IN MAJOR DISTRESS!

Hi all,
Look im just being straight up honest. Been spending a bit of time on my 1k but still cant get the hang of it.
I have taught myself through all the functions but cant get anything sounding right.
I'm wanting to start out by doing the usual created drum beat on various tracks and play chopped samples over it. And to be sadly honest with you all i cant get it sounding right at all ;(

I have read and understand all manuals and watched every clip on youtube. So not lacking there. I'm lacking on heaps of spare time so would be good to be able to work it all out myself.
No vid on youtube show you each step you take.
This Roger Molls vid is the closest i think http://www.youtube.com/user/jaidingo?fe ... XEraQaKDUw
Im not sure about time stretching and what to stretch too?

I know im gonna cop some slack over this, but i dont care. I just wanna start this adventure off!

time stretching helps you fit the samples or sequence to fit the tempo of the whole track. if you want the sample played slower to match the tempo, you time stretch it so it becomes slower and matches.

making beats sound the way you want 'em comes in time. the longer you work with them and the more dedication and real effort you put in, the better off you'll be. trust me homie

if yr having a really hard time, don't try to make 16 bar sections. just work the samples over and make a 1 bar beat you are happy with.

start small, work up.

These are all great pieces of advice!

OK, though, fawn's start small and work up suggestion made me think...

No disrespect whatsoever, homie, but do you know the basic fundamentals of a drum loop? Waaaaaay back in the 90's (when I was already 267 years old) I had no idea, I was making beats completely out of sampled loops. When I got my first sequencer I was lost!

So, I essentialy took a basic funky sample, got it to loop and added the snares at the same time they hit on the sample. Then I put in hi-hats on a basic 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4 pattern (over the sample as well). Then, I took the sample out. That left me with a
tik-tik-CLAP-tik-tik-tik-CLAP-tik loop that I was then free to dress up. Sounds silly but that opened up WORLDS to me.

Do you have an audio editor? Audacity is a good one. I use Sound Forge. You can use it to chop out samples in an extremely easy fashion. Don't take large pieces at first, as fawn suggests, start small, like one note at a time. Also Sound Forge has a simple FADE OUT function that can go miles by way of making your samples sound cool. Sometimes you want the abrupt-chop cutoff, though. Whatever. It's your thang, just focus a lil' on grabbing ill one shots, for now. Export them bitches to your 1000 into a dedicated project folder, then load the whole folder from the 100o's load screen. Then in program mode, use your jog wheel to scroll through the samples you want to assign to your pads, real easy like.

I love how in the program mode of the 1000 you just hit the pad you want to assign the sample to, select the sample with the jog wheel, and it's there. Lather, rinse, repeat. Then go to the program "parameters" screen (f2 I think?) and set all them pads/samples to "mono," so they don't overlap themselves, and put em all in, say, mute group one, so they don't overlap each other. Later, as you get more familiar, you can toy with these settings to suit yourself, but that's a decent starting point.

Then, hi-hat and snare pattern down, sample program ready, smoke you a blunt, tilt ya hat, and get your Primo on.

a good tip that has helped me at times is to just listen to a beat that you like and then try to build it w/ your MPC. You will get that basic understanding of a drumloop that Quietize mentioned and you won't be stressing about how your beats suck.

ENJOY yout time

~Steve

Hey again!
1st up i just wanna say thanks heaps. Great help and ideas guys.
Some ideas are sounding similar, thats good. I think im getting somewhere. Its just the time factor. I think
quietizkept- Im kind of going about it in the same kind of fashion. That seems like a great way to go THANKS!
Ill keep on trucking. Hopefully i might be able to come up with something i can show you guys ;p
Thanks heaps againz

Glad to be a help!

Oh mate!
It all was great help. I just got up this morn, had a major breakfast and bashed away.
Got a great sample and just been mucking around.
Time stretching is being pretty confusing for me though. Starting to think if its just me. Did it shit you guys when you 1st started out?
THANKS

See? this is why this is the best forum there is. Please excuse my pride!

I have to admit, though, I never got the hang of the MPC's time stretch function. I gave it a shot, but all I kept thinking was how much easier timestretching was done in my old Sonic Foundry ACID program. I just throw the sample in there, then drag the tempo slider. All during playback. Also, I can just hit the + or - keys to change the pitch, also during playback. Export the loops then viola!

I got another secret weapon program in my arsenal, too, but that's what's up. I used to think when I got my MPC I'd set my pc on FIRE and say goodbye to it forever. The truth was the MPC+pc programs was the fastest workflow for me. Props to LampDog for knowing off top the range of good-sounding stretching inside the MPC. Some cats make a point of doing everything inside the MPC, perhaps for bragging rights, or maybe, they just got on down with what they had. Lamp has pointed out many times that the bottom line is, you gotta put the work in, and do you. If it works for you, you win. All the suggestions and knowledge I picked up here were merely a starting point to my own retarded techniques.

Lampdog wrote:No video can show you how to shape your own vision.
Practice x 100 + Patience + Imagination w/ Knowledge of machine = happiness.

Let me make an informed suggestion, about the knowledge of the machine. This is worth every PENNY:
http://www.mpc-samples.com/product.php/ ... e-mpc1000/

And just to boast a lil', I had the MPC 1000's manual (and jjos 3.08) almost memorized before I won my auction!

ACID has better algorithms/ computer processing power to do time stretching so
of course you will be able to get away with bigger stretch ranges on computers than you can
on any mpc imo.

For different samples u may need dif stretches, there's no cookie cutter answer except generally
stretching ALOT will always sound unnatural even on computer.

quietizkept wrote:See? this is why this is the best forum there is. Please excuse my pride!

There's nothing wrong with pride in ur own work and/or beat accomplishments.

For now, try making patterns without resorting to time-stretching. Your chops, playing and general skills around the machine will benefit in the long-term as a result of forgetting it's even a feature in the short-term.

To you all!
Thanks so much for your comments. I am getting there. Its just a time factor. I have to really invest some time with my MPC.
Time-stretching is something i just dont really understand. I have read up on it as much as i can. Looked at all vids relating to it. I think ill take that last advise and just use samples without stretching them initially.
But mainly a massive fanks to you all. I wrote this thinking "oh, shit. Im gonna get heaps back saying read ya manuals and crap.
Thanks heaps all. Shows how this is the best site for all MPC knowledge! Its limitless

Thanks for hollering back!