Making Loops Fit Sequence on a MPC 2000XL
It can be frustrating to get a phrase loop to fit a sequence your working on. Here’s a tip.Instead of starting with the sequence and making the phrase loop fit the sequence, make your sequences fit the loop. At the beginning of the sequence trigger the sample as usual with the sequencer. Use your Tap Tempo button to tap along with beats of the phrase loop. By using the Tap Tempo button this will adjust the sequence to match the tempo in the sample. Try this until tempo and loops are locked real tight.
Sampling Tricks
A quick and easy way to get a sample tight and configured is to use editing software like Stienberg’s Wav Lab. You can import a piece a music into the editing program and chop relatively fast. Then save it has a .WAV and sticking into you MPC 2000XL. If you’re using a MPC 2000/3000 edit the sample in Wav Lab and then save as a mono .WAV and if you have a program like MPC Editor (www.midicase.com) drag and drop the mono wav into the MPC Editor and save as a MPC 2000 or 3000 format on to a floppy disk and then load it directly into your MPC 3000. This really beats sampling directly into your hardware box and chopping samples.
Sampling From Records
When you sample from 331/3rd LP sample the record at 45 speed. Once you get it into the MPC detune it do it will go back to the original speed. Makes it sound more raw and improves the quality of the sample. You can also get a grimier sound out of a sample by first recording it to an old cassette recorder and sampling from the recorder into your MPC. You get a more analog feel. The beat will have a grimy dirt feel. This is very useful when pulling a sample from a CD.
Fattening Up A Sound
Load a sound into your MPC then take that sound copy it in the trim screen(section->New Sound). After doing that, put that sound on a new pad, set the beginning of the new sound in the trim screen a little bit later. Pan one sound hard left and pan the other sound hard right in the mixer. Play both sounds at once to get a fat stereo spread. Works really good with some synths, pads, and strings. Duplicate sounds on different pads, tune one a dew cents lower, pan hard left and right and you’ll get another fat stereo spread.
MPC Disk Storage and Back Up
I would recommend not saving the song data to the sound disk you purchase from a sound developer. When I used to do production with floppy disk I always kept my original sound disk separate from my song data disk. So if I did a track (Beat) I would save the sound program on a new Disk, Save the parameters on the same new Disk, and Save all songs and Sequence on a the same new Disk. I would only load sounds from the manufactured sounds disk. (soundcrafting, midi mark, bangin beats, etc.),but never save back to them.
I would also recommend when working with Floppy disk to make a back up of each disk you use. Floppy disk can be a fragile medium, just leaving one near or on a speaker can effect the data on them, among other things. So many equipment manufacturers are moving away from floppy and moving to compact flash cards, smart media card, zip disk, CD-ROM readers, etc....
MPC MIDI Working with a Triton
Let’s say you have a Triton and you want to sequence it using the MPC. You have the midi ins/outs linked, and the MPC set to send midi. But your issue is that when you play your sequences, the Triton plays the pads of the MPC. What do you do to resolve this annoying issue?
You should make the MPC the Master and the Triton the slave. On your Triton press the Global button, then Menu, then Midi. Select External Midi on the touch screen. On your MPC make sure the Midi OUT is set to Midi Clock and Midi IN is OFF. If your cables are plugged in correctly you shouldn't have any problems.
MPC Reading Different Sound Formats
Let’s say you have a CD-ROM with Triton sounds or Roland sounds and you want your MPC to read them. You drag and drop them to a Floppy disk and load them into your MPC and it says unknown file. You may want to purchase a sound WAV editing program like CoolEdit or SoundForge and convert them into the correct format. All my MPC samples are in WAV format44.1k 16-bit Stereo. Once you have them converted the MPC should be able to read them.
