Yeah So I got a deal on MPC 2000. After years of djing and collecting records I'm ready to play around with this here sampler. Any of you more experianced heads gotta any tips for my clean slate? Like is there some shit you wish somebody would've hipped you when you got started. Let me know something.

Don't do 45 soul samples. (high pitched soul vocals)

Other than that it'll take a minute before you find your sound. Just, make beats, make beats, make beats. I've been making beats for a long time (96-97) and I'm still learning. Also you might want to get a program like Acid or Protools for tracking all your ish. (but that depends on how serious you want to get into it. Software is a double-edged sword, but you can do a lot of ish to your beats with it. Nowdays I make the foundation of my beats on the hardware (EPS, MPC or SP1200) track them in Acid and fill them out in that program.

Yeah I hear you on the soul samples, what's that saying about a dead hoarse? hahah. Anyways yeah I was planning on dumping beats in Adobe Audition to sequence them and add cuts etc. I've never really messed with software....I gotta figure out this machine first before I hope into anything else.

Yeah, learn the shit out of that joint and figure out what makes it tick. I have a 2000, but to be honest I haven't really scratched it's full potential. I love that Roger Lynn sequencer though. Before that I mostly used my SP 1200 and then when I got the MPC and messed with the sequencer I was like, "Damn... where you been all my life." HA! But, each piece has its qualities.

I'd say get a Jaz drive or a Zip drive for that joint, so you can dump all of your stuff and not use a ton of floppies.

You'll figure it out. It's like when you start out DJing. You're sitting there looking at your tables and thinking, "damn... I spent all this money... now what."

Though I grew more partial to the Ensoniq ASR-X Pro, the MPC is handy. Alot of people are gonna tell you to use a computer to sample and the truth is they're right in alot of ways.
If you're looking to just snatch loops off old songs then software like Acid is probably better for you because its so much easier to sample when you can see the wave form of the kick or snare to cut it at the right spot and even tempo matching is way easier. They didnt use a sequencer to time everything on point for most samples you're gonna take so the tempo of the sample you take from early in the song will often be a decimal point or even a whole bpm or so off in the later loop of the song. Oh, and if you are looping and you're new to it you wanna make sure you dont cut the space after the last snare before the 1st kick of the next bar, cut it at the last moment before the 1st kick of the next measure comes in and its best to get a 4 bar loop or AT LEAST a 2 bar because a one bar loop can become too repeatative too quick.

With the capabilities of the MPC its better to sample a sound rather than a loop. This is what makes it better than software w/o a midi keyboard. Sample just a horn and you can play that sound as if you are the original composer... this is what the MPC still holds its ground with. You can sequence it out or (my favorite way) play it live to a click track (metronome)and then quantize it later. I also like the live drum sequencing feature too. When taking drums do the same as I mentioned with sampling a single horn note from an old soul or jazz record. sample all your drums indiviually from records and sequence them yourself (thats how Dr Dre did the drums for the Chronic. Old Skool songs are good for this especially with getting a variety of good 808s. Alot of the drums on The Chronic were from The Bridge is Over by KRS1 (as you get into producing with breakbeats for awhile you develop an ear for recognizing classic kicks and snares). Save all these sample sounds and drum kits into back up files for later use when that right snare is needed.
I got a ton of kits sitting on Zip disks all over my production desk for my ASR-X Pro. Pre-sampling will give you alot more options.

One last thing... try to sample as many long notes as possible as sample the air that drags on after the drum or it will sound too tight.

hit me up on myspace if you have any more questions incase I dont reply soon enough for you on here.
myspace name is "ROMEssiah" just like on here

That's alot easier in software. Also, name and organize your samples so you can find them. And play it like an instrument, that what sets it apart from sequencing on a computer. Put your sound up and just play until you find your groove.

Word to knowing drums. Once you really get into the thick of it, you'll be hearing the kick from Skull Snaps or the snare from Melvin Bliss. When you get to that point whenever you listen to golden age music you realize everybody was using the same crate of records to make all that dope music.

ASR-X is pretty dope, but the sequencer needs improvement. Not wack, but not as off the hook as the MPC's. But, you could always midi that ish up to it and rock it like that. (rock it like this)

So yeah I need to go to the store and get one of those 100 pack of floppys. I made a couple drum kits last night. It wasn't hard fiding open drums but programming them took some time. I dunno I had a had time making the drums swing on the machine. They didn't sound natural. Another thing that was weirtd was trying to fit a bassline in. I had to slow it down or sped it up. It didn't sound to be bad. Then I tried tadding a short horn loop and to get it on time I pitched it up, sounded like shit. Anyways thanks for the advice I hit you up on myspace.

COME ON, DUDE!!!

Count By 8th notes (one and two and three and four and) in 4/4 time when listening to potential sample materias

you 'll be chopping the shit outta loops in no time

and don't sleep on the pan function in the stereo mixer window, figure out where you like to place your kicks and snares

finally, mono right, mono left sampling, especially when listening to oldies...you can grab parts of a sample and leave other parts out depending on what side of the headphones they come in

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