can i pre-arrange my song layout in MP3K before i record it?

Hi, i just got my studio set-up and i have a MPC 3000 and i was wondering if i could get some help with this question please.

Lets say im finished making a beat in my MPC3000 and now its time to record it to the computer. Is it possible for me to pre-arrange my whole finished beat to make certain tracks turn on and off like the chorus without having to turn the track on and off in real time? Im finished a beat and its time to record it but i have a lot of tracks i have to turn on and off at certain parts in my beat and i cant do this in real time its way to hard. I record into Cubase SX2 and i have no other controller or anything else to turn tracks on and off in the MPC 3000.

If anybody can help me out and please explain if i can do this and how i would greatly appreciated it as im trying to record this beat. Thanks!

Sure there's a way. All you have to do is get creative with your sequencing.

Say for example you have a sequence called "Chorus1". It consists of some instrument parts, some drums, some bass, etc. If you want to mute tracks just copy "Chorus1" and rename it like "Chorus1Alt" (Alt=alternate). Then erase the tracks or parts of the tracks you want to mute. Step edit would be great here for precision or you can erase unwanted parts while in overdub mode.

This way you'll have a copy of a sequence but it will be an alternate copy where certain instrument parts/tracks are muted for variation. This is the easiest way that I can think of doing it. Hope that helps.

motion detect wrote:Lets say im finished making a beat in my MPC3000 and now its time to record it to the computer. Is it possible for me to pre-arrange my whole finished beat to make certain tracks turn on and off like the chorus without having to turn the track on and off in real time?

The SONG mode is good for this.

Take the example posted by user - "BassLINE" about creating different patterns that break down or build up your song.

Now assemble these patterns in the play order required using the SONG mode.

Shouldn't be too hard.

Rohan.

Hey guys, thanks for the help i really appreciate it. Is it too late if i already finished a beat just in one sequence? I need to pre- arrange the tracks now to mute and unmute as i desire.

Im still kind of confused on how to do this im sorry guys. So its possible for me to pre-arrange lets say a 4 minute beat so i have drums,instruments, muting and unmuting through out different parts of my 4 minute beat without having to do it in real-time when recording to lets say Cubase for example?

Again sorry guys.Thanks!

I use song mode also. U can copy the sequence with as many variations as u want and just mute the traccs as desired in the respective sequences. Then u go in2 song mode and dictate which sequence will play and how many times it will repeat.

Hey guys, im sorry i still dont understand, can somebody please describe the steps and functions in the MPC3000 one by one in order from scratch so i can do this please?

Basically can somebody explain the exact steps needed after i've finished a beat in the MPC3000 please to do what im asking please.

Once im happy with my beat is there a way to play my 4 bar loop continuously for 5 minutes straight for example and i can go into each track and mute and unmute on the fly? I wont be able to mute and unmute everything properly in one try but can i record multiple takes of me muting and unmuting tracks untill i get it all perfect?

Basically so instead of my beat looping back after 4 bars can i have it play for 5 minutes staright without looping back to the beginning?

Ok, take the beat, then mute the tracks you don;t want in your first 4 bars, so that's the intro, if it is 8 bars long don;t worry you can repeat the 4 bars later in song mode. Then hit edit and hit copy sequence, then you will have another sequence identical to the first, but on this one, mute and unmute tracks for the next section of your song, then copy that sequence, then unmute and mute the tracks for the next section of your song, then copy that sequence... for as many sections as you want, as you go from sequence 1 to the rest, you are moving through your song. Then go to song mode, and select sequence 1 for step one, seq 2 for step 2, and you can set how many times each sequence repeats, so with a 4 bar sequence in step one you can have it play 2 times for an 8 bar intro for example.

Then play the whole song and you will hear all the mutes and changes happen where you put them, you can go back and change things in the sequences or in the order in song mode, so nothing is set in stone.

I love working this way.

elmacaco, that was amazing thank you very much i totally understood that. For some reason my beat i just finshed is on Sequence 2, so will i still be able to copy this sequence 2 to multiple sequences or will it want to copy from Sequence 1?

Next time i make a beat i will always finish it on Sequence 1 then make copies from there, i must have scrolled to sequence 2 by accident when i started this beat.



Another thing i noticed is that when i load up some drums and change their volumes in the "edit sound" screen and then even though i save the system paramaters,program, and sequence before turning the MPC off when i turn it back on and load the same samples i just saved the volume levels aren't saved and i have to go back and change the volumes everytime to how i had them before i turned the MPC off. Is there a way to make it so my volume levels get saved too whwn i load my kit back up or even for midi instruments that i changed the volume for in the MPC?

Thanks again for your great help!

http://akaipro.com/archive_doc/MPC3000V3.0Manual.zip

Be patient, everything you need to know is in that doc.

Well, my computer is kind of messed up right now and when i try to download anything or even go into my computer i get something that says there has been a error caused or something but i can browse the net. I cant get this problem looked after right this second so 2wice that is useless to me but thanks anyways for trying to help.

elmacaco if you could help me out with my last questions when you have time i would greatly appreciate it.Thanks!

It doesn[t matter what sequence your beat is on, you can arrange any sequence in song mode.

When you change the volumes, you need to save the Program again.

Thanks a lot elmacaco your great! Im going to try and give this a shot now.Thanks!