FOR MPC LOVERS or HOW TO MAKE YOU KILL BY MPC FORUMS...

[ellaguru]

hi
i have 2 dummie questions about the mpc 1000( but i think they're valuable for all the mpcs).

1)
can the mpc play samples in gate mode? by now i found only one shot mode...or is there any tick to do that?

2)
how to check the bpm of samples with this machine? no way? or is it just to Tap tempo and then find the right sequence tempo's that fit with the sample? maybe Time stretching could help for that?


thanx

[Teewok]

i know nothing about the mpc 1000, but i know that u can play in gate as I saw my buddy do it

[wundrkut]

hey ellaguru, if you'd like to have ur samples play with gate

open up the program page (mode + pad 7) now tap the pad/sample that youd like on gate and press window. a sub menu will show up and now you can toggle between note on or one shot.

[Nothingless1987]

i got jj os1, pad 11 (GPE) then highlight one shot and turn the dial to note one.

time stretch does have a fuction to auto detect tempo but it only really works if you got your ish looped tight. best bet is to tap tempo and loop the sample in a seq before, or jus get the bpm from the sp (much quicker!), that's what i do.

[ellaguru]

thanx guys
i found the Note-on thing.

..it's however strange that this beast of 550€ doesnt see what kind of bpm got a sample...strange, i repeat...

[Nothingless1987]

it can see the tempo, using tempo detect (tell it how many beats and bars)in timestrech (trim menu) but i've never got accurate results. May be down to my samples, who knows.

i very rarely timestretch now, jus pitch up or down on the tt whilst sampling. the stretch on the mpc can sound nice, but sometimes can ruin a good sample.

[ellaguru]

ok i will check this, thanx.
what i ask to myself is: why they didnt made a simple function to detect the bpm? like this it would be more easy to give the tempo to a sequence...


other dummie question: everytime i save a program (with samples) and a sequence, the next time i load them, the sequence doesn't sound and the samples aren't automathically there...what i'm wrong?
edit:
maybe i have to Replace the samples?

[Nothingless1987]

yeh man, it is abit long winded.

with the saving, allways make a new folder and all save entire project (this includes all pgms samples seq's and songs)- this way everyhting will always be there. this is how i save, and each time i make a change to a project/beat i jus replace the project file in the folder.

[ellaguru]

thanx i will follow that advice.

however, the curious thing of this workflow to me is: why this machine ask me to replace/rename samples while i'm just loading them in a empty program/bank?
a little tedious, no?
something this fact makes me mad...

[Nothingless1987]

If you only want to load smples then jus go into the folder highlight the sample and load, thats that.

jus replace and all is good. sorry man, my brain is abit pickled this afternoon at work.

[PHeMoX]

ok i will check this, thanx.
what i ask to myself is: why they didnt made a simple function to detect the bpm? like this it would be more easy to give the tempo to a sequence..

It's because it's not as simple as it sounds. Even the MV8800 doesn't have a bpm detector. I mean, it does calculate by approximation what is most likely to be the bpm, but as that depends on how well a sample is looping and how clear the 'beats' are, it's usually very difficult for the machine to come up with an accurate bpm tempo.

If you use tap tempo and count it yourself, it's usually a matter of 5 seconds to get it figured about right though.

[ellaguru]

ok i will check this, thanx.
what i ask to myself is: why they didnt made a simple function to detect the bpm? like this it would be more easy to give the tempo to a sequence..

It's because it's not as simple as it sounds. Even the MV8800 doesn't have a bpm detector. I mean, it does calculate by approximation what is most likely to be the bpm, but as that depends on how well a sample is looping and how clear the 'beats' are, it's usually very difficult for the machine to come up with an accurate bpm tempo.

If you use tap tempo and count it yourself, it's usually a matter of 5 seconds to get it figured about right though.

this method seems to me a little bit primitive, but thanx Phemox, i appreciate!


...however, what astonish me is that sp202/303/404/505/606/555 and st224, esx1 , akai remix16 too (a machine from Stonehenge sampler period!!!), tells you very easy the bpm of a sample and they cost nothing confronted to mpc2000xl/1000/2500/4000 and MV8000/8800...just consider this....
we could say that those machine are more studio oriented while the other are more live/groove etc oriented, but this bpm thing still continues to turn around my head...

[fauna]

ella - i TOTALLY hear what you are saying. i spent a long time being angry at my mpc / akai for charging so much for a machine that, for all its great features, is also really primitive.

my suggestion is to NOT think about that. i know its hard, but using the box gets a lot easier when yr not always thinking about how much money you spent on it, and how it can't do a, b and c.

again, i KNOW what yr saying. i hadta push past it to get good stuff from that box.

here's something from Future Producers on saving on the mpc1k. you have to be a registered user to see it (and have the right version of flash) but it is very helpful:

http://www.futureproducers.com/forums/s ... hp?t=97467

good luck brother.

[ellaguru]

ella - i TOTALLY hear what you are saying. i spent a long time being angry at my mpc / akai for charging so much for a machine that, for all its great features, is also really primitive.

here's something from Future Producers on saving on the mpc1k.
good luck brother.

thanx Fauna for your contribution...
you're a 505 head too so you can understand very well what i'm saying.
however now the Load/Save shitty thing on mpc1000 seems more easy by the time i begun to work on it more and more...
by the way if only the sp505 had more than 4 Part Tracks i think that i would use it as my main machine...
...now i'm using it combining its weird power with the esx1 (or st224 or sp303), and then i resample things with the mpc1000 wich has great powerful sequencer/tracks/outs possibilities...but - phuck it - not even a bpm detect thing...

[PHeMoX]

"by the way if only the sp505 had more than 4 Part Tracks i think that i would use it as my main machine..."

Yeah, I can totally understand that having owned the SP-606. At one point I would have really loved to have like 64-tracks in there. Of course, now I'm on the MV and don't have to worry about tracks, but still. Those SP machines are great.

...however, what astonish me is that sp202/303/404/505/606/555 and st224, esx1 , akai remix16 too (a machine from Stonehenge sampler period!!!), tells you very easy the bpm of a sample and they cost nothing confronted to mpc2000xl/1000/2500/4000 and MV8000/8800...just consider this....
we could say that those machine are more studio oriented while the other are more live/groove etc oriented, but this bpm thing still continues to turn around my head...

Yeah, you are right!

But the MV8800 does give an approximation of the BPM automatically and will even be dead on right calculating the BPM when you enter the correct Base note number (for example 4 measures with one downbeat each measure would mean base note is 4).

However, the initial estimation depends on a whole lot of things. For example, a clean loop that exactly has 4 measures or 8 measures, will be much easier to calculate the bpm from than an entire song with a slower intro and slower outro.

I think the bpm aspect of the MV8800 is a whole lot more advanced, very much like the SP-606 as you can BPM sync. So yeah, it'll show you a BPM number, but it doesn't mean it's always correct.

Does your SP-404 always give the correct BPM, then maybe you're using samples with an easy recognizable drum patterns and appropriately chopped lengths?

As an example, I'd be surprised if the SP-404 would figure out the correct bpm from say a vocals-only sample without any type of help or adjustment.