Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
By dunkeyman Fri Jul 12, 2019 1:57 pm
Hello! I apologize in advance if I come off like an imbecile with some of my questions. As tech-savvy and computer-savvy as I am, I am a total newbie with audio stuff.


I've wanted an MPC2000xl for a long time, but never got one because I could not justify spending the money. I've wanted it for years, because I found myself being obsessed with finding stuff that would be great hip hop samples, only to never do anything with those samples. I tried a bunch of different PC programs but I found I absolutely hated making beats on a computer (which is ironic because I do professional video editing in my spare time). Just something about making them on a computer that I don't like; I can't pinpoint what it is.


Anyway, recently I saw someone on a local Facebook group selling an MPC2000xl for $500. It's in mint condition, has 32 MB of RAM, an SD card reader, and the FX board so I had to stop being a cheap-ass with myself and I bought it for that price.


I am still watching youtube tutorials (there aren't that many great videos out there, sadly) and trying to get the hang of this thing. I have already gotten very good at chopping up samples and making them loop perfectly, but that's about it.


Anyway, I need some advice on what I need (if anything) for my setup. I am trying to keep computers completely out of the equation if possible. Now I understand that my final beat is going to be sent to a computer, and I may have to use a PC to load WAV files onto the MPC, but I am trying to use a computer as little as possible. The reason for this is that I want to do a lot of my beat-making with just my headphones and the MPC. I get better motivated if I am messing with making beats in the backyard, in the den, etc instead of stuck in front of a computer sitting at a desk. As mentioned, I also hate beat-making on computer; I feel like my timing sucks compared to using hardware, and it also doesn't hold my interest like the MPC does.


Anyway that being said, what type of equipment do I need to get started? Keeping in mind I want to keep computer use to an absolute minimum, and money is a factor.


If I find a sample but I want to adjust the audio frequencies or whatever to remove/minimize a drum or bassline or something in the sample, can that be done on the MPC? If not, what do I need to do that (besides a PC to mess with EQ/frequencies/etc)? For example, in 1992, how did DJ Muggs take all the other stuff out of the Jump Around horn sample? It's from a song called "Shoot Your Shot" and there's a bunch of other instruments going on that Muggs had to remove from the sample to get just the horn. How did he do that in the days before computers were used? Can the MPC do that?


I bought this mixer on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/120S-USB-12-Ch ... 4006032368
I am sure it's not great because of how cheap it is, but this is what I need, correct? The purpose of it is that I would connect 8 line outs on the MPC into it and that way I can make drums louder than the high hats, etc? If that's all it's for, can't I just do that on the MPC itself?


Do I need anything else like one of those piano keyboard things? I'm guessing no and that it's for talking to PC software but I had to ask :)


My main goal is to make 90s style hip hop beats, so I don't mind not having anything cutting edge. Plus, money is an issue so I am trying to do this while spending as little money as possible. I honestly would have just kept dreaming of owning an MPC2000xl if I never saw that Facebook marketplace post. I am a super-dedicated dad (to a fault sometimes) and I hate spending money on myself instead of saving it for my children's future, as ridiculous as that sounds. But now that I own the MPC2000xl, I am really interested in understanding what I absolutely need and what I don't, so I really appreciate any help anyone can provide.


Again I apologize this is so long and I am asking such basic questions. I am quite good with PCs and linear video editing but beat-making is completely new to me and I don't like software solutions. Thanks so much for even reading this far, and to anyone who can answer some of my (dumb) questions.
User avatar
By tapedeck Fri Jul 12, 2019 3:40 pm
'how do i remove instruments from a sample'....the short answer is you dont. you get creative - you find different versions, you find a section of the song where the other instruments are minimal, you try the left channel, try the right channel, see if they are different. usually people have a dj mixer hooked up going into the mpc so you can eq a little bit, but that is rarely going to completely remove instruments from a mix.

so the answer i think you need is, experiment. you already got what you need, so now time to start learning new tricks. you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might just find, you get what you need.
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By hok-2 Fri Jul 12, 2019 9:07 pm
You can isolate a bass line from a sample by using the filter in the program section.
Turn the filter down and then increase the resonance until you like it.
Or you can sample one of the bass notes, hit 16 levels - change it to pitch and make your own bassline.
Generally, you would get a bit more control of a sample if you chop it into it's constituant parts - e.g. Kick, hat, snare etc.

