My MPC doesnt sound "bright"

hi!

I recently purchased a MPC 2000xl. I noticed it doesnt sound "bright"
I put a spectral analizer and no sound over 16k Hz. Its like killing high frequencies
Is it normal? I checked everything, no filter activated...

Where did you get your samples from?

JUKE 179r wrote:Where did you get your samples from?

it happens with any sample of any library. Wav format.

I play the same sample with computer and mpc. and it sounds different. no high frequencies. its like a low pass filter , cutting on 15k hz

The manual shows:

Sample Rate-44.1kHz (frequency response: 20Hz-20kHz)

When you monitor it before sampling, it sounds ok?

I loaded a 808 cymbal from sample library . left is MPC, right is ableton.

you can check there is a high frequencies shelving....


I sampled directly to mpc and no high frequencies lose , its almost like original. So... it means something happens when I convert samples to 16 bits.

Lampdog wrote:What were the bits before converting? Higher than 16? Then yes, you lose bits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_bit_depth

Bit depth is the number of bits of information in each sample, and it directly corresponds to the resolution of each sample.

It's like a dot to dot picture.

If you convert down then you are throwing away dots resulting in a lesser perfect picture.

so... I must find 16 bit sample libraries. right? Converting 24bits samples is not good idea

I always thought that MPC-2000 sound "dark". I remember that that was my first impression with MPC-2000 and MPC-2000XL. I don't think there is anything wrong with your XL.

basictonal wrote:so... I must find 16 bit sample libraries. right? Converting 24bits samples is not good idea

I don't think there is anything wrong with it. I usually sample from MPC's line-in, but you can convert 24 bit samples to 16bit /44.1KHz WAV file.

nothing is wrong with your mpc. not all sounds have frequencies above 16k (most dont), but your image shows that the mpc is reproducing the high frequency sound fine. converting from 24->16 bits will have no effect on that.
it is just a 'flatter' machine, some might say dull even. you can make it sound better by either processing your samples before they go into the machine, or processing the machine outputs once you are ready to record. a nice preamp or equaliser might help.

I've also noticed that the MPC2000XL cuts frequencies above 16khz. I've had other Akai samplers (S1100, MPC3000, MPC1000) and the MPC2000XL was the only one cutting high frequencies. I think it is a characteristic of this mpc. For anyone that doubt this, it's easy to test, you just need a frequency analyzer and compare with other samplers.