Bug reports & end-user support for Akai's MPC Software 'controllers' including the new MPC Studio 2, the MPC Touch, MPC Renaissance & original MPC Studio and MPC StudioB lack.
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By Fanu Sat Dec 20, 2014 7:59 am
pituchez wrote: i dont use the metronome.


Metronome is pretty essential to getting some hits there to be the backbone for you (or, alternatively, drawing a few hits, such as snares, in there): metronome simply helps you to know when you should be getting your drum hits in.
I usually hit the snares in while listening to the metrononome, and after that i may turn it off, and i also always keep TC off to keep it nice and loose and not too computerised.
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By DJ Hellfire Sat Dec 20, 2014 12:38 pm
pituchez wrote:bwahhahaha!
finally someone whos sold some beats and is well known in teh forumz and youtubs..
no disrespekt to everyone else who has contributed feedback. i take it all seriously and try to learn and get better.

so your saying i should make the bass even deeper?

also thanks..i dont like that beat..it sucks. bwahahha. im gona keep on trying and trying and trying until i make some heat. but thanks. that means a lot man. means im headed in the right direction.

also the one with guitar. i dont use the metronome. i dont knwo how to play using it. im pretty much learning everything through this site or some youtube videos.

thanks a lot mane!

this is a new new that i just made using the metronome..

so its pretty simple



most of it was made using mpc expansions



Just that one low bass note sounds like it needs to be pitched down a semi-tone or two.

As for the metronome, I personally only use it for my first track in the beat. Once I have my first track, I turn it off and let the music be my metronome. But you at least need it to get some foundation down.
User avatar
By Lampdog Sat Dec 20, 2014 1:52 pm
DJ Hellfire wrote:As for the metronome, I personally only use it for my first track in the beat. Once I have my first track, I turn it off and let the music be my metronome.

I thought that was the norm and something we all do.
Apparantly not.
:lol:
By Eyalc Sat Dec 20, 2014 2:11 pm
pituchez wrote:yeh
lots of bastards been telling me i shoul let the samples sound more..
so i did that on this one



tell me what yall think

thanks! whodie whooo


The samples in this one sound a LOT smoother - can feel the beat more. But the bass line - man get that thing on key dude!!! Not saying you gotta run out and learn music theory, but you gotta develop your ear to hear when things are on key and when they're not. If you get this bass line on key, this is a NICE track. Or as you would say, this would be a NICE track SHON. LOL.
By Eyalc Sat Dec 20, 2014 2:16 pm
DJ Hellfire wrote:As for the metronome, I personally only use it for my first track in the beat. Once I have my first track, I turn it off and let the music be my metronome. But you at least need it to get some foundation down.


I usually start with my hi-hats, even if just a scratch version of what I ultimately want, then turn off the metronome. Can't stand that dang metronome sound (not the actual "sound", just the ticking) when I'm composing - messes with my concentration. LOL. But I try to keep more of a live feel, so the perfectly timed metronome ticks throw off my feel.

Hellfire, that beat Apollo goes HARD.
By pituchez Sat Dec 20, 2014 4:12 pm
Eyalc wrote:
pituchez wrote:yeh
lots of bastards been telling me i shoul let the samples sound more..
so i did that on this one



tell me what yall think

thanks! whodie whooo


The samples in this one sound a LOT smoother - can feel the beat more. But the bass line - man get that thing on key dude!!! Not saying you gotta run out and learn music theory, but you gotta develop your ear to hear when things are on key and when they're not. If you get this bass line on key, this is a NICE track. Or as you would say, this would be a NICE track SHON. LOL.


mos def kehd!
yea ive been trying to understand what yall mean by "getting it in key"...

i did some research on googlez and watched some vids on you tube and it said that even if you dont know a lot about music you should be able to tell when music is in tune or not. pretty much it said that if it sounds good together then its probably in tune..i know thats probably a dumb/basic way to look at it..but for not knowing much or anythign about music thats how ive been laying down my bass.

