Why are pads, tracks, and sequences so separated?

Everything is all divided, why did they design the software that way?

You make a drumkit program, a bass, a piano. Then you goto sequence 1 and set up the tracks like, t1.drums, t2.bass, t3.piano. Record a sequence for a verse, then goto sequence 2 to do the hook.... and it's empty! So the trick is, you copy that first seq to the second, delete all the events, and use that like a template for all the others.

But then what if you decide to change the t3.piano to be t3.flute? Now you have to go to each seq/track3 and manually change the program for each. It should be that the tracks are the same all across the board, and the sequences are just patterns using the tracks. Then if you make a change to a track, it is updated everywhere.

But wait, there's more... so now you realize that your piano is way louder than everything and you need to turn it down a bit. No prob, just lower the level for the track right? Nope, goto every single pad for all four banks, and manually lower the level.

This sucks because I used to use pure software, and I love the feel of hardware, the fast response, the lil flashing lights. It's like an instrument, and feels better than staring into a monitor and moving a mouse with latency. But this just isn't working.

So I'm wondering, why? I keep trying to change how I use the MPC to fit it to what was intended so that it works smoothly. Before I was trying to treat it like a complete multitrack audio/midi recorder, but the polyphony issues would dropout my vox. So I tried treating it just as a drum/keys midi sequencer, and now I see it's way too much work because pads, tracks, and sequences are all separated. What am I supposed to use this thing for then?

Sorry, whats the problem again?

In PC software, tracks are there through the whole song. Then you arrange patterns along the timeline, but they all use the same instruments. So if you have a bass on track 2, and make different patterns for verse and chorus, it still uses that bass. Then you can change the bass to a violin if you want and all of the patterns change to reflect it.

In the MPC500, each track in a sequence is completely separate and isolated from the same track in another sequence. So if you put a bass on track 2 in the first pattern, it's not there in the 2nd. That means, if you decide to change the bass to a violin, you have to go into each and every pattern to change it. You also can't set things like pan/volume for the track.

It's isolated, which makes more work and slows down the flow. I'm beginning to wonder how you guys use these things. If all you do is put single sample hits like a kick, snare, hat, some horn blowing, and then just tap it out and call it done then it's fine. But for sequencing entire songs with tracks of drums, as well as instruments, it doesn't seem very good.

You are right in that there is no mixer or track volume. We all agree that that BLOWS in a serious way. So its either adjust the samples in program mode for each of your parts or track out into a DAW and mix down from there. Not ideal but you'll be quick to get used to it. Took me no time at all, and I'm happy either tracking out or if I'm lazy, just doing the sample vol in program mode.

Hope this helps.

i just started tracking my ruckuss in my daw too, but the 500 is my first mpc so i dont know about the wonders of having a mixer built in. i know it would be dope, but i dont feel conned out of anything really.

you are right, this can get a pain in the ass when you have to start changing programs and adjusting parameters for every single pattern.

there is a work around by using only 1 pattern:

1/ Set pattern length to max 999 measures
2/ Manually adjust the sequence loop points inside the pattern (page.22).

By doing this you are basically setting up the mpc for linear style recording similar to any DAW application. Now you can select which bars you want to work on by looping them like normal patterns.

This way you avoid the hassle of having to setup all the instruments and parameters for each pattern because you only have one!

Once you get used to setting the loop points, you're flying:
SEQUENCE PARAMETERS - Scroll to SEQUENCE LOOP - SET FIRST BAR -SET LAST BAR.....done! You can easily copy sections of tracks and paste them into the new loop points. This method is also great for overdubbing lead lines, since you can turn off looping and record linear style. You are not then limited to recording within your set pattern length.

I take both Visa and Mastercard

That's a handy tip, thanks. But it renders the song mode useless, and a cool way to work is to make some patterns, and use the dial to cue up the next one you want to play, then figure out how the song goes by experimentation. That real time playability is gone with the one sequence trick.

There really is no other way around this then, apart from going into every single pattern when you want to tweak something, which is very tedious.

It would be cool if the MPC loaded up in some sort of song mode whereby there was a global assignment screen for each track. Then every single pattern within the song refered to the track settings made in the global assignment sreen.

This is a bit like a multisetup found in many old school samplers. Then if you want to switch songs, you also switch to a new multisetup.

Yeah, I work the same way. Can't remember the last time even used song mode. Started working like that on the MPC60 way back. With the MPC60, if you had a lot happening in your sequences and then chained them in song mode, there'd be an audible delay when switching from one sequence to another, especially at faster tempos. They fixed it by the time the MPC3000 came out. Still, a lot less confusing doing everything in one sequence.

When I had the MPC4000 there was one bank where I had 72 different songs in memory, each one a sequence. About 34 of those were fully arranged. Not quite up to that number on the 500 yet though

So yeah, it's a good way of working if you can get in the habit.

jigginz thats a good idea with how to record (stretching it to 999bars and setting the looping points). that is closer to a daw linear rather then pattern based. good tip homie! too bad i dont hav visa lol

jamon, i feel ur pain though. im going from cubase to the 500 and it is tedious to copy a sequence to another, then to delete the tracks and etc etc. its cool wen it comes all together in song mode though. makes it a different way to look at a song and work on it. but jiggins idea is great. imma start looking into that also.

!! a big point though, wen u save a song (all seq & songs file), it also saves the sound effect settings! saving a single sequence doesnt save the snd fx. i once made a sequence where i took a kick, added phaser and reverb, then spread it 12levels, and it was a whole new instrument sounding awesome. wen i saved the sequence and shut it off, getting back to it later the effects were gone. i had to set it up to save as a song to save the effects.

jigginz, i got a question though. if i tried to use that method to make a pattern 999bars and using loop points, how would i go about moving bars around. i havent tried that yet and i think seeing the feature available. but like if i make four bars, copy them so its 16, make an 8 bar loop after the 16, n decide to cut the 16 back down to 8... is there a gap?

how would i go about moving bars around. i havent tried that yet and i think seeing the feature available. but like if i make four bars, copy them so its 16, make an 8 bar loop after the 16, n decide to cut the 16 back down to 8... is there a gap?

No gap.

In your example, the length of the sequence gets shortened by 8 bars, so in effect it joins everything back up which is cool.

If you copy bars, then the length of the sequence gets extended by however many bars you copy. But a word of warning:

If you set the sequence length to 999 measures and try to copy some bars, you will get an error message because you have maxed out the sequence length. So it is a good idea to start with a lower sequence length to allow room for copying bars, or you could start as normal with a low sequence length and then just copy bars as you go to extend the length of the sequence.

You can also insert bars to create empty spaces. This also extends the length of the sequence.

Btw, this isall done in SEQ EDIT MODE.

awesome jigginz. yeah if i do extend instead of 999bars i'll maybe do like 150... usually 100 is the average length for a 3-4minute song. awesome tip though, it does bring it more linear than pattern based.

so to save though, if i wanted to save it with the effects i would still hav to save all seqs & songs. r u good with saving projects? i made a post about that too... gets confusing the process.

thanx a lot for the tip though

Lots of good tips here, perhaps worth a look for the newbees (like me!).