Akai Mpc2000

[Underdog]

I was thinking about picking up a second hand one to have a thrash about on as I dont want to commit to a full PC/synth based sytem as yet - any comments/feedback greatly appreciated

cheers

[Underdog]

so its no good then.......?
:)

[hpstekno]

dude MPC 2000's are wikked make sure ya get the xl version though amazing to play live with sequencer can be a bit quirky and the operating system is a bit wierd also when sampling assigning samples into programmes rather than onto pads but once ya get used to it it's a very powerful production tool......
the timing is rock solid can load wav files straight into it from a pc 2 seperate midi ports meaning you could use it instead of a pc for sequencing ...but playing live is where this baby really shines:)

DJ shadow made entroducing on an mpc alone

[Underdog]

thanks mate-im off to smash my piggybank

[Phibbler]

that man didn't need much convincing ...

Sure it's an a-grade sequence, but it really is a glorifed drum machine.

I like it for what it does and does brilliantly but it will in no way replace a pc set up.

Jash davis did produce entroducing on it , this is true , but entroducing in the technical sense wasn't an extremly difficult album. That same album could have been done on a old copy of fruity loops just as well.

I'm not destroying the box, but don't expect it to be the bee's leg joints. It's a great sequencer (tight) with a some what crippled sampler and an overinflated price tag.

Sure the sampler in it is a akai s2000, but you can snap them up for under $700. this gives you an indication of what kinda sampling power we are dealling with here

I do want one for sure , but not at an starting price of $2000
Buy it for the live sequencer ,and the ease of music construction
but not as a sampler in any way. It's really not a sampler , and shouldnt really be thought of as one. a sampler allows you to do mild synthesis and have a bevy of control of your sound. mpc's will do sequenced playback of drum hits (which is great, but is a severe limitation when you can consider what sampler power you could purchase for equivalent cash expenditure)

[Phibbler]

why can't i spell?
"Jash" wtf is that

[hpstekno]

yeah the sampler is really just a phrase sampler
it's quick and easy to use seq wise
i didn't say it would be ideal to use it instead of a pc based setup i just said it could be done!!!!

i picked mine up for $1500 with 32 meg almost brand new

[Underdog]

phibbler- appreciate the feedback- as I said in my original post I want something I can just thrash a few ideas out on (im new to all this so id dont want to commit to a full PC setup yet)- Im interested in the 2000 cos of its relatively cheap cost second hand and its "handsonability"!!

[Phibbler]

what you need seems like an all in one device ( which is really an oxy moron), but is still useful after you buy it.

i would recomend the rs7000, but thats pricey still,
what would be most optimal is if you could get one of those brand spanking new mpc for less than $2000 (good luck trying)

now that seems like the elctronica box in one...
but at a insane price

[driload]

heya

im in a band called SUPERFLUID on Creative Vibes label and for our style (live breakbeat) the MPC is the cornerstone

im thinking about buying another actually

the pads make programming rythms fantastic, the sampler does what it should (if you need LFOs on a sampler use a computer), it wont let you down and is sturdy as two sturdy things from SturdyVille


the thing to keep in mind is its a unit that WILL hold it value due to the inflated buying price and its constant popularity, it has an ENORMOUS fan base and support and help is two clicks of a mouse away

i use my MPC2000XL in conjunction with our bands variety of pcs and laptops and 10 or so top end synths



its just nice having the MPC keep it all tight, and no matter how much you expand you rig it will ALWAYS be useful

i say get one if you can afford it, if you dont like it, you wont lose money selling it.

BUT, and i know this will happen, you WONT be selling it i assure you



as for the RS7000.... pfft

maybe next year when it doesnt crash all the time but right now at THAT price.... screw it.

[meandarkdirty]

Had one for a while and now that I've gotten used to it, I don't know how I could make music without it. These days I bash out my tracks using little more than the mpc, then record the MIDI on to logic and make sense of it.

[driload]

what meandarkdirty says sums up the mentality of MPC users (myself included)


the simplicity of the operating becomes second nature



simple as that



all "FEATURES!!! WOW!!!!" hype aside it all comes down to that


just try an mpc for a week and make up your own mind, cause theres a lot of (stupid) hiphop cred hype about this unit

[Phibbler]

Why doesn't Akai release a sequencer, based on the mpc, with pads and all, maybe some extra data sliders and knobs with exta midi i/o's, with no weeeek lame arse stripped down sampler?

Oh and maybe not release it at a starting price of 2 grand(grrr X( )

Seriously, it would be sweet, and it would beet the crap out of all sequencers out there....,

[djneo]

Why don't YOU release one?

