Reviews and questions about the entry-level MPC500
By pich172 Thu Mar 20, 2014 8:25 pm
I've been looking into adding swing to my beats and I've been playing around with the swing feature but it only seems to work if im using note repeat? Do you have to use note repeat to add the swing, I recorded a few tracks with and without swing using the note repeat button and noted down the number in step edit and have been editing it manually after recoding my sequence without note repeat, it's sounding ok but just wanted to know if note repeat is a must?
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By inflict3 Sun Mar 23, 2014 1:51 am
i wanna know more on this, cause i thought i heard the swing once, but when i tot iced it was with the note repeat, but on the 1000 it seems cool how you can shift before and after, at least on the jjos… maybe try the swing with the 1/16 timing, i don't think it will on the 1/8.. lets kep this thread going, maybe get ill green on this shit!!
By pich172 Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:20 am
I noticed that if you press shift with note repeat to make the pad repeat by itself you can then go on the swing setting and while holding the pad change the percentage and you can match the swing to the beat, you lot probably know this already but just thought id say, I've just stared altering the pads in step edit now it's a bit time consuming tho
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By inflict3 Mon Mar 24, 2014 11:49 pm
I've never **** with step edit on my 500, how is it? is there an easy way to shift a note forward or backward? like nudge a snare just a lil??
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By MFosterUk Tue Mar 25, 2014 1:35 am
yeah you can move notes in the step edit. you have to select 'move' and scroll up or down from the note and just click do it. its not like on the 2000 where you can nudge them early/late. like pich said its a bit time consuming if you were moving all your snares to hit a bit late or whatever.
i use the step edit quite alot anyway though!
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By ralphyartis' Tue Mar 25, 2014 5:13 am
In seq edit (mode + pad 10) you can do time correct and adjust swing that way, you can choose which pads to apply it to as well as the bars to correct. This might save some time. Also within the seq edit mode there is a shift timing function, which I have never used but you might want to explore.
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By inflict3 Tue Mar 25, 2014 5:42 am
ralphyartis' wrote:In seq edit (mode + pad 10) you can do time correct and adjust swing that way, you can choose which pads to apply it to as well as the bars to correct. This might save some time. Also within the seq edit mode there is a shift timing function, which I have never used but you might want to explore.


really?? ima have to look into this, the main things I've never **** with on my 500 is seq edit and step edit.. i just found a shift timing in the seq edit menu I'm gonna look into now!! thank you!! just when u think u got it all down there is more shit to learn on this lil mp :worthy: so lately I've just been leaving the timing correct off and keep trying till i get it right all on one track with the drums, just free styling em,. then i copy that track to the next 3 tracks and go through each one and delete the other 2 pads so its just one drum on each track.. this timing shift thing is a whole new level for me :smoker:
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By Ill-Green Tue Mar 25, 2014 8:04 pm
pich172 wrote:I noticed that if you press shift with note repeat to make the pad repeat by itself you can then go on the swing setting and while holding the pad change the percentage and you can match the swing to the beat, you lot probably know this already but just thought id say, I've just stared altering the pads in step edit now it's a bit time consuming tho

Nope I didn't know this.

Power of the SHIFT key!!!
By pich172 Tue Mar 25, 2014 9:45 pm
Nice info here guys thanks for taking time out to write back, Yeh step edit is a bit slow but once you get the hang of it I found it really good, I haven't tried the time shifting yet tho but I'll have a look into that, I've been trolling through the production forum but theres way too much on there too take in lol, think I need a break from reading all that, it's all really good but takes the fun out of it for me, I found if you delay the second note in each beat it gives a nice swing to it but can also ruin it too,

I just check your beats out inflict3 and ill green and there really nice :-) did you make them just on the 500? How long you been using it for?
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By inflict3 Tue Mar 25, 2014 9:53 pm
ralphyartis' wrote:In seq edit (mode + pad 10) you can do time correct and adjust swing that way, you can choose which pads to apply it to as well as the bars to correct. This might save some time. Also within the seq edit mode there is a shift timing function, which I have never used but you might want to explore.



mode/pad10/shift timing?? i select the snare/pad3 in the pads window for it then scroll over to shift earlier amount on 12 and press do it, and walla it shifts all the snares a lil earlier.. bam, its dem off beat dilla beats every one is trying so hard to get….man, it works just like the shift timing on the 1000jjos!!!!
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By inflict3 Tue Mar 25, 2014 9:57 pm
^^^^^ you can actually nudge your notes just a lil.. this shit is sick!!! if you turn the amount all the way to 96 say on the pad that the snare is on then the snare will hit on the first kick on the 1 beat….man, i didn't know u could do this shit on the 500!!!!!!!!!!!!! :worthy:
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By inflict3 Tue Mar 25, 2014 10:07 pm
also i have the in at the start 1.01 and the out to 5.01 as my sequence is 4 bars also on the shift timing edit menu i have seq1 selected and t:A1 as all my drums are on track 1… man, this is some **** don't sleep on me type shit,. I'm sooooo **** excited about this feature!!!!
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By Ill-Green Tue Mar 25, 2014 10:39 pm
pich172 wrote:Nice info here guys thanks for taking time out to write back, Yeh step edit is a bit slow but once you get the hang of it I found it really good, I haven't tried the time shifting yet tho but I'll have a look into that, I've been trolling through the production forum but theres way too much on there too take in lol, think I need a break from reading all that, it's all really good but takes the fun out of it for me, I found if you delay the second note in each beat it gives a nice swing to it but can also ruin it too,

I just check your beats out inflict3 and ill green and there really nice :-) did you make them just on the 500? How long you been using it for?

Thanks Pich!!! Had the 500 when they first released in 2006 and I hated it at first but I'm merciful with samplers and decided to reverse engineer this thing for better use. Some beats are 500 and some are from my other samplers. I like switching it up because every sampler has a different flow and that means you'll be doing different things. These days I'm producing heavily on the 500 just to shut the naysayers that shitted on this MPC :twisted:

Yo this swing trick is good stuff, I usually turn off TC and call it a day, but now its like a new discovery. I'm telling you man, this machine is just as deep as any MPC. :nod:
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By inflict3 Tue Mar 25, 2014 10:44 pm
pich172 wrote:Nice info here guys thanks for taking time out to write back, Yeh step edit is a bit slow but once you get the hang of it I found it really good, I haven't tried the time shifting yet tho but I'll have a look into that, I've been trolling through the production forum but theres way too much on there too take in lol, think I need a break from reading all that, it's all really good but takes the fun out of it for me, I found if you delay the second note in each beat it gives a nice swing to it but can also ruin it too,

I just check your beats out inflict3 and ill green and there really nice :-) did you make them just on the 500? How long you been using it for?


i been using the 500 since 08' most of my beat battle beats i do on the 500, well most of my hip hop beats i do on the 500. my electronic beats up on soundcloud are done on reason or machine and reason. but mostly I'm on my 500..thanks for the complements!!
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By inflict3 Wed Mar 26, 2014 3:22 pm
here it is, went searching through the eBook last night and found a small paragraph on "shift timing"



Shift Timing
Shift timing allows the small movement of note data - for example, you could choose to move all instances of pad A1 three ticks forward, or ten ticks back. So, to move pad A1 three ticks back throughout an entire track, select ‘Notes: A01’, then set ‘Shift:EARLIER’ and ‘Amount: 3’.
Note that if you wish to change multiple pads at once, just hit all the pads you wish to change and they’ll appear in succession in the ‘Pads’ page.