2k Classic or 500?

Somewhere else somebody said something like "if you're thinking the 500 is an MPC replacement then you're wrong it isn't."

I had a classic for a while. Loved it except for one thing that just drove me nuts in the end. No folders! I just need to be really organised when I work.

I'm currently trying to cop an XL. Had one off eBay but it had dead slider and jog wheel! Fortunately the seller is an honest man and is refunding. I liked the feel of it a lot. Much less like the classic than I thought it would be.

I've owned a 1000 but various things about it annoyed me. Didn't like the pads. Although with JJ OS and new pads maybe it's a beast? As for 2500, 3000, 4000 and now 5000 (!) who knows but they're all more than I want to spend so ..

get they 2000 everyone I know that has the 500 hates it

evacuee. wrote:alistar-

you wouldn't pay more than 350$ for an xl (without the 8 outs)? where have you seen xl's that cheap? the closest i've seen was 425$ but it needed a new screen.

Where do you live?

I'm in MD, and I have yet to see an XL (Fully Upgraded: 8 outs, FX, 32MB, MCD, SMPTE) go for more than $650.

Most XLs that come with 32MB and 8 outs go for $450, if the screen is flawed in any way, there's no chance it's selling for more than $300.

2Ks go for $350 always with 32MB out, 8 outs. A 2K with FX might be $400-450.

I might just live in a lucky area.

Alistar wrote:

evacuee. wrote:alistar-

you wouldn't pay more than 350$ for an xl (without the 8 outs)? where have you seen xl's that cheap? the closest i've seen was 425$ but it needed a new screen.

Where do you live?

I'm in MD, and I have yet to see an XL (Fully Upgraded: 8 outs, FX, 32MB, MCD, SMPTE) go for more than $650.

Most XLs that come with 32MB and 8 outs go for $450, if the screen is flawed in any way, there's no chance it's selling for more than $300.

2Ks go for $350 always with 32MB out, 8 outs. A 2K with FX might be $400-450.

I might just live in a lucky area.

i live in the san francisco bay area. so you know (if you didn't), everything is outta control expensive. if you go on the sf bay area's craigslist, you'll see people attempting to unload their 2k's for 900$, no joke. again, i paid 550$ for my xl. it was completely stock minus 16mb of ram. luckily i came across a producer who barely used his xl, and just wanted to get rid of it.

the screen is perfect, the casing still has the 'this device complies with part 15 of fcc rules' sticker in flawless condition... i for sure came up on a deal considering that the average xl i was finding was around 800$ completely stock, were heavily gigged, and the condition was sub-par.

so it must be where you live. gotta love CA for its outrageous everything...

the 500 isn't even worth $500

seriously dude, you can't do SHIT with it.... my friend has one and he wishes he just saved up and got a 2xl or 1k...

I would say just save up and buy something better dude....

just my 2 cents

jellyjim wrote:one thing that just drove me nuts in the end. No folders! I just need to be really organised when I work.

Yeah I love the 2000 and no folders is annoying;
but what I do is save all my MPC PGMs and beats etc on my computer (which has a USB zip drive attached) and drag them onto the zip when needed. Then transfer the zip from the USB drive to the MPC's SCSI drive, et voila!
That way I don't really need a lot of zips as I just format/ delete whats on it once I've backed up the files on my computer and re-use the zips.

I picked up the mpc2k yesterday. After messing around with it last night, I noticed the slider wasn't working. I looked in the manual and learned how to assign it to filter, attack, pitch, etc., and it won't work for any of them. I hold shift, press asign, make the settings, hit main screen, and it doesn't do anything. It does distort the sound of whatever pad I assigned it to, but not in any way controllable by the slider. I took the top casing off, and it didn't look like I could do anything there. I would have to dig deeper, and I am not that tech savvy. I also noticed several of the buttons were kinda broken/detached when I took the top off, but they still fucntion fine if you put them back on the sensors.

Should I take it back, or is this something easy to fix? I love the sound I get out of it, and the pads feel great. I don't think the guy intentionally sold me somrthing broken. He is a studio owner, and he tossed in an SCSI zip drive and CD player at no extra charge.

MosDef wrote:nope - i dont think you can get the zones on the 2k classic

Yes you can.

pdadda wrote:I picked up the mpc2k yesterday. After messing around with it last night, I noticed the slider wasn't working. I looked in the manual and learned how to assign it to filter, attack, pitch, etc., and it won't work for any of them. I hold shift, press asign, make the settings, hit main screen, and it doesn't do anything. It does distort the sound of whatever pad I assigned it to, but not in any way controllable by the slider. I took the top casing off, and it didn't look like I could do anything there. I would have to dig deeper, and I am not that tech savvy. I also noticed several of the buttons were kinda broken/detached when I took the top off, but they still fucntion fine if you put them back on the sensors.

Should I take it back, or is this something easy to fix? I love the sound I get out of it, and the pads feel great. I don't think the guy intentionally sold me somrthing broken. He is a studio owner, and he tossed in an SCSI zip drive and CD player at no extra charge.

75% of XLs and Classics have that problem. Broken buttons underneath is nothing to worry about until they don't work anymore. As for the slider, live without it or learn to solder and buy the $5 replacement off of VST. You should consider yourself lucky to have gotten a free SCSI Drive. I had to search for mine for like a month after I got my MPC.

I Have used both the 500 felt like a toy i wasnt happy with it at all . the sound wasnt even that good. the 2000 has that sound that is dope but doesnt have a usb . if your planning to intertwin a pc with the mpc than maybe the 500 . but remeber on the 500 there is no wav screen you would have to trim 100% by ear kinda like the 3000 and the 60
the 2000 has a wav screen. I would go with the 2000 with 8 outs for $425

1000 with JJ os2, be done with it!

nanoloop wrote:1000 with JJ os2, be done with it!

If I hear that one more freaking time, I'm gonna snap! I didn't ask about the 1000. Everyone is such a huge fanboy for the 1000, even though its completely overrated and overpriced.

pdadda wrote:

nanoloop wrote:1000 with JJ os2, be done with it!

If I hear that one more freaking time, I'm gonna snap! I didn't ask about the 1000. Everyone