[driload]

they did phibbler

its called the MPC4000

it also has a suggested retail around 8 grand


it has all you mentioned and more. way more.

in oticed on the elvis Vs Junkie XL clip that Junkie XL has an MPC4000 by his left hand (the other thing is some mixing board i couldnt recognise)

also the resin dogs have an mpc4000 now, and a few others


at that price though, i wouldnt commit


you should realise though that the price of these things isnt just Akai greed.... a lot goes into the R&D of these units and they are expensive to make

akai used to make everything in japan, now they still make all the bits there but get it all assembled in china (way cheaper)



the thing about the MPC2000XL i like is that it "simply is" what it is and doesnt pretend to be more

its the ONE thing Akai has ever fully developed and people have totally reverse engineered to the point that i can tell you every secret menu on this unit, all the hidden "easter eggs" from the programmers, and the specifics of evry little peice of gear inside it



this is a good thing. i take a look at our bands Novation Supernova2 synth and shudder.... if THAT ever has a problem we are in for a BIG repair cost

the MPC however.... i can replace everything myself (which i mostly learn from tinkering with S2000's)


also, if you want more sampling control get an old S2000 or S3000 for next to nothing


do as i do and rack mount the MPC in a mixer rackmount and have a few RU's vertical under it so you can slap other samplers or whatever in it



anyway, sorry i ramble a lot about this machine. its rather misunderstood as being the BEST THING EVER by some

im no expert but i tend to get rather specific about my gear (high prices tend to make me pedantic about my purchases)

[Sean]

re: junkie, if it was a digital mixer it woulda been a Yamaha 02r or one of his two 01v's

[djneo]

Just because a piece of equipment is in a film clip don't necessarily mean the artist really uses it...

;)

[Phibbler]

i mean a sequencer only, without trying to add things like a sampler.
why can't you get like a yamaha sy-100 alternative by akai but with pads and sliders? THAT's what i meant. You can compose on a yamaha sequencer and on the mpc, but a sampler is not required or wanted here. it would knock the price down a chunk, and since it's supposed to be a "proper" sequencer,you wouldn't have that stupid no 64th notes option. I know you can get around it by doubling the tempo, but that is a workaround, and people talk up this box as being the shiznit , with no issues what so ever

And the mpc 4000 is not a sequencer only. it's got the one of the new z-series sampler ( don't know which one), which are fierce workhorses, by all acounts. the z-series are Akai's flagship products and hence the price tag is insane, because it's not only has a beast of a sampler but it's got the street cred of being labeled "Midi Production Centre"

Look underdog, i dont want to disuade you from buying one, just it will in no way be a lead up to a pc system

I personally feel that the mpc is a fantastic live sequencer, but if you are just starting out it electronic music, don't buy one. if you do buy one, you'll have a great thing for geting a musical idea down, but you wont have any thing to really give it body. you can make fierce beats, but you will struggle to make any other elements to go with it to make a song. ( unless you just buy sample cd,) I didn't say you couldn't do it, but you will be frustrated by the lack of any form of synthesis with the sampler.
I do know there are workarounds for stingy sampler problems so it anit all bad.

If you have $2000, (or 2nd hand for $1500 as i am informed)
you could get so much much more bang for buck by buying a pc system.

even if you didn't want to buy a pc system, buy an all in one box groove-box-toy-piece-o-crap. They do suck ,but they give more of an idea of what can be done, and you can ALAWAYS find a use for it later, no matter how crap it may be. i bought a djx keyboard ,as groove-crap as they come, but it's a great midi controller keyboard, and still usefull.

I know it's anathema to most people to tell some one who is just starting out to buy a groove box or some toy instead of an mpc, but an mpc is not an all in one box, this is a blessing/curse i know, but it will not be as much fun to use.

bottom line , buy a pc system , seriously. logic audio or cubase can poo hard on anything akai dares to put out and for half the cost too.
Don't buy an mpc on hype alone. an mpc is really only for live use. when used live it really does boot the poo out of all other contenders, this is true, but I assume that won't be you until later. When the day comes when you feel like fronting the stage and playing live, buy one . Don't buy it now.

[driload]

Originally posted by djneo
Just because a piece of equipment is in a film clip don't necessarily mean the artist really uses it...

;)


hahahaha :)




oh to be given an MPC4000 as eye-candy though...

yes please... over here..... yeah me me me!

[kidd]

(Long winded question)

OK I see this issue has been raised before, and you'll have to excuse my lack of knowledge on all issues audio, but I'm looking into getting a sampler and the MPC seems appealing - largely to my unknowing brain because my favourite producers (Krush, Shadow etc) all seem to use one..

that being said, I have never used a sampler before, I am completely "soft" in that I sample beats etc into sound forge, add (soft) effects (where necessary), then usually go into fruity loops and make a beat (generally adding more soft effects), export the loop to wav, load it into acid, add a few more loops and throw it into cubase to hard disk record over the top... you get the drift

what I am really looking for is something that will make the beats a bit more 'real', fruity loops seems very rigid and I end up wasting time shifting drums by milliseconds to make the feel a bit more human

is the MPC the answer, (if so which one) am I just following the hype, is there a better product and what is it?? I want to focus on beat production, but i want to be able to use it in conjunction with my current pc set up.. or is fruity loops/more software the go??


