bassline with the MPC 2000xl

hello reader.

got any tips on how to lay the bassline?

been trying to lay the bassline over my songs, and im having some trouble doing just that.
so far ive only used the 16 level button, but it does not level the sound i a specific scale or some shit like that. my english sucks, sorry.

got any suggestions?


thanks a million!

It works fine as long as your bass note is in tune to begin with.

it lays it in the chromatic scale. what i usually do is first tune the bass note to the root note of the sample. then put it on 16 levels, with the original note as 8th pad.

if your beat is in a minor key, the pads that will be in the scale are...

pad1=4th pad3=5th pad4=b6 pad6=b7 pad8=1 pad10=2nd pad11=b3 pad13=4th pad15=5th pad16=b6

meaning if your beat was in the key of Aminor the pads would line up like this..

pad1=D pad3=E pad4=F pad6=G pad8=A pad10=B pad11=C pad13=D pad15=E pad16=F

if your beat is in a major key, the pads that will be in the scale are...

pad1=4th pad3=5th pad5=6th pad7=7th pad8=1 pad10=2nd pad12=3rd pad13=4th pad15=5th

meaning if your beat was in the key of Amajor the pads would line up as...

pad1=D pad3=E pad5=F# pad7=G# pad8=A pad10=B pad12=C# pad13=D pad15th=E

sorry if this was confusing, hope it helps.

Try using any instrument in the correct key and just transpose it down until it hits the bass frequencies, alternatively copy your main melody onto the bass track, make a few edits and slap a low-pass filter over it to remove all the high frequencies. Bingo!

Remember, a bassline doesn't have to come from a bass guitar or kick drum. Anything goes...

Laying bass on the MPC with 16 levels works perfect, have done it for years, and still think it's the best way for me to lay bass. Just play with it, explore, and you'll get it down too. Fine tune, sub the sample and play.

I have always just used one sample with 16 levels, I don't like to edit 16 parameter and mixing and pitching settings, it's enough with one...

deck daddy wrote:Laying bass on the MPC with 16 levels works perfect, have done it for years, and still think it's the best way for me to lay bass. Just play with it, explore, and you'll get it down too. Fine tune, sub the sample and play.

I have always just used one sample with 16 levels, I don't like to edit 16 parameter and mixing and pitching settings, it's enough with one...

so you just set the 16 levels in regards to the tune of the sample, then pick a low sounding sample which suits a bassline?

Donlong wrote:so you just set the 16 levels in regards to the tune of the sample, then pick a low sounding sample which suits a bassline?

I find the root tone of my samples, and lay that on pad 4 in 16 level mode, then pad 16 is one octave over. When you pitch the bass sample to the root and put it on pad 4 every time, you will soon notice that some pads always work, and that's because the notes fit into one or another scale. I mostly use samples in minor scale, so I know that scale on my pads and can quickly lay down my basslines.

A lot of samples can be looped in trim mode and used as bass. I have often used kickdrums (I loop one whole cycle, zoom all the way in and find the middle of up and down and the same place one cycle after), but other stuff too. As long at it is a sound wave that can be pitched down and sound like a bass you can use whatever sample.

Lowpass it hard, done.

Most of times I do as follows:

1-Choose a good wave bass sound
2-Load to an empty pad
3-Press 16 level function
3-Set initial note to 6, 7 or 8
4- Turn on

and my bassline is on the way.

Other times when using a sample, i lowpass filter until it sounds good bass

First off, do you play an instrument?

I have never had musical education. I am a self taught keyboard player and only now i am having private guitar lessons.

Plus,

I use Roland Sonic Cell to add elements to my tracks via Steinberg Nuendo.

deck daddy wrote:
I find the root tone of my samples, and lay that on pad 4 in 16 level mode, then pad 16 is one octave over. When you pitch the bass sample to the root and put it on pad 4 every time, you will soon notice that some pads always work, and that's because the notes fit into one or another scale. I mostly use samples in minor scale, so I know that scale on my pads and can quickly lay down my basslines.

A lot of samples can be looped in trim mode and used as bass. I have often used kickdrums (I loop one whole cycle, zoom all the way in and find the middle of up and down and the same place one cycle after), but other stuff too. As long at it is a sound wave that can be pitched down and sound like a bass you can use whatever sample.

Lowpass it hard, done.

cool thanks will try this.

dabmeister wrote:First off, do you play an instrument?

Kennedy Ribeiro wrote:I have never had musical education. I am a self taught keyboard player and only now i am having private guitar lessons.

Plus,

I use Roland Sonic Cell to add elements to my tracks via Steinberg Nuendo.

I'm sorry Ken, I meant for this to be addressed to the original poster. But that's good to know that you bang on dem keys, just keep at it.

yeah, i actually play the bass. problem is that i cant afford a new bassguitar at the moment + that if i sample something and want it in a paricular pitch, i have to tone my bassguitar after that specific sample.

just another tip on this, i use 8 as original pad becuz then you can hit the V chord (pad 3) in a low tone instead of a high ass bass note. the V chord is usually used in the breakdown part to lead back to the first sequence.

When i owned the MPC 3000 I would. Sample a few bass notes and filter and/or layer. then I would set the slider to " Tuning " and play the pad containing the bass sample and move the slider up/down til i get the desired groove. worked great and more fun to me then the 16 levels, got good with it too.


Now i just sample a bass sample and loop it and shorten and start and end points til all i get is a contant bass sound, filter and play. this is on my asr 10.