One Tip for Better Drums // What An MPC Taught Me about Everything
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 22. 05. 2024
- Jumping straight to it, 16 levels. That's it. Its not just pitch, its velocity and so much more. More than an octave too. Not a lot not too little. Taking 16 Levels further, it can be applied to any sequencer or midi controller. I use this on Ableton's Push, and i even use this for adding velocity on Digitakt. Such a simple drum tip to take them to another level.
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00:00 What're we talking about
00:56 How 16 Levels Works
02:01 How Important Velocity Is!
03:08 Example 1
03:43 Example 2
04:38 Example 3
05:05 Example 4
05:31 Comparing the results
06:54 Final Thoughts
08:04 Jam
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#MPC4000 #AbletonDrumTips #MPCTips - Hudba
Ricky Tinez, the Bob Ross of synth land.
Very funny cause very true
lol đ
We love Ricky!
Happy little sinewaves
Only thing missing is that fro
Great video! I play drums in real life and what youre really touching on is ARTICULATION. You can play a groove hitting the hihat at the same volume but if you change it to add phrasing and feel you can make the groove speak in ways it never did before! Its like you can almost use your hi hat do make a counter melody or even a doubling of the melody. Acoustic drums don't really have an easy way to change pitch on the fly so articulation is our way of doing that!
All this. For sure. Tuning real drums is something I've had issues with when I've hired drummers in the past.
Fantastic comment thanks!
As a former drummer, I agree. Velocity is a huge part of what makes drums work.
Makes me want to make a drum machine (analog maybe) with velocity sensitive pads and velocity adjustment per step. Even at the same velocity each channel would produce a slightly different result each hit, with more significant alterations based on velocity. Think about it, each hit would have a slightly different filter cutoff, decay time, attack, response curve, pitch envelope etc. Basically an analog drum machine that tries to replicate the dynamics of acoustic drums. You can do something similar on modular with enough S&H and modulation but it would be cool to see a "living" hardware drum synth.
You are the most real person Iâve come across on CZcams period wether it be music or otherwise. Thank you for being awesome and keeping it going as a stream of consciousness. Too much stuff is over produced and cut/trimmed perfection. You just put out content in a real way itâs hard to explain and itâs been said in your comments before but you feel like a friend explaining something to me itâs a nice thing. Thank you.
Also adding second snare hit right after first with lower velocity creates a nice groove
All Ricky Tinez videos are always great and these slightly shorter and concise videos are super dope! Really helpful, Ricky! Thanks :)
Ahhh⊠the highlight of the week! New Ricky Tinez vid, some coffee, wrench on the old Triumph a bit then out for a ride - bliss.
Got my MPC1K a while back and thatâs when I found the channelâŠ. love EVERY video! (Well, a tad bit sad when the 1K got sold!)
All your MPC 4000 videos are very much appreciated! Just recently got the 4k and there is alot to get your head around in terms of workflow and file management ; Please make some more :) ! Multis,programs,parts,tracks,seq... very confusing if you're not familiar with older Mpc's. The 4000 has much less time in the spotlight i've noticed. Keep it UPP!
I almost thought the sequencer edit is not able to make such type of realtime recording thoâŠ
This Channel is gold, just found it and gonna have a long night ahead watching. Your stuff is fire mate
Very nice to remind us that we can make a lot with machines we already have.
Thanks Ricky! Really love your vids! Shout-out from Franceđ„đ„đ„
Great video, explainations are excellent and for some reason its so relaxing to watch your vids!
Another great detail picked up, thanks!
So helpful! I remember watching one of the Circuit live beat challenges you guys did when John? created an entire groove by simply utilizing pitch and velocity on a high hat, and Iâve been doing it ever since.
yes! its so good haha, John is scary on the Circuit Tracks. total Underdog!
Absolutely killed this one man, love it!!
Nice One Ricky. Awesome As Always ...
