Quantization is the process of correcting, or shifting, imprecise musical notes and beats to underlying musical representation or grid. To preserve more of natural human timing nuances, percentage of quantization can be applied to in many sequencers or DAWs.
While swing, in short, means a method of transforming straight grooves, by timing of notes, to shuffled patterns. And when it comes to swing, the MPC sampler series has an iconic status for its groovy musical timing. Its influence on electronic and hip hop music cannot be denied.
The MPC's creator, Roger Linn, has claimed that he stumbled upon note quantizing and swing by accident when developing the Linn LM-1 drum computer: by only permitting 16th notes using 1 byte per 16th note, the sequencer program was correcting played timing errors, hence quantization. And by delaying the playback of alternate 16th notes, and by varying the amount of delay, the swing/shuffle feature was invented.
Linn's implementation of swing applied to quantized 16th-note beats is merely delaying the second 16th note within each 8th note, or all the even-numbered 16th notes within the beat (2, 4, 6, 8, etc.)
Swing amount is the ratio of time duration between the first and second 16th notes within each 8th note. 50% is means both 16th notes within each 8th note are given equal timing, in other words no swing. 66% sets perfect triplet swing. Most useful swing increments are between 50% and around 75%. 62% will feel looser than at a perfect swing setting of 66%, while 54% will loosen up the feel without it sounding like swing, according to Linn.
