Making Loops

Sorry y'all but my computer is acting weird so i apologize if this post is showing up somewhere else.

Is there any tricks to fit melodies and drum patterns into 4 bar loops. I am playing my own melodies and drum patterns but they are not fitting into the 4 bars. Any tricks or suggestions!

Thanks for your tips in advance!

more bars or timestretching.

Im just understanding the MPC. How do you use timestretching on the MPC?

soulz, you should use the search feature, or read the manual.

Soulz, what do you mean? Are your melodies and drum patterns longer then 4 bars or shorter.

Im playing them to fit in 4 bars but it may be off a beat so i was wondering if there was a way to fit into the bars cleanly.

Im playing them to fit in 4 bars but it may be off a beat so i was wondering if there was a way to fit into the bars cleanly. Im using the MPC2000XL...

do you have quantize off? if it is, and your not bobbing your head to that metronome when your bangin out that drum track, it aint gonna line up. set your quantize to 1/16 and listen to that metronome! bob your head.

set your time sig to 4/4

4 clicks to a bar
4 bars per loop

Tip find the BPM of your loop first and set you sequence to match. Check for the length of the loop and make an equal number of bars in Main Page. Set your loop to note off or one shot in the Poly mode in Program Page. Note off is easier to work with a loop. Go into Step Edit and record the loop. Then back into the Main Page and program your drums using quantize or not your choice.


I hope it helps

Blue Haze

The sample may not be cut right, it may have an extra measure, or maybe it could be a measure short

what he means is that hes tryin to fit a melody(own meoliy not sampled) into a 1bar-4bar etc but he cant keep up with the speed maybe???? Happened to me before...... Try slowin down your pitch then pitch it back up when youre done recording your melody and listen if it sounds good!!!!!

Blue Haze wrote:Tip find the BPM of your loop first and set you sequence to match. Check for the length of the loop and make an equal number of bars in Main Page. Set your loop to note off or one shot in the Poly mode in Program Page. Note off is easier to work with a loop. Go into Step Edit and record the loop. Then back into the Main Page and program your drums using quantize or not your choice.


I hope it helps

Blue Haze

sorry but some of you dont read the questions and u quick to throw in answers like u god......... How can he find/fit a melody in a loop if he isnt using a sample??? hes tryin to make melodies but he wants to fit it in 4 bar but cant do it because maybe hes too slow or hes just getting the hang of it......


PEOPLE PLS READ THE QUESTIONS BEFORE YOU ANSWER!!!!!!

It's easier to play a sequence for shorter amounts of time, make a couple of two bar sequences or one bar sequences, then combine them in song mode and convert it to a sequence...

Thanks to all of those who offered some words of wisdom! I definitely need help with looping samples too.

Thanks to Shyda for realizing I was talking about my own custom made melodies!

I can relate with ya, I was having a big problem with bpm when I first started, make sure your listening to that click track(metrodome), eventually you'll get to the part where you just naturally without thought just know where you are in the track

Sometimes changing your accent from the rest of the ticks can help

When Im doing my custom melodies, Im just getting a good vibe first, then I just try to nail it, with the BPM Ill start at 90 then play it out, 2 slow a little or a lot? then I shoot it up, 2 fast I shoot it down (the bpm)

Then BPM doesnt have to be perfect(you get better and better the more beats you make) just get it to somewhere reasonable and play your melodies within that allocated 4 bars, when it fits, then go over and lay the drums, and readjust anything you need to, to get it good enough for you

Sidenote: 4 bars may be a little harder starting out, when I started out it was a pain in the ass till I came across the gem to just do 2bars, get those as tight as possible then do the next 2 bars by either copying or replaying something new, and just build in increments of 2 bars, it will reduce alot of the sloppyness rather than trying to nail shit in 4 bars

Hope that helps you