Its not easy to remove artifacts like, vocals etc by just using a Mpc2000 so, perhaps use your mixer's eq to tweek the sounds you sample into the mpc. Like, turn the bass all the way down to get the top end and vice versa to sample the bottom.
What type of music are you producing?
Maybe, consider getting hold of a sample pack, that way you can see how other people do it (but look for ones specifically for Mpc2000/xls) otherwise they'l probably not be 16bit and it won't regonise them.

You've got a dope drum machine, no need to rely soley on loops. Get chopping them loops up and make your own shiznit. It will probably sound just as good but, in a diffrent way.
By dunkeyman Sat Jul 13, 2019 2:43 am
hok-2 wrote:You can isolate a bass line from a sample by using the filter in the program section.
Turn the filter down and then increase the resonance until you like it.
Or you can sample one of the bass notes, hit 16 levels - change it to pitch and make your own bassline.
Generally, you would get a bit more control of a sample if you chop it into it's constituant parts - e.g. Kick, hat, snare etc.

Its not easy to remove artifacts like, vocals etc by just using a Mpc2000 so, perhaps use your mixer's eq to tweek the sounds you sample into the mpc. Like, turn the bass all the way down to get the top end and vice versa to sample the bottom.
What type of music are you producing?
Maybe, consider getting hold of a sample pack, that way you can see how other people do it (but look for ones specifically for Mpc2000/xls) otherwise they'l probably not be 16bit and it won't regonise them.

You've got a dope drum machine, no need to rely soley on loops. Get chopping them loops up and make your own shiznit. It will probably sound just as good but, in a diffrent way.


Thanks so much for the reply. I am going for 90s east coast sounding hip hop; the hard core stuff. Think: Onyx, Gravediggaz, Mobb Deep type beats.

As for the mixer to adjust samples, are you saying the mixer can be used for not only outputting to my PC but for inputting into the MPC? If so that's pretty cool. I would not have thought to do that.

I bought a drum/bass/hh/kick/snare kit as a digital download and sure enough it wasn't compatible but I converted all files to 16 bit in seconds using foobar2000. The only thing is the file names are longer than 8.3. Will that be an issue with the MPC? Or is the MPC smart enough to rename it itself?
User avatar
By tapedeck Sat Jul 13, 2019 6:05 pm
dunkeyman wrote:The only thing is the file names are longer than 8.3. Will that be an issue with the MPC? Or is the MPC smart enough to rename it itself?

it could corrupt and destroy the samples. fix this immediately.
User avatar
By Lampdog Sun Jul 14, 2019 9:02 pm
Long filenames are ONLY supported when you format your media via mpc.

If the media is going to touch ANY computer then STICK TO 8 CHARACTER FILENAMES.

APS, ALL, MID, SEQ, WAV, SND are all saved and remember the LAST saved filename. IF you change the name then FILE NOT FOUND will show up.

APS is a collective and remember multiple last saved filenames.
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By peterpiper Mon Jul 15, 2019 3:56 am
Have you tried Advanced Renamer? And why do the programs suck?
With such programs you'll have to know what you want and the way how it could be done. Just like programming in general. You can't program a software by just typing "make a synth vst" :)
Since I don't know how your samples are named I can't give an exact recommandation but Advanced Renamer has the ability to really get deep into it. For example: Cut n letters from beginning/end or any other place of the name. Cut a specific word. Replace word with another. Add a word, date, in- or decreasing number, foldername to any position of the filename. And more. And the concept is a flexible 'pipe' of all the different methods for changing the filename so you can use a cut-method first, then a replace-method and then a add-increasing-number method. Its a very flexible and mighty tool when you know how to use it and learning to se it will save you a lot of time.
Another plus:
Its free
Its available as portable version so not installing is needed.

