Share tips, tricks, gear set ups and videos relating to the use of MPCs in live performances including MPC finger drumming, MPC scratching, using MPCs with decks, computers and other instruments.
By nathanxjr Fri Feb 11, 2011 9:40 am
Due to health reasons I can no longer play acoustic drums. I need to find a high quality alternative. My question is would I be able to use a MPC unit in a real live band senario. I realise I will need alot of practice on the machine. But would the end result sound good in a live pub band senario. I have no experience with sampling machines and just need some advice. Thanks guys.
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By dabmeister Fri Feb 11, 2011 12:10 pm
^^^ Is this health issue that bad to the point that you can't play anymore?
Last edited by dabmeister on Sat Feb 12, 2011 3:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By Ill-Green Sat Feb 12, 2011 12:05 am
I know you're health issue is none of my business, but how does sitting down and banging away on acoustic drums differ from sitting down and banging away on an MPC?

Perhaps its back problems from lugging all those drums around, I don't know but thats a hell of a scenario. Most of us don't know how to play drums so thats how the MPC came in, but you're going opposite.

You know there's drum machines that can accommodate your drum skills without having to give up the sticks, even come with foot pedals to imitate bass drums. Yamaha and Roland got some goodies. Check their sites.
By chap23 Sat Feb 12, 2011 2:47 pm
nathanxjr wrote:Due to health reasons I can no longer play acoustic drums. I need to find a high quality alternative. My question is would I be able to use a MPC unit in a real live band senario. I realise I will need alot of practice on the machine. But would the end result sound good in a live pub band senario. I have no experience with sampling machines and just need some advice. Thanks guys.


I'm a drummer/bassist and i know what u mean about feeling gutted... :cry:
Because of my day job i developed tendonitis in both forearms...so i went from being able to play 3 sets a night,to barley being able to finish 1 song before my forearms,elbow's etc felt like someone lit em Fire...lol
The diffence betwen playing live drums and finger drumming is kinda like the difference between running in a marathon vs cheering for the runners as they pass u by....thats not to discount the talent level of a finger drummer,
But the physical output is not even close to the same.
I mean have u ever seen a real drummer after a concert??....That cat is drenched in sweat,but a finger drummer...not so much.

But sure, the mpc can be awesome for banging out drums....i recommed finding some good acoustic drum wav sounds and building kits..... good luck
By nathanxjr Sat Feb 12, 2011 5:28 pm
Hi all,

Thanks for all your comments. I had a look at the youtube vids and those two guys are sick. In a live situation would I have to drum all the way through. Or could I pre record patters to represnt different parts of the songs and then just drop in and out of different patterns. ie one pattern for the verse another for the chorus and another pattern for a bridge. Sorry guys, im a complete novice to this. Thanks.
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By Ill-Green Sat Feb 12, 2011 7:52 pm
Yup, you can do all that on the MPC.

Most times I play all the way through, or I make 2 bar drum patterns and mix and match them up. The truth is the MPC was designed for guitarist that needed drummers, but its so versatile that any genre can have fun and create.
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By damien907 Sat Feb 12, 2011 8:44 pm
yeah, you dont need to worry about playing them all the way though as there is a sequencer in the mpc, so really, if you are feeling bad on a set, if you work out the songs before hand, you can just use the mpc to play the songs all the way through.
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By damien907 Sun Feb 13, 2011 2:40 am
nathanxjr wrote:So basically, I can do as much or as little as I want. Would an mpc500 be good enough for what I need or do I need to go higher?


i would definitely get an mpc 1000 or higher, you'll want the 16 pads of any other model of mpc instead of the 12 pads of the 500 if you plan on finger drumming alot.

you should really watch this video if your serious about learning how to finger drum.
the guy tells you how he maps his drums to his mpc and he does a demo of his drumming.
he also does tutorial of how he does his drumming aswell. i think it would be very beneficial for you to watch, and would probalby answer a bunch of your questions about the capabilities of the mpc and finger drumming in general.

heres the link for you

http://vimeo.com/9102030
By nathanxjr Tue Feb 15, 2011 12:55 pm
Ok guys, thanks for all your help regarding this. Just one more thing. Once I have my patterns down. How do I switch from one pattern to another in a live situation. Ie, I'm coming to the end of the verse and I want to start the chorus pattern. How is this done?
Will the change happen straight away, or will it wait for the end of the bar, before changing to the new pattern? Thanks.
By chap23 Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:37 pm
nathanxjr wrote:Ok guys, thanks for all your help regarding this. Just one more thing. Once I have my patterns down. How do I switch from one pattern to another in a live situation. Ie, I'm coming to the end of the verse and I want to start the chorus pattern. How is this done?
Will the change happen straight away, or will it wait for the end of the bar, before changing to the new pattern? Thanks.


There are a few ways to do it....
these are only examples..You could prerecord your whole song, only using hi hats,rides and crashes or whatever
And then manually play all the kicks,snares and toms...if done this way you would never have to switch the sequence or simply switch the sequence to match the parts your playing on or parts coming up
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By eastcoast121 Wed Feb 16, 2011 1:40 am
you can make as many sequences as you want and then put them into song mode which basically combines whatever pattern u made into whatever order you want them to play and loops ur arrangment into one sequence. or you could just scroll the wheel while the sequence is playing and numbers will pop up indicating the next sequence you want it to play which will then play whenever the current sequence is done. also theres a next sequence feature which basically allows u to switch to any sequence at any time like if you wanted a new sequence to come in mid bar or something. basically you can think it you can do it.