Forum for all other samplers & synths such as Maschine, MVs, Akai S & Z series, Roland, Korg, OP-1, analog synths etc.
By cherchepoutipoupou Sun Feb 11, 2018 8:29 am
Hello everybody!

I've been into music production for only about 2 years now, and I haven't had a touch on so many different piece of gear yet.

Until now, I've been mostly using my computer to make music, and I'm getting bored with it for a couple different reasons. I love working in Ableton, but for creation I'm looking for a workflow that does not use mouses, and in which looking at the screen is mostly optional.

For now, I have an APC40, pad controller, keys controller. Pretty much everything is under control here - sequencing, controlling instruments, effects, mixing. As I make an extensive use of samples in my stuff, sampling is pretty important and I always end up chopping them with my eyes rather then ears. Not sure I like that idea. And to me, the mouse & eyes moment is really a momentum breaker. I'd like to make a beat just like a guitar player jams.

I tried a little SP404 in all that, that was pretty neat. I mean, I would sample anything in the SP which is controlled by my pads, feeding in Ableton, and I can jam with my loops right away with my APC40. My computer screen can be total black while all that. But I don't like the SP too much since I'd like to have pads that shut the previous pad when triggered, with velocity sensitivity, transposition for speed change.



Now I've never touched an MPC, so I am curious on what everybody have been so crazy about the past 30 years. What makes it so cool? I read a lot about different MPCs, I know they have pretty different features, but still, what makes an MPC an MPC and not just a sampler. I heard sampling capabilities were a bit basic but the sequencer was great. Do you guys relate to that? What does that mean, what are those sampling capabilities? Would I be better off with some kind of Akai S3000 or anything of that serie? I'm not sure about those, are they only about taking a sample on all keys or they can do a similar thing as a MPC when they're controlled with external pads? Choking pads, transpo.
If I were to take an MPC , I'd probably use the sequencer as well, whereas with a S3000 I'll be happy with Albeton as sequencer.
I also heard the S3000 was very powerful for creative sampling. Anyone knows what it does have the MPCs don't?


Kinda long question, sorry. I don't know where to start in all that.
Hopefully some people will be able to highlight a little region of that! :)
Cheers!
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By SlowwFloww Wed Mar 21, 2018 2:53 pm
A MPC is a all-in-one machine.. Sampler + sequencer in a compact machine… It is a basic sampler but has enough features to work with and is quick and easy to operate…. That’s it main strength.

With a rack sampler you need a seperate sequencer… and it’s kind of a hassale to set midi channels, outputs so the sampler plays as you need it too… A rack sampler has more features (multi sampling) but do you really need that?

Creative sampling.. Well, have you considered an iPad for sampling? An app like BeatMaker 3 has a lot of features like real time timestretching that even MPC don’t have. You can install several sampling apps and use them together like it is one machine. It offers way more features to mangle you samples and if you’ve got an iPad already it will only cost you around $100,- for a couple of sampling apps..
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By Harmoncj Wed Mar 21, 2018 3:54 pm
cherchepoutipoupou wrote:And to me, the mouse & eyes moment is really a momentum breaker. I'd like to make a beat just like a guitar player jams.
...
what everybody have been so crazy about the past 30 years. What makes it so cool?
...

what makes an MPC an MPC and not just a sampler. I heard sampling capabilities were a bit basic but the sequencer was great. Do you guys relate to that? What does that mean, what are those sampling capabilities? ....

I just like how on the MPC you have one box and if you put in some time on you should start cranking out finished products. Some people like to use a ton of gear that's fine too, MPC can be the brains of that operation.


cherchepoutipoupou wrote:I also heard the S3000 was very powerful for creative sampling. Anyone knows what it does have the MPCs don't?

the racks are a lot more fleshed out in terms of synthesizer and "keyboard" oriented features, namely, youll get:
-full ADSR envelopes
-key groups, (mpcs have something like this though)
-pitch bender,
-pitch vibrato.
-probably more looping features
etc...

the MPC is more laid out to be more convenient for percussion and phrase but theres so much polyphony you can absolutely fudge some synth/key parts out of it.
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By Blue Monster 65 Wed Mar 21, 2018 9:36 pm
My first MPC was the Live. It was very cool, did tons of stuff, sounded great and I totally did not connect with it.

I’ve got a Pioneer Toraiz SP-16 now and absolutely love it. It sounds terrific, hAs the xox-style sequencing I like, plus the 4x4 grid to bang out rhythms as well. It may not do as much as the Live, but it suits my purposes much better.
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By Ill-Green Tue Mar 27, 2018 10:58 pm
My story is that I messed with Roland samplers since 1996. Then by 2006 I began to see a redundance in their samplers so I wanted something new and thought about an MPC. All my heroes used them, Pete Rock made an ad commercial with the MPC1000, so its gotta be the shit. I bought an MPC500 just to try out the hype. I was disappointed really. But it had most things I wanted so I made it work for me until I bought an MV8800 in the end of 2009. I loved that machine but the feelings were mutual because it just didn't click with me right. In 2017, I bought the MPC Live and it rekindled that magic fun I used to have the Rolands in the '90s. Just what I wanted right? Not quite, it wasn't perfect until I stumbled on some cash and bought a DJS-1000 as a treat to myself. Didn't expect much from it, but it blew my brain out my **** nostrils. It was exactly what I wanted and is a soulmate in ways.

There is a machine-soulmate for everyone. Good luck on finding yours :smoker: