Beat Making on the MPC1000 (Akai OS 2.13 Version) – Contents in Brief Preface i How to use this book Section A - Fundamental Skills 16 001 Audio Connections 17 002 Understanding MIDI 23 003 Memory & Storage 29 004 Loading Part 1 37 005 Loading Part 2 44 006 Saving 47 007 Naming Samples 56 008 Sampling Sounds 58 009 Understanding Mono & Stereo 64 010 Editing Samples Part 1 67 011 Editing Samples Part 2 73 012 Looping Samples 79 013 Programs 84 014 The Internal Mixer 93 015 Recording Sequences 96 016 Editing Sequences Part 1 107 017 Editing Sequences Part 2 114 Section B – Manipulating Drums & Break Beats 122 018 Filtering & Tuning Samples 123 019 Chopping Samples Part 1 125 020 Chopping Samples Part 2 133 021 Chopping Part 3 – Patched Phrase 139 022 Chopping Part 4 – Stutter Chopping 143 023 Layering Drum Sounds 145 024 Rebuilding Decay Tails on Snares 149 Section C – Building Drum Kits & Breaks 151 025 Emulating Timbre Changes 152 026 Building Drum Kits - Pure Kits 158 027 Building Performance & GM Kits 163 028 Creating Realistic Drum Performances 169 029 Basics of Laying Down a Drum Beat Part 1 171 030 Laying Down a Drum Beat Part 2 175

Section D – Advanced Techniques 178 031 Fitting an Instrument Loop to a Beat 179 032 Understanding Effects 185 033 Effects & Settings 189 034 Sequencing Tricks Part 1 199 035 Sequencing Tricks Part 2 205

036 Multisampling Part 1 209 037 Multisampling Part 2 215 038 Looping Instrument Samples 218 039 16 Levels 221 040 Using Blue Box 223 041 LFO, Slider & External Sound Manipulation 227 Section E – Building Songs 233 042 Understanding Song Mode 234 043 Song Arrangement Ideas 239 044 Recording Your Beats Part 1 244 045 Recording Your Beats Part 2 248 046 Recording Your Beats Part 3 253 047 Compression Part 1 257 048 Compression Part 2 260 Section F – MPC1000 Studio Environments 264 049 Looping Multisamples in Soundforge 265 050 Using Recycle with your MPC1000 Part 1 272 051 Using Recycle with your MPC1000 Part 2 278 Final Word & MPC Resources 282

Beat Making on the MPC1000 (Akai OS 2.13 Version) – Contents In Full Preface i How to use this book Section A - Fundamental Skills 16 001 Audio Connections 17

• Outgoing audio connections 17 • Connecting to a hi-fi system 17 • Connecting to a studio mixer 18 • Connecting to a DJ mixer 19 • Incoming Audio Connections 20 • Sampling Directly From a CD player 20 • Sampling from a turntable 20 • Sampling from a microphone 21

002 Understanding MIDI 23

• What is MIDI? 23 • Controlling MPC pads with a keyboard 24 • Connecting Synthesisers 25 • Adding Sound Modules 26

003 Memory & Storage 29

• What is Memory? 29 • What is Storage? 29 • Which Memory Card? 30 • Upgrading Ram 30

004 Loading Part 1 37 • Overview 37 • Manual Disk Transfer 37 • USB Transfer 38 • The LOAD screen 39 • File Loading 40 • Sample loading 42 • Program Loading 43

005 Loading Part 2 44 • Sequence Loading 44 • Folder Loading 44 • Emptying Memory Cards 45 • Preparing Your Card 45 • Updating the OS 46

006 Saving 47

• Saving to memory card and hard drive 47 • How to name files and folders 48 • Creating Backups 54 • Saving to internal memory 54

007 Naming Samples 56 • How to name sounds 56 • File naming conventions 56

008 Sampling Sounds 58 • The sample screen and settings 58 • Signal to Noise Ratio 59 • Should I add Effects While Sampling? 61 • Sampling Your Sound 62

009 Understanding Mono & Stereo 64

• What is stereo? 64 • What is mono? 65 • Creating stereo from mono 65

010 Editing Samples Part 1 67

• The TRIM screen 67 • Setting Start & End Points 68 • Trimming Your Samples 69

011 Editing Samples Part 2 73

• The DISCARD function 73 • EXTRACT 73 • DELETE 74 • SILENCE 74 • NORMALIZE 75 • REVERSE 76 • The Sample Screen Functions 77

