INTRODUCING THE KITS

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2 INTRODUCING THE KITS The Dirty Drummer 3 contains two gritty multisampled finger drumming kits, both organized into a very natural, finger drumming layout utilising multiple timbre and dynamic variations to help produce a more realistic, natural sounding drum kit. These kits can be used for any type of drum performance, be it a programmed beat, a real time sequence recording or live finger drumming. With practice these kits will produce breaks that sound virtually identical to a real drummer with all the dynamics and nuances you d expect from a live drum performance. Both kits have been painstakingly tweaked and rejigged for all the different MPC models to account for each models different features, with special cycle kits available for models that support round robins (MPC X/Live/MPC Software, MPC5000, JJOSXL),12 pad versions for the MPC500 and memory optimised versions for classic legacy MPCs. There s also versions for Native Instrument s Maschine and Battery 4. Introducing The Kits There are two full kits provided; Grubby Bear and Nasty Noodles. The layout of each kit is set up to be finger drumming friendly and both are laid out in the same configuration; so if you record a sequence with one kit you can later assign the other kit to that same sequence and it will work just as well. For MPCs with 16 pads (as well as Maschine), we've set up the sounds in the following layout:

3 We ve placed the main bread and butter sounds that you ll need for all breaks (the main kick, snare, closed hat and open hat) on the second row (A5 to A8), which gives you easy access to all the funky ghost notes, snare rolls and cymbals on rows 1 and 3 (check out the playing tips later in this guide). On the top row you ll find various percussion sounds; slightly different percussion is provided in each kit, with pads A13 and A14 set to tambourine or shaker (A13 is the down shake, A14 is the up shake ), A15 is a cowbell or block, and pad A16 is a low tom. For the MPC500, having 12 pads meant a different layout on bank A.

4 We ve still got all the main drum hits and ghost hits here, with percussion placed in bank B. Multiple Timbres Most drum kits you ll come across tend to only use a single example of each drum instrument for example, there s just a single kick sample on a pad, a single snare and so on. The problem is that when you play a real kick or snare drum, it actually sounds different every time you play it apart from the obvious volume differences, hard hits tend to have a lot of attack and bite, soft hits have virtually no attack and sound darker, and even if you play the kick at the same velocity, each hit will always sound slightly different.

5 This change in the characteristic of the drum sound each time you play it is referred to as a change of timbre. By utilising multiple timbres for each drum sound we can achieve a very realistic sounding kit capable of producing very authentic sounding live breaks. To achieve this we ve used the built-in MPC/Maschine program functionality as well as utilising a carefully thought out pad layout structure. Velocity Switching Kits The default kit provided for all samplers utilizes dynamic switching where selected pads play different sample based on how hard you hit the pad (the velocity). So for example if you hit the snare pad hard, that pad is set to play back a hard snare timbre. If you hit the pad softly, it will play back a much softer snare sample. You ll find many pads have up to 4 dynamic switching zones (i.e. hard, medium hard, medium soft and soft). Velocity switching is perfect for people who feel comfortable playing with FULL LEVEL turned off. Cycle Kits The MPC Software (including the MPC X/MPC Live), MPC5000 and some versions of JJOS (JJOS2, JJOSXL, JJOS3 and JJOS128XL) have the option to load multiple sounds on a pad and then cycle through them each time the pad is hit - this functionality is independent of velocity and therefore provides different timbres even when FULL LEVEL is turned on. For these samplers we have provided a separate cycle kit and velocity kit, both featuring identical layout.

6 Getting Started After downloading and extracting dirty-drummer-3.zip you ll see a bunch of folders inside each one are versions of the kits optimised for specific sampler models. Simply locate the folder most suitable for your particular sampler legacy MPC users should then transfer that folder to their MPC disk by their usual file transfer methods. If you need help doing this, check out the guide here: MPC X & MPC Live Enter the MPC X-MPC Live Standalone Edition folder and inside you ll see a sub folder Dirty Drummer 3 this is the folder we re going to transfer to your MPC X/MPC Live. It s not possible to copy files to the 16GB internal drive on your MPC so let s assume you have a USB drive called MPC DATA connected to the USB port on your MPC Live/X (you can also transfer to an SD card or internal SATA drive). Connect your MPC X/MPC Live via USB to your computer and enter controller

7 mode (MENU > MPC chip > CONTROLLER MODE). At this point, your USB disk will appear as a removable drive in your computer. If it doesn t already exist, create a folder called Expansions in the root of your MPC disk - now copy the Dirty Drummer 3 folder inside this Expansions folder. You can now eject the disk from your computer and in your MPC Live/X return to Standalone mode. Make sure your disk is connected to your MPC. Now go to MENU > BROWSER and tap on the Dirty Drummer 3 thumbnail: All the available patches will appear on the right hand side of the screen if you have AUDITION > AUTO enabled (bottom right of BROWSER screen) you can tap a program file to hear a preview of each patch before you load it. Double tap to load the instrument into your project and assign it to a KEYGROUP type track in your current sequence in MAIN.

