Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
By Joon Ra Wed Mar 31, 2004 12:02 pm
Can anybody here manage to make something loop (particularly, a "soft" sound like a string or pad) without hearing a click on the XL. I've had my MPC for years but I've never been able to make a sound loop seamlessly. I can get pretty close with drums, but I don't loop drums so that's usless.

Take it easy.

By TheMPCRipper Wed Mar 31, 2004 1:41 pm
Drum loops are not that hard to have them loop seemlessly. It just takes a little practice. Sounds like strings are tricky depending on what you want to do. If you have a 4 bar loop, it's just as easy do drum loops, but if you have a 3 bar sequence that needs to loop and you are trying to loop that tail section to make it carry the full 4 bars, you will ALWAYS have a click unless you really take your time to find the right transients and hit that with a filter. Even with that there will be a slight but noticable click. You need a sampler with cross fade looping to work around this.

I never use the "loop" fuction on the MPC because I always get that damn click. I just edit sounds to one shots or chops and sequence them. If its a 4 bar loop, I will leave a little on the tail and set it to mono, then dial in the BPM until it sounds perfect. You might want to try that and experiment with the different ways to program the sound also (note off, poly, mono). Hope this was helpful man.

By decal Wed Mar 31, 2004 2:24 pm
Yeah, the loop function is terrible on the MPC. There is no crossfade and no way to make a seamless string or pad loop without clicks.
Best to make a looped sample in soundforge or another editor and import it to the mpc.
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By aBicUs Wed Mar 31, 2004 2:34 pm
It is possibe because I've done it a few times. Sometimes I use a little decay to take the click sound out.
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By descartes Wed Mar 31, 2004 4:47 pm
it just takes a long time--you have to zoom in on the wave form to find the zero crossover, tweak the start point, zoom in again, tweak the length, etc.

I think the e-book tutor is working on will have a section on looping in just the mpc.

By Expert Witness Wed Mar 31, 2004 6:14 pm
Yall kidding?
Use your ears, zoom in if you need to, it might take a while to get the points right and exact. As the tutor himself points out, the trim points of a sample and the loop points may be diffferent. Or the sample that youre trying to loop might not be a good one to work with. Try looping on an older sampler without a graphic waveform if you think its too hard on the MPC 2000.
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By Lampdog Wed Mar 31, 2004 6:20 pm
Yes, it can be done. I've done strings many times. Perfect with no clicks or pops. You gotta understand that strings are complex sounds and not just the normal repeated cyclic wave pattern.

Are you talking about from 0 - 100 looping.

Or like 0 - 75 then retriggering at like 50 -75 and looping?
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!

By bboutit Wed Mar 31, 2004 6:56 pm
I don't have a problem either. I suggest building the pattern very slowly and then try different tempos, 1/8, 1/16th etc. Just like you can with high hats.
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By binger0 Wed Mar 31, 2004 9:15 pm
You have to get the bars and beats right. Strings are hard, but not immpossible. For all other instruments, ex. Piano. sample a little before what you want and let it sample for a little after what you wanted. Then when you trim ex. 1 bar, (4 beats) You can zoom right up to the very begining of the one, and end right before the next one. one meaning beat 1,2,3,4 1,2,3,4,
You would get right before the one and end right before the second one. Perfect loop.
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By binger0 Wed Mar 31, 2004 9:23 pm
a wave form is an ossilation. it is like a rotation. It goes up one, then down one. http://www.breckrowell.com/cd101/sampling.htm
Look at the picture. Freq go in cycles. So for every dip under theres one over. Bass has longer waveforms. The oscillations are huge. Thats why bass goes through cars and houses. Strings and high freq noises Have smaller oscillation or cycles per sec. or hertz. They are harder to find zero points.
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By Prah_860_ Thu Apr 01, 2004 1:57 am
aBicUs wrote:It is possibe because I've done it a few times. Sometimes I use a little decay to take the click sound out.


that is the answer.......not the only one though...just experiment......strings are always diffucult...the best way would be to decay and layer with a mono pad
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By Decepticon3107 Thu Apr 01, 2004 5:15 am
Its not so hard to do with bass tones. Anything else, though (strings, horns, etc...), is hard as hell to loop without pops.