Post your questions, opinions and reviews of the MPC1000. This forum is for discussion of the OFFICIAL Akai OS (2.1). If you wish to discuss the JJ OS, please use the dedicated JJ OS forum
By Tha Saint Wed Sep 14, 2005 3:39 am
Can anyone comment on recording real bass licks with a bass guitar directly into one of the L or R rec inputs on the 1k? I'm kinda finding it difficult playing along with a track and recording with bass in terms of timing, maybe one of y'all know a trick or two but i'm curious if some of you do it fairly often or opt to record into sequencer software instead, or even to mic an amp.

PAYCE!!!

By cdubchi Wed Sep 14, 2005 3:44 am
You will probably have trouble hearing the bass at all that way unless you've got active pickups. You need to be using a pre-amp of some kind or recording from a bass amp.

By sleepersriddle Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:56 am
Yeah what he said...

but if yer having issues with timing, its probably not caused by the mpc; (so maybe its your playing ;) ) the only issue would be aligning the start point.

If the first note you hit doesn't start right on a beat, that could be the problem. In that case you will have to f** with the edit mode to move your sample around, or maybe just turn timing correct off and practise triggering it w/ the pad until it sounds right.

As long as you got the startpoint right tho, everything should line up and if it doesn't its your playin.

By Tha Saint Wed Sep 14, 2005 1:39 pm
Yeah, i've been using my TwinTrack focusrite's inst. in for recording bass licks into sequencer software previously, but wanted to try out the 1k for shiltz -n' giggles. Cdubchi's right with regards to hearing the bass after recording presumably due to the preamp that's not in place, I find the bass recording sounds 'garbled' if that makes any sense at all. Haven't tried mic'ing a bass amp yet but i'll keep experimenting. I thought of hooking my spdif out on the focusrite to the 1k to work as a preamp but i think the a/d converters are 24/96 and the 1k only handles 44 sampling rate devices so that's probably not a viable option. I'm just trying to get a feel on what route would be good to get the bass recorded well and then focus on getting it to sit in the mix the right way, so i'll keep chuggin' along.
Thanx y'all

PAYCE!!!
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By gurulyons Wed Sep 14, 2005 3:27 pm
Ive recorded a bass guitar a few times into my mpc and you dont need to pre amp it. the mpc's rec gain control is all you need.
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By DrFunk7777 Wed Sep 14, 2005 3:48 pm
Something very small that will help tremendously.

Try a compressor pedal. (Preferably a Boss pedal, or better) Make sure whatever you get has stereo outs. It's not necessary, but helpful. I would start there and work your way up. Some pedals/rack mounts are hundreds of dollars, but worth it. You're going to need to compress that bass. You might as well do it before you record the sample. It will also have a "Level" out. Nice, strong, controlled signal without squashing your tone too much. Cool?
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By d_loc Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:12 pm
gurulyons is on point

I have done this several times as well, with the gain jacked up most of the way it sounds ok to just normalize later and call it a day.

try making a long sample, i.e. if your loop is 2 bars set sample time to 2 minutes, then play along the whole time and find the best loop!!
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By Capshun Wed Sep 14, 2005 8:16 pm
what i do is wait untill the beat is tracked into cubase, then i add a bassline with the novation
By The Beat Conductor Wed Sep 14, 2005 9:14 pm
Tha Saint wrote:I'm kinda finding it difficult playing along with a track and recording with bass in terms of timing


The metronome is only on while recording a sequence (by default), but you can turn on the metronome while a sequence is playing too.

Practice...
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By gunmetal Thu Sep 15, 2005 8:47 am
The Beat Conductor wrote:
Tha Saint wrote:I'm kinda finding it difficult playing along with a track and recording with bass in terms of timing


The metronome is only on while recording a sequence (by default), but you can turn on the metronome while a sequence is playing too.

Practice...


is this the bible of beat making?


so true indeed.....



microwave beats are what dont get you deals buddy..... on the strength , son. if you don't got it.... you don't got it....



tip.... 40 hours on one beat.... try it.... see what happens.....

i bet alot o' these kids don't know who jaydee, primo, or rza is... or midnight mauraders :? it's like sanskrit to these lil jon, mannie fresh thinkin it's hip hop cats :evil:

By Tha Saint Thu Sep 15, 2005 2:29 pm
Hey yo gunmetal thanks for the vote of confidence, at your pace it sounds like you'll be moderator in no time, and i'd probably rhyme you under the table lookin like a sissy let alone kickin out licks. But i'm not on this forum to cut anyone up or demoralize any1...
I've already recorded bass licks with Cubase "in time", i'm mainly talking about the 1k's recording capabilities itself qualitly wise.

To the rest of y'all thanx for the tips, greatly appreciated. Kewl 8) (To DrFunk)

PAYCE!!!

By J-Villa Thu Sep 15, 2005 3:07 pm
i agree with what gurulyons said, and you can also turn up the volume to 0db as well (check the tabs in MODE -> OTHER)...
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By DrFunk7777 Thu Sep 15, 2005 3:23 pm
Tha Saint...no problem. You will find alot of cool people on this site who are more than happy to help. Unfortunately, sometimes ya gotta sift through the "weeds". Nah Mean?? Don't let it stop you from asking questions!! :lol:
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By TFunk13 Thu Sep 15, 2005 4:06 pm
Get a Line 6 bass POD and run that into your MPC. I do that for guitar and it sounds great. This way you get dynamic and time based effects with amp modeling and a boosted signal.
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By DrFunk7777 Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:45 pm
TFunk13...Doesn't the Bass Pod have S/PDIF Out as well? That would definitely be a great choice. It's got a ton of great (useable) sounds, tuner, cab emulator...

S/PDIF out to the S/PDIF in. Nice setup.