Reviews and questions about the entry-level MPC500
By chap23 Sat Mar 06, 2010 4:24 pm
Just got my 500,and I'm really feelin it
So far I've learned how to load sounds,loop and trim samples,assign samples to pads etc, stuff I thought would take forever to learn,I've figured out in a few hrs, thanks to the ebook I bought.

The one thing I haven't been able to do is keep my sample playing(without holding down the pad),while i'm recording drum tracks.
At one point I tried recording my sample,but it didn't come out right,even tho my sample was trimmed right,when played back there was a gap in timming.

I'm new here,so before I get blasted and told to Read The Manuel... I have,but there is something I'm just not gettin...anyway HELP!!
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By DPM Sun Mar 07, 2010 6:14 am
change up the tempo to match the sequence length of the sample. the sequence length and tempo have to match the sample. the more you practice, the more you'll understand.
By Emilie Sun Mar 14, 2010 9:24 pm
chap23 wrote:I'm new here,so before I get blasted and told to Read The Manuel... I have,but there is something I'm just not gettin...anyway HELP!!


Hey, someone read the manual ;-)

If you look at the sample in trimmode you can see how many sample-points it consists off. take this number and divide it with 44100. Then take the result and divide it with 60. Now divide one with the new result. Divide that result with the number of beats your loop consists and voila you have your bpm. Set the bpm in the mpc to this and the loop should (if it's decent cut) loop nicely.

Good luck
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By vuotesi Sun Mar 14, 2010 9:52 pm
the way i do this is a bit less mathematical, taken directly from the quickstart manual if i remember correctly.

first i count the number of beats i have in the sample i want to loop, in my case it's usually two. then i go to step edit mode and 'record' the sample/pad every third beat. in a 4/4 song it means i put it on every 1st and 3rd beat of every bar.

then i play the sequence and gradually change the tempo until it's correct. simple, fast and i don't need a calculator.

but interesting to know that it can be done that way too, danish support.
By zakary Sun Oct 03, 2010 7:14 pm
eimer wrote:Divide that result with the number of beats your loop consists and voila you have your bpm.


multiply that result with the number of beats your loop consists, not divide
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By OriginalProducer Mon Oct 04, 2010 3:47 pm
hello,
do you know the formula for knowing the new tempo after pitching by semitones(excuse me i'm french it's hard to explain)?
you've got the tempo and you increase or decrease the pitch of the sample by semitones.
example: you got a tempo at 115 and you want it at 92 how to know how many semitones you got to decrease.
i got a calculator on my pc who do that but if you know the formula that will be helpfull!
thanks
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By Ill-Green Mon Oct 04, 2010 4:36 pm
eimer wrote:
chap23 wrote:I'm new here,so before I get blasted and told to Read The Manuel... I have,but there is something I'm just not gettin...anyway HELP!!


Hey, someone read the manual ;-)

If you look at the sample in trimmode you can see how many sample-points it consists off. take this number and divide it with 44100. Then take the result and divide it with 60. Now divide one with the new result. Divide that result with the number of beats your loop consists and voila you have your bpm. Set the bpm in the mpc to this and the loop should (if it's decent cut) loop nicely.

Good luck
Good method and effective, but it gets chaotic if you pitch tune the samples. Numbers could show you 89bpm, but what if you pitched it down, will it tell you its at 67 bpm?
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By otobot Tue Oct 12, 2010 2:44 pm
OriginalProducer wrote:hello,
do you know the formula for knowing the new tempo after pitching by semitones(excuse me i'm french it's hard to explain)?
you've got the tempo and you increase or decrease the pitch of the sample by semitones.
example: you got a tempo at 115 and you want it at 92 how to know how many semitones you got to decrease.
i got a calculator on my pc who do that but if you know the formula that will be helpfull!
thanks


higher tempo / lower tempo = (2 to the power of (1/12)) to the power of X

or

higher tempo / lower tempo = (12th root of 2) to the power of X


X = the number of semitones.

Or simply multiply the lower tempo with (12th root of 2) as often as it is needed to reach the higher tempo.
By zakary Fri Oct 22, 2010 3:36 pm
let me contribute my math skills to find the exact tempo of your loop, first you must :
1. make sure your loop is looping well (in TRIM MODE, LOOP = ON, etc)
2. when satisfied, EXTRACT to a new sample and write down the number of samples (in TRIM MODE, it is the number END of sample)
3. write down the number of beats your loop has

now the math :
the tempo of your loop is the "number of beats" multiplied by 60 multiplied by 44100 and all this divided by the number of samples


number of beats x 2646000
------------------------------
number of samples


so for example my loop has 16 beats, it is 409405 samples, doing the math (16 x 264600) divided by 409405 gives me 103.4 bpm


loop on !
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By DPM Wed Oct 27, 2010 5:08 am
i dont know who thought of these equations, but i've never used any of them. i loop/chop by ear. to me, its faster. especially the more experience you have, the less time it'll take to figure these speeds out
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By mr_debauch Wed Oct 27, 2010 5:50 am
DPM wrote:i dont know who thought of these equations, but i've never used any of them. i loop/chop by ear. to me, its faster. especially the more experience you have, the less time it'll take to figure these speeds out


yeah but to accurately do it by ear you need a good quality pair of midi headphones.