8 MPC Software (MPC Ren/Studio/Touch) Inside the folder MPC Software Expansion locate the Dirty Drummer 3 Installer.XPN file - this expansion installer is suitable for both MPC Software 2.0 and 1.9. With the MPC Software open in MAIN mode, drag & drop this file anywhere in the MPC interface and select Import. Open the Expansion Browser ( X on your keyboard for MPC Software 2.0, shift and E for MPC Software 1.9), and click on the Dirty Drummer 3 thumbnail:

9 Expand the Programs group to view the provided patches. Single click an instrument to hear a program preview. Double click an instrument (or drag and drop) to load it into your project. All sounds and programs are fully tagged for easy searching in the Media Browser (available in MPC Software 2.x).

10 JJOS For JJOS versions that support round robins we ve created cycle kit versions of each kit. JJOS2, JJOS-XL, JJOS2XL should use the programs labelled OSXL, JJOS3 or JJOS128XL should use the programs labelled OS3 please note that round robins in JJOS3/128XL only work when the program is played from the main sequencer screen. All other versions of JJOS should use the standard Akai OS version (i.e. Nasty Noodles.PGM and Grubby Bear.PGM ). MPC2000, MPC2000XL, MPC3000 & MPC60 As these older legacy MPCs have limited memory, we ve created more stripped down versions of the kits, which also feature truncated cymbal samples to further save memory. The MPC2000/XL3000 version still features velocity switching on most pads (up to three dynamic levels per pad). All samples provided in MPC SND format. The MPC60 version uses a single dynamic layer, ensuring the kit is nice and small - please note that you ll need MPC OS to use the kit. Maschine & Battery We ve also provided velocity switching versions of the kits for Maschine (.mgrp) and Battery 4 (.nbkt) users these are found in the Maschine-Battery folder. These can simply be double-clicked to automatically load up into their respective applications, or imported directly from within the built-in disk browser of each application.

11 TIPS & TRICKS Hand Position When finger drumming, position your hands over row 2. Use your left hand to play the kick and snare on pads A5 and A6, and right hand to play the closed and open hats on A7 and A8. By placing your hands around the second row your fingers can also easily access the additional drum sounds on rows one and three without having to move your hand position. Here you ll find all your cymbals (crash, ride, ride bell), a side stick and a number of drum variants that can add some additional groove to your beats, such as the dedicated ghost kick and snare, a softer hi hat variant. These ghost hits give you the option of playing a natural sounding soft hit even when FULL LEVEL is turned on ; they can also be used with other pads to create more natural, flowing runs and patterns. Ghost hit pads also feature cycling and velocity switching, so remain very natural sounding in their own right. Creating Runs & Rolls While playing the kick and snare with your left hand you can play a fast hi hat pattern or roll using pad A3 (soft hat) and A7 (a hard hat, but with the option of softer hats with FULL LEVEL off). It is generally easier to play a fast hat pattern on two pads than on a single pad. Similarly you can create quite complex sounding snare rolls by playing the ghost snare (A9) and the snare drag (A10). With T.C set to 1/16 and NOTE REPEAT held down (or LATCHED), use two

12 spare fingers to randomly alternate between two similar pads, such as the hi hats on A3 and A7 (and the open hat on A8) this will give you a perfectly timed and realistic sounding hi hat pattern. Do the same with the ghost snare (A9) and the snare drag (A10), or with the two up & down shakers/tambourines on pads A13 and A14. Don t hold down any one pad for more than one or two repeats, keep switching it up. Customise Your Kit! Finger drumming kit layout is a very personal aspect of any finger drumming kit, so remember you can always rearrange your pads to suit your own needs, and of course add your own sounds for example you could replace some of the percussion with bass samples, vocals, sound fx etc. You can also adjust all program parameters within the program to further customize the playback of the kit. Here s a few ideas: AD (amp envelope) try increasing the envelope decay setting on all pads - this will make the kit sound very dry by removing the natural ambience it was recorded with. Low pass filter add some low pass filter to beef up kicks even further, or apply across the whole kit for a deep filtered vibe. Effects apply effects across the whole kit, such as reverb to change the ambience, distortion/bit grunger for a more lo fi sound, delays for tempo effects, and so on. Tuning drop the tuning for each pad to give a dark downtempo feel, increase the tuning for a tighter vibe. Mixer tweak the pad mixer levels and panning to create a unique mix to suit your beats. There s plenty more options depending on your sampler model experiment and get creative!

13 Learn How To Finger Drum If you want to learn some finger drumming techniques and exercises, check out the videos from Jeremy Ellis: Also check out Tim Kroker: Also check out Melodics which is a cool desktop app to help you learn finger drumming with daily, structured lessons (the free lessons are a great start) - Your Finger Drumming Videos If you ve made a video of your own finger drumming performances with the kit, please let us know and we can showcase them on the site along with full credit and a link to your site/social media page. Just send the link and your details to support@mpc-samples.com.

14 Recorded & Produced by Pad Pimps. Copyright Pad Pimps All rights reserved.