The Official, "How to Play Drums Live on the MPC" Thread

skip to the bold print if you don't like to read.

i rock an mpc2000xl... i'm gonna do my first live set of playing my beats in either september or november.

instead letting the beat play and only tapping the filler stuff(congas, shakers, extra sounds), i wanted to play the drums live and do some crazy drum programming on the set.

for me... the most important thing i want to learn is the most comfortable/recommended finger placement... so that its as if i'm a real drummer playing on a real drum kit.

so drop your tips please. 2nd note... my beats are far from wack, so you guys droppin' tips will add an extra avenue and increase my chances of being successful in this music industry.

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as far as i can say, it's very hard to rock the mpc like a drumkit, cuz on a drumkit u got 2 hands and 1 foot.

i can play the drums, but can't do "live drumming" on an mpc... cuz i miss my foot

the only tip i can give is to keep the HH on your right hand - kicks and snares on the left.
another thing would be that u let the HH play in a sequence and just tap in the kicks and snares... fill ins could be possible too!

flip-o-mat wrote:as far as i can say, it's very hard to rock the mpc like a drumkit, cuz on a drumkit u got 2 hands and 1 foot.

i can play the drums, but can't do "live drumming" on an mpc... cuz i miss my foot

the only tip i can give is to keep the HH on your right hand - kicks and snares on the left.
another thing would be that u let the HH play in a sequence and just tap in the kicks and snares... fill ins could be possible too!

you got two feet on a drumset along with ya 2 hands

i know that, but u can do everything that your secound foot does without any problems on the mpc.

that underdog track is hot... keep hittin those pads.. one of the hottest cats ive heard on here.. keep doing it.. you got that ny flavor ... aaaaight

I would think you'd be able to buy a set of Electric drum looking pads that are MIDI contriollers. Why doesn't someone make an electric drum set that works like a MPD-16?

you could get footswitches to trigger pads

Practice, Practice, Practice really. You can try in your right handed to put your kick and snare on pads A3 and A4. And maybe the HH on A1 and play a basic set lay the percussion on top. I have seen people at the music shop play live with just one hand but it takes practice. If I remember right Manny Fresh and Hifana has a Roland Drum pad connected to their MPCs and plays live that way.


http://www.samash.com/catalog/showitem.asp?itemid=12478

yeah i been playing the drums for like 4 months now, and the way to use that skill on the mpc is to lay your hat on like pad 7 and 8, and lay the kick on 1 and the snare on 3. And just do it like that.

akaipro.com has a couple of live kits in the DOTW section. you can check out how they are placed.

Peep this:
http://www.harmony-central.com/Drums/ED ... tml#edrums

And this:
http://www.zzounds.com/item--YAMDD55

mwalker wrote:http://www.alternatemode.com/drumkat_main.shtml

Yeah, I saw that one but it costs more than a G. There are other actua drumkits you could get for that price:
http://www.zzounds.com/cat--2490

I've been playing the MPC on stage for the last 2 years as the 'virtual drummer' in my friend's band General Elektriks.
I never thought I'd tour Europe tapping around on a little box, but let me tell you, it's easier than lugging a drum kit around.

As well as holding down beats, I trigger sound fx, musical phrases, and various samples as well. I don't use the sequencer at all.

I really can't give you tips on how to set up. It's very personal....just whatever is comfortable for you. I've talked to Jel (who is a pioneer at rocking the MPC live, and has filled in for me in General Elektriks) about it before, and he sets up totally different than I do.

Here's a little video of me tapping out some beats. Sorry for the craap quality - it was shot with a Digital Elph.

http://s19.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0B8C ... T6EDAAJF1Z

http://s28.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2TO9 ... 02TITUYXIX

^.... man that shit is dope!!!!!!!!.... i'm studying that shit too... i'm not sure if i'm looking at that correctly... but when you are hittin' the snare... you leave the hat alone?....

got any more vids?....