How do you organise your work?

Hey all, I got my MPC a month or so ago and after upgrading to JJOS1 have been having a fantastic time.

This is maybe a bit of a general question but I think these issues probably relate a lot more to those of you using JJOS..

My questions are:
1) How do people organise their songs?
2) How do people organise their files?

To elaborate:
1) It's possible to either have one very long sequence that contains all the tracks and makes up the entirety of the song. This way you don't have to change the BPM and you know where each track is and what it contains. But then you end up with very long tracks and there's no way of adding markers so you can't jump to sections to work on and need to scroll through the whole song bar by bar. This is more like using a traditional multitrack recorder, I guess.

Alternatively you can have multiple sequences and then arrange them in song mode. This is beneficial in that you can more easily work with separate sections and is perhaps more useful for sequence triggering live. But then you have the issue that you need to add/copy the tracks to each new sequence and make sure they're in the same order etc. or it becomes very confusing.

I'm sure each method works better for certain things, but I was just wondering if there were any suggestions etc. I would like to use my MPC live someday and so perhaps the workflow is different in that case to just make tracks for the studio.


2) What with JJOS's fantastic chopping tools I tend to just record any audio (guitar, vocals, etc) into the MPC and then chop it up. However, then I end up with a big mess of files that I don't know what to do with. I followed someone else's advice and made these folders in my CF card: Projects, Samples, Programs. But all I end up doing is saving everything in a subfolder within Projects which means I end up duplicating a bunch of samples that may be in the Samples folder and I end up with the big recordings of the unchopped audio ("Untitled1", yuck :p) that I don't really want. One day I tried deleting these from the project folder and got into a massive mess when I reloaded the project with messed up programs and stuff... so how should I organise my projects?

Also, how do people organise their programs? Do you have one for each instrument, or one that holds most of the instruments in the song? How do I separate my drum parts into different tracks while still playing the whole kit? What I mean is, say I want to lay down a beat, I tend to play kick, snare and hihats all at once but then they go into the same track. I can of course cut and paste (I think) the snare and the hihats into different tracks after recording but it seems fiddly.

Again any and all suggestions/clarifications would be good.

Sorry for this massive post but I've seen a lot of good advice on these forums and would appreciate your input.

Here's to happy songmaking ahead!!

Hello,

Let me give you a quick answer :

But then you have the issue that you need to add/copy the tracks to each new sequence and make sure they're in the same order etc. or it becomes very confusing.

When you use song mode, it refers to the first sequence in the list so it's highly recommendable to use the same track order or to adopt a clear methodology.

then I end up with a big mess of files that I don't know what to do with

I think you'd better delete unwanted files before saving. The PURGE function can help too. If you have a look at the JJ OS shortcut topic, you can see that there is a shortcut to delete multiple files in the sample list (it's handy when you use audiotracks). Not sure it works with OS1 by the way.

Generally, it's better to name or rename all your programs and samples.

I can of course cut and paste (I think) the snare and the hihats into different tracks after recording but it seems fiddly.

In OS2XL there's a function that can do this
http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~mpc1000/os2xl/pad_move3.htm
The main drawback of moving everything to different tracks is that you can't benefit from the grid edit anymore.

Peace

Superpowerface wrote:Also, how do people organise their programs? Do you have one for each instrument, or one that holds most of the instruments in the song?

Using one program for each instrument has some big advantages. For example, if you create a couple of 'drum kit' programs, have the same kinds of samples on the same pads (a01 is always the kick, a02 is always the snare, and so on). When you've done that, and recorded a beat, you can simply change programs and hear the same beat but now with a different kit.

To split a beat into multiple tracks, you can use the pad move function, or just copy your track several times, and delete everything but the kick on the first, everything but the snare on the second, and so on. I'm not sure if there are compelling reasons to do this or not. Anyone?

Folders within hard/compact drive:

[000000_SOURCE]
[000001_DRUMS] // 00000x to stay on top of directory
[000002_BASS]
...
[111130_PROJECT1]
[111202_PROJECT2] // to organize projects by date YYMMDD
[111203_PROJECT3]

le rat wrote:When you use song mode, it refers to the first sequence in the list so it's highly recommendable to use the same track order or to adopt a clear methodology.

Yes, this makes sense.. but do people more often use short sequences+song mode or one long sequence for their tracks?

le rat wrote:I think you'd better delete unwanted files before saving. The PURGE function can help too. If you have a look at the JJ OS shortcut topic, you can see that there is a shortcut to delete multiple files in the sample list (it's handy when you use audiotracks). Not sure it works with OS1 by the way.

