mv 8000/8800

post up some of your tips and tricks, why you like the machine ect. ect.

ive been thinking about buying one for a couple years, and now that i am beginning to realize the sp series is a tad to limited for me, i think the MV is the way to go.

also, anyone use one of these to record verses or songs onto? i think it would be funner than recording into my DAW, and i figure if i hook up a nice mic pre to it the sound quality shouldent be too lacking.

heres some cool stuff ive found in my research

the shift to copy, to copy and drag midi notes DAW style. i was reading that you couldent do this on the mv, but found out that you can

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB6uW1hjhxo

^this one just about did it for me, as soon as i get the cake im gonna pull the trigger!

this video was pretty cool too, someone did some cool ghost note type things in here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzHszWdIvP4

mr.debauch and ill green, i know you've got some gems to drop on here!

anyone know how the FX are on this?

Do you still have a MPC? I'm just curious because the sp are limited when used alone but are more as a compliment to work along side a Midi sequencer, sampler such the MPC.

yeah i still have an mpc, although i want something more full fledged in the sampling aspect, i would probably just use an sp mostly as an fx box if i got one; which is cool, but i think an MV would be funner.

ive been debating this for weeks.

damien907 wrote: ive been debating this for weeks.

You changed your mind on the 4K?

im still waiting for the settlment from ebay to go through, so i think when i get that money back an MV would be more cost effective for me right now.

i still would like a 4k, but an mv is in the realm of possibility for me now. im trying to move into a new nice apartment, so having the extra dough would be nice. honestly i should probably just stick with my 1k and put that ebay money towards rent, but well see.

right now im just thinking of ways to spend money i dont have yet

the post office declined the damages on my 4k, so im waiting for their letter to arrive so i can fax to it ebay and they can make a final decision.

i wish my 4k just worked, but this whole fiasco kinda put me off i guess.

fingers crossed!

damien907 wrote:right now im just thinking of ways to spend money i dont have yet

I think we all do that!

damien907 wrote:the post office declined the damages on my 4k, so im waiting for their letter to arrive so i can fax to it ebay and they can make a final decision.

That doesn't sound too promising...

im hoping for the best, i guess the post office usually declines stuff if your box isnt completely ****; which it wasnt; but i guess ebay is usually in the buyers favor, so well see.

ill keep you posted when all is said and done.

in other news, i just got the dope apartment! so i think im gonna have to not buy any gear for awhile, i can just dream about it

if i end up getting refunded i think all that dough will go towards rent.

anyway, back on topic, post some mv stuff guys! i still wana read about it

If you are going for a MV, either get the MV8000 with the mouse & VGA card installed or just go for the MV8800.
I was going to get a 4000 but decided on a MV since I alreayd had an MPC2000XL.

when and if you get the MV, take the time to learn it. I got frustrated as hell when i first used mine thinking the AKAI MPC way of constructing beats when you have to learn the Roland MV way instead.

thats cool, thanks for posting that juke.

i think id probably be goin for an mv 8800 with the mouse and vga and hopefully the 8 outs.
not for awhile though, ill keep lookin and gear slutting

it's a good machine... it works. That is a nice feature...


I suggest upgrading the hard drive if you have the stock 40 gig one in it (the 8000 has a 3.5" HDD, the 8800 has a 2.5" HDD) Pop in a brand new one (nothing too huge.. something like a 160 gig is fine as it wont make use of a 1TB drive or even a 320GB) It's good having a nice new drive in there right off the bat.

Keep in mind, even though the MVs make necessary use of a HDD... the OS is stored on a flash like in an mpc...


the output expansion is rare and pricy unless you find an auction with one installed. Koncept scored one (emphasis on the word SCORE) but it didn't have the VGA... well who cares.. buy another MV with the VGA and grab the expansion from that ... resell the machine or keep it for the spare parts.

the nice thing about the output expansion is... it also comes with spdif input for sampling... stock, the machine has spdif out and that can be used in tandem with the main outs.


