM setting works with the tap tempo. Can i not tap tempo and have it set the BPM for every sample im using in a certain loaded program??

Also, i cannot figure out to set it where i hit a sample pad once and it just repeats the sample in the set bpm forever without me having to hold anything down.

Any help??

thanks in advance

the tempo setting has nothing to do with the samples, it sets the sequence tempo

thedvs01 wrote:

gasparilla13 wrote:I use my mpc1000 for live sampling mainly. I cannot figure out how the BPM setting works with the tap tempo. Can i not tap tempo and have it set the BPM for every sample im using in a certain loaded program??

Also, i cannot figure out to set it where i hit a sample pad once and it just repeats the sample in the set bpm forever without me having to hold anything down.

Any help??

thanks in advance

the tempo setting has nothing to do with the samples, it sets the sequence tempo

So there is no way at all to use the tap tempo to set a bpm for any sample, period??

No, thats were time-stretching comes in.

gasparilla13 wrote:

thedvs01 wrote:

gasparilla13 wrote:I use my mpc1000 for live sampling mainly. I cannot figure out how the BPM setting works with the tap tempo. Can i not tap tempo and have it set the BPM for every sample im using in a certain loaded program??

Also, i cannot figure out to set it where i hit a sample pad once and it just repeats the sample in the set bpm forever without me having to hold anything down.

Any help??

thanks in advance

the tempo setting has nothing to do with the samples, it sets the sequence tempo

So there is no way at all to use the tap tempo to set a bpm for any sample, period??

no, but it sure comes in handy for finding the tempo of a sample. just hit the pad your sample is on, tap in time, and you've got a pretty close estimate right there

but yes, theres no magical tempo-sync option for the samples. you have to time stretch the samples.

I think an MV-8800 can automatically match samples, but having never used one I can't really say how well it works.

Well hopefully I am assuming since you do it live that you know how to sample and will not bore you with that. I take it that you are a dj of some kind... you are suppose to be the first one to know how fast or slow your sample is if you are pullin it from vinyl. But go with your hear and count how many bars you have or else when you try to get your sample to loop in a seq it will be off. make sure the number of bars that you have sampled and the number of bars on the mp are the same. more that half your work is done right there. then you would just need to tap the tempo in and it should loop up nicely if it doesnt... it is the way you sampled it or the way you counted or just one of those songs where the tempo is not tight in the first place... and that is where time streching and chopin come into play. Some song you can not grabs a 4 or 8 bar phrase and expect it to loop up no mater how well you counted or matched the tempo.

and I just read over your question and previous answers given. If I am reading write everything that I wrote still applies. But after you do what I said and it loops up you are not constricted to the speed that the original sample is you set one qslider to tempo and one to tone or time strech, requires that you have a 2500 or I think JJ os lets you do it (I dont know I have not try JJ yet) but once again you will have to sync everything up. and if you are doing this live and are staying in the trim screen which it sounds like you are doing yes you would have to hold down the pad to get it to loop and it really doesnt matter about timing it will loop regardless how messed up the stop and start points maybe.

the mpc is not a sp404
a wav never, ever has a tempo

a wav contains audio which may or may not be from a song that follows a certain tempo, but the mpc does not assign a tempo to a sample. even in timestretch, you tell the mpc what the orignial tempo is and what the final tempo should be. original song could be at 80 bpm and you could say it's at 140. mpc don't care.

yes but in that case as you used you are right the mpc does care but you would because 80/140 = 4/7 which is not a standard time signature and if you were trying to put drums over the sample unless it is like you said and just a sound and not a song the drums would not translate to the sample if the sample had a tempo of 80 you would need a tempo of 160. (thats of course not a rule I have seen some crazy ways of sampling) I am just explaing how you get the sample to loop up right with having to hold down a pad. If there is suppose to be space or silence in the loop so be it or if you want it to overlap itself so be it. but you have to take in account the seq tempo

Everyone, thank you for the responses! I do appreesh.

Im not a DJ, im a bass player in a band that bought the MPC for a couple of reasons. 1- to lay down beats and sequences so that i can then add bass lines and lyrics and create songs and ideas for songs. 2- to use the MPC live while playing bass and still be able to hit a pad or 2 and have a sample play over our music. Now i know what some of u are saying that i should have read about the MPC's functions more in depth but for cryin out loud i didnt download the manual or anything. And when i see that the mpc 1000 has a Tap Tempo button i think, sick, its gotta set the bpm for all the samples too! I've got a crappy ass Boss Loop station pedal that when u tap tempo the sample ur on it will play that sample/loop in the exact time you tap too...... all the while keeping the same tone of the sample. I figured if that pos does that then this sicky mpc MUST do that. Not the case?

Basically, yes, i have a ton of drum samples on there, but also a lot of movie quotes, synth samples and sounds, etc. So if im in the middle of a song live, and want the sample to match the tempo that my band is playing i guess from what everyone is saying i cannot tap tempo and set the bpm for a sample so that it matches up with the band tempo?? That sucks. I wish i could just tap the tempo of the live song and have all 64 samples of whatever program im on shift to that tempo..... that would be nice, oh well.

And i did look at the Roland samplers but i've heard nothing but bad reviews about all the Sp-whatevers....bad manuals, pads, funtions, support, etc. So thats why i didnt roll with them.

Any suggestions?

The Korg Esx has that function. It's called stretch part. You just take your sample, cut to exact length you want. Program how many bars you want it to play. Up to 4 or 8 bars. Whenever you switch tempos. you can hit the tap tempo. It will sync it up for ya.

You can get one outta craigslist\ebay for 3-4 bills. new i think is 5bills+. I owned every single electribe and this is one I can not live without.

Oh there is a editor program that makes it simple to change your sounds, patterns, and effects without ever having to turn it on. But its online somewhere.

gasparilla13 wrote:Everyone, thank you for the responses! I do appreesh.


Basically, yes, i have a ton of drum samples on there, but also a lot of movie quotes, synth samples and sounds, etc. So if im in the middle of a song live, and want the sample to match the tempo that my band is playing i guess from what everyone is saying i cannot tap tempo and set the bpm for a sample so that it matches up with the band tempo?? That sucks. I wish i could just tap the tempo of the live song and have all 64 samples of whatever program im on shift to that tempo..... that would be nice, oh well.



Any suggestions?

the long and short answer is yes...and no...


If you wanted to have a drum loop synch up with your band, you could do that if you turned it into a patched phrase. but like as far as one shots, synth sounds and stuff, I can't really see where you would need to synch it up in terms of tempo, because I can't imaginie them being long enough to where you would notice the tempo variation.


the problem with static tempo settings is that your band will be forced to play at that tempo, so the machine will set the tempo, not your drummer.

it seems like what you are trying to do would be a lot better if you all had some pre-arranged live act that you could sit down and make some cool patched phrases where you could just tap along with your band to know the tempo then be able to play the patch and it will match your band.


also, try to chop the sound up into as small of pieces as possible and put them on different pads, that way you can control the tempo yourself

or, if pitch doesnt matter, you can always mess with 16 pads and pitch it up which will in turn speed up or slow down the sample


yea, its possible, but would take some doing and some preparation on your part

geedawg1999 on yahoo IM hit me up if you have questions

Hell ya, thanks for the support! Gonna take some time, sit down and see what i can do based on ur answers.

Gracias amigos.

c