By iamthe2677
Sun May 24, 2015 9:55 pm
Hey everyone my name is Phil I’m 17 years old and currently a Junior in Highschool. This year i’ve gotten into the hip hop scene as a whole from producing to recording. I currently have a nice little setup to get me started such as two Yamaha HS50 Studio Monitors, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Audio Interface, Shure SM7B microphone with cloudlifter, MPK Mini 2, Logic Pro X as my DAW, and I run that on my Macbook air 13”. Now the summer is coming up, and I’m not fully satisfied with my MPK Mini 2 and I feel like having beat machine would ultimately help with my work flow, and having a beat machine would give me a range of new options.
First off I would like to say I don’t have a huge budget to go and drop a G on a beat machine, and I don’t see that ever being realistic for me. So with that being said I had to find something within my budget, and after a week of looking around on various websites I came across two options. These options are the Akai MPC 2000XL in perfect condition, and my other option is the Maschine MK1 also in perfect condition. Both of these machines are 300$, and I can pick them up easily from their sellers. I just need to make a decision between the two.
Alright now I’m going to tell you my thoughts on the two beat machines and where I’m at right now. Keep in mind this is just my opinion, and I don’t have the greatest background knowledge on every single feature of these machines so keep that in mind.
So with that being said when I found the 2000XL on craigslist I was very excited because I’ve seen so many great artists use it, and I know this thing is a classic beat machine in the hip hop world. I kept doing further research, and to me I wasn’t able to find many pros that matter or stuck with me. Instead I found more cons with the 2000XL. One of the biggest negatives about the 2000XL is well it’s old and there’s no beating around that. I mean whenever you buy one of those things now it’s obviously had some use, and there’s always a chance of something breaking. That con alone is a huge factor to me as when something breaks thats old it means you have to find a replacement part and the older it is that means there’s more demand for those parts and then a greater price. Another con I found was that the MPC requires like zip drives, and like all this other old shit. Haha keep in mind I’m 17, and I’ve never had to deal with zip drives. Along with that it only had 2mg of memory to begin with unless you upgrade to 32 mg, and I don’t fully understand what the memory is holding with the 2000XL like is is just your sounds and samples or is it everything on the XL and its entirety. To me that’s all a grey zone but I’ve heard others talk about it being a pain in the ass for them to deal with zip drives, floppy discs, and the 2mg of memory. I’m really not willing to spend another 300$ for extra parts and pieces like zip drives so keep that in mind. Also portability plays a big role for me because the XL is very big and clunky and I will be traveling a bit this summer, and would love to have my beat machine with me. My last big con that i’ve heard about the 2000XL is its transfer time and loading time. I mix my final products in Logic, and I’ve heard there’s a long process when transferring from the MPC to DAW and thats not very appealing to me , but I’m not sure of how long this actually really takes so for now it’s not the biggest drawback. I guess for pro’s that really draw me to the XL is the piece of hardware itself many of my favorite hip hop artists have used it and still use in to this day, but then again part of just feels like this is how these people work best and why wouldn’t they use it. Also the fact that it’s a stand alone beat machine isn’t the biggest factor considering I pretty much run everything through my laptop and DAW although I’m trying to move away from running everything on my laptop. Ultimately I feel like Akai serves as the Jordan and or Nike if I had to compare it to something more common in our world. That being said you have your die hards, and while the material and look of the 2000XL is very appealing to me I just need something a beat machine thats works with my equipment, and will not create future problems for me like replacement of parts and such. Overall the 2000XL has its classic look and is the Jordan/NIke of beat machines, and it’s a standalone machine, and it often suffers with replacement parts, Transfer Time, Memory, Zip Drives etc, and portability.
Alright now on to the Native Instruments Maschine. The machine and Native instruments and the company as a whole is very new to me and I have many things to learn, my information on the Maschine may not be completely accurate, but I know the standards of it. Okay so now lets get into the pros and cons of the Maschine. So for cons with Maschine one of the biggest and pointless cons, but I feel this way and am not quite sure why is that I feel like I would be a sell out or be forever judged because I choose the Maschine over Akai. I don’t want to talk to much about Akai in this paragraph, but I feel like Akai just as that coolness to it from all the hit makers and hits that have used and created on this thing. This con I understand is very pointless in regards to my entire case, but it’s something I feel so take that into consideration. Alright now on to the real cons, so with the Maschine I heard that the knobs will sometimes break and like I said earlier I’m not looking to have a beat machine that I’m going to have to replace parts all the time. Another negative I’ve heard is that the Maschine doesn’t sound as good as the MPC. That’s not a huge issue for me, but it does have small factor. Also I’ve heard the pads on the Maschine aren’t the greatest, and that is again another small con that I have with the Maschine. Okay so those are pretty much all my cons with Maschine, and now I’ll go on to pros. Alright so one pro is that the Maschine would make transferring to Logic very easily and I would not have to wait and go through a transferring process. Also the Maschine seems to very portable, and I can just run it though my laptop as I always have my laptop with me. Lastly a pro for the Maschine is the fact that it comes with a ton of sounds, and I’ve heard that the sounds are pretty dope so thats quite the add on. Overall with the Maschine my final thoughts are its easy to transfer my beats, its portable, and it comes with a ton of dope sounds, while on the other side I lose the coolness of the MPC, and I’ve heard sometimes parts and pieces break on the Maschine, and lastly I heard the pads weren’t the greatest .