any help would be greatly appreciated

billy tha kidd

[hpstekno]

the mpc sampler is basically a phrase sampler meaning it's good for single hits and loops.
what phibbler is tryen to say is that with a dedicated sampler you get synthesis options like envelopes, lfo's, filters and what not ... although the mpc does have a filter it's pretty weak and you can get an effects board for them also ..
what you dont have is the ability to multi sample an instrument say sample a synth sound at c1, c2, c3, c4 and pitch it across the keyboard to create a patch like you would have in a synth and apply synth like effects to it like lfo's, filter envelopes ertc.. etc..

so you grab a few drum hits and drum loops maybe a sampled bass loop or whatever and sequence them on the inbuilt sequencer which is quite good.. you can tap out your rythms in realtime using the drum pads on it and get the sequencer to quantise them for you if ur a little bit out with your timing or set no quantise and go wild :)

[mungo]

Akai S2000, $400 cheap cheap cheap! with zip drive and 32Mb.
Yamaha RM1x, $700 the best value sequencer around also competent synth engine and great live possibilities.

total $1100 and so much more versatile than a mpc (but including the same sampling system), all you need extra is a cheap mixer to connect it all up with but you need one of those sooner or later even with an mpc.

[driload]

i hate the rm1x with a passion

worst sounds in the world, overly antagonistic sequencing and editting... its just crap in my eyes. built SO poorly too


good for you if you like it


and stop saying the S2000 has any relevance to the MPC. the MPC may have some relevant parts from the S2000 but not only does the S2000 NOT use wave files but the MPC is a FAR superior sequencer then the shitty-made rm1x toy, and with the ubiquitous 8 outputs and internal zip drive becomes a machine worthy of lust, love and even centre-fold adoration

i have quite honestly thrown mine off-stage at some gigs getting caught up in the pad thumping breakbeat moments of our act and it trundles on like Rommel through the desert (ok not very patriotic but there you go...)

i think they are immortal and any wound is easy fixed.

yep, fuck all you hippy bastards, the MPC is for me. i know mine in and out and back again and NO cheaply made toy from yamaha or (god forbid) roland is coming close to my wallet with this baby around.


what they say is true... you only understand if youve spent some time on one.... if you still hate it, you should go learn guitar or something (haha, thems fighting words eh? :P )

[virgo blue]

I'm 100% with Driload on this thread!

The MPC2000XL might not be the be-all and end-all of studio gear... but it is an all-in-one, powerfull piece fo gear, with an outstanding interface, and it won't let you down.

If I want more detailed sample/waveform resolution, or some extra sample processing... I just chuck the samples (*.wav's) over to my PC (process them there) and chuck them straight back into my MPC. Easy.

The MPC is a serious piece of gear, designed by the legendary Roger Linn (someone who knows and loves class music gear)... and made for people to have fun and express themselves with.

MPC2000XL page (http://www.mpc2000xl.com/index.htm)

some of Roger Linn's legendary boxes (http://www.rogerlinndesign.com/products/museum.shtml)

[phunkdust]

roger linn didn't design the mpc2000, he designed the mpc3000... three years later akai designed and released the mpc2000 by themselves, which is essentially a cut-down version of the mpc3000

[virgo blue]

I didn't say that Roger Linn designed the MPC2000. ;)
Regardless, the MPC2000 draws heavily on the Linn-designed heritage of the MPC60 & MPC 3000 (more so than say the MPC 4000).

which is essentially a cut-down version of the mpc3000

The MPC is a more economical version of the MPC3000, but I wouldn't say it's a "cut-down" version. There are a couple of features the 2000 (& 2000XL) don't have, and a couple that are optional rather than standard... but there are also alot of features (particularily with the interface) that 2000XL has over the 3000.

cheers!

[mungo]

Driload,
Rm1x built like crap??? WTF, the thing is a tank except for the rotary encoders but they are really cheap to replace with better ones anyway. Did you just miss the list editing? or are you trying to edit with some other function. From what I have understood the MPC has the s2000 engine with a reworked firmware to accecpt wav's and suit the mpc style more. Perhaps you missed the 16 part sequencer and 16 sections of each "pattern" on the Rm1x. I will agree most of the sounds stink as they stand but with real editing they can be quite unique.

Rm1x ppq=480
MPC2000 ppq=96 :lol:

[phunkdust]

ppq... god, not *this* penis size debate again...

[meandarkdirty]

6 months later and I'm still loving my mpc. These days I'm using little more than Reaktor and mpc to create solid space age grooves. More and more I want something I can play and not program.

[virgo blue]

ppq... god, not *this* penis size debate again...

Before things go down that road.

Underdog... the MPC2000XL is a great machine, that can do alot of things, is fun and easy to use, will hold it's resale value, and will challenge your creativity.

Good luck finding a good deal (if you're going to track one down 2nd hand). ;)

[phunkdust]

i'd actually like to get my hands on a 2000xl... from what i've heard it's a nice bit of kit and would probably do me nicely when i get my live stuff together...

[driload]

so ive heard

hahaha


so ive heard