012 Looping Samples 79

• Understanding Loop Points 79 • Looping Drum Breaks 79 • The Loop Screen 80 • Setting Start and End Loop Points 81 • Checking For Clicks 82 • Locking the Loop Points 83

013 Programs 84

• Understanding Programs 84 • Assigning Sounds to A Program 85 • What Are Banks? 85 • Changing Program Parameters 86 • Changing Global Pad Sensitivity 89 • Filters 90 • Voice Overlap 91 • Play Mode 91

014 The Internal Mixer 93

• Using the Internal Mixer 93 • Controlling Multiple Sounds 94 • Changing Outputs 94

015 Recording Sequences 96

• Overview 96 • Changing Tempo With Tap Tempo 96 • Sequencer Parameters 97 • Recording a Drum Performance 99 • Endless Recording 100 • Erasing Notes 100 • Note Repeat 102 • Adding Another Track 102 • Recording MIDI tracks 103 • Why Don’t The Pad notes run in musical order? 104 • Recording Mixer Changes 104 • One Sequence or Many? 106

016 Editing Sequences Part 1 107

• Changing Notes in Step Edit 107 • Navigating In Step Edit 109 • Step Edit Options 110 • Note Parameters 111 • Editing Recorded Mixer Settings 112

017 Editing Sequences Part 2 114

• Copy & Paste 114 • Events 114 • Bars 116 • Track Move 118 • Copying & Deleting 119 • Inserting Program Changes 120

Section B – Manipulating Drums & Break Beats 122 018 Filtering & Tuning Samples 123

• Filtering Kicks 123 • Tuning Breaks 124 • Tuning Down Without Dropping Pitch – Vinyl 124

019 Chopping Samples Part 1 125 • Methods For Chopping Breaks 125 • Slice Function Overview 126 • Adjusting Regions 127 • Slicing 129

020 Chopping Samples Part 2 133 • Rearranging Your Break 133 • Chopping It Further 134 • Adding More Slices 134 • Making a New Break 136 • A Word of Warning 137 • Using Extract To Create Slices 137

021 Chopping Part 3 – Patched Phrase 139

• Overview 139 • Calculating BPM 140 • Patched Phrase In Action 142

• Patched Phrase Editing 142

022 Chopping Part 4 – Stutter Chopping 143 • Overview 143 • Creating Stuttered Chops 144

023 Layering Drum Sounds 145 • Layering Drum Sounds 145 • Changing Parameters 146 • Resampling Your Outputs 147 • Filtered & Tuned Layering 148

024 Rebuilding Decay Tails on Snares 149

• Re-building reverb/decay tails on snares 149 Section C – Building Drum Kits & Breaks 151 025 Emulating Timbre Changes 152

• Dynamic Sample Variation 152 • Using multiple samples 152 • Creating your own variations 153 • Timbre variations on one pad 154 • Utilising Layers 155 • Using Q-Link sliders 156

026 Building Drum Kits - Pure Kits 158 Why build kits in a standard layout? 158 ‘Pure’ Drum Kits 158 Building the Kit 159 Filling the Gaps 160 Making It Stereo 161

027 Building Performance & GM Kits 163 • Overview 163 • Building The Kit 163 • GM Kits 165

028 Creating Realistic Drum Performances 169 • Real time or step edit? 169 • Turn Off Full Level 169 • Using Quantise 169 • Keep it varied 169 • Lining Up Samples (or not) 170 • Drummers and Limbs 170

029 Basics of Laying Down a Drum Beat Part 1 171 • Overview 171 • Steps in laying down a beat 171

030 Laying Down a Drum Beat Part 2 175

• Creating Drum Rolls 175 • Ghost Notes 176

• Recreating Grooves From Other Records 177

Section D – Advanced Techniques 178 031 Fitting an Instrument Loop to a Beat 179

• Overview 179 • Matching up Grooves 179 • Matching Tempo by Tuning 180 • Pitch Shifting 180 • Time Stretching 181 • Finding Pitch/Key 182 • Major or Minor? 183 • Patched Phrase 183 • Chopping both Loops 184 • Hints on Improving Tempo Matching 184