Btw on the elektron boxes, since we lack velocity sensitive pads (they arenât too great on Model:* either), what I do is record hats at the softest velocity rather than 100 and manually add accents and louder ghost notes. Seems to work a lot better starting off with say 16 notes at a 100 velocity where you have to go both ways around the velocity axis to get a groove.
Elektron had velocity sensitive pads. The rytm has this function
P Lock the volume mate. It's easier. You can do it by step or just jam with the volume knob with rec mode activated.
Trig condition and parameter locks are killer!
oh nice! i love that approach! reminds me a bit of adding accents on the 909s or the Arturia drumbrutes
@@RickyTinez ngl I think I got it from that same action but on the DB-01 haha
So awesome! I didn't know this about the MPC!
I love using automation recording on the mpc live to play with resonance, tuning, and different parameters especially on my hats to give it a real alive moving around feel. Sometimes just to emulate the variation you would expect a live drummer to perform and other times to create new and interesting timbres and effects with more dramatic sounding sounds.
Helpfull! Thanks master Tinez!!!
an amazing technique, thanks for sharing. its something I never knew I wanted until I started playing with the PO-KO. honestly didn't know my mpc500 could do this until just now
Always so good to get my weekly dose of producing creativity!
I am really trying to work this on the PO33, but will need to push the boundaries a little more.
This just tops my list of important tips in beatmaking... Thank you !!!
The hi-hats rising in volume is such a fun sound. I gotta try that more.
Great video as always homie, thanks
Any musician playing any genre can get value from ideas like this. I don't ordinarily make or listen to house music, but I always look forward to Saturdays when your new videos drop. And you know what? Yeah, my head is bopping by the end of it, lol.
OH HELLS YEAH this is so important and even the 6 levels of accent on a TR-626 can help with articulation like this! I use it for internal sounds but also MIDI sent to drum modules like an old SC-88 with Roland 808 or jazz brush drum kits can bring out more life to drums that otherwise sound stagnant. Even the hidden notes that end up quite in the mix can offer some better results when they combine with other sounds on the same step.
Love these videos thank you so much for all the tips
Dude you deserve so many more subscribers and views. Like at least 200k on each video. I hope you make decent money from your sets because your tutorials are awesome!
You know we want a Digitakt 1.30 review/new feature video....
So easy to do in the software ... I get this method is nostalgic. ..but the colour coded velocity is where it's at.
Dude this video was almost therapeutic đđŒđđŒ simple but powerful tip, now just need the kids to go to sleep so I can switch on the MPC X and jam away! Have an awesome week brother!đ€đ»
Thank you very much! I put these techniques into practice immediately with great results.
Also, see you navigate your 4K liked that is awesome đ„đ„
Such a great and informative video. Iâve been playing with this using my Maschine mk3 & Jam. Too good!
@Brian G I'm not in front of my Maschine but pretty sure u hit shift + the fixed vel/16vel pad.
@Brian G @flaquis stated one way another is if youâre finger drumming donât used fixed velocity. Leave them pressure sensitive and youâll get less robotic vibe going on. You can also automate the velocity and draw them in.
great video rick!
Great video man, as always
Thanks for this video!
after more than a year with my Maschine mk3 i just discovered/starting using 16 levels there. always right in front of my face lol. it's a game changer.
Smooth Ricky very cool đ¶ đ
It's true. I am a bad finger drummer and have no groove in me at all, but I stumbled over some loops I did using velocity pads the other day and the range of velocities and the expressiveness made those loops so much better than what I do these days with the octatrack/ max/ all sorts of high-tech stuff.
Saved this for a Sunday breakfast with musician mates. Best decision of the week easily!
I'm more of a MIDI drum programmer using BFD3 (I adore BFD), and the one thing I always get lost in is velocity, subtle to extreme changes for whatever the music is doing, whatever the section needs, and trying to program like a drummer would play, but also keeping it all 'loop' based. 127 levels, baby! But yeah, you are absolutely spot on correct, subtle velocity, volume, or pitch changes make all the difference to a beat. Everything sounds way more organic and fun/interesting. YMMV tho, obviously. And hand programming it all can be so tiresome and long winded :)
good job ricky
Good vid buddy. Thumbs up
Every time! The Circuits fixed velocity on/off button and the edit screen plus the record quantise on/off button can really give your drums life.
Nice one Ricky, thx!
Love your vids .
Not bad! Keep doing your thing
Levels, Jerry. Levels!
Lollllll
Don't have an MPC (never had one in fact - THAT's a daring confession on this channel, right ;-)
But:
The trick of manually changing velocity or other params in a cyclical way makes your (and later/hopefully my) music way more vivid and interesting. Thanks for the pro advice!
It is like the manual input mode for the LFO's on the Arturia Matrixbrute: there also one can use the Matrix as a limited-values entry panel. Moreover these LFO's can be synced to obtain this MPC-style effect (16ths) but also be a division or multiplication and maybe run unsynced to create more variation. (I should try that last one - not sure).
Love the jam at the end - enjoy your weekend!
I believe you can actually preview the swing on MPC 4000; thatâs one thing I miss about it. Also if you get double taps with older pads, Iâve found that using two fingers to tap seems to help.
Great video!
Great tip. You're right, you get so used to hammering everything through.
I tend to do it in modular beats, but I spend loads of effort CVing my melodies and bass đ
Go figure.
Growing up with a 2000xl I used 16 levels on everything lol. Boom bap swing on ghost notes is beautiful
Thank you
Definitely a great point & velocity makes all the difference especially w hats. Iâm curious, what headphones are you using? They look the Sennheiser HD 650âs.. just a guess lol. Thanks in advance!
Damn Iâm early. Drums is a topic that never gets old. Looking forward to this.
Not sure if MPCs can do this, but another trick I use is having a filter modulated by velocity such that quieter hats are a little lowpassed. Iâve also used s+h LFOs to randomize tuning +/- 20 cents.
Things like this help each sound pull more weight in a mix so then you require less tracks.
Couldnât imagine programming drums without thinking about velocity, should be one of the very very first things you learn.
Thanks again đ„
Been doing something similar on my 404 where I make several copies of the same sample and change the velocity for each (shout out to SPVidz for the tip!) Now that I have an MPC 1000 it's so much easier, I haven't used 16 levels enough for pitch but I'm getting there! Decay and filter are cool too, adds a bunch of variation.
Number one trick I use with the MPC, 16 levels velocity does wonders for dynamics in drums
Also great for funky ghost notes and fake delays.
I donât know if this is okay to ask. Iâve found several⊠ârhythms everyone should knowâ sorts of videos. And these have been helpful. Iâm learning⊠I have a LOT to learn. Could you show how to build a rhythm tool box? Like, âthis is a break beat, a four on the floor, etcâŠâ but set up so that when you need one, you copy it from where it is in the MPC to the new location (new song). Then you just set tempo, and drum kit youâre using⊠and then do the âtweaks.â
Iâm learning my MPC Live 2, but itâs slow⊠I *think* I know a good approach for this but would be happy to see what you recommend too.
Not dictating anything, and if this doesnât work with what you have planned, no harm. Wish you well and thanks for the education.
Yeah I'm thinking of this as well quite often. Like having a folder on my drum machine with all patterns / rhythms predefined. But then again... I guess for guys like Ricky or anyone a bit more advanced, I guess it's quicker for them to just quickly layout the rhythm from scratch instead of loading and copying it from somewhere else. At the end it's just going 3 times through the loop, first putting down the kick, then the snare, and then hihats.
Nevertheless, I'd also love to see that kind of video by Ricky. Like, what is his approach, how does he choose which rhythm / pattern goes with which beat, how did he learn different patterns in the first place etc.!
"Boo. Whack. Not good" Funny
Great video! Those stabs sound familiarâŠReason sounds maybe? Anyways thanks for another great video!
Great video! I know you love Mpc, but the Akai Force 16 levels is amazing and let you have 3 features of 16 levels at one time. Have you thought of giving the Akai Force a try?
