36 3.3 The PLAY/RECORD

36 3.3 The PLAY/RECORD screen - the main operating mode of the MPC60 When the MPC60 is first powered on (with the STUDIO SET and SYSTEM ALL disk in the drive), the following screen appears after the disk has loaded: Note: It is also possible to turn on the MPC60 without any disk in the drive. In this case, no sounds or sequences will be loaded and the MPC60 may be used as a sequences only. At this point, the device is in its standard operating mode, in which all recording and playing of sequences is done. On this screen are presented many data fields useful to the process of real-time recording. A detailed description of each of the data fields and soft keys follows: If this message appears, it means that the currently selected sequence is ready to be recorded into. If the "(Record ready)" message is not displayed and you want to record into the current sequence, press either the RECORD or OVERDUB keys once, and the "(Record ready)" indicator will be added to the title line, indicating that the current sequence is ready to be recorded into. Remember that selecting a different sequence and then reselecting the original one will remove the "(Record ready)" message. • The SQNC field: This field displays the active sequence number, from 1 to 99. This is the sequence which will play when either the PLAY START or PLAY keys is pressed. The MPC60 holds up to 99 sequences in memory at one time.

Section 3: Recording sequences 37 The "sequence name" field: This is the 16 character name for the current sequence. This field has no on-screen title, but is located directly to the right of the SQNC field. To change the sequence name, move the cursor to this field and turn the DATA CONTROL one step in either direction. This will cause the keys which have the alphabetic letters printed next to them to change to their alpha functions. To indicate that this alpha mode is active, the cursor changes from the normal blinking block to a blinking underline. Now change the name by typing in the letters printed above the keys. Use the ERASE key as a space, and the TAP TEMPO key to change between upper and lower case. The left and right cursor keys do not type letters, but allow you to move backwards and forwards in the name. For punctuation, position the cursor where you want the character to appear, and rotate the DATA CONTROL knob until you see the character you want, then press the right cursor key to move on to the next position. This process applies to all names that you enter into the MPC60 (sequences, songs, sounds, etc.). When finished, press ENTER and the cursor will return to a blinking block at the beginning of the field, indicating that the alpha keys have returned to their normal functions. Note: If the DATA CONTROL is not turned while the cursor is in this field, moving the cursor one position to the left or right will move to the previous or next data field - not the adjacent character position within the sequence name. If no sequence data exists, the name is always "(Unused)". Once any data is recorded into the sequence, the name defaults to "SEQXX" with "XX" being the number of the sequence. • The TMPO field This is the playing tempo. Additional tempo parameters are available by pressing the TEMPO/SYNC key. • The BPM field (Tempo display method) This right half of the tempo field is actually a separate field. This field indicates the tempo display method. One of two options may be selected: BPM (Beats Per Minute) or FPB (Frames Per Beat). If set to FPB, the fractional portion of the tempo field denotes 1/8s instead of 1/lOs, as in Beats per minute. • The TSIG field (Time signature): This field shows the time signature of the current bar of the active sequence. It is for display only and cannot be changed. To change the time signature of a bar or to insert time signature changes, read the section of the manual entitled "Editing sequences". • The BARS field: This shows shows the total number of bars in the active sequence. It is for display only and cannot be changed.