MPC EB16 Effects Board
If you like keeping everything contained inside your MPC or have limited mixer connections. The Eb16 effects board may be a good buy for you. It may be more geared for live work. As far as assigning of the effects you get a 4 Bus effects processor. 2 of them are reverb and the other 2 are multi-effect (dist, filter, mod, echo, reverb). You set it up for each program and assign any of the 4 busses to all or some of the pads. Note you can save the FX settings with each program so you can change programs. You can get another set up for the FX.
STARTING THE MPC2000 FROM A SCSI DRIVE
By copying the operating system file on an external SCSI drive such as a hard disk, it is possible to start the MPC2000 without a system disk floppy. Save the operating system to an external SCSI drive according to the aforementioned procedure (DISK menu). By turning the power of the external SCSI drive on and turning the power of the MPC2000 on, the MPC2000 first searches the floppy disk and then the external drivers starting from SCSI ID 0.
The MPC2000 will start loading the operating system once the system file is found.
THE AUTO-LOAD FUNCTIONS OF THE .APS AND .ALL FILES
It is possible to store the operating system and other files on the same disk. By copying the operating system on a disk with .APS or .ALL files, it is possible to automatically load these files as the MPC2000 is starting after the system has been loaded from this disk. as far as i can remember, the first .aps or .all files which are found (i.e. alphabetically) are the ones which get loaded, so keep this in mind if you have several of these.
How To Partition a Zip Disk on MPC 2000/XL
You have to partition zip disk when using a zip drive with your MPC because you are restricted in the number of files. The limit is a 100 files per partition. It is usually best to partition the zip disk into 4 parts (A, B, C, D). It is easy to create partitions:
1) enter the Disk Menu (Sift + 3)
2) enter the Format submenu
3) specify the number of partitions (e.g. A-B for two A-D for Five)
4) Press DO IT
GET YOUR MPC 3000 TO READ .WAV FORMATTED SOUNDS
Do you have a bunch of sample CD’s in .WAV format and want to load them into you MPC 3000? Well if you do I suggest you get the MPC editor program offered at (www.midicase.com). I love this program you just drag .WAV sound into it and save it as an MPC 3000 sound on to a floppy disk. It convert all .WAV’s to MPC format. It also works for MPC 2000 and 2000XL. They offer a free version on the site that works for about 30 days then you have to purchase the real deal to keep using it.
A PLACE TO REPAIR YOUR MPC
A good place to work on your MPC is a place here in Atlanta called CTG, Comprehensive Technical Group. Their web site is (www.ctgatlanta.com). Their certified to work on Akai products plus many more like, Fender, Fostex, Alesis, Korg, Kurzweil, Mackie, and many others. Their phone number is 1-888-557-4284 give them a call they’re very professional.
TRANSPOSING THE PITCH OF A TRACK (MPC 2000XL)
Hold sown Shift and press MISC. (numeric key 2), then press TRANS (F2).
This will open Transpose Screen, which will have the following features:
TR: this selects the track that you want to transpose. When this is set to 00, all the tracks will be transposed. However drum tracks will not be affected.
TRANSPOSE AMOUNT: this sets the amount of transposition you can set up to plus/minus tweleve of each half tone. Plus twelve is one octave up and minus twelve is octave down. The settings here do not directly change the data but only transpose the data when they are played back.
BAR: set the range of bars that are to be transposed here(left hand figures = from bar/right hand figures =to bar).
Press main screen to return to the main screen #b will be displayed to the left of the track sequence field showing it has been transposed. To transpose and change the data press FIX (F6).
Press do it and data is transposed permanently.
Chopping A Sample Using Velocity
Put a long sample on a pad. Then go to the parameters page and set the overlap to MONO. Highlight the ATTACK or DECAY value and hit Open Window. Make these settings:
Attack: 0
Start: 100
Level: 0
Go to the main screen and set the 16 levels to velocity using the pads you just programmed it Chops the sample automatically, but not accurately. Adjusting the Levels Field mentioned above sets the start point of sample. Tapping pads in order 1 to 16 sounds like sample is rewinding. Results vary depending on the sample……but it’s worth checking out.
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