Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
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By Prah_860_ Fri Apr 18, 2003 3:05 am
Phedeks wrote: Alot of "radio" beats are made on the MPC and that quality is as clean as it can be. Not only because of the final mix because of the kits they use. If you use a old drum loop from vinyl and run it to the mpc yes it will sound "Gritty" But if your using processed kits with great quality its going to sound like that not "Gritty".


the key word is processed kits....those kick and drums are mixed and mastered before you get it........like i wrote in the post above....different manufacters have different opinions on what clean is....just like recording engineers....and the mpc's happen to have a muddy sound to it.....it is not noticed by the "naked ear"

By elmacaco Fri Apr 18, 2003 3:44 am
uh, all mpc's are digital. today virtually all sampling is digital, except for sample and hold modules in analog modulars...

Dr. Foo, ho do you get an mpc 60 sound out of a 2k? (I have a 60 not a 2k, I'm just curious)
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By Prah_860_ Fri Apr 18, 2003 3:46 am
elmacaco wrote:uh, all mpc's are digital. today virtually all sampling is digital, except for sample and hold modules in analog modulars...

Dr. Foo, ho do you get an mpc 60 sound out of a 2k? (I have a 60 not a 2k, I'm just curious)


resampling....this method take forever but it works

By Phedeks Fri Apr 18, 2003 4:31 pm
Prah_860_ wrote:
Phedeks wrote: Alot of "radio" beats are made on the MPC and that quality is as clean as it can be. Not only because of the final mix because of the kits they use. If you use a old drum loop from vinyl and run it to the mpc yes it will sound "Gritty" But if your using processed kits with great quality its going to sound like that not "Gritty".


the key word is processed kits....those kick and drums are mixed and mastered before you get it........like i wrote in the post above....different manufacters have different opinions on what clean is....just like recording engineers....and the mpc's happen to have a muddy sound to it.....it is not noticed by the "naked ear"
I know that was my point, so if you load those sample kits in the mpc why dont they sound "Gritty" because IMO thats all in peoples heads, and even if it does change the sound a little bit its hardly noticeble and its not something you cant do on a computer.

By Phedeks Fri Apr 18, 2003 5:40 pm
Another thing if its not noticed by the naked ear :lol: then who cares? Dogs are you making beats for dolphins and dogs so they can notice the muddy sound. Isn't this whole debate based on actual sound?
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By Prah_860_ Sat Apr 19, 2003 8:22 am
Phedeks wrote:Another thing if its not noticed by the naked ear :lol: then who cares? Dogs are you making beats for dolphins and dogs so they can notice the muddy sound. Isn't this whole debate based on actual sound?


i am sorry...what i meant was trained ear.....just how somebody can say they have the hardest drums out there and to a trained ear they can sound transparent.....sorry for the mix up
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By damixx Sat Apr 19, 2003 7:32 pm
duke; somethings gotta be wrong if you can't hear the difference in sound quality between an emu sound module/Triton/or an Mpc2000 and mpc3000. A/D D/A converters on each unit is the difference. Use the same sound and load it into each unit; if you cant hear the difference; something's wrong with your ears man. It's the main reason so many preferred the mpc 3000 over the 2000xl or Emu samplers over akai samplers (there are those who swear by akai) The Quality of the z series samplers finally presents and argument in quality compared to emu sound. Don't get offended; everyone has their opinions; Sure you can flip sounds on any of the units but onboard quality on the z-series or emu stand above the rest.
Then again; use some eq and compression on any of the above and it's a whole other argument.

By djdinger Sat Apr 19, 2003 10:45 pm
Dr.Foo wrote:the mpc 60 does sound gritter cuz its a 12 but sampler at a lower sampling rate. they key here is the a/d d/a converters. at 16 bit 44.1 resolution (the mpc 2000 & 2kxl) it tales 44,100 slices of the sound to convert to digital data then back from that to analog for output.
in the 12 bit, ( forget the khz of the mpc 60 my bad) it takes less slices so the sound is not as true to the original, this is what you are calling "grittiness" the sound coming out is not the same sound as went it, its low fi, not cd quality but it sounds good.

to do this, simply sample to pc, at a lower sampling bitrate and khz, then convert to 16 bit 44.1 so it will load in the mpc (or 16 bit 48 khz etc.) 2000xl and bam! the same sound you'd get out of an mpc 60.

the reason pro's like Dj Premiere say "i use an mpc 60" dont mean they dont use a 2k it means that the sound they are going for is the low fi mpc 60 sound, the "gritty" sound. and since he can afford to own 5-10 mpc's he can afford to have an mpc 60 and not spend the extra 10-20 minutes per sound making the MPC 2000XL sound like the MPC 60. he can afford to own 10 keyboards with his mpc 60 so all he is using it for is sampling drums and sequencing. most of us cannot, so we cop the gear that is the most flexible, ie the MPC 2000xl can be made to sound like and MPC 60 but NOT vice versa. so we cop the 2000 and spend the xtra time making the beats grimey.

a good xample is the SP1200. ITs not worth it to me to spend 1200 bux on a drum machine when I can spennd an extra 20 minutes on my mpc and get the same sounds. the cats who own them can afford to buy it and not spend that xtra time, instant gratification.
I will say that the advantage to owning all the gear is that creativity isnt stifled, Ive lost some ideas where I spend 1 hr making someting sound mpc 60 then decided I didnt like it. what took me 1 hour to learn i hated I couldve figued out and moved on in 10 miuntes if i had a spare MPC 60.


This is very accurate in my opinion... although it is not, always the same exact sound as the 12 bit samplers. I have owned 60/3000/2000 and currently use 2kXL. I have the triton keyboard also. If you have alot of time and patience they can all be very similiar, but once your ears in my opinion, adjust, you can really hear the difference in attack, punch ect... of a sample/kick/snare ect... there is nothing better over all that can compare to the mpc series in my opinion. you should definitly use the mpc or cumputer program as master, in the long run you'll will understand why. It just takes a great deal of patience and devotion. Even though I'm still learning, with help from alot of these guys, I can hear and feel that I have improved drastically and little things always add up. You'll hear the difference just keep working and doing comparisons with your machines...