The Force is better at a lot things then the MPC's but I don't think his subs would like that which is why you never got an answer.
Honestly, Iâm surprised no classic techno or house track has used that â16 progressively rising levels of hi hat in rowâ as a pattern. Itâs like a rising sawtooth LFO on the volume. Thereâs something pleasantly hypnotic about it.
Pretty common in classic jungle, moreso with rim shots though. If you're not acquainted, Urban Shakedown and Aphrodite II are about as good a starting point as any.
Dynamic drums like that (and even more so) are all over 90s 909-based techno, since the volume & timbre of the drum machine was often adjusted live in recording.
That last little bongo riff was the 17th level đđđ
Thank you.
Damn that jam is soooo cool
I didn't discover why my hihats sounded so redundant until I got my 4k and played with the 16 levels. It changed a lot for me. đ
Real drummers [me] never go too low in velocity on a groove- solos maybe. Dynamics though is a beautiful thing.
Ricky and his 4k name a better duo
I got the erm multiclock because of you. Its really nice thanks a lot.. Maybe change the title of the vid when you say don't buy this? Because you end up saying it's dope. Thanks as always bud
Ricky we need your video on new digitakt os
As an mpc 4k user this is so good to see
Ah MPC videos are the best
Not gonna lie, I'm hooked to your channel
Ricky what brand of frames are those you have on in the video. Cool glasses.
Be interested to hear your views on the MPC4000 vs the newer MPC's ( like the One and Live ) Ricky. What made you go for this one over the others?
Yup, and then add another part with open high hats (? Not sure of the name) and you're groovin'.
When you input the notes in Step Edit on the MPC, I'm fascinated by it! Is this possible on Maschine? Maschine of course has a step sequencer, but I've never seen or entered notes singularly like that before with it going onto the next step after each note is input.
@@koolmaaan Thanks for that! Really appreciate it. I re-read most of the manual and didn't find anything lmao.
Do the modern MPCs do it?
New MPCs offer decay and attack too. Sometimes you don't need 127 different velocities... Just some dynamic contrast
Thanksss
Great video.
I have 2 questions:
1. Do you use the MPC4000 a lot still or are you more on the MPC3000?
2. Since you know the MPC4000 inside out, do you know if there's a shortcut on the machine to quickly switch the metronome on and off (without scroling through the MAIN menu)?
I've looked through the manual and all over the internet. Seems like there is no such option.... But maybe there is??? :P
THX!!!
2.) You're going to laugh. So on the main program window, on the top right there is the image of a metronome with a filled in box next to it. Hover over that Box using the directional arrows (around the data wheel) and then turn the wheel left or right to turn on and off the metronome! super easy peace
love the 16 levels button :)
Is there any way of recording this manually on the newer MPCs like One as in example 2?
Need to know your thoughts on the new mpc software... need to!
Music like painting is all about the relationships between values, an other way to think about the same thing youâre talking about is how would a drummer on a set play your groove. A tip for black box users you can also set the filter to be controlled by the velocity if you want more of a natural feel (not just for natural sounds). Great video as per usual
yeah Elektron boxes ... best... for me LFO's are my friend
I discovered the 16th velocities on the Push some time ago and I was sure it came from the MPC âïž
Dynamix, baby!!! âźïž
I need an MPC back in my life.
Hey Ricky do you now how to do the sequence entry at 355 on the mpc live 2?
Fab!
Hello Ricky!
I write with a translator.
You are one of those who knows the most about MPC.
I have the MPC 2500 with jjos free. Can I ask you a technical question?
I sample and go to edit and there is an option called "staccatto" that works. for what it can be used.
Thank you.
I've been watching your videos for over a year.
greetings from Argentina
Respect
Fundamental stuff - but a great reminder on their importance.
So when this us your drum/groove month could you maybe revisit the Arturia Drumbrute Impact? I know you already did some stuff with it but....
Best thing I learned was from the late J-Dilla: Just flow!!
Is there somewhere I can buy or stream the tune? Super cool house vibes