Recording beats from the MPC to laptop - swing issue

OK so when I make beats I put different swing on each track, which I keep for each instrument. I am recording the audio into the DAW I use - Reaper. When I do this they are losing some of the funk as I like my wavs nice and neat in Reaper i.e. starting EXACTLY on the one and obviously once I record them in I cant remember what swing I put on each individual track. I am awful at midi too. So does anyone have any experience recording midi track by track from the mpc 2000xl via a standard midi lead into a DAW, and if so whats the easiest way to do this? I can happily record ALL the midi in as it would be easy to figure out hihats / snares etc from each other. Any help greatly appreciated. Cheers guys

Would it work better to save the sequence as a MIDI file from the MPC, and load that MIDI file into Reaper?

Are you re-triggering the sounds via that MIDI within Reaper, from a sampler within Reaper, or just using the MIDI to line up the individual audio tracks that have also been recorded from the MPC?

Maybe it would be better to record in metronome clicks, or some other timing reference, along with the MPC audio, and use that to trim up the recorded audio within Reaper so that each track starts at the correct location?

hey thanks for the advice!

I'll be doing it with clicks to get a reference now, as midi is a big learning curve for me and I'm finishing an album.

Can't believe I didn't think of that before!!

But thanks a lot man!

You got a music page so I can check your stuff?

Why not try to do it all off the mpc ?
I always have trouble with Daws.
I dont know if it's latency or what but, what I do at the moment is just not bother with a computer at all.

Mind you, my computer is pretty s**t .

That' my opinion mate

Yeah it's true I love this forum for that and there is a whole heap of stuff I can do in Reaper such as e.q. add fx splice stuff together, and master and release upon the world

But the basic beginnings for me are get some ill drums (from my vinyl crates) find a sample / samples that works with them, throw into reaper and start getting really creative.

The tips you guys gave me means I can now 'keep the funk' of my compositions as I mostly play stuff in live now.

create a sequence with one particular sound.
put it in front of the actual song, after recording the tracks into reaper.
you can cut the files at the same point (beginning of the sound) and everything should be where it originally was.

slightly off topic but I stumbled on this other thread about timing precision with the 2k: mpc-2000-classic-timing-test-results (gearslutz)

It's kinda abstract when you put it under a microscope like that, but you can definitely hear something funny happening on rapid 32/(3) notes at any tempos that don't end in xxx.0 or xxx.5. it's a pattern of offsets not a random/jitter.

So I believe it when people say the MPC's have their own swing. You won't necessarily get the same by just loading the same MIDI file on a software sequencer.

Harmoncj wrote:slightly off topic but I stumbled on this other thread about timing precision with the 2k: mpc-2000-classic-timing-test-results (gearslutz)

It's kinda abstract when you put it under a microscope like that, but you can definitely hear something funny happening on rapid 32/(3) notes at any tempos that don't end in xxx.0 or xxx.5. it's a pattern of offsets not a random/jitter.

So I believe it when people say the MPC's have their own swing. You won't necessarily get the same by just loading the same MIDI file on a software sequencer.

Nice find. Interesting to see the results of the Litmus Test with a wide variety of gear I've owned and used.

Harmoncj wrote:So I believe it when people say the MPC's have their own swing. You won't necessarily get the same by just loading the same MIDI file on a software sequencer.

I think that there are a number of timing issues going on that give the MPC a particular timing feel.


As discussed in this thread...
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=165399
...the MPC3000 outputs sounds, at the same sequencer location, 60-70ms after each other, through the individual outputs. Possibly the same when sending the sound through the same output(s) as well? Not sure if all the later MPCs have the same timing processing.

Probably just the way the MPC handles MIDI, or simultaneous events in general, or just due to the MIDI protocol itself, being a serial protocol, and only being able to transmit a single message at a time.


Then there are timing issues due to syncing the MPC to a DAW and recording multiple takes of the different sounds/tracks/etc. from the one sequence. I seem to recall reading, years ago, that there is an inherent slop in the lock position of MTC between different takes, something like it can only guarantee lock within a 1/4 of an MTC frame, so it is not going to be sample accurate sync, and not in the exact same location, between each take. Not sure what difference there would be in this slop of sync lock between MTC and MIDI Clock. Need to test that myself, when I get a chance.


Also, there might be differences in timing behavior of the MPC sequencer when running on internal clock, vs external clock.


There seems to be a number of places where the timing in MPCs is 'off', most likely contributing to the MPC timing/feel.