Sense-A wrote:If I were you I'd spend a whole weekend sampling everything I like out of the RZ1 and then sell it.
There's a software version of the triton. That would be next to go if your computer can handle track recording and run a few vsts concurrently. I've never been a big fan of the triton and its samples were overused the first few years it came out. It has no mojo as a sampler and is basically a rompler.
Use the MPC 4000 as your main sequencer and trigger for drums.
For synths I sample a length that takes up the entire sequence. Unless I'm just trying to get a short synth wave into the MPC 4000 to loop.
Already having 4 drum machines, I'm not sure how the MPC 4000 serves you other than being a primary sequencer and midi trigger. I'd start building my own custom drum kits inside the mpc 4000 and wean myself off the Tr8S/Machinedrum. Unless you perform live in which case the Tr8S/Machinedrum might be more spontaneous.
You're going to need a big desk to sort out all that gear.
I have lots of rack drum modules. I use them to search for drum samples and often take a tom from one, a kick from another, a snare from another and sample them all into the MPC. I don't midi sequence them. I do use the MPC to midi trigger them for sampling.
So in my setup, the MPC is my drum machine. Any other drum machine in my studio is sample source material and that's about it. I ultimately want my own custom drum kits all inside the MPC. Depending on your style, you may take a different approach.
One thing that is difficult to replicate inside the MPC is how drums respond differently depending on velocity. It takes a long time to sample a soft kick, medium kick, hard kick and layer them all according to velocity. So if you have a drum machine that responds very meticulously to velocity and after touch, then sampling it may not be superior to sequencing it.
I appreciate you man, lots of sensible advice here.
I actually am thinking ill sell the Rz1 after sampling it. It’s basically like a regular hit and an accent on each drum. It’s really bare bones after that. The thing it has going for it is the feel of the hats, but I can get feel like that in the 4000.
Triton is absolutely a ROMpler. I use it for that and it gets a lot of use from me still so that is why I have not sold it even though the plugin exists. I usually make a 4 or 8 bar sequence and sample that, so I am thinking I could do some cool things to those samples in the 4k with all it’s LFOs and mod matrix.
I make house music so the one thing I am thinking is that it probably makes sense to do sound design automation in the 4k but for long filter sweeps and such, it may be better to do that after I bounce into the DAW. For example, lets say I have 8 bars where I want to modulate the filter by hand and do some fast moves. I can do that on the 4k with the sliders. But for longer volume fades and filter sweeps, it probably makes more sense to do that stuff in Ableton after I track out. Correct me if I am wrong.
On drums, you are dead on. If everything works out how I want, I was thinking to sell, because I do plan to do my drums in the MPC. One reason I have trouble selling the Machinedrum is it does crazy levels of modulation for percussion that I can sequence along with the MPC. It also is an effects box that I run my modulars through. So I want to see how that goes before I sell it. The TR8s is gonna stay because one thing I love to do is use it as a sound module. I can pitch everything how I want real fast and then sample it into the MPC. Its super fast for me. I also could sample 4 bars, chop and round robin the kicks and snares to get that effect you were mentioning. If I kept one drum machine, it would be that one.
My setup is going to be a mixer stand (MIX 400) for the 4000, and I’d like to make the tracks in that. Next to that is my stand with my hardware.
I have seen the workflow of deep house producers on YT pretty much getting the entire vibe done in the MPC and then arranging just by vibing on the mutes. I have a separate stand for the other gear that will be next to the MPC. So yeah, the MPC can sequence everything, which is great. the Deepmind is an amazing pad machine and has a chord mode if needed so I can send one note to that and make chord changes. Then I will either sample the changes into the MPC or just track in to ableton and modulate the synth by hand for sweeps, drops..etc. Same with the modular. I can dial up a sequence in the MPC and trigger it that way or just let it receive clock and dial up some crazy sounds in the modules.
So yeah. I see myself thinning down on drum machines and gear if this all goes as expected and just keeping some of my favorite synths and modulars for sampling or jamming in sync to the MPC. I’ll know more about how this will work for me soon, as I should be getting the 4k today.