To quantize or not to quantize. Thats is the question!!!

Mix and match, that way you can lay down your own unique touch of whatever to give you more of a "live" feel.

dilla has good timing so can play un-quantize n sound funky but many peeps with bad timing to the same and sound awful

To quantize? or not..

Totally depends on the type of music you are making. The awesome thing about all of the mpc's is that they do both perfectly.. and also a little of each if you want. Here's what I've picked up over the years as a dj and producer -

House music - quantize (at least) the kick and probably the snare. But again.. depends on the kind of music you want. Chicago/NY house (Masters At Work, Cajmere) producers use a LOT of quantize with the MPC's legendary swing.. to give it that stiff club beat with a really funky feel. At the same time other camps (Wolf + Lamb, DFA, LCD Soundsystem) use looser, live drums in their music to give it a looser feel.

Hip Hop - totally different game. Less quantize is probably more here.. and I'd agree with the people who said you want to quantize your kick and snare. The MAIN reason you want to do this is so the music comes back to a certain place in the mix (the downbeat). The second reason you want to do this with Hip Hop, house and techno music is for DJs. DJs need a consistent kick and snare pattern to mix with. If the beats are all loose it's harder to mix.. and therefore might not get played. So that's something to consider.

There is (of course) more music out there.. but I imagine most of you are into some sort of electronic (hiphop/dance/etc) music. With Quantize - I think it's a matter of learning the rules in order to break the rules.

And a live funky drummer trumps the sequencer every time. Wish I was that good. ;-D

^ that is more or less what I was saying... so cosign.

and welcome to the board man.

you can use quantize to make your sh$t swing harder then you would ever magine
check it

when your about to lay down drums.. your following the metronone, essentially swinging of the metronone
when not quantized your still refering to the metronone.

so what if you use quantized highhats to create your own metronone with swing, turn of the quantize and metronone
and refer to the highpattern you just layed down as your metronone.

you can put hi hats quantized in certain areas, turn the metronone to 1/4th count and you can alter your swing options

I use to be like alot of you guys and really didnt belive in quantization, but the trick is to make it sound like your not using quantized and only quantize what i call the back bone of your grove the spine. using a mix of non quantized and quantize can bring you results you wouldnt be able to get with just un quantized.

Quantize is a tool, and you know you got it right when the beat sounds like you didnt quantize at all, if it sounds robotic you basically didnt quantize the right thing or just arent experience yet

dont keep your mind in a box

J-tawn wrote:dont keep your mind in a box

Word...

Actually, quantise HAS a very important place in a composition ... If timing was swung out in all areas by all intsruments, you'd end up with a very unnatural and somewhat out-of-sync song !

I do somewhat despair of the way some on here prattle on about 'not having any rythum' if you use quant, truly. Yes, over-quant can give a very robotic feel to a beat, but subtle use in the correct way, just makes everything sit tight in the absence of actually having a full band of preofessional musicians on hand to realise your musical ideas as and when they happen. yes, quantise has it's place ... but must be used in the right way and in the right places.

Em.p.cee.j wrote:Side Note: Yes that female terminator is only a machine and can't get pregnant... but that wouldn't stop me from tryin. I'd imagine our kids to be the illest beat boxers and midi compatible.

cracked me up...