There is a trick for using the mv as a sort of hard disk recorder... (not just a ram recorder) .. once your song is done or if you are in a blank project ... you go straight into mixdown mode and it will record anything playing into the inputs right onto the hard drive ... if you have internal sounds in the current song (if it wasn't a blank project) those will be bounced into the same stereo wave file on the HDD...

To make my free to download beat tape (the network is down) .. I recorded my mpcs, s900, and other hardware into my 4 track cassette fostex at the highest gain before clipping... then rewound the songs.. did the level mixing on the 4 track... once that was done I rewound again and recorded into the MV... then transferred the result via USB to the computer. It works... it took a while, but it works.


Obviously in 2012... we dont need these pieces of gear (mpcs included) ... but they are fun to use anyways... you think of stuff you may not have thought about or you come up with riffs or what ever just cause of the way the machine works etc..

the MV has a good mixer section, and params section for messing with sounds. The effects are not too bad, they are fairly standard roland digital effects. They are usable and have a good amount of things to tweak. There is a mastering mode which you can enter which makes use of a stereo wave file... it's intended for projects you ran through mixdown mode but you can drop waves via USB from anywhere... it has a whole different set of effects and params to use (compressors and the whole 9 that you likely wont need) you push play, you tweak the settings, when you are satisfied... you record the track through that... and you are left with another wave file (it doesn't replace the original mixdown wave or the original wave song)

it has a good number of midi tracks (something like 128 midi tracks) so you go into the midi track's params and choose what instrument patch, or sample patch (patch AKA program) or what ever... and you record.. punch in some pads... playback and you hear it... lets say you change your mind about the drum kit or what ever.. in the track params you switch what patch or instrument is assigned to that track. You aren't feeling the piano patch anymore.... pick an organ and push play again. It also has 8 audio tracks (I believe)

it's like using FL studio visually almost...

also, the VGA... when a screen is connected it isn't just a blown up duplicate of what is on the built in LCD... it is a different layout that makes use of the extra real estate but it does not change any workflow... you still can do exactly the same thing right from the buttons etc... the mouse and vga adds a different method of working (clicking in patterns etc...)

there are so many features to talk about.. pattern mode.. building songs from patterns.. building songs by recording right into the song playlist.. piano roll.. drum step sequencing.. the whole 9. The machine is a beast for a standalone machine. Is it more powerful than a modern daw... hell no, is it still powerful... hell yes. Is the workflow at all the same as an mpc... hell no...

I always got the impression the mv was like a keyboard workstation's brains trapped in a drum machine's body... so while that totally works, it's nice having a little midi keyboard running into that midi input... because for key instrument patches (pianos, etc..) it's easier to play. Also the sampler is setup like it should have keys.. there is a transpose button to change the octave the pads are at... you dont need to use that with a keyboard though... you can play keys from different octaves at once that way.

thanks for the long post man, i have a few questions now though.

you say the recording on it afterwards bounces to a 2 track? can you just record vocals on it and mix them in, or export them yourself like you could on a DAW?

so the next time you load up that beat it will have the vocals in a track as well as all you other parts still separate.

also if i loaded up a multitracked beat from my daw, could i put it in the MV then record vocals over it then without having to worry about it making a 2 track of my song afterwards?

also the thing about the sampler being set up like a keyboard and pitching things and such. i think of this like logic's exs sampler because thats basically what it is. my question is, can you make the sampler behave more like an mpc's sampler without it killing your workflow.
and by an mpc style sampler i mean, not pitching every note up if you switch a sample to a different pad, or say you missed a chop, so you need to insert it to pad 3, so then moving all the other pads up once without changing their base pitch?
is stuff like this easy enough?

i wont be making keygroups or anything like that with it, a bassline and maybe a few chords will be the most ill ever use of the actual instruments, but it would be cool just to have, if i do ever learn piano or even just to jam out on sometime.

thanks for the long post.

um well.. lets say you want to record vocals over the beat you just built... you can record right into the machine as an audio track (versus going to the sample screen and sampling something) .. but this records right into ram. The hard disk thing records into a two track (stereo) wave file ... everything in the project and everything coming into the machine's inputs... (useful if you are sequencing an external piece of gear and want to record it into the machine along with the rest of the song that is built internally)

the point was.. you can record to ram... but there is a trick to record right to hard disk as well... which if you ran an output from a mixer during a live set at a show... you could record a few hours that way if you wanted.... where as recording to ram you are limited by 512mb.

