The "Tips and Tricks" thread

I don't know if it's already been said, but don't care about the technical side of the beat before its finished, and let the emotion fully get in the beat.

Another tip for when you're done and mixing the final beat is: use the panning effectively. It can give the beat just that bit of completeness.

Knowing when to stop working on a track that's not going anywhere....this saves time. Don't force it...let it go.

Upright wrote:Knowing when to stop working on a track that's not going anywhere....this saves time. Don't force it...let it go.

MPC500:
Dont turn down the batteriy-warning from standard settings.
I allmost lost hours of work, cause i had no time to save my work after "batteries are low"-warning ...
Saving between is for *****

Tip for all:
If i'm not clear what drumsounds i want to use for my sample, i just imagine a band behind.
What instruments they would play ?
What kind of drums would use the drummer and percusionist ?

Do i know a similar break, i could chop up for drums or even use the whole break as loop ?
That could complete the image of the beat in your head and help the creativity and bring production process up to a next level. for mee.

fasttrackpimp wrote:Using Dr.Rex like the mpc's mono pad function:

Step 1:
Set the polyphony to 1.


Step 2:
Set the release to max.

i cant believe i never realized this... LOLLLLL

es-k wrote:

fasttrackpimp wrote:Using Dr.Rex like the mpc's mono pad function:

Step 1:
Set the polyphony to 1.


Step 2:
Set the release to max.

i cant believe i never realized this... LOLLLLL

works with nnxt as well, obviously

MPC-2000XL (and possibly other MPCs) tips for beginners

Make a habit of saving .PGM with sounds (.SND)
I think this has been covered many times, but for MPC-2000XL, this is time saver, because by loading a program, you can also load handled samples, instead of loading one sample each. I've made a few programs with breakbeats. I'd just load one program, then audit each samples and delete samples that I don't need for the moment.

Purging samples
It's important to note that any samples that are used on any loaded programs won't be purged (deleted.) So, it is good to have a habit to "attach" samples to program that you might use later. That way, you won't purge important samples accidentally. Remember, that program does not have to be used anywhere on sequences, so you can just use a program for keeping samples only.

Use your ears, not your eyes
MPC would add very short fade-out when triggering samples, even when fadeout is set to 0. Therefore, often you won't hear any clipping when the next attach is included on the very end of the sample. Always check samples with your ears when you are editing / chopping! Use waveform as just guideline, but use your ears for final judgement.

Never use long names
(I don't know if this should apply to MPC-1000 / 2500 users also)
MPC-2000XL uses FAT16 for disk management. FAT16 does not support file names longer than 8 chars and the maximum length of file extension (after ".") is 3 chars.
To make things worse, MPC-2000 would provide default file name that are longer than 8 chars. DO NOT name any files longer than 8 chars, always stick with DOS format file name.
Using long name WILL lead to data corruption, eventually you won't be able to access your ZIP / Compact Flash card, etc. (Trust me, I've lost data on 1GB CF card twice! After that, I strictly use DOS compatible file names only. I haven't lost data since.)

Don't use Zip drive, install a IDE CF card instead
Zip drive is very unreliable data storage, yet many MPC users are still using it. If you have built sample libraries on Zip disks, I see why you are still using it, but non-swappable IDE CF card reader is cheap, and you can transfer data between MPC and PC more easily. best of all, it is much much more reliable, and easy to make back up on your PC (use Windows, not Mac.) From my experience, I only recommend Sandisk CF card. 2GB version (which is the smallest capacity CF card that is still in production) works with MPC. I don't recommend other cards, as you might just waste your time.

nice post!!!

Don't turn up the sample level to 100 in the Sample screen. I found if you keep it around 80 then you get more headroom and less clipping. Makes sense to not drive it hard in the mpc but use an external mixer to juice it up

boy_blunder wrote:Don't turn up the sample level to 100 in the Sample screen. I found if you keep it around 80 then you get more headroom and less clipping. Makes sense to not drive it hard in the mpc but use an external mixer to juice it up

This doesn't make much sense from my understanding. If the sample isn't recorded too hot to begin with, why should it clip at level 100? If you run the audio into a mixer you'd want the signal to be as hot as possible from the source... as in full volume from the source and then turn up the gain on the mixer channel as much as needed.

Correct me if i'm wrong tho...

I think you cannot go wrong with the boy_blunder's advice (i.e. do not clip samples), but sometimes you can have some exception...

Actually, for one shot drum sample like hard hitting snares, often you can get good result with slightly clipped sample. II don't think it would work well thru digital out, or if you are working strictly on the digital domain (i.e. all audio signal is dealt on digital during production.) because this technique relies on MPC's preamp.
I always experiment with the gain level when I sample with MPC.

Linndrum LM-1, the first PCM-based (only 8-bit!) drum machine, had clipped samples, which contributed Linndrum's punchy, realistic feel.

Lampdog wrote:I never record into anything at full 100%

I'm not talking about recording tho, i'm talking about playing analogue audio from the MPC outputs into the line inserts of a mixer.

If i record into the MPC i make sure it doesn't clip, then i'll let the MPC play the recorded sample at full volume (unless i'm doing the mixing of a track in the MPC). Why would you want a sound playing at less than full volume? Whenever you send audio out of the individual outputs of an MPC it does the same thing, it'll play the samples at full volume (at least the 60 is doing this, the volume is fixed on the individual outs).

Clipping comes from the sample, or too much gain on whatever you plug the mpc into. But an MPC isn't clipping on the outputs if the sample wasn't recorded too hot to begin with.

Look at sound modules with individual outputs. They will play sounds at full volume, unless you lower it. There's no clipping until you put too much gain on the signal that's coming out of those outputs.

I found that the clipping sounds worst on pad type samples where I've cranked the filter resonance up, sounds nasty and not in a good way! for drums and other transient hits then it sounds fine.

so yeh, not necessary with every sample but if you're hearing clipping using your filters or feel like your headrooms been eaten up try turning them down a tad

I was working entirely on the MPC for a while (no DAW) and I wanted to emulate that side-chain sucking effect on some cymbals.

Here's what I did:

Put the same cymbal sample on two different pads.
Set both so they are mono and will mute each other.
Turn the attack up on one of your cymbal so that it fades in when triggered (adjust to taste).
Load a bass drum to another pad and set it to simult trigger the cymbal with the slow attack.

Now every time you hit the bass drum it will suck the cymbals to zero before the slow attack cymbal fades in.

Remember to use the cymbal with regular attack whenever the bass drum is not being triggered.

You might want to set up another pad that only triggers the bass drum.

Here's what it ended up as:

cool tip hippotron

about clipping inside the mpc (while using a non clipped sample): i think you can get it while filtering (as mentioned) but also when playing more than one sample at the same time

you can internally (before DA conversion) lower the master output though