Generally, it's better to name or rename all your programs and samples.

Does just PURGE get rid of samples that aren't used anywhere in the project?

le rat wrote:The main drawback of moving everything to different tracks is that you can't benefit from the grid edit anymore.

Yeah, that's what I thought.. I should use grid edit a lot more, I guess.

Thanks for all the help.. I guess creating programs depends on the situation, ie. song-by-song... live playback etc. Then kits I like can be saved separately for later reuse.

consuming wrote:Folders within hard/compact drive:

[000000_SOURCE]
[000001_DRUMS] // 00000x to stay on top of directory
[000002_BASS]
...
[111130_PROJECT1]
[111202_PROJECT2] // to organize projects by date YYMMDD
[111203_PROJECT3]

Ok, but say you use samples that are in the [000002_BASS] in PROJECT1, then you have a bunch of duplicated samples, right? There's no way around this afaics..

Well, you don't have to save samples in your project folders, but that would require you to load them from somewhere else to play the seq properly.

I usually load my drum folder containing many ready-to-use samples whenever I begin a new project, then purge before saving. If I don't resample, then there are likely some duplicates on the drive. Since the drive is huge and the samples are relatively small, this isn't a problem and it's easy to manage.

le rat wrote:
When you use song mode, it refers to the first sequence in the list so it's highly recommendable to use the same track order or to adopt a clear methodology.

Yes, this makes sense.. but do people more often use short sequences+song mode or one long sequence for their tracks?

I can't speak for others but personally I often build my beats from one or two 4 bars looping sequences and I do variations. Once finished I render all the short sequences into a long one with the song mode.

Does just PURGE get rid of samples that aren't used anywhere in the project?

I think it purges files that are not associated with a program. I don't use OS1 anymore so I can't guarantee what I'm saying. By the way do you know and did you get stan steez manual? I think it can be helpful too.

le rat wrote:I can't speak for others but personally I often build my beats from one or two 4 bars looping sequences and I do variations. Once finished I render all the short sequences into a long one with the song mode.

This seems like it would be a good idea in terms of adding little flairs and touches to the beats so they don't become repetitive..

I think it purges files that are not associated with a program. I don't use OS1 anymore so I can't guarantee what I'm saying. By the way do you know and did you get stan steez manual? I think it can be helpful too.

The JJOS manual? Yes, I have it. I'm working through the AKAI manual first, as there's a lot in there that's useful to know.

Another question:

How do all your workflows tend to go? I know it's different for each person, but I was looking through this thread and it got me thinking about the most efficient way of doing things.

Do you just sketch everything out on the MPC and then track it to a DAW for final polish, or do you do everything in the box? Must be difficult with only a global EQ compressor and no EQ per track..

But I should shut up now, and go play my MPC. I think the fact that mine has the old pads is a bit of a downer, so I splurged on the upgrade (because I need it to be a real instrument, and lots of people recommend it).

Do you just sketch everything out on the MPC and then track it to a DAW for final polish, or do you do everything in the box? Must be difficult with only a global EQ compressor and no EQ per track..

I think it depends on your style of music and your goals. Personnaly, after spending much of my time trying to do my best for ungrateful rappers I keep it as a rough mix inside the MPC.

Otherwise with the latest JJ OS you have a EQL or EQH option in the filter tab you can assign to pads.

Main folders

*Drums
-Project 1
*Samples
-Project 1
*Seqs
-Project 1

Intrestin thread..
Honnestley I was just about to post pretty much the same questions as OP So many times when I started off ..Funnily I never did..
I'm still developing my workflow, my organzation and all that.. But I just can't come up with that ONE formula that allways works..
Every project is diffrent.
I've made a "template drum programm" for myself.. like somone recomended. (alot of that stuff peeps recomend, I did).
I've got some INST programms... Sometimes I have all the samples I need in one Prog..
It varys really. Depending on so much..
..wether u start with a sampled drum loop, or single drum shot's and build it track for track.. wether you have drum's enough in u'r lead sample.. wether you have a lead sample.. You know..
Every beat I make is like the first beat I've made
If you understand what I'm sayin.. Obviousley I know the machine better.. I'm navigatin alot quicker.. But ya gotta stay fresh.. Someday your just gonna be quick and flowin what ever work-method ur usin'..

Good thread!

Yep, I should stick to less theorising, more practice.