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By cleansocks Sun Feb 14, 2021 9:51 pm
... on an MPC , for me i am new to this only got my a little less than a year ago but I sense that it's really hard to make a trap / drill beat on an MPC compared to a laptop. I just wann see if thats something any one else feels the same about. I been doing a lot of sample based and boom bap type stuff and for me thats way easier on a 4000 or any kind of MPC , but the fast modern beats i just find so hard to do on the mpc.. at least on mine (the 4000) you lack the fast element of just dragging sounds / loops over an empty pattern like FL studio. shit takes forever to find a sound, load a sound, get the sound you want to sound just right with your other sounds. And then you have to record it into a pattern and copy that pattern x5 x6 times to add different variants to all the elements you got going on in your song (hi hat, bass - glide, kick, snare) as opposed to dragging and clicking on a laptop. I guess this turned more into a rant but I'd like to know if anyone feels like this and if you don't maybe share some tips you have because the MPC workflow with these modern type beats isn't cuttin it for me
By Cockdiesel Sun Feb 14, 2021 10:44 pm
Trap beats are pretty easy.... note repeat on the high hats, kick and snare, one or two chords. It’s pretty simple stuff.

I’d suggest starting at 150, 8 bars, laying down high hats at 1/8th notes, making a melody then putting your kick and snare in to taste. Double up the sequence and erase some high hats and make 1/16th and 32nd note rolls based on the flavor you want. There’s no way dragging and dropping is as fun or even that much quicker.
You just got to find a work flow that works for you. It’s really not much different than making boom bap.
Do you have a keyboard hooked up to your MPC?
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By Lampdog Sun Feb 14, 2021 11:42 pm
No offense CS but those complaint/rants sound lazy. It doesn’t take “forever” to pick a sample on any gear I’ve used. It seems that way for people who want “instantaneous satisfaction” and that would mean spoilery is involved. Production is not a quick thing, never has been.

What next, 1 button beats?

You spent alot of time troubleshooting your loop triggering issues (glad you found a solution) than this you just stated.
By cleansocks Mon Feb 15, 2021 12:33 am
Lampdog wrote:No offense CS but those complaint/rants sound lazy. It doesn’t take “forever” to pick a sample on any gear I’ve used. It seems that way for people who want “instantaneous satisfaction” and that would mean spoilery is involved. Production is not a quick thing, never has been.

What next, 1 button beats?

You spent alot of time troubleshooting your loop triggering issues (glad you found a solution) than this you just stated.


YEAH i dont mind putting the work in i think u may have mistook what I am saying for laziness. Boom bap at least to my ear is structurally very simple listen to any J dilla beat its his loop and his fat kick and snare and sometimes he changes it up and thats that. Trap and drill theres jus too much shit going on and i am just not sure how to structure that well on an MPC. dont say I Dont put in work lol I was up till 4am making something halfway decent but it jus doesnt sound right compared to other artists who use laptops more ..
By cleansocks Mon Feb 15, 2021 12:35 am
cleansocks wrote:
Lampdog wrote:No offense CS but those complaint/rants sound lazy. It doesn’t take “forever” to pick a sample on any gear I’ve used. It seems that way for people who want “instantaneous satisfaction” and that would mean spoilery is involved. Production is not a quick thing, never has been.

What next, 1 button beats?

You spent alot of time troubleshooting your loop triggering issues (glad you found a solution) than this you just stated.


YEAH i dont mind putting the work in i think u may have mistook what I am saying for laziness. Boom bap at least to my ear is structurally very simple listen to any J dilla beat its his loop and his fat kick and snare and sometimes he changes it up and thats that. Trap and drill theres jus too much **** going on and i am just not sure how to structure that well on an MPC. dont say I Dont put in work lol I was up till 4am making something halfway decent but it jus doesnt sound right compared to other artists who use laptops more ..



no im not gonna ditch my mpc or move to a laptop jus cause i made this posit its more like those of u who disagree with me How do u do it.. For me at least I'm gonna take Cock Diesels advice for rn
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By Lampdog Mon Feb 15, 2021 1:48 am
Trap is easier. Boombap feels like it requires more thought and is a more natural feel to create. Maybe your brain has been doing other styles so long that trap just doesn’t compute. If you halfway or don’t care then it might seem harder than it really is?! IDK. I don’t care for trap but i can easily make it. I don’t even need a kybd, just standalone mpc is perfectly fine.
By cleansocks Mon Feb 15, 2021 2:10 am
Lampdog wrote:Trap is easier. Boombap feels like it requires more thought and is a more natural feel to create. Maybe your brain has been doing other styles so long that trap just doesn’t compute. If you halfway or don’t care then it might seem harder than it really is?! IDK. I don’t care for trap but i can easily make it. I don’t even need a kybd, just standalone mpc is perfectly fine.



boom bap is very natural to me i can put it down pretty easy I feel like.. as im typing this im messin with the "drill / trap" thing I made a template of last night and it sounds ridiculously shitty. i like drill and trap but ill be honest i would be making lo-fi and boom bap stuff if my friend didn't request me to craft him something. I am purely in it for the challenge at this point. I'd send a snippet but theres no point I just gotta keep messing with it till it sounds right lol..
By Cockdiesel Mon Feb 15, 2021 2:12 am
I only suggested a keyboard because at least for me it’s easier to make melodies and stuff. I’m pretty sure the 4K doesn’t have pad progressions or anything to make it even easier. I’d say trap is the easiest to make with newer mpcs. Boom bap tends to not sit on the grid as much.
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By mr_debauch Mon Feb 15, 2021 3:14 am
well i can sort of see that... the mpc makes it a breeze to do more involved midi sequencing, recording external gear via midi... programming midi patterns. but the one thing that is not as easy is to program fx automation. i don't know a ton about drill, but some of the stuff i have heard does tend to have stuff that sounds pretty simple on the surface but actually it might be a VST instrument with a lot going on in terms of automation or even general sound design. so you get your drums together which is not a huge deal but when you want to lay down your background melody it might just be easier to lock some of those details in with the mouse.
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By Lampdog Mon Feb 15, 2021 5:19 am
Automation has not been a problem for me on X standalone. But, I understand I am more patient than some and I “want” to stay in standalone.
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By mr_debauch Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:18 am
to be honest, i got the live mk1 the earliest we were able to get one... they just were not available here. i opened the software once because i thought maybe that was the way to update the firmware. i was wrong. never opened it again.
By cleansocks Mon Feb 15, 2021 8:47 am
For me the kick and note repeat for hi hats is all gravy that stuff is fine... its the 808 glides. I really like the 4000 but its reallyt a hit or miss in this avenue so far and I can't tell if its all the freemium packs i downloaded that sound like ass or if its the MPC 4000 itself but im more inclined towards my poor sound selection. I legit have to hunt for a good one because they dont come out clean like they do on the PC. even with transposing, filtering, editing the zones I get 808s that crackle or pop when transitioning / gliding to the next 808 .. and yes i turned off 16 levels. Its workable i got something to sound okay for now but its bugging me how much stuff there is to do jus to get it sounding right... that leads me to believe people here buy their sounds if they arent ripping em from Vinyl. I hope thats the case cuz its a lot easier to diagnose paying 20 bucks for a good pack compared to scratching my head over my MPC . love it to death though the process is why i'm stiill here