The Bassline Track - Akai MPC Reference Manual

4.6 THE BASSLINE TRACK

To complete our musical experiment, we need a bassline. In this case, it is important to be able to
play a bass sound chromatically. How does that work?
First of all, we need to select a new track. Go back to Main Mode and select Track 02 in the
TRACK pop-up menu above the Grid.
In the MPC hardware you have to press the MAIN button. With F4 (Track+) you can switch to
the next track.
This new and empty Track should be assigned to a new Program. You can do this in Program
Edit Mode. Click on the PROG pop-up menu above the Grid and select the Add Program option.
A new window opens. Enter a name, e.g. Bass, and select KEYGROUP as the Program Type.
This is necessary because we want to play the bass sound chromatically with the drum pads.
Now let's load a bass sound. We will use the Browser in the MPC software.
Click on the file browser's pop-up menu for an overview of your hard disk structure. Locate and
select a bass sample. You can double-click on any displayed folder to open it. Click on the
Preview button to preview any selected audio sample. If you found a sample to your liking,
double-click it to add it to the MPC software's currently loaded Project. Keep in mind that the
sample is not yet assigned to a pad.
Press the PROG EDIT button of your MPC hardware to enter Program Edit Mode, if not
selected already.
In the Layer section click on the LAYER 1 pop-up menu and select the bass sample you just
loaded into the MPC software's currently loaded Project. In this list you will also find your drum
samples. Keep in mind that you are working with a KEYGROUP program, so the selected sample
is playable across all pads.
Press the PAD BANK D button of your MPC hardware to switch to pad bank D and hit Pad 13.
You should hear the bass sample played back with its original pitch. You can use the other
pads to play your sample chromatically.
To step it up even further, we want to add a second layer. The idea is to have a bass sample that
sounds different when played at a higher velocity. Go back to the File Browser and choose a
different bass sample that sounds similar
but a little bit brighter to the loaded one.
Double-click on it!
Back in the Layer section, click on the
LAYER 2 pop-up menu and select the
new bass sample. If you hit a pad, both
samples will be played at once. Maybe
you find that new sound interesting as it is right now, but let's go further!
Use the VELOCITY slider of Layer 1 and Layer 2 to create a sound with the velocity range of
Layer 1 ranging from 0 to 80 while Layer 2 covers within the range of 81 to 127.
Now when you hit a pad, the lower velocities will trigger Layer 1 only, while higher velocities play
Layer 2 only.
Now let's record a bassline. Prepare your recording as described above and record some bass
notes. You can edit your recording just like we've done earlier.
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