how to work with it corectly (bpm...)

hey fellas

well... i used to work totaly free from timing / BPM definitions and such.... i understand that on the MP this is essential

i have no problems syncing it with logic but when i find myself working MP only, like for a starting sketch, the whole bpm thing gives me headaches.

if for example have actually a cool drum loop or lets say not single hits but stuff like Kick+Snare in its original sampled tempo, and when i now want to record a beat with several samples of this kind i am going CRAZY to find the correct BPM timimng, so that with or without metronome (click) i am able to record in the right speed so i get FULL 2 or 4 or 6 or whatever BARS..

so basicly i wonder how to easily fit the MP`s BPM to the individual samples? is there some bpm detection?

i hope i made my point..can anyone help?






*little side question.... if i have the black pads i definitly have the good pad upgrade right? because the pads give me a hard time and since its my first and only mpc i dont know if its normal...
i somehow cant play with the pads velocity... i usualy play them all very hard so i know the the full sound will come out (leveling different sources on different volumes in programm mode)

but like this i am unable to make some natural playing

i think i turned my VELOCITY to max. because my output seems too silent otherwise (set to 0db)

any ideas on that?

thanks

what's happenin

here is an online 'bpm counter' that may help. i think you may have to make a copy of your loop on the computer to find out the loop time in milliseconds first. could have sworn i used to have a simple equation for this, but then again my brain is pretty fried.

http://www.thewhippinpost.co.uk/tools/b ... lators.htm

as for the pad situation, of course you can do mode+pad10 and mess with it, but can't realy help because i keep mine at full level always. any velocity changes i do with 16 levels.

-k

thanks K

well logic has its own bpm counter, wich i use sometimes when working logic+mpc

but for my described scenario do i really have to go into the DAW to set this stuff accurate???

i wonder how all the mpc-only beatheads doing this??????

Use the tap tempo to get somewhere close, then record your first loop and adjust the tempo until it sounds right. At no point will your MP auto synchronise loops of differing tempos, so you will have to chop, pitchshift or timestretch to get everything in time. It's just practice and lots of it i'm afraid.

oh and if you turn the ping pong loop on your og sample in trim before you chop, and then manually turn on the loop for each individual chop afterward, you can get a more cohesive playback on your chops regardless if you play them a lil fast or lil slow. props to who discovered that first here, i use it EVERY time i chop so i get no awkward gaps between the shorter ones. also a great alternative to minor timestretching and 'extending' tails.

hey while we are talking about this i'd like to add that i don't understand the method behind how the mpc interprets bpm when using a patched phrase. the tempo it gives me seems to never be anywhere near correct. it's not so tough to get it right, but i hate going about it so blindly each time. it's the part of my workflow that lags the most.

chop those samples up and forget your worries

Nym wrote:chop those samples up and forget your worries

Right Man, this is was MPC Headz do.

K. Rah wrote:oh and if you turn the ping pong loop on your og sample in trim before you chop, and then manually turn on the loop for each individual chop afterward, you can get a more cohesive playback on your chops regardless if you play them a lil fast or lil slow. props to who discovered that first here, i use it EVERY time i chop so i get no awkward gaps between the shorter ones. also a great alternative to minor timestretching and 'extending' tails.

hey while we are talking about this i'd like to add that i don't understand the method behind how the mpc interprets bpm when using a patched phrase. the tempo it gives me seems to never be anywhere near correct. it's not so tough to get it right, but i hate going about it so blindly each time. it's the part of my workflow that lags the most.

yes that sounds logical...

you mean something like the start/end are more round by this and less abbrupt right?

so PingPong in TRIM mode and afterwards set to loop? (where...? not sure what the secong looping in your advice means)






"chop those samples up and forget your worries"

i am in no way a loop musician really!!!

but the natural interaction between 2 drum sounds i the way they really was played..the timing and all can SOMETIMES be really great to have instead of one shots

but right.. no such timing troubles when ONLY one shots being used

Maybe this will help?
http://mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=112735

cool thanks

so i guess the least complicate way would be to just play in the beat without any metronome and more Bars than needed
and than after that in palyback of the beat (sequence) adjust Tempo and Bars so it rounds?


correct?

if so, i guess thats my way to go from now

ion wrote:so i guess the least complicate way would be to just play in the beat without any metronome and more Bars than needed

Erm... no mate, you're not getting it at all. How do you expect to get a clean sounding loop if you don't play to the metronome? How would adding more bars solve the problem??

uuhm :/

one of the advices in the link i understood in a way that i can simply play in a beat while at that stage not thinking about timing too much and when that sequence is recorded i may be able to set the BPM right by trying to mess with it until the thing loops perfectly


but yes i forgot one thing of course.... the beat will totaly change by that ...uhhmm my bad...

The only way I can think is to record it on something that isn't the MPC (or can you record live playing to an audio track?)

kazakore wrote:The only way I can think is to record it on something that isn't the MPC (or can you record live playing to an audio track?)

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having an MPC?

Thousands of musicians and beat makers have chopped up loops of differing tempos on MPC's and got them to sync up fine for over 20 years. Admittedly you're gonna struggle if your bpm's are wildly different, but what we're talking about here is technique.

Switch your loop on and set a rough tempo somewhere close to what you want, record over 4 or 8 bars and quantize if it helps. Then fine tune the tempo till the loop is smooth... at this point the tempo is fixed and shouldn't be adjusted to accomodate further loops (in most cases). Everything else just involves trial and error, and of course learning the MPC and the various things it will do.

Coz wrote:

kazakore wrote:The only way I can think is to record it on something that isn't the MPC (or can you record live playing to an audio track?)

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having an MPC?

Thousands of musicians and beat makers have chopped up loops of differing tempos on MPC's and got them to sync up fine for over 20 years. Admittedly you're gonna struggle if your bpm's are wildly different, but what we're talking about here is technique.

Switch your loop on and set a rough tempo somewhere close to what you want, record over 4 or 8 bars and quantize if it helps. Then fine tune the tempo till the loop is smooth... at this point the tempo is fixed and shouldn't be adjusted to accomodate further loops (in most cases). Everything else just involves trial and error, and of course learning the MPC and the various things it will do.

Chopping ready made loops is easy but as I've read it that is not what he's talking about. I think he's talking about recording his own drum loops from single-shot samples without using a metronome or anything else to help him keep in time except his ears. Sure you could try and guess what tempo your going to be playing at but you'll likely end up with messy points and not looping correctly. Changing the tempo after recording a drum loop from single shot samples that doesn't quite fit the original tempo isn't going to help you at all. it's just going to sped it up or slow it down with the messyness still in place. Or, so you can end up with the programmed pattern you could try playing through a live bpm counter (although most of them suck) or record a few loops and analyse them to give you a figure you seem comfortable with playing at.


Actually just re-read the whole thread and at the start he's talking about ready made loops (see other thread that has been linked for ways to calculate bpm from length) to recording his own beats with no metronome, which is where my comment was targetted.