Share your knowledge on these two classic MPCs
By ownlife Tue Aug 16, 2005 6:39 am
my mpc60 is arriving in the mail tomorrow, im not really trying to make any hiphop with it though that seems to be the focus of this board. a friend of mine uses a 60 as his main sequencer (and drum sampler) for making techno, but he also has 10 tons of other studio stuff going on along with it. my setup is much more minimal, just a couple synths and an s3000xl. im just curious to hear some other peoples' dance musics made primarily with the mpc60.

By elmacaco Tue Aug 16, 2005 7:10 am
Don't fear, you have enough to make some ill house. 909 samples in a 60 are amazing for house.

By ownlife Tue Aug 16, 2005 7:33 am
elmacaco wrote:Don't fear, you have enough to make some ill house. 909 samples in a 60 are amazing for house.


i wouldnt say im afraid of anything ;)

i know i have enough gear, i just wanna see how people have used things. certainly you cant use it to make filter-disco (at least not on its own, only with an additional sampler with resonant filters). im pretty sure theo parrish rocks an sp1200 + mpc60 for almost all his stuff. i know how i intend to use it, but im interested to see how others have applied it to dance stuff, maybe there are good applications that i havent though of.

as for 909 samples, i grabbed some from mine back before i sold it, but i dont really use them. i usually rock sampled drums, cut up from disco or soul records, hiphop stylee. ive been layering the sampled kicks with this 808-esque bass hit that i made with my mono/poly to give it massive nasty low frequencies. ive been doing this all on my s3000xl. im hooking up the mpc firstly to get away from sequencing on a computer and secondly to add some true 12 bit sampling to my arsenal, downsampling on the s3kxl doesnt do it for me.

BTW, i think i recognize you from the AH list, right?
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By max1973 Tue Aug 16, 2005 2:12 pm
I think Kenny Dope uses the MPC60 and the SP1200. Daft Punk use the SP1200 plus a bunch of other things, etc. The MPC60 is really amazing for house beats, but not for samples as house generally requires a treatment that the MPC cannot deliver. But for beats...it's banging.

By elmacaco Tue Aug 16, 2005 2:57 pm
BTW, i think i recognize you from the AH list, right?


Yup! Same me.

Good to know you have no fear ;)
the 60 won't dissapoint for drums or other samples. Are you getting the 3.10 OS? It's a necesity IMO, it makes the sequencer and sampler so much better.

I went from computer sequencing to the 60 and never looked back, sequening is one of it's stngest points. The sampler is great too.

You should still hear the 909 kick in the 60, it's pretty amazing. Glad to hear you're into chopping drums, Disco is great.

personally, I'm not a big fan of the digital filters on samplers, running the 60 through any analog filter sounds much better than any straight digital filter.

By ntalec Tue Aug 16, 2005 3:11 pm
Few things to think about;
-the sound of the 60 may not be as noticable as you think it will be, spend more time building and filtering the texture of sounds in the 3000.
-try sampling into the 3000 filtering and layering sounds then re-sample that into the 60.
El's dislike for digital filters is like most people, they tend to sound accurate but the 60 has a tendency to smooth it out when you resample a filtered sound through it.
-make lots of variations of each drum sample in the 60 to keep your drums from coming of like that classic 4 on the floor sound
-look into getting some type of hardware eq or filter, it's the missing link to sampling with the 60. It can really make the 12-bit character stand out and take some sheen off the sound of the 3000 and your other synths
There's other stuff too but just those few things should help you start pushing envelopes once the 60 arrives.

By elmacaco Tue Aug 16, 2005 3:16 pm
Yup. Ntalec with the great tips. Running the 8 outs through your mixer helps get more from it too.

By ntalec Tue Aug 16, 2005 3:39 pm
I think people might be surprised at they different types of music and ways MPC are used.
One of the reasons the 2000's and 1000's sell is because they fit into certain setups better for some people.
Same is true of 60's and 3000's.
If you feed a MPC the proper diet it can fit many different puzzles with ease, and even surprise you some days. 8)
There's a lot more than just hip hop headz hanging out here. :wink:

By arctec Tue Aug 16, 2005 6:34 pm
I just been finishing off a few old school acid tracks using the mpc as a 909 and 808. keeping it simple but punchy on the drums front.

The 60 sequencer is imo superb for house with that funk swing - kinda lollaping but skippy rhythms. I connect mine to several monosynths, sequencers and filters, load up some samples I dig and get busy. Nothing better. Then record the jams and edit a little if needs be. Basicly training and patterning for a live set in the near future.
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By JUKE 179r Tue Aug 16, 2005 7:50 pm
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one you does House on my MPC in this forum.
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By Paul R Wed Aug 17, 2005 1:06 pm
Hi this is my first post 8)

this is interesting to read,

I'm buying my first sampler in 2 weeks with the intention of making solid house beats, and have been looking at an mpc but have no idea which would best suit me... preferably one with a sequencer

any tips you can offer as to the main differences between the 60 and 2000xl etc would be appreciated

thx

By ownlife Fri Aug 19, 2005 6:57 pm
well due to fedex ****, i only got my mpc60 today. it looks fabulous, nearly flawless. also a cool mod the guy i got it from did, it had a button on the right side panel to turn off the backlight which will help extend backlight life. hotness. my DD disks havent come in yet which is annoying. i cant wait to get this thing set up in my studio, ive been wanting one of these for at least 5 years.

ive got a dumb question though: is the orange light on the disk drive always supposed to be on?

By elmacaco Fri Aug 19, 2005 7:18 pm
i6 depends on the disk drive jumper settings I think. Stock floppy's don;t but replacement joints do I think.

What OS you got?

By ownlife Fri Aug 19, 2005 10:04 pm
elmacaco wrote:i6 depends on the disk drive jumper settings I think. Stock floppy's don;t but replacement joints do I think.

What OS you got?


is there any way to tell if i have a replacement drive? im not really worried about it as long as it works. it looks very similar in color....

ive got the 3.1 OS, no scsi or memory upgrade though. im really not worried about scsi, i will be hooking up the memory upgrade in about a month or so, ill get someone to get me it for my birthday :)

combined with my s3000xl i now essentially have an mpc3000 plus more sampler features, 16 total outputs, and a true 12 bit sampling section.