With the release of MPC2000 Snacks From Mars, we invited producers from all over the world to take part in a contest: whoever produces the best track using only these samples for their drums will win an MPC2000XL. Ultimately we received over 600 submissions and decided to create an album with the standouts. 

Read each track description for info on how the song was made, in the producer's own words.

https://samplesfrommars.com/products/mpc2000-snacks-from-mars

MPC2000 Snacks From Mars Competition

Zachariah Zoske is a beatmaker, producer, singer/songwriter from Fort Wayne, Indiana.

On producing this track:

"I loaded the MPC2000 samples onto an Ableton drum rack and programmed a pretty basic drum pattern and spiced it up with the beat repeater plugin to add some swing to the pocket. From there, I threw down a bass line and the rest of the instrumentation sort of just fell into place. I freestyled vocal melodies until I found something I liked and then spent an evening coming up with the lyrics."

https://soundcloud.com/zachariahfredrick

Lightheaded - Zachariah Zoske

Zaspéro is a french house producer "trying to find the Outerspace groove".

On producing this track:

"I only used my own sounds, chords from my Yamaha CP, leads from the Moog Matriarch, bass from Reaktor, voice from the VT-3."

SoundCloud/zaspero400

HONORABLE MENTION: I Want That MPC so bad - Zaspéro

Currently based out of the city of Hamilton, Canada, Submanifold has been in the DnB/Jungle scene since 2005 both as a DJ and producer, with several tracks out on the Omni Music (UK) label.

On producing this track:

"To create my drum track for "Floating Point", I pulled in the MPC2000 samples as raw WAVs into Reaper DAW. Since DnB typically has a very 'full' sound, I used several layers for each element of the drum track (hi-hats, shakers, kicks, snares). Some samples were also pitched up to achieve that characteristic DnB rhythm and tone."

https://soundcloud.com/submanifold

Floating Point - Submanifold

Blanax is an Electronic music producer / audio engineer based in Romania/Europe

On producing this track:

" I used Ableton Live and a recently purchased Push2 Controller, basically following the learning curve of the Push2. I started with programming the drums pattern,using the MPC2000 Snacks From Mars, which made me super inspired, afterwards adding various chords, bits and pieces, mostly using Ableton's Simpler device and stock effects (reverbs, delays, autopan). After I had all tracks coming together, I started arranging, automating stuff and mixing."

https://soundcloud.com/balanx_88

1st PLACE: Paradise Chills - Balanx

Exenye is a 24 year old producer and sound designer from Germany.

On producing this track:

"I created the track in ableton 10, made the groove within a single drum rack and impulse channels, and enhanced the percussion with compression, plate rooms, vocoders and much more."

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5CQq765j8c1v4UpIc7REBl?si=6yai2WCjTNuPtOIqimaYUA

Advancing - Exenye

Hailing from Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England, Good Catch used time spent in lockdown to hone in on his creative music-making ability, cementing his position as a one to watch over the coming months.

On producing this track:
"By using a mixture of echo, delay, reverb and various warping methods, Good Catch was able to put his own stamp on the samples whilst ensuring they all had a purpose and their own space in the mix. With a variety of original vocals, a catchy bassline, trippy synths and FX; Movers and Shakers is a certified banger, guaranteed to get any dance floor moving... and shaking."

http://soundcloud.com/goodcatchmusic

Movers and Shakers [Snacks From Mars Competition Entry]

Movers and Shakers (Original Mix) - Good Catch

Red-T is a producer/artist working in Japan.

On producing this track:

"This track was made with the MPC2000 Snacks wav samples, imported and processed in Studio One."

https://linkco.re/M4NQs1ms

BAD - Red-T

Flippo Beats is a 25 year old producer, rapper n' sound engineer from Chile.

On producing this track:

"I made the beat in Ableton live 9 using only my Mac, no midi controllers, then I used Pro Tools 10 to for the mix n' mastering."

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCipDWGcCAlytAYsVxFe68cw?view_as=subscriber

Rain - Flippo Beats

Ethereal is a producer based in Poland - making a wide variety of music, from trap to synth wave to metal.

On producing this tack:

"I used the samples from "Quarantine Club" subcategory. All of the sounds were put together in FL Studio, which is my DAW of choice. I experimented and tried to create something similar to 90's rave mixed with modern trap feeling, and I'm happy with the result."

https://www.instagram.com/not_ethereal

2nd PLACE: No Point - Ethereal

Asra3 is an experimental multi-genre artist/producer from Barcelona.

On producing this track:

"I created it using the Samson SR850 headphones, my laptop and Fl Studio 20."

https://linktr.ee/Asra3

Dystopian Trap - Asra3

Ashen Calks is a Orlando, FL based Musician and Mastering Engineer that has made this track while quarantined a home away from the main studio with a pair of headphones and a MOTU M4 as his only equipment.

On producing this track:

"All MPC2000 snacks, that I ran through a chain of Equilibrium, parallel compressed on the kick drum with Unisum and glue together with DMG Trackcomp2."

https://soundcloud.com/ashencalks

Yancey - Ashen Calks

pasha stclair is a Scottish groove enthusiast who lives I London.

On producing this track:

"The track was created with the Ableton (MPC2000 Snacks) live drum pack, with synths from my own sample pack - Hotwire Samples for Ableton Live - 4 modern synths sampled through a Manley Core Pre amp with Millard vintage valves Installed. (giving away my secret recipe here ;-). The synths in this track were a Dreadbox Abyss and a Boomstar SEM. Mixed and Mastered with UAD plugins."

https://pashastclair.bandcamp.com/releases

3rd PLACE: Flat Back 93 - pasha stclair

#endwhitesupremacy

On producing this track:

"I programmed the drum patterns in FL Studio and arranged the song/mix in Logic. I ran all of the drums through a pair of CAPI VP28s and all of the synths came from my Moog Sub Phatty. For vocals I used an SM58 and a TLM 103."

@thefastaction

MPC2000 Snacks From Mars Competition

Samples From Mars