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[Stripey]

Originally Posted by Stichman

That looks an impressive piece of kit.

But surely if he'd rather not delve into the realms of computing, an MPC could be useful? But I agree, your suggested setup would be much more effective. At the risk of sounding like an old bastard, I find the rate at which technology is moving to be pretty amazing. A piece of hardware like an MPC can go from being cutting-edge stuff to practically redundant in a few years... crazy days.

yeah it's nice, depending on what software you use you can do funky stuff like assign several samples to one pad based on the velocity, so you can have several snare samples on 1 pad. A gentle tap will play a dull snare sound and a hard hit will play a brighter sound - its good fun to have a whole kit assigned to the pads with multiple layers of samples, it's pretty expressive.
Another novel use is assigning each of the 16 pads a single note in a scale, or having 2 octaves of a scale assigned to each 8, then using the pads to drive a synth.
You can do this kind of thing with an MPC and a laptop, it's just a lot more expensive and time consuming.

I don't mean to be argumentative, it's just MPC is one of these brand names that has a reputation that far outweighs the realworld value of their equipment.

[RockAustin]

I started writing a reply to this but my computer crashed as I was writing...

Anyway, I like the look of that Korg control pad you have. I'm really enjoying the way beats sound and feel when played using the pads, the beat flows nicely and you can incorporated dynamics into the drum parts with ease . The ability to assign multiple samples to each pad is a great feature and like you said, it is function on the MPC too (you don't need a laptop though). With the MPC there are limited onboard effects to manipulate the samples you create although there are 4 assignable controls on the left hand side which is handy for manipulating the sound in real time. In terms of this kind of flexibly and control you can do a whole heap more with a computer and controller compared with an MPC on its own.

So I thought about a controller as an option at one point but I opted to spend a little more the instrument I was after. I ended up buying second hand and getting an impeccably kept MPC for a very reasonable price.

What I've got is perfect for me as I like to have a jam from time to time and it means that I don't have to take along a computer and lots of cables everywhere... I can turn it on and play (so long as there are speakers) and there is no crashing or hanging up or some random thing I have to work out or forgot to switch over (kind of stuff that happens to me with computers)! I can also expand it's flexibility by hooking it up in a bunch of different ways, plug in a range of different keyboards, effects or other hardware if I want. There is the option of using foot switches for extra control. I can also use this machine as a midi controller if I want to. I think junk is a slightly harsh description. Equipment is only obsolete if you can't see ways of using it to your benefit, for me this is an upgrade to my set up as I can see many uses for it.

There is always a debate about the need for buying expensive hardware when you can get software and a controller to do the job just as well but although I generally veer towards buying independently functioning hardware, my view is that if you enjoy the equipment you play with then it's probably good.

To get back onto the original topic, I really just want to see if anyone else uses an MPC or something similar (like you do with the software equivalent), and perhaps how people use sampling within their music.

[KimyReizeger]

So do you have a live show on the horizon?

[Stripey]

Originally Posted by RockAustin

To get back onto the original topic, I really just want to see if anyone else uses an MPC or something similar (like you do with the software equivalent), and perhaps how people use sampling within their music.

The classic basic thing hiphop producers do with an MPC is they will sample say a 4 bar loop of something instrumental, chop it into 16ths and assign the whole thing across the pads, thats pretty much where the basic sound of people like dj shadow / wutang clan / 90's hiphop on the whole comes from. Using the multiple layers you would then do the same thing to a drumloop, sampled from a 3rd party or made yourself with a drum machine etc, + a bassline and build up the tune that way, sequencing patterns as you go.

In this day and age, imo, sampling is (or should be) much more about sampling your own material rather than lifting stuff from records. The good thing about sampling like this is you might be using a fairly big or complex effects chain on 1 instrument. Recording a part then chopping up the sample and loading it into a MPC/mapping across a keyboard frees up your hardware effects (or cpu power) and then gives you a new level of creativity with what you've recorded. The advantage of computers in this though is that you can save the whole original effects chain/synth patch/midi pattern and go back if you need to and alter bits before sampling them again, if you decide down the line you want to tweak something.
There are loads of possibilities, just using a hardware sampler makes it a bit more time consuming and clumsy.

[RockAustin]

Originally Posted by Stripey

The classic basic thing hiphop producers do with an MPC is they will sample say a 4 bar loop of something instrumental, chop it into 16ths and assign the whole thing across the pads, thats pretty much where the basic sound of people like dj shadow / wutang clan / 90's hiphop on the whole comes from. Using the multiple layers you would then do the same thing to a drumloop, sampled from a 3rd party or made yourself with a drum machine etc, + a bassline and build up the tune that way, sequencing patterns as you go.

Been pretty busy with work and practicing with bands last couple of weeks so not had much time to hook things together.
In this day and age, imo, sampling is (or should be) much more about sampling your own material rather than lifting stuff from records. The good thing about sampling like this is you might be using a fairly big or complex effects chain on 1 instrument. Recording a part then chopping up the sample and loading it into a MPC/mapping across a keyboard frees up your hardware effects (or cpu power) and then gives you a new level of creativity with what you've recorded. The advantage of computers in this though is that you can save the whole original effects chain/synth patch/midi pattern and go back if you need to and alter bits before sampling them again, if you decide down the line you want to tweak something.
There are loads of possibilities, just using a hardware sampler makes it a bit more time consuming and clumsy.

That's more like it! I'm pretty interested in expanding into this way of writing ... I've got loads of drum effects that I'd like to sample from my synths as well as getting down some bass lines and effects. You can create midi tracks on the MPC which should be useful. I'm a little hazy on how it's all going to fit together but it'll become clearer as I practice.

Originally Posted by KimyReizeger

So do you have a live show on the horizon?

It is fairly slow work at the moment not knowing my way around all of the functions but once I've got a good selection of samples to play with I'm planning on writing in a similar way as I do with bands I play in, or at least try this method as I imagine it will help getting a realistic way to perform it live - got some other guys who are keen to try this so it could work quite nicely. There are definately going to be lots of keyboards involved! So basically no shows until there is a working set but usually productive over the summer months!

What about yourself? Got anything lined up? The new tunes are sounding good.

[KimyReizeger]

What about yourself? Got anything lined up? The new tunes are sounding good.

I'm an external soundcard away from being at least technically able to perform live. Got a bit of cash atm so might delve into some other cheap, interesting bits and pieces...something others don't have possibly, which I haven't found yet

[RockAustin]

Originally Posted by KimyReizeger

I'm an external soundcard away from being at least technically able to perform live. Got a bit of cash atm so might delve into some other cheap, interesting bits and pieces...something others don't have possibly, which I haven't found yet

Have you seen the kaossilator? Quite like the look of it but it is something that other will have as it's cheap and does some cool tricks!

[KimyReizeger]

Originally Posted by RockAustin

Have you seen the kaossilator? Quite like the look of it but it is something that other will have as it's cheap and does some cool tricks!

Yeah I noticed it's cheaper than the others..what can it do?

Edit: should probably just look that up..

[KimyReizeger]

Oh and on the subject of live electronic music; check this out:

YouTube - Re: Denkitribe's "Kalimba with KP3"

Fucking fantastic tune!

[RockAustin]

Originally Posted by KimyReizeger

Yeah I noticed it's cheaper than the others..what can it do?

Edit: should probably just look that up..

There are some reasonable youtube vids. I think it can loop for 8 beats. It's monophonic. You can select the type of scale you want as well as the key. It's got drums effects. It's like a kaoss pad, moving your finger across the pad it changes the note and up and down changes the paramater it has been given.