MPC 1000 Useless?

sorry, i've been hoping this MTC thing would resolve the tracking troubles and think this is important enough to try to get resolved- the midi clock is dodgy for synching to a daw and i find that unless the mpc is master when printing it the mpc's feel gets screwed up- the only way to really figure out is to track well trimmed square waves playing 8th notes and measure them in the audio editor by how many samples thery're drifting out- i'm finishing off some tracks i have to turn in so don't have the time right now, but if i come up with anything that might help i'll defo post it up. - i did find that when slaved to logic via mtc the 8th notes were out by 1 to 1and 1/2 milliseconds, while with midi clock it drifts back and forth by alot more than that. the only problem is i'm not sure the mpc's feel is still the same when it's slaved,( I know it was way out on the old os) i'll have to try a couple more experiments when i get the time.

has anybody here ever thought of using midi clock. I know we all rant and rave about midi time code, but I have had my MPC synch up with sonar and my 2 HD recorders without none of the waiting for the bars to line up and none of the other riff you have spoken about here. Just see if you can send midi clock from your computer or synch whatever you are using with midi time code and you will be fine. Its only 6 tracks you can do at a time, why do you really need MTC?

midi clock all the way over here and no troubles

i track my beats when im browsing the forums

You should ALWAYS track your sounds individually ( play each part out for 4 to 8 measueres to still capture the swing of the MPC ) at the maximum volume before distortion. Pay attention to each sound and make sure it comes in as full and loud as it can before distortion. It is more time consuming but will save you hours on mixdown. Also you can take advantage of using expensive preamps one or two per channel.... Get one or two good channel strips, track with them and there will not be a whole lot that will differ you from the sound you are getting at big studios. Do all of your arranging and editing in your DAW. As long as you have full good quality waveforms you will have a good track to work with ... assuming it is not wiggity in the 1st playze.

MTC off of computers suck.. to rigid and un natural.. that is why you have an MPC!!

MPZ60 wrote:MTC off of computers suck.. to rigid and un natural.. that is why you have an MPC!!

my sentiments exactly

ascdi wrote:

im also having a hard time understanding this.. you mean to say theres no way to get all your tracks out seperately/100% accurately with the 1000? i havent realy gave it a try yet, but concidering the fact that most people who are into purchasing beats NEED/WANT to have everything on seperate tracks..... how are we suposed to go about doing this with this thing i spent over a grrand for? the only software i use is CoolEditpro, for multitrackking etc..

i'm not sure if this was directed at me or not, but i'll keep ranting anyway.

i think the issue is that some people (i am one of them) feel like the 1k loses "something" when it is slaving to midi clock from a computer-based sequencer. in the few informal tests i've done, this seems to be likely. personally, i think it's more to do with USB midi interfaces sucking and less with the 1k, but whatever. let's assume you feel that way too.

the issue is, what is the best way to get a beat from the 1k to the computer "on the grid"? obviously you might want to edit the beat later on, move things around, etc, so you need the tempos to match.

ok, so ... you could just roll the computer, then roll the 1k, and record the beat. then you set the tempo on cool edit to the same tempo you had on the MPC, right?

but if you do that, the beat will eventually drift out of time as measured by the computer. the reason is that all devices run at slightly different speeds. if you put two clocks on the wall, set them to the same time, and wait a month, they won't match anymore either. it's unavoidable.

that's the reason we want to midi sync. however, we already decided that the sound of midi clock sync is yucky, so what do we do? well, most computer sequencers derive their sense of "time" (ie. timing) from the audio clock. the audio clock is the thing that drives your sound card at 44,100 (or whatever) hz.

so what we'll do, instead of blasting 7-byte 1980s era sync messages back and forth over a rickety midi cable, is lock the two sample clocks together so that both sequencers run at the same rate. they won't start and stop at the same time, and they won't jump to the same PLACE, but they will run at the same SPEED, which means that they won't drift at all.

so you don't actually have to record from SPDIF (you can record from all 6 analog outs), but if you clock your PC to SPDIF when you track, there won't be any drift. then you scoot all the tracks into position (ie. line them up at 1|1|000 or whatever) and they will be in sync with "the grid" in your DAW for the rest of the tune.

i would have long since ditched my 1k if i didn't learn about this. it's not perfect, but it beats the alternatives (for me).

$0.02

i think this guy really nailed it here- that really sums up the dilemma(s)-i'll try your suggestion clocking to spdif-thanks for summing that up so articulatly

Lampdog wrote:

Antonym wrote:most hilarious post title ever

Pretty much.

THREE REASONS not to get an mpc 1000...


3) This machine is so whack - I would trade it for a vanilla ice recording (even the new isht).
2) This piece of crappy plastic is so whack, that I'd rather go back to my Amiga Commodore 600 with Protracker or a Gameboy to create a somehow decent beat.
1) Man the damn thang is sooooooooo useless,
that I really actually started to create the new JJ OS Manual, coz I didn't like makin beats anymore on this oversized PONG Controller...

hahaha nice

people seriously refer to it as plastic, which amuses me because it has a really durable metal frame...