as for teh metronome im just tryign it out cuz i keep getting the same "feedback" whih is that my drums are out of beat. i dont understand that shit too much. specially once it comes to putting t.c into 1/4 1/8 . 1/32 etc all i know is that the more numbers i put the more hits i can do. im playing with metronome but i still play with t.c off. i might use it for hi hats just to mess with it a bit..and mess with the swing...since i dont really understand that yet.
but thanks yall! gona keep trying! bwhaah
User avatar
By pk1 Sat Dec 20, 2014 5:19 pm
Pituchez, and anybody else with a little hard time finding key notes.

So, I was a drummer in jr. High and that's about the only music education I have ever got. And bass used to be my hardest track to produce. There is allot to it. It can make or break a track! I was either out of key or forcing a groove that didn't work. I know feel pretty strong about my bass lines this year.

POINT OF POST: figuring out the root key. A trick I learned, which is crazy logical. I was kinda doing it the whole time but didn't take it serious.

Open a vst. Any. A piano works fine. (To me it's a little harder to find key with low bass octaves) now listen to the track you are working on. Maybe the track you are about to sample. While listening to it. Hum out loud. Not the song but another track. Hum another tune. Like I make a piano or guitar sound in my head and try to hum that.

After listening for a minute and humming another rhythm or tune I just fall into the track and hum a key that I feel they would play next. Hard to explain over text. But like you hum what you think they will play next.

Your brain is way smarter then you. What it does is it takes the tones and vibrations and will naturally place you in the right key when you hum. Now keep that note in your hum. Stop the music and find that key on your keyboard that matches your hum. That will be your root key. Because I do not know what to do next. I use reference books. Like cord progression books or lately I been using "howtomakesickbeats" key book. It shows you what notes can be played with your root note. And even you can afford it pituchez. It's only five bucks. I'd not eat one meal or not drink half a six pack just one day for this book. Anyway, the key is inside you can find it on your own practice the humming thing and let me know how you feel about this aproach.

Here are some of my tracks. Most of these beats are for the mpc-forum battles we do here on the forum. a couple on the top are just some randoms I've posted.
https://soundcloud.com/ivoryviking

Hope that helps a little for some of you.
User avatar
By Fanu Sat Dec 20, 2014 6:23 pm
pituchez wrote:as for teh metronome im just tryign it out cuz i keep getting the same "feedback" whih is that my drums are out of beat. i dont understand that **** too much. specially once it comes to putting t.c into 1/4 1/8 . 1/32 etc all i know is that the more numbers i put the more hits i can do. im playing with metronome but i still play with t.c off. i might use it for hi hats just to mess with it a bit..and mess with the swing...since i dont really understand that yet.
but thanks yall! gona keep trying! bwhaah


Metronome is your friend. Learn to use it and understand what it does, and only then you can ignore it; it's like, you gotta learn the rules first before you can break them.
Metronome on its default settings usually counts a bar as four hits…1,2,3,4, where 1 is accented.
In hiphop (and in house, etc), first kicks falls on 1, snares land on 2 and 4, and in a way everything else falls in place in relation to them (I recall DJ Premier saying he quantises his snares but nothing else…but that's just one person's way of working).

A metronome gives you a clue as to how well in time your drum hits are. You might set TC to 1/4, draw two snares rigidly in their place, then maybe set TC to off but keep metronome on and try to hit everything else in place so that the kicks, hi hats etc sound reasonably much in place in relation to the snares and the metronome.

You might think of house/techno music as genres where drum hits fall pretty rigidly in relation to the grid / TC (although there's usually some swing in percussion etc), whereas hip hop is looser, but basically you have to have some main elements somewhat in place as the backbone to make it sound somewhat "musical" and not too off.

I've never learned any musical theory so there's my one-minute lecture…feel free to ask.
By pituchez Sun Dec 21, 2014 12:29 am
pk1 wrote:Pituchez, and anybody else with a little hard time finding key notes.

So, I was a drummer in jr. High and that's about the only music education I have ever got. And bass used to be my hardest track to produce. There is allot to it. It can make or break a track! I was either out of key or forcing a groove that didn't work. I know feel pretty strong about my bass lines this year.

POINT OF POST: figuring out the root key. A trick I learned, which is crazy logical. I was kinda doing it the whole time but didn't take it serious.

Open a vst. Any. A piano works fine. (To me it's a little harder to find key with low bass octaves) now listen to the track you are working on. Maybe the track you are about to sample. While listening to it. Hum out loud. Not the song but another track. Hum another tune. Like I make a piano or guitar sound in my head and try to hum that.

After listening for a minute and humming another rhythm or tune I just fall into the track and hum a key that I feel they would play next. Hard to explain over text. But like you hum what you think they will play next.

Your brain is way smarter then you. What it does is it takes the tones and vibrations and will naturally place you in the right key when you hum. Now keep that note in your hum. Stop the music and find that key on your keyboard that matches your hum. That will be your root key. Because I do not know what to do next. I use reference books. Like cord progression books or lately I been using "howtomakesickbeats" key book. It shows you what notes can be played with your root note. And even you can afford it pituchez. It's only five bucks. I'd not eat one meal or not drink half a six pack just one day for this book. Anyway, the key is inside you can find it on your own practice the humming thing and let me know how you feel about this aproach.

Here are some of my tracks. Most of these beats are for the mpc-forum battles we do here on the forum. a couple on the top are just some randoms I've posted.
https://soundcloud.com/ivoryviking

Hope that helps a little for some of you.


hmm.cool lil trick. im gona try it.. yea jfilt has helped me a bit wit teh beatz0rs



ok i fixed it.. or atleast it hink..i used teh metronome and tried to follow it as much as i could

Fanu wrote:
pituchez wrote:as for teh metronome im just tryign it out cuz i keep getting the same "feedback" whih is that my drums are out of beat. i dont understand that **** too much. specially once it comes to putting t.c into 1/4 1/8 . 1/32 etc all i know is that the more numbers i put the more hits i can do. im playing with metronome but i still play with t.c off. i might use it for hi hats just to mess with it a bit..and mess with the swing...since i dont really understand that yet.
but thanks yall! gona keep trying! bwhaah


Metronome is your friend. Learn to use it and understand what it does, and only then you can ignore it; it's like, you gotta learn the rules first before you can break them.
Metronome on its default settings usually counts a bar as four hits…1,2,3,4, where 1 is accented.
In hiphop (and in house, etc), first kicks falls on 1, snares land on 2 and 4, and in a way everything else falls in place in relation to them (I recall DJ Premier saying he quantises his snares but nothing else…but that's just one person's way of working).

A metronome gives you a clue as to how well in time your drum hits are. You might set TC to 1/4, draw two snares rigidly in their place, then maybe set TC to off but keep metronome on and try to hit everything else in place so that the kicks, hi hats etc sound reasonably much in place in relation to the snares and the metronome.

You might think of house/techno music as genres where drum hits fall pretty rigidly in relation to the grid / TC (although there's usually some swing in percussion etc), whereas hip hop is looser, but basically you have to have some main elements somewhat in place as the backbone to make it sound somewhat "musical" and not too off.

I've never learned any musical theory so there's my one-minute lecture…feel free to ask.


yea tahts what ive been trying..speed it up/down to where i do kick then snare on the next beat..but somtimes i have to speed it up to like 160 and shit..so i dont know. dont think i have the hang of it yet..;|
but im trying

thanks for the help shonz

yo quickstrike..that shit is dope..
i like it!

what is it? trap or some ish?

shits dope..ive been messing around more with the vsts and stuffs since im tryign to get a hang of the metro nome..

diggin the beat..shitz ill