the sampler.. you can record and autochop etc... it has non destructive chopping... you can also set a range of keys/pads for a sample to be set up chromatically (like a sort of 16 levels ... more like a 16X6 levels... since bank switching actually means transposing)

so.. yes you can do the pitching thing so one sampled note is pitched across the whole program... or you can chop a sample so each chop is across the whole program... or you could sample a bunch of stuff one by one and pop them onto each pad in the program... you could copy the sample from one pad and have that added to another pad so you can set up different parameters... once you wrap your head around the way the system works alright.


one cool feature I like is.. the pattern mode (I know it's available on the 8000 in the latest OS) instead of just building the song in the main song mode... you can go into pattern mode. You build a few patterns.. then you can go into pattern play mode where you push a pad to trigger a pattern (pad 1 = pattern 1... pad 2= pattern 2.. and so on) you can make it so if you push a pad it plays that pattern and before that is done you push another pad and that plays right next after the current playing pattern is over... sort of like switching sequences on the mpc. (great for live) Then you can quickly build songs by pushing pads to drop in patterns in the song mode... check youtube for mv8000/8800 pattern mode.

I can go on all day of how great the MV is. Its more of a studio DAW that samples. But let me point out the red spots to help you decide if you want one.

Load Times : The more sounds and work that goes into it, the slower the load times are. During the making of Gasmask Tortures, I had to wait a whopping 3 minutes until I could get down to business. Same goes for SHUTDOWN. My workaround, is fire it up then roll something and fire that up. It'll be ready before you know it.

EFFECTS : Yes, they are good but I would like to chain the OLD SAMPLR fx with the WAH fx and you can't do that without resampling. Of course, you can chain 3 fx' on the MV but its fixed. The first chain is called MFX, which is a bunch effects you'll find on the SP line, you can only pick one of those. On the second chain is DELAY/ECHO fx which is different types of delay and echo and the 3rd chain is REVERB. I was pissed at this because my SP-606 can chain two MFX at the same time.

Thats the two points that make me growl at the MV.

Ill-Green wrote:Thats the two points that make me growl at the MV.

For me it was not having a scrolling cursor for editing coming from Logic and an MPC2000XL. I've gotten used to not having it by zooming in and listening carefully while in the sample edit screen and using PREVIEW To and From.
If I lost anyone on this, here is a post about the scrolling cursor at MV Nation:
http://mvnation.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5583

BTW...

Here is an older post about someone asking about the MV8000 vs MPC4000:
http://www.mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=85400

nice to see this thread poppin off

here is a video of what juke was talkin about with the preview to and from buttons to chop your sample

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rkn-_mJ ... plpp_video

but could someone clear this up for me, people were mad that you couldent see the cursor scroll while the sample plays correct? they are talking about the scrolling cursor llike in ndc mode of jjos right? when i push a pad i see the cursor scroll by itself so i know where exactly it is playing at at any given time.
when you hit f5 (chop) you go into destructive chop mode and it shows your samples in a destructive chopping page with no scrolling cursor. so i push the pad thats currently highlighted and it plays it without showing me a cursor of where its at, but from the chop page you can use pad 11 or 12 (dont remember exactly which pads) to preview a few miliseconds before or after where your current chop is.
so what i gather is pretty much the preview to and from functions act like this basically, but instead of starting out with 16 (more or less if you use the slice function to fine tune before you get to buisness) chops to re-arrange like on your mp, you start out with 1 start point and 1 end point, then continue chopping from there until you have all your chops made. is that correct?

and 2 more things, the pattern mode is pretty much how an sp funcitons always, so thats pretty cool you could do that if you wanted.

also, the mfx section, is there a choppy/looper mode like on the 404/555. i remember the 606 didnt have this one effect that the 404 did, but maybe the mv will. ill donwload the manual and try and see if i can find it.

keep the tips and opinions coming!