What does the Layer do?

Hey guys, just a really basic question as I'm new to understanding electronic music. Just wondering what does the "Layer" field in the MPC actually adjust? Like I think I get the concept of layering but what does adjusting the "Layer" value on a sample actually do.

Thanks in advance.

Aww man learn this and learn it well this is where you just layer sounds as it says to get more thump im your kicks and sharper snares or whatever theres a good ebook out by samplecraze the art of drum layering thats a great read.

( see giving out a little free promo there for ya man )

cool man, thanks for the reply. I get the basic theory behind layering (ie stacking samples on top of one another) but haven't actually tried it yet as still finding my feet on the system (OS2.1 btw).
In step edit mode then, if I'm adjusting the Layer level in the note variation field, will this then effect the sound of the relevant event? I'm jsut confused as it doesn't seem to do anything when i play around with this field.

Or is this whole thing completely irrelevant until I actually start layering?

I have never used step edit, not even to try it but i know alot of cats that do on here this is probally one of them questions you should toss at nym in the 1k area.

cheers Solace. I'll leave it here for a bit to see if anyone can answer then move it on. Thanks a heap for the reply though!

reef801 wrote:Or is this whole thing completely irrelevant until I actually start layering?

Of course it won't do anything until you layer several samples...then it shows you which layer is played back in that step. This field comes into play e.g. when you switch layers with the Q-Link sliders.

And by the way, the manual is your friend as well.

hey reef,

the layer function is real handy one - i use it in a couple of ways.

1. just layer sounds! if it's a kick try a few different kick samples, be sure
to tune them as close to each other as possible, and alter each sample volume
until you get a good sound. then, if you want, switch on the compressor on
the master out, play with the settings till you reach a sound you like
and resample the kick --- this way you only have one sample on that pad
instead of 4.

2. on the right hand side of the pad screen in old program mode there is a
setting for velocity layering... i'm not sure how much you know about
MIDI, but just briefly, everything has a value from 0-127. not sure why it's
that number in particular... ask someone who was born in the 70's.

this function is set to 0-127 for each layer by default. but say if you layered
a couple of samples of a kick, on layer 1 and then layer 2, and set layer
1 to 63-127, and layer 2 to 0-62, then depending on how hard you hit
the pad, only one of those samples will be triggered.

this has a multitude of applications... as i'm sure you can see.

hope that helps dude.

cheeeeeersss

btw - i only have a 1000, so it may be different on other machines!

t_bias wrote:MIDI, but just briefly, everything has a value from 0-127. not sure why it's
that number in particular... ask someone who was born in the 70's.

I believe it's because 128 is a power of 2 (2 to the 7th), and since computers use a binary numbering system a chunk of 7 bits gives you 128 numbers that those bits can make. Someone else from the 70's could probably give you a more accurate answer.

Fat Horse wrote:

t_bias wrote:MIDI, but just briefly, everything has a value from 0-127. not sure why it's
that number in particular... ask someone who was born in the 70's.

I believe it's because 128 is a power of 2 (2 to the 7th), and since computers use a binary numbering system a chunk of 7 bits gives you 128 numbers that those bits can make. Someone else from the 70's could probably give you a more accurate answer.

nice...

getting all mathematical on that shyt.