is there a way to get 16 levels to NOT sound like ass

tried a million times, usually with a bass/low note to come up with new basslines like everyone else.

Take a g note for example put it in 16 levels and anything over one or 2 levels up or down it sounds like a damn cheesy key-tar. From records sampling electric or upright, and even low register keys/synths, to also using my own actual bass

Is there anyway to get it to sound better, I've almost never been able to come up with a usable 16 level bassline. If anyone has tips I'd love to hear them.

Try increasing the decay/release of the sample.Makes it flow easier.Less cutoffs.

Oh yeah,one more thing-

don't hate on the keytar!











okay...

Well with 16levels, it just changes the sample rate, affecting both pitch and speed. Which is never going to sound natural, mpc or not. (well maybe on some special devices/vsts, but whatever)

How is Bret Domino playing that with a straight face, and staring dead eyed into the camera.

can give you only one tip:

the older the mpc, the better sounds 16 level pitch.

this is the sh!t where old gear shines: mpc60, 3000, sp1200...

Depending on what MPC you have, why don't you copy a sample to all 16 pads and Pitch Shift each pad individually by 2 octaves. That way the sample will keep its length and will sound at different pitches. Don't forget to rename the samples after you copy them or they'll all be affected.

My advice, in place of the 16 level note variation. Use 16 level velocity instead.

Velocity/amplitude = 0
Velocity/filter cutoff = -xx (replace xx with the correct setting for your sound)
Velocity/envelope decay = -xx (replace xx with the correct setting for your sound)

Adjust the root note/settings as needed. But if I really need to, I just do what ill green says and just duplicate the pad and adjust settings. With this method you can make new scales instead of +/- 10. Also I find it really easy to improv because you can just play around without hitting notes that are out of tune.

dreadnutz wrote:can give you only one tip:

the older the mpc, the better sounds 16 level pitch.

this is the sh!t where old gear shines: mpc60, 3000, sp1200...

Go back in time and tell this some non-hip-hop producer / keyboarder. They will bring you to an alienist.
They were happy whenever a new sampler with better sound and pitchalgorhithm was released.

peace

if all you need is a sub-bass for a bass line with the 16 levels, i don't see how it could sound bad with the low pass filter applied... for bass lines low pass is your friend.

crossings wrote:if all you need is a sub-bass for a bass line with the 16 levels, i don't see how it could sound bad with the low pass filter applied... for bass lines low pass is your friend.

^^^ This right here. Ive had my mpc for like 2 weeks now and even on the first day had great results using 16 levels. For basslines as well as like xylophone hits and stuff like that. Just low pass a bit to get rid of the high pitch changes same as if you would just change pitch on a same sample and play one after the other ie Shook Ones
sample. Notice how the high noise doesnt blend.



If your trying to use it for chords and stuff like that its best to leave it alone IMO.

thanks guys. I agree it will sound unnatural no matter what so there's only so much you can do.

I'll definitely try ill greens suggestion of manually creating the 16 levels by copying/assigning, and that way I can only use the notes in the correct key and fine tune each one.

also thinking I'll just have to sample a chromatic scale from my bass and have that saved as a program

the key is to find a good bass tone and work the bass tone b4 u put it on 16 levels

so things like AHD evelopes, pitch/tune, filter be it hpf or lpf

then when u got ur shit sounding good but dont filter it to where there arehardly any middle overtones otherwise u'll get an aliased mess at lower and higher ends of the scale

if you have a 1000, 2500, 4000, 5000, or Ren, 16 levels is not the best go-to system for creating pitched samples. use keygroups/instrument programs instead. far more flexible and powerful...16 levels is good if that's all you've got, but tbh i haven't touched it since 2006

It sounds dumb, but most of my gripes with the wonkiness of 16 levels disappeared when I just accepted/enjoyed the characteristics as part of my machines color and character. Now I pick sounds to exaggerate it, like those old school rave piano stabs.

A while ago I just starting using my machine with the mandate of exaggerating its personally as much as possible. That old school pitching is definitely a good technique for this. You'll never be tottally satisfied with trying to overcome this, because simply you never will overcome it unless you hyper sample every note. To each his own though, good luck.