Ableton Forum

all this talk about how the MPC swing isn't all that. The MPC swing IS different than Live's swing.


MPC swing makes all the notes move. The even numbers (offbeats) move to a later position to create the swung feel, whereas the odd numbers (onbeats) move to an earlier position, which makes the entire groove slightly ahead. This creates tension. This is completely different than Live's swing which only moves the even numbers.

oh, i don't doubt it's different.

I just don't think it's a big deal. ---Or unachievable by other methods.

good feel can be achieved without it. In fact, i personally don't care for the swing function of the mpc. But htat's just my opinion.



.lm.

IMO I hear some songs and they sound VERY mpc-ish, I close my eyes and can hear the sliced up beat being banged away on those pads. Can the haters say they've never experienced that?

Reading all this I don't know what to think other than people continue to debate the mpc swing/sound quality, that's been going on for as long as I can remember. Still, people disagree, nothing's changed.

Funny, after a gig this weekend my boy is like I'm selling ym MPC and getting a laptop with Torq (he has ableton as well)

he's pretty blown away at what portable computers can do outside of your house but...

I was like whoa there cowboy - think twice about what you're saying

he bought the MPC from a friend of ours for $200 (the guy didn't know what they really went for used) so it'snot like he spent any real money on it

second, the xl is out of production <-- its a classic no wirth selling for a disposable laptop

who knows...I'll steer him to this thread

I have owned a MPC 3000 for over 10 years now, and I too use to subscribe to the whole idea that the MPC had a magic swing, but I don't believe so anymore.

At the time that I bought my MPC, I was doing all of my sequencing on an ASR 10. To me, the ASR 10 was a sloppy sequencer. It hiccuped a lot, to the point that it was completely unbearable. I don't even think the ASR had a swing parameter on it. When I bought the MPC and connected the two, there was no doubt that the MPC was a better midi sequencer than the scratch pad that the ASR 10 had, but let's face it, that was over 10 years ago.

When I bought my Motif Es 3 years ago, I wondered if it would swing like my magic MPC, and the short answer is YES. I did side by side comparisons using high hats on every 16th note, and it's all the same.

Later when I bought Sonar, I did the same thing with Sonar, and the results are the same. I can't tell the difference at all. As long as I set the swing % to that same amount, I couldn't tell the difference.

To be honest, I haven't done a side by side comparison with Live, but I doubt there will be any difference using the 16th note swing.

10+ years ago, I would say the MPC's swing was magic compared to some of the other hardware sequencers that were available, but today just about everything can produce swing.

question about the hd issue. not saying that it can or can not affect the sound,

but i have watched two different tutorials on logic and both the people giving the tutorials have said that you should keep all of the audio you are using for songs and record all the audio you are recording to a different hard drive than the one you are running the application on. so have 1 or more seperate hardrives to kepp all your samples on and record to.

why is this?

better performance because the disk isn't going back and forth between multiple locations. It will just allow you more tracks before the disk can't keep up with what you're doing.




.lm.

ok thanks. so in reference to that, do you keep the folder with all your live song files on the same hd as your samples or is it best to keep those on your main hd?

sorry to hijack my thread

conventional wisdom is apps and system on your main hd, sequence files (ie the live set) and all audio, including samples, on an external hd.



In reality, it isn't the biggest deal in the world if you have a reasonably fast hd and aren't trying to record or stream a lot of tracks at once.


Another thing to remember is that it won't help you to put all of your audio files on an external drive if it has a slow rpm or connection. For instance your not going to be streaming a ton of audio off a usb drive...




.lm.

right thanks. i am mostly doing it for storage. it is a 7200 rpm external so the speed is fine. my main hd is out of space so all my art and music are going onto seperate drives.

d~

carry on. mpc better. no pc better. no actual live drummer better. no ...

Amberience wrote:

KU wrote: take the electric guitar. eric johnson and other stratocaster freaks know that the Tone is in the details of every screw and minisucle detail... not just the pickups and the wood... but the frets, the age and condition of the lacquer... everything.

In my almost 9 years of music making and almost four years of playing guitar, I have never heard anyone say that screws make a difference to the sound of a guitar.

Look, I know you mean well, but you gotta be accurate with this stuff, because you're not helping by making grand and flippant comments like these.

yes perhaps I was being metaphysical about it. but I have been a vintage guitar dealer for some years and every little part of the guitar affects its tone in one way or the other. the screws in the trem block and the tuning keys indeed affects the tone of the instrument in a very subtle and miniscule way.

kb420 wrote:I have owned a MPC 3000 for over 10 years now, and I too use to subscribe to the whole idea that the MPC had a magic swing, but I don't believe so anymore.

At the time that I bought my MPC, I was doing all of my sequencing on an ASR 10. To me, the ASR 10 was a sloppy sequencer. It hiccuped a lot, to the point that it was completely unbearable. I don't even think the ASR had a swing parameter on it. When I bought the MPC and connected the two, there was no doubt that the MPC was a better midi sequencer than the scratch pad that the ASR 10 had, but let's face it, that was over 10 years ago.

When I bought my Motif Es 3 years ago, I wondered if it would swing like my magic MPC, and the short answer is YES. I did side by side comparisons using high hats on every 16th note, and it's all the same.

Later when I bought Sonar, I did the same thing with Sonar, and the results are the same. I can't tell the difference at all. As long as I set the swing % to that same amount, I couldn't tell the difference.

To be honest, I haven't done a side by side comparison with Live, but I doubt there will be any difference using the 16th note swing.

10+ years ago, I would say the MPC's swing was magic compared to some of the other hardware sequencers that were available, but today just about everything can produce swing.

y d k w y t about

btw the asr10 does have swing

EgAD wrote:

kb420 wrote:I have owned a MPC 3000 for over 10 years now, and I too use to subscribe to the whole idea that the MPC had a magic swing, but I don't believe so anymore.

At the time that I bought my MPC, I was doing all of my sequencing on an ASR 10. To me, the ASR 10 was a sloppy sequencer. It hiccuped a lot, to the point that it was completely unbearable. I don't even think the ASR had a swing parameter on it. When I bought the MPC and connected the two, there was no doubt that the MPC was a better midi sequencer than the scratch pad that the ASR 10 had, but let's face it, that was over 10 years ago.

When I bought my Motif Es 3 years ago, I wondered if it would swing like my magic MPC, and the short answer is YES. I did side by side comparisons using high hats on every 16th note, and it's all the same.

Later when I bought Sonar, I did the same thing with Sonar, and the results are the same. I can't tell the difference at all. As long as I set the swing % to that same amount, I couldn't tell the difference.

To be honest, I haven't done a side by side comparison with Live, but I doubt there will be any difference using the 16th note swing.

10+ years ago, I would say the MPC's swing was magic compared to some of the other hardware sequencers that were available, but today just about everything can produce swing.

y d k w y t about

M I W O (man, I want one)

Which one should I get?

leisuremuffin wrote:conventional wisdom is apps and system on your main hd, sequence files (ie the live set) and all audio, including samples, on an external hd.

Most certainly not! Keep them on a second, internal HD - preferably SCSI or SATA.