does the mpd ever become easy to use?

KonKossKang

KonKossKang

Ozagas
when i started, just one button at a time was hard, had to do the "make multiple takes for different drums" approach.
now i can kinda do 2 at the same time.ive noticed that i can do semi complex drum patterns, but not for longer periods of time either.it's like short bursts of speed and lasts a second.It's like my brain gets nervous when i actually do it then the hands mess up.
 
I guess it's the same as any other instrument - it just takes a lot of time and practice to get comfortable with it.
 
Try tapping your feet with the music and bobbing your head. Eventually you'll able to go for as long as you want as long as you practice
 
hard to explain, if i mess with the akai/korg padkontrol while unplugged and use their natural sound it sounds like the tribal kingdom hearts flip stuff i used to make before stumbling across other genres.
but when i assign sounds to the pads it loses that bongo feel immediately since the sounds of trap kits and other kits dont fit is what i mean.

i cant, or don't feel like i could drum the same way when the drum kits enter because the drum samples feel "static", when you hit a desk or bongos you could mess up the tempo and it would still sound good because the sounds coming from the desk/bongos didn't have such a static feel.i can drum pretty fast on actual drums and stuff BUT the addicting mpd controllers i purchased only feel like the bongos if they arent assigned anything.
strange but i somehow feel "limited" when triggering samples with them.
 
KonKossKang said:
i cant, or don't feel like i could drum the same way when the drum kits enter because the drum samples feel "static", when you hit a desk or bongos you could mess up the tempo and it would still sound good because the sounds coming from the desk/bongos didn't have such a static feel.
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I know what you mean, I have the same problem. Still tryna get better at staying in time with the MPD.

The reason it sounds so static is because you're using clean samples ,but when you bang on a desk you've got a few sounds going on there (your hand hitting the desk, the desk shaking) and the sound waves are bouncing off the walls, giving you that "full" sound.

To get the fuller sound, add reverb to your samples. That's the simplest solution. Also, try finding samples of real drum recordings, that would definitely help too.

Or if you have a microphone, record yourself slamming on the desk! I did that, with some EQ and layering it sounds pretty dope.

Just play around, don't use JUST the sample, you gotta mess with it. Again, reverb is the biggest thing you're missing..
 
i used to use a lot of reverb back when i was trying to imitate asis lol but too much will mess up the samples from my experience.However sometimes a little reverb goes a long, long way for those rock drums i've downloaded from erkan and adding delay to slight reverbs makes a big difference when multiple samples are in play.

the only reason i have not recorded myself hitting a desk yet is because my built in mic is far from required.When i get a good enough mic, i will "go to town" on everything in my house and fuse those sounds with my kong kits.
 
just messed with the mpd again and it became alittle easier to do two notes at the same time.studied some jazz and rock basic videos and tried to imitate the patterns with the mpd in fl studio that was attached to the akai mpd and korg, doing that really helps.then if you use the thing long enough, when you look at it the sounds you place on it can be identified easier.
 
MPDs haven't really changed I don't even remember the last time they released a new model of MPD.
 
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i believe the mpd18/24/32 and the korg padkontrol were discontinued a while back from the reviews i read before buying some.Had me curious.sucks though, i like the mpd18 and padkontrol, and hopefully there's still some left if mine dies out
 
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