peace
User avatar
By peterpiper Mon Jul 15, 2019 6:47 am
Oh and if you can return the mixer, do it. Although I don't know it I'm pretty sure it's not what you need and/or want. on the mixer inside the MPC can do volume and pan and with the FX board you get the option to run samples thru the multiFX1 and multiFX2 slots which have an EQ (well to be honest it's not really an EQ but more a 4-Filter-in-one-kind-of-thing but I won't go deeper here :)) In short: You can boost or cut frequencies you like/don't like.
About sample editing: tapedeck nailed it :)
About the horn on "Jump around": I guess it's filtered with a hipass filter (yes this could be done on the FX-board of your MPC :)) and as far as I can hear the snare thats on top of the horn is simply cutted (yes this is also no problem for the MPC:
TRIM(shift+5)
-> znEDIT(F3)
-> set Startpoint and endpoint of the section you want to delete and press EDIT(F5) choose 'DELETE ZONE' and press 'DOIT'
the guitar is not really noticeable cause the lower frequency of it is cutted by the filter and the rest is 'masked' by the other samples of Jump Around (Pianoloop which also have guitar in it, Drums)

peace
User avatar
By peterpiper Mon Jul 15, 2019 10:11 am
You can also (as said before) EQ your samples before you sample it. That needs to be done with either a mixer that sits between the PC output and the MPC input or with an audioeditor on the PC. There are really good freeware EQ/Filter plugins that are more flexible and higher quality than the EQ section of the mixer you bought.

I just thought 'lets have some fun with jump around :) and made this as demo how the horn sample is edited. Thanks for the inspiration to listen a bit closer to JumpAround. I couldn't really figure how Muggs chopped the bass/piano loop but he added a 'noise' sample that could to be a guiro from the same chubby checker song just where the guitars in hornsample are. Don't know if that was planned as masking of just for the groove. In my demo I used the second guiro from the Chubby Checker song. The first didn't really fit.


peace

Question to mods: Can I only edit posts i JUST submit? The only option I get on older posts is 'Report this post'
User avatar
By saltmcgault Mon Jul 15, 2019 2:12 pm
peterpiper wrote:You can also (as said before) EQ your samples before you sample it. That needs to be done with either a mixer that sits between the PC output and the MPC input or with an audioeditor on the PC. There are really good freeware EQ/Filter plugins that are more flexible and higher quality than the EQ section of the mixer you bought.

I just thought 'lets have some fun with jump around :) and made this as demo how the horn sample is edited. Thanks for the inspiration to listen a bit closer to JumpAround. I couldn't really figure how Muggs chopped the bass/piano loop but he added a 'noise' sample that could to be a guiro from the same chubby checker song just where the guitars in hornsample are. Don't know if that was planned as masking of just for the groove. In my demo I used the second guiro from the Chubby Checker song. The first didn't really fit.


peace

Question to mods: Can I only edit posts i JUST submit? The only option I get on older posts is 'Report this post'



I believe you have 15 or so minutes to edit your posts. I know this because sometimes I type fast and fat finger texts on my phone and submit before I proof read sometimes.

Have you heard Muggs new stuff lately. I've made a playlist with all his releases with slick jacken, eto, mayhem lauren and mach homme. His bass lines are dope. I'm always wondering how he comes up with some of his tracks. He still gots it after all these years.
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By tapedeck Mon Jul 15, 2019 3:04 pm
peterpiper wrote:I just thought 'lets have some fun with jump around :) and made this as demo how the horn sample is edited. Thanks for the inspiration to listen a bit closer to JumpAround. I couldn't really figure how Muggs chopped the bass/piano loop but he added a 'noise' sample that could to be a guiro from the same chubby checker song just where the guitars in hornsample are. Don't know if that was planned as masking of just for the groove. In my demo I used the second guiro from the Chubby Checker song. The first didn't really fit.