I know the Akai MPC 2000XL vs. Maschine has been a subject of debate on forums for years now, and I’m just asking you guys for honest advice and help that is not biased to one beat machine or company. I made this post because I figured many of you have been producing for years, and have experience under your belt. Also I’m not in the position to just go and test either of these beat machines so saying go test them is not an option. I’m asking you guys to help me make a decision between beat machines based on my needs and current equipment. Thank you if you made it this far, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Sincerely,
Phil
First off I would like to say I don’t have a huge budget to go and drop a G on a beat machine, and I don’t see that ever being realistic for me. So with that being said I had to find something within my budget, and after a week of looking around on various websites I came across two options. These options are the Akai MPC 2000XL in perfect condition, and my other option is the Maschine MK1 also in perfect condition. Both of these machines are 300$, and I can pick them up easily from their sellers. I just need to make a decision between the two.
Alright now I’m going to tell you my thoughts on the two beat machines and where I’m at right now. Keep in mind this is just my opinion, and I don’t have the greatest background knowledge on every single feature of these machines so keep that in mind.
So with that being said when I found the 2000XL on craigslist I was very excited because I’ve seen so many great artists use it, and I know this thing is a classic beat machine in the hip hop world. I kept doing further research, and to me I wasn’t able to find many pros that matter or stuck with me. Instead I found more cons with the 2000XL. One of the biggest negatives about the 2000XL is well it’s old and there’s no beating around that. I mean whenever you buy one of those things now it’s obviously had some use, and there’s always a chance of something breaking. That con alone is a huge factor to me as when something breaks thats old it means you have to find a replacement part and the older it is that means there’s more demand for those parts and then a greater price. Another con I found was that the MPC requires like zip drives, and like all this other old shit. Haha keep in mind I’m 17, and I’ve never had to deal with zip drives. Along with that it only had 2mg of memory to begin with unless you upgrade to 32 mg, and I don’t fully understand what the memory is holding with the 2000XL like is is just your sounds and samples or is it everything on the XL and its entirety. To me that’s all a grey zone but I’ve heard others talk about it being a pain in the ass for them to deal with zip drives, floppy discs, and the 2mg of memory. I’m really not willing to spend another 300$ for extra parts and pieces like zip drives so keep that in mind. Also portability plays a big role for me because the XL is very big and clunky and I will be traveling a bit this summer, and would love to have my beat machine with me. My last big con that i’ve heard about the 2000XL is its transfer time and loading time. I mix my final products in Logic, and I’ve heard there’s a long process when transferring from the MPC to DAW and thats not very appealing to me , but I’m not sure of how long this actually really takes so for now it’s not the biggest drawback. I guess for pro’s that really draw me to the XL is the piece of hardware itself many of my favorite hip hop artists have used it and still use in to this day, but then again part of just feels like this is how these people work best and why wouldn’t they use it. Also the fact that it’s a stand alone beat machine isn’t the biggest factor considering I pretty much run everything through my laptop and DAW although I’m trying to move away from running everything on my laptop. Ultimately I feel like Akai serves as the Jordan and or Nike if I had to compare it to something more common in our world. That being said you have your die hards, and while the material and look of the 2000XL is very appealing to me I just need something a beat machine thats works with my equipment, and will not create future problems for me like replacement of parts and such. Overall the 2000XL has its classic look and is the Jordan/NIke of beat machines, and it’s a standalone machine, and it often suffers with replacement parts, Transfer Time, Memory, Zip Drives etc, and portability.
Alright now on to the Native Instruments Maschine. The machine and Native instruments and the company as a whole is very new to me and I have many things to learn, my information on the Maschine may not be completely accurate, but I know the standards of it. Okay so now lets get into the pros and cons of the Maschine. So for cons with Maschine one of the biggest and pointless cons, but I feel this way and am not quite sure why is that I feel like I would be a sell out or be forever judged because I choose the Maschine over Akai. I don’t want to talk to much about Akai in this paragraph, but I feel like Akai just as that coolness to it from all the hit makers and hits that have used and created on this thing. This con I understand is very pointless in regards to my entire case, but it’s something I feel so take that into consideration. Alright now on to the real cons, so with the Maschine I heard that the knobs will sometimes break and like I said earlier I’m not looking to have a beat machine that I’m going to have to replace parts all the time. Another negative I’ve heard is that the Maschine doesn’t sound as good as the MPC. That’s not a huge issue for me, but it does have small factor. Also I’ve heard the pads on the Maschine aren’t the greatest, and that is again another small con that I have with the Maschine. Okay so those are pretty much all my cons with Maschine, and now I’ll go on to pros. Alright so one pro is that the Maschine would make transferring to Logic very easily and I would not have to wait and go through a transferring process. Also the Maschine seems to very portable, and I can just run it though my laptop as I always have my laptop with me. Lastly a pro for the Maschine is the fact that it comes with a ton of sounds, and I’ve heard that the sounds are pretty dope so thats quite the add on. Overall with the Maschine my final thoughts are its easy to transfer my beats, its portable, and it comes with a ton of dope sounds, while on the other side I lose the coolness of the MPC, and I’ve heard sometimes parts and pieces break on the Maschine, and lastly I heard the pads weren’t the greatest .
I know the Akai MPC 2000XL vs. Maschine has been a subject of debate on forums for years now, and I’m just asking you guys for honest advice and help that is not biased to one beat machine or company. I made this post because I figured many of you have been producing for years, and have experience under your belt. Also I’m not in the position to just go and test either of these beat machines so saying go test them is not an option. I’m asking you guys to help me make a decision between beat machines based on my needs and current equipment. Thank you if you made it this far, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Sincerely,
Phil
