Working With Loops

Had my MPC for a little while, now I want to start using it!

I'm curious as to your opinions about working with loops. I know on a lot of old school Hip Hop tracks they used to just loop drum breaks and work with that.

Trying to recreate some of those now, like MC Breed's 'Ain't No Future In Your Frontin'."

Now I know exactly what samples were used, but cannot line them up.

When working with whole loops how can you possibly adjust the speed? Tuning down makes great effects, but does not slow the beat. Also, if you are using a loop you rip from an old Soul LP how the heck do you stack things on top and keep it all nice and clean???

Sorry, but I am new to all this so if the questions seem silly, then maybe they are!

peace

First up there are no silly questions.

Ok you need to know the bpm of the loop you want to speed up or slow down so you can timestretch it to the disired bpm.

As for laying things on top of each other, well thats where your ears and own judgement come in.

of course there's silly ?uestions, its bout how ya answer them........... lmao
for me, when dealin wit loop, i try 2 find'em by how many bars.....
EX... i find a 8 sec sample, chop it in me deli ( chop shop ) find a 1 bar loop, 2 bar loop, 3bar loop, 4 bar loops..
play around wit it like that..... sumthing i use 2 do when i was young & could'nt afford these thangs...
cassette tape styles i call it............ Good Luck Dunn

JJ OS2 has a timestretch function in Trim mode, with the possibility of having the MPC determine the original tempo. Not sure about other OS's as i've never used 'em.

the best thing i learned about using loops in the mpc is this
it's a closely guarded secret
probably the biggest thing i've ever learned about the mpc...

...

don't use loops. only use oneshots. turn your loops into oneshots and use those, you won't have to worry about timing

Nym wrote:the best thing i learned about using loops in the mpc is this
it's a closely guarded secret
probably the biggest thing i've ever learned about the mpc...

...

don't use loops. only use oneshots. turn your loops into oneshots and use those, you won't have to worry about timing

^^^^^^^ 1Shots are ur best friend^^^^^^^^
Nym , ur like a cool drink of water.... ( no homo )

1 shots? I prefer Jamison shots every couple of Guinesses!

What do you mean exactly? Are you referring to chopping?

See, I am ok with technology, but for learning I always do best when someone shows me. Getting my head around this is tough. I wish someone would post a video that shows exactly how to recreate a classic Hip Hop beat!

A walkthrough like that would spell it all out and I'd be fine!

Chop up the loop alittle bit. like if it's a 2 bar loop, chop it into like 8 slices. Now, you have some "1 shot" samples that start with either a kick or snare. rearrange them to your liking

What about Patch Phrase? I know its often overlooked but I find it handy when working with loops especially drum breaks. You can tune them using 16 pads, change the tempo of the drum loop to the current BPM youre working on.

I usually take a 2 to 4 bar drum break. Find the BPM usually I play the 4 bar sample over a metronome click to find the BPM then chop it up and patch phrase it.

Assign the PP loop on to a pad record and play it. It will match the current BPM on the MPC. You can also tune them on 16 pads. This technique is very good if you just want to make a slight change in the BPM for example from a 102 bpm to 92 bpm. If you go too drastic it will sound choppy.

Hope that helps.

No Fung. I think you dont get what he ment. you can chop up a loop and dont rearrange it. Just play it like it was chop after chop 1 to 8 or 1 to 16 (depend on how many slices you chopped) now its still the original loop but its more stable in timing and you can change the tempo of the mpc without changing the pitch. a sideeffect of speed up the tempo a little bit is that it could get a nice groove (if you sliced in 8th) cause the sounds that are on the second 16th of a 8th slice will shift to the next slide the more you speed up (just like you use swing setting). You can hear that a little bit in the weel known pete rock mpc video on youtube when he speed up the tempo.

So if you got 2 or 3 or 4 loops that should match together. chop em up in 4th, 8th or 16th and play them like the original loop. If they are all near the same tempo they should match together with this method.
peace

Watch this vid for tips on chopping loops

if you want that old school feel. don't chop into one shots. maybe chop your 4 bar loop into 1, and 2 bar bits.

and don't use time stretch. it wasn't around back then. just tune your sample or play it on higher/lower keys till it fits. better yet, just pitch the sample up down on the turntable before you sample. or work the song arond the main sample to avoid having to tune/timestretch.

Sample your first loop . Use your turntable to match the second loop to the first one before you sample it . Chop on every 1/4 or 1/8 note . If it's out of tune you either have to chop and play it out or give up . Loops limit you to a certain extent .

if you have 1 sample with multiple notes in the wav and you try to change the pitch or the tempo, your sample will drift and limp. unless this is what you want. chopping every note onto its own wav and reprogramming the loop lets you bend the pitch or master tempo up or down without losing the groove or sound of the original loop. it takes more work chopping and it takes a lot of practice to be able to reprogram it perfectly but the amount of control over the audio is totally worth it.