peterpiper nailed it :mrgreen:

as for file renaming - you don't have to do all 1300 samples at once...just do a few of each type of sample first and name them manually. that's one approach. another option is 1-4a rename on windows - this program is awesome https://www.1-4a.com/
User avatar
By Lampdog Mon Jul 15, 2019 3:45 pm
saltmcgault wrote:
peterpiper wrote:Question to mods: Can I only edit posts i JUST submit? The only option I get on older posts is 'Report this post'



I believe you have 15 or so minutes to edit your posts.
By dunkeyman Tue Jul 16, 2019 10:41 pm
peterpiper wrote:Have you tried Advanced Renamer? And why do the programs suck?
With such programs you'll have to know what you want and the way how it could be done. Just like programming in general. You can't program a software by just typing "make a synth vst" :)
Since I don't know how your samples are named I can't give an exact recommandation but Advanced Renamer has the ability to really get deep into it. For example: Cut n letters from beginning/end or any other place of the name. Cut a specific word. Replace word with another. Add a word, date, in- or decreasing number, foldername to any position of the filename. And more. And the concept is a flexible 'pipe' of all the different methods for changing the filename so you can use a cut-method first, then a replace-method and then a add-increasing-number method. Its a very flexible and mighty tool when you know how to use it and learning to se it will save you a lot of time.
Another plus:
Its free
Its available as portable version so not installing is needed.

peace


Advanced Renamer worked. Thanks so much. I tried 8 other programs and none of them could do it properly until Advanced Renamer. You're the best!

peterpiper wrote:You can also (as said before) EQ your samples before you sample it. That needs to be done with either a mixer that sits between the PC output and the MPC input or with an audioeditor on the PC. There are really good freeware EQ/Filter plugins that are more flexible and higher quality than the EQ section of the mixer you bought.

I just thought 'lets have some fun with jump around :) and made this as demo how the horn sample is edited. Thanks for the inspiration to listen a bit closer to JumpAround. I couldn't really figure how Muggs chopped the bass/piano loop but he added a 'noise' sample that could to be a guiro from the same chubby checker song just where the guitars in hornsample are. Don't know if that was planned as masking of just for the groove. In my demo I used the second guiro from the Chubby Checker song. The first didn't really fit.


peace

Question to mods: Can I only edit posts i JUST submit? The only option I get on older posts is 'Report this post'


Thank you so much for this informative post and you did incredible work with the beat! Damn man! Hope I am as good as you some day!
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By hok-2 Thu Jul 18, 2019 7:14 pm
Onxy and Gravediggers? !
Yes my dude, I love those cats.
A Mpc2000xl is pretty much ideal in that case unless you've got access to a Sp-1200?

I use Cool Edit Pro to 'batch convert' folders of samples to 16bit but, there are various ways to do it.
Generaly I just rename them after I load them but, yeah Mpc2000's and Xls have a 8 digit limit on name size.

If its 90's grimey Hip Hop beats you want to make then Break Beats is where I'd start.
If you search in the 'Crate Diggers' section of this site there was a post of ''200 breaks" some one kindly uploaded.
Or find a 'ultimate Breaks' record... basically they're the drums most people used back then and they are still great now.
Have you got 8 outputs on your Mpc2000xl? And the Effects card?
If so, you are set, man. AS Peter Piper mentioned the effects board has a sort of EQ.... I don't have one myself so can't realy comment on that.
But, I can send you a program file and samples if you'd find that usefull. Im not completely sure Mpc2000's and Xl's load each others files. I use a Mpc2000 not a Xl you see.
There's another program called 'Mpc Editor' which is free and you might find usefull.

Looking forward to hearing some low down and dirty beats :smoker:
Also check out the 'Beat Battle' section, they're are some samples every couple of weeks and its a good way to home your skills, match relative volume levels and stuff, PEACE. !