By the average man
Wed Aug 10, 2005 5:46 pm
TicToc wrote:Enjoy. You're in for a ride. Elmacaco said something very Zen once, but it couldnt be more true - the 60 will teach you things and reward you for being patient enough to learn them.
I'm only about a month or two into my 60. The only advice I can give other than the obvious (read the manual and also the FAQ/bible, but it sounds like you already are doing that) is to set aside a day or a weekend and just make yourself a library of drum kits. One thing you'll notice about the 60, which might be different, is that you will want to sit and work on a beat from start to finish because its that much fun. I used to take breaks and come back to beats hours and days later on the XL, sometimes because I would get bored. Never happens with the 60. Make sure you got a nice big drum arsenal up and ready because I dont know about you, but I find myself looking forward to making drum patterns on that machine, and so you'll have drums on surplus ready to freak each and everytime youre ready to make a beat. All rumors and controversy aside - there is something about the sequencer that you will understand the first time you use it. I sold my XL to buy a 60 and dont regret it for a second.
I think the perceived 'timing' difference people might hear in the 60's sequencer is the fact that, even though the ppqn are the same across MPCs, the CPU processor in the 60 is so slow and archaic relative to the newer models that the PLAYBACK of the samples in sequence is, for lack of a better term, looser. That might be the magic we hear in it, but that's just speculation on my part and has been argued to death in countless threads. I tried the double-time sequence trick on both my XL and the 60, and the difference seems to be more audible (and funkier) on the 60. I have loaded up identical samples and sequences in a 60 and a 2000XL, and it would make perfect sense that a machine with 1.5 MB of RAM and a 8 MHz processor would struggle/lag a bit more on the playback than a more powerful machine would, just like older and weaker computers struggle to process files that newer computers don't have a problem with. Just make a few basic rudimentary drum patterns, sit back and light one up, and just listen. It really sounds dope.
Also....go to Walmart, and get a cheap $5 fan, and use it as a dedicated 60 fan. I got one thats about the size of my hand, and it keeps my baby nice and cool for those long late-night sessions.
Also, since you have 3.10 and the manual, read up on "compressing sound to half size". Its a neat little trick Roger Linn included in the OS update for effectively doubling your memory (but you cant tune anything after you compress it, so choose wisely and save often), but I could swear that (almost) everything actually sounds even better after being compressed. Its a 'data' compression (similar to compressing files into a .zip or .rar on your computer) as opposed to a 'musical' compression (running sounds through a compressor), but it has a nice effect on the sound that you might dig. Roger Linn has a knack for making things that are practical also aesthetically pleasing, a detail which makes the Linn MPCs a nice balance of art/science, form/function, and beauty/power.
The beauty of this machine lies in its simplicity, which makes perfect sense if you consider that it is late-80s technology. What was "cutting edge" at that time is laughable now, so what you get is an OS that is so straightforward and intuitive, so basic, that you'll pick it up in no time flat and get to the real fun - manipulation of the machine's limits and weaknesses. Its easy to get creative on a machine when you're forced to - I have about 200x the 60's memory on the JumpDrive I have on my keychain, and I think most modern calculators have a more advanced OS than this thing and thats the whole point....it allows/forces creativity.
Buy a sack of the dohj, turn off the phone, and lock yourself in a room with the 60 and your manual for a weekend and never look back.
This post answers most of the bloody newbie questions that come up in this forum!
