Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: MPC controller per channel? (Read 3794 times) previous topic - next topic

MPC controller per channel?

Before I put an entry to the wish list, and after reading past posts on MPC, tempo etc., a question for someone who, unlike me, really understands MIDI.

I use the tempo MPC to have NWC play music in blues or jazz style, as often described in this forum, by adding a tempo staff with even eights separated by MPCs.

I now want to create playalong CD's, and have found that the tempo MPC works across all MIDI channels, including the drum channel. When the drum channel contains, for example, 4 hi-hat triplets in a bar, they sound funny after being mangled by the MPC. Reverse-engineering those triplets would work, but ah, the math involved...
 

Re: MPC controller per channel?

Reply #1 –
While it may add considerably to the realism of a MIDI performance to have the drummer playing at a different speed to the rest of the band, a per-channel tempo setting seems rather odd.

The swing trick with MPCs is a quick and dirty means of getting closish to what real performers would do.  What real perfomers actually do is rather more compicated than just playing pairs of quavers with a 2:1 duration ratio.  I wrote a note on the newsgroup a while ago about some research on this that appeared in New Scientist.  Take a look in the NG archives at Archive 01_01.zip Message 482.

Stephen

Re: MPC controller per channel?

Reply #2 –
Oh dear! the link to the New Scientist article in my NG post doesn't work any more. New Scientist requires a paid for subscription to access the archives now.  However, they are currently offering a 7 day free trial.

I downloaded a copy of the article and can forward it by email to anyone who may be interested - please email me at sr-music@ic4life.net

Stephen

Re: MPC controller per channel?

Reply #3 –
Reverse-engineering those triplets would work, but ah, the math involved...
Easier than you think.  Two sixteenths and an eighth will sound like triplets.  If quarter-note triplets are called for, try two dotted eighths and an eighth.

Re: MPC controller per channel?

Reply #4 –
Just back from a short vacation - sorry for the delay and thanks for setting this straight.

Re https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=2656.msg14895#msg14895 - our drummer often plays at a different tempo than the rest of the band - I thought this was normal :-)

Re https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=2656.msg14896#msg14896 - I would be very interested in a copy of the article - separate e-mail sent

Re https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=2656.msg14904#msg14904 - That's the way it is with math: difficult for some, easy for others. Thanks!

Wilm