the mpc blues.

hi all i am in a biy of a situation i will tell you all how it begang

it was this time last year i bought my mpc. second hand. the guy selling it made a mistake about the specs. it has interanl zip100, maxed memory, effects card and exteranl orb 2.2 gb drive. he told me it had the 8 out, anyways no a prob, cause i got it at a good price. the truth is i have only used it about 10 times please no shouting!!. mainly of the limited out and i am addicted to cubase. i have been usin cubase from it was on atari and right up to sx. the speed i can clock out a 8 track midi composition is under 5mins no exagerating, that is if i got the idea in my head already, cubase vst32 i used to run on limited resources and i used to overclock my pc to facilite the audio tracks, so i then got into computing more and i have built my personal system it has not crash no more than twice in a year, if that. pc i know inside out, hardware samething, software same.
th problem is that i really dont know what to do with the mpc, cubase is like my wife from day one, the mpc i love dearly but she seems a bit frigid!!! i plan to expand her so she is like giving 8 outs, but i am if -ing, cause i dont where she is going to sit in the studio with my present set up
the mistake was i ran short and could not afford modules so i went all vsts which take time to tune and sound decent so i am like caught between rock and latino .
to be honest i hate sampling on the computer, i probaly ever did about three times, i like the hands on approach and feel and interaction i have with Dorothy (mpc) but dont know how to get them both in harmony. technically yes but, man i dont know man!!!

can anyone out there tell me how they use thier set up, mpc and software? just need some insight thats all, well apreciated.

i realised that i posted this in the wrong forum, and i cant edit it

your tellin me you have everything but the 8 outs and thas why u cant use the mpc.... hahahahahahha

sorry for laughin but wut kind of soundcard do u have ? or wut are you goin to be hooking the 8 outs into ? the 8 outs are for sending individual sounds to a multitracking device for mixing purposes (thas wut i use it for)... but just because u dont have the outs, doesnt mean you cant make a beat on the mpc... when i first got my mpc i had none of the options, and i was making beats with 2mbs of ram and the floppy drive.

it all depends on wut your tryin to do...

skalawa wrote:i realised that i posted this in the wrong forum, and i cant edit it

I think this forum is pretty appropriate for this question actually!

Alright, here's how I use my MPC and cubase together.

First, I start making something, either a beat on the mp or perhaps a bassline or melody or something in cubase.

When I've got a basic drum pattern going, I record a couple of 2-8 bar chunks and get a basic structure going. (yes, I do all the arranging in cubase).

When I've got a couple of basic beats, I start adding melodies and variations. When I have a feeling of what's needed drumwise, I go back to the MP and start making more 2-8 bar chunks (fills, variations, drops etc) and record them.

I also tend to record manual percussion tracks (handclaps, fingerclicking etc) and run on a real low volume to make the beats less static.

But that's just me, might not work for you.

dumpster, its not like i wasnt makin beats, just not as often as in cubase. i am coming from an enginerring backgroung, you know 24 track 2" shit, yeaaaah, analog tape echos, dub, regae music thats what i mean, so i am used to trackin individually. but the stereos neva stopped from doing beats.

hey thanks digital B for tht enlightening so its sound that you working cubase as a main feature. A lot of the cats in here seem to use a total hardware set up and using software to multitrack and edit. now thats a set up i would like, but, i am far from that setup. so i just make do with what i am using
respect!!!

skalawa wrote: A lot of the cats in here seem to use a total hardware set up and using software to multitrack and edit. now thats a set up i would like, but, i am far from that setup. so i just make do with what i am using
respect!!!

You're no more than 10 minutes and a midicable away from that setup. You already have an mpc, Cubase sx, and a soundcard right? Just hook up midi and audio, and sync the two using MTC.
If you're comfortable using Cubase alone, just use that.
I'm sure i could do a beat in cubase in 5 minutes, but still believe the mpc has a tighter sequencer so i use the best of both worlds: The MPC"s sequencer, Cubase sx for effects, vst's and editing.
Seach the forum, i've posted on this topic many times.

i also make dub music and only with my mpc as recorder ( ok ok it's looped dub music ) , i record bass , guitar , with an old tube bass amp head in my mixer and use old drumboxes drumsamples and with the 8 outs expansion you can really make some cool dub tracks just with a 4 bars tune , of course you need analog effect devices to make it sound good and alive.
I don't really see any differences with making hip hop beats , you can produce evry kind of music with an mpc and with a pc also .

yo hail iesm and pieuvre, respect for tht. i do believe you when you say the mpc is tighter, i think ill do that set up, compose on mpc, lots of hands on and edit in cubase....

pieveure there aint nought wrong with looped dub!

greg