start/end points

suuup, dont worry this isnt a question!
just got my 500 last week, and i thought the best way to get used to chopping stuff up using numbers rather than wave might be to just get a load of drum breaks and try chopping them up to create a couple of programs. get comfortable with it. at first i was struggling with the accuracy of the start/end points but now i think im getting used to it.
just wondering how you lot find it, how accurate are you etc etc?

Hold down SHIFT when you want to adjust the numbers that can't be reached. For some reason Akai made the cursor skip every other number, but with SHIFT held, you can get to those easy.

Look for my NINJA thread, there's hidden tricks in this machine.

ah yes im onto that shift thing, i used to have a 2000XL a couple of years ago so im familiar with the basic layout and stuff. just a bit of a learning curve with the old chopping. especially knowing where to put the end points when trying to get a snare or a kick! im getting the hang of the thing though. ill check your thread bro for sure

Get to know the EXTRACT feature, its the manual labor version of Chop Shop. Plus it does not destroy the original sample, it just makes a copy of sections you adjusted with the start and end points.

yeah cool. i do miss the zoning feature aswell! that was a time saver. im having fun messing around in program mode. changing the pitch and the filters and shit to try and make the drums sound a bit crisper n shit. although im not quite sure how to apply the LP to the entire break and then chop it up post filtering. but therein lies the fun eh! also, normalise?! does that just make the sample louder?

Any normalize function does make a sample louder, but be sure to understand the process to know if it's what you want.

Normalize will analyze a waveform and find the loudest part of the wave peaks or transients as they are called. Then it scales that ceiling of a dB level across the whole file. The result is a file that will be as loud as you can make it without going into horrid over driven digital distortion.

If I remember right a 3dB gain added will make a waveform 50% louder in perceived loudness to the ear. A 6dB (The most one should ever really need) will I think double a waveforms perceived volume.

So sometimes you may just need same gain added to the sample like 0.5 - 5.0dB's and maybe just add that and use normalize on samples you are OK with getting boosted to the max.

That's just normalize in general on anything. Illgreen is indeed the NINJA and has jokes for days, so much 500 goodness to be gleaned from the MPC500 Mega Brujo.