032 Understanding Effects 185

• Understanding Effect Controls 185 • Master Effects 187 • Saving Effect Sets 187

033 Effects & Settings 189

• ‘Jazzing Up’ Rhodes 189 • Tremolo 190 • Flying Pan 191 • Combining Effects 191 • Chorus 192 • Flanger 192 • Delay 193 • Reverb 193 • Bit Grunger 194 • 4 Band EQ 195 • Compressor 196 • Changing Effects Via Step Edit 197 • Getting Around Limitations 197 • Master Effects 198

034 Sequencing Tricks Part 1 199 • Boosting The Bottom End of a Loop 199 • Filter Sweeps 199 • Changing Sequencer Resolution 203 • Creating Delay Effects With Your Sequencer 203

035 Sequencing Tricks Part 2 205

• Echoes 205 • Turntable Stops 205 • Fade Back 206 • Putting It All Together 206

036 Multisampling Part 1 209

• How Do We Multisample 209 • A Sub Bass Program 210 • MIDI notes and the MPC 211

• Tuning 212 • Controlling Note Length 213 • Controlling Decay 213

037 Multisampling Part 2 215 • Overview 215 • Converting a loop into a multisample program 215 • Monophonic Multisampling 216

038 Looping Instrument Samples 218 • Overview 218 • Extending note length with looping 219 • Creating a drone 220

039 16 Levels 221

• Overview 221 • Practical usage of 16 levels 221

040 Using Blue Box 223

• Downloading 223 • First Steps 223 • Musical samples 225 • Chromatic Programs 225

041 LFO, Slider & External Sound Manipulation 227

• LFO Overview 227 • Tremolo Effect 227 • Mimicking Vibrato 227 • Creating Bass Lines with LFO 228 • Real Time Controls 229 • Q Link Sliders 229 • Manipulation of External Sounds – Input Thru 231

Section E – Building Songs 233 042 Understanding Song Mode 234

• Overview 234 • Using Multiple Sequences 225 • Song Mode 236 • Converting Songs to Sequences 237

043 Song Arrangement Ideas 239

• Overview 239 • A List of Arrangement Ideas and Techniques 240

044 Recording Your Beats Part 1 244

• Overview 244 • Recording a Rough Demo 244 • Going To A Studio 246 • Doing It All Yourself 247 • A Mixture 247

045 Recording Your Beats Part 2 248 • What Is A Multi Tracker? 248 • Synching & MIDI 249 • MPC as Slave With MIDI Clock 259 • Mono & Stereo Instruments 252

046 Recording Your Beats Part 3 253 • Using Effects While Tracking 253 • Dry Recording 253 • Wet Recording 253 • Using the MPC Outputs 254 • Multitracking to a Standard Mixer 254 • Recording Via A Mixer 254 • Assigning Outputs 255

047 Compression Part 1 257

• What is a Compressor? 257 • Types of Compressor 257 • Compressor Controls 257 • Graphical Representation 258 • What Can Compression Do For My Music? 259

048 Compression Part 2 260 • Hooking it up 260 • Limiting a Signal 260 • Compressing a Vocal 261 • Smoothing Out a Bass Line 261 • Adding Punch to Guitars 261 • Increasing Guitar Sustain 261 • Compressing Snares 262 • Cymbals 262 • Compression as an Aux Effect 262 • Suggested Settings 262

Section F – MPC1000 Studio Environments 264 049 Looping Multisamples in Soundforge 265

• Background 265 • Getting Started 265 • Setting the Loop 267 • Adding Loop Markers 268 • Crossfade Looping 270 • Limitations 271

050 Using Recycle with your MPC1000 Part 1 272 • Overview 272 • Getting Started 272 • Slicing Your Beat 273 • Previewing Your Slices 274 • Adding a Slice Point 274 • Envelope Settings 276 • Exporting Your Slices 277

051 Using Recycle with your MPC1000 Part 2 278

• Background 278 • Blank.pgm – a recap 279 • Assigning Slices – Method 1 279 • Fixing the Open Hat 279 • Assigning Slices – Method 2 279 • Changing the Tempo 281

Final Word & MPC Resources 282