Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
By LateArrival101 Thu Jan 13, 2005 12:14 am
what's up guys...
i've had this problem with my MPC2000XL and it's REALLY pissing me off.

i'm pretty sure BPMs are a universal thing...right?!...meaning: it's the same for everything.

so here it goes, my problem that is killing me (this has happened to me more than once):

i have this sample that i created on ACID 5 that's exactly 1 bar long.
the tempo (BPM) is set at 246.000. it's basically a loop track. i use that 1 bar to loop as many times as i desire. so when the track is layed out on acid and i just loop that 1 bar, it sounds as if it's perfectly smooth and ongoing (keep in mind that i remove the "quick fade edges" option...i hate it when i'm doing this).
now, i render that 1 bar track as a .wav, of course, so i can dump it onto my MPC.

HERE'S the thing:
i'm gonna start a new sequence. i set the tempo (BPM) on the MPC just like it was on ACID (246.0) and i set it to 1 bar, as well. i use STEP so i could just plug in my 1 bar .wav into 001.01.00.

now, i play it with loop ON, but it doesn't sound smooth and ongoing like it did in ACID. it's as if there's a gap in between each play of the .wav, like the .wav is going faster than the MPC tempo (and i've also tried setting like 8 bars and pluggin the .wav into every new bar using STEP, just so i could see if it sounds smooth THAT way, and still the same crap).

what's going on here?
can someone tell me why it's doing that?
it sux cuz i always have to be fiddling with the MPC tempo just so i can line up the .wav to the next one that's gonna be played. it sux :-(


thanx so much, guys
_chris

By spectre Thu Jan 13, 2005 12:22 am
I think it does cut off a bit from the end. Not cut it off but just doesn't play it or something. Don't trim your samples so tight.

By LateArrival101 Thu Jan 13, 2005 12:35 am
but i mean, i just cut it at exactly 1 bar...it should play the one bar.

what am i suppose to do?
i mean...i don't wanna always have to estimate how much little bit i have to leave extra on the end of a track just so that it plays smoothly on the mpc. then i'm ALWAYS gonna have to be nitpicking the end of loop tracks trying to find out how much exactly to leave at the end so it sounds clean.

it's retarded :-(

i mean...is there an option or something on the MPC that's doing this?
why doesn't it just play like it suppose to?!
:-(

_chris

By spectre Thu Jan 13, 2005 12:46 am
I don't know. Did you trim it in the MPC or the software? I only use the MPC and I just trim it based on how it sounds so I don't pay attention to the numbers. Always works for me. I guess if you in the software and cut it exactly it'll screw up. I'm not sure if it's a setting or what. Be patient maybe someone else will help you out with more knowledge than me. I'm not even sure if it cuts off like that I think I just remember reading it somewhere.

By pause Thu Jan 13, 2005 1:04 am
are your attack and decay settings on the mpc set to zero? those settings might be what is cutting your sample short
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By binger0 Thu Jan 13, 2005 2:58 am
LateArrival101 wrote:

i have this sample that i created on ACID 5 that's exactly 1 bar long.
the tempo (BPM) is set at 246.000.



the bpm is the speed of the song or tempo, beats per minute. a beat in 4/4 time is 1 - 2 - 3- 4 like the click that the mpc makes. all music in 4/4 time is setup like that. all the samples have to be set to the same bpms. So if that is 1 bar at 246.000 the mpc would have to be set at that, 246.000 bpms. Are u makin hip hop? that is up in the acid trance speed. that is also double time so u can actaully set the mpc to half of that. 123.000 bpms. and it will still loop the same. u cant just throw some sample into the mpc though and thinks its acidized. u would have to timestretch it in the mpc or use acid to make it within the tempo u want the song at.
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By lank Thu Jan 13, 2005 3:30 am
no, i think it has to do w/ the 30ms(?) of time that the mpc adds when recording samples, which is faded or cut when importing without that extra time on the end. not sure of the exact way to get around this using both methods.
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By ^Owni Thu Jan 13, 2005 10:49 am
I advice you, Not to cut the sample precise at 1 BAR. Let it go a bit further than 1 BAR. Than Create a Sequense with 1 BAR, en put the sample in it, you now can check wat BPM tempo is the best for your loop. :)
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By itchyvinyl Thu Jan 13, 2005 7:14 pm
The LOOP sample function on the MPC is not good for looping whole bars of rhythmic material. It's more for extending long tones like keyboard sounds or bass sounds.
The MPC isn't really a dedicated 'loop sequencer' like Acid or Live.
You have to do things differently to get the same result.

The best way to use your sampled loop is to put it on a pad with the loop off, and set the pad polyphony to 'mono'.
Then just trigger the sample from the pad on the "1" (first beat) of every bar in your sequence. That's how most people do it on the MPC.

oh yeah, then tweak on the sample's pitch and the sequence tempo until your sample is looping smoothly.



Check out this link to some MPC beatmaking videos, and you can get some ideas how to use the MPC to get what you want. Like I said, it's a totally different animal from something like Acid.
http://www.mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=22828&start=0
.

Here's another. It's big, so download to your harddrive first, don't try to stream it.
http://www.maui.net/~ajna/SMOOVE.html

By nanoloop Fri Jan 14, 2005 12:08 am
Go into the sample screen. sample 1 sec of silence. insert it at the end of your loop. Put it on note off and use a duration of 768(1bar). or use mono. what ever floats your boat.

By LateArrival101 Fri Jan 14, 2005 2:56 am
cool...
i'll see if any of that works.
thanx guys :-D

by the way...hey PAUSE...

how do i change those settings (attack/decay) u were talking about?
where do i go? can ya tell me?
thanx brotha,

_chris

By LateArrival101 Fri Jan 14, 2005 3:01 am
i mean...i know i could just adjust the tempo settings to make the loop sound smooth, but i just wanted to know if there was like an option or something u can change so that the MPC plays it just like any other piece of hardware/software could.

even if i put the sample at the beginning of every bar (let's say i set 10 bars), it still sounds like it cuts off the sound at the end right before it's gonna get to the next bar. it pisses me off SO much :-(

By LateArrival101 Fri Jan 14, 2005 3:06 am
ORIGINALLY POSTED BY "LANK": no, i think it has to do w/ the 30ms(?) of time that the mpc adds when recording samples, which is faded or cut when importing without that extra time on the end. not sure of the exact way to get around this using both methods.


really?! hey everyone...is this true?
so if it IS...then i could just ADD 30ms to my original sample and it should be good! :-D

right???