basically, it sounds like all you're doing is changing the PAD tune. with the cursor on the 'tune' field you can make the pitch higher or lower by turning the data wheel right or left, respectively. the sound will start to sound bad/distorted if you tune it too far out of it's 'range' or whatever. for voice samples, 9/10 i sample with pitch at zero on the turntable @ 45RPM so of course i'm going to adjust either 1) the actual tune of the sound in the MPC (sounds>6>tune) or 2) the PAD tune (sounds>2>tune).
i was just messin' around with tuning the pads today. just load up a piano sample (UNCOMPRESSED. if you compress the sound you can only tune it higher, not higher or lower just higher) and mess with note variation setting (hit the pad the piano note is on, hit 'note var' key on LHS, hit soft key on yes). pad 13 is the center, now start hitting different pads and notice the tuning settings. they're tuned up or down in increments of '10'.
now you can go to an empty bank (i.e. bank B) and set up each pad's tuning to your desire and play notes simultaneously which will record just how you play it. i like to set up chords. each note of the chord is on each respective pad. hit two or three pads together and see how it sounds, adjust tuning accordingly. once you got a nice little bank to mess with, program your drums and record your little chord progression. think of it like a keyboard but instead of keys in a line you have to manually set up individual notes on your pads by setting the tune properly.
oh, and as for drum sounds, 9/10 i sample those at '0' pitch on the turntable @ 33RPM and tune accordingly, usually not much at all. mostly just effects like attack/decay.
"All I see is blinkin' lights track boards and fat mics,
950's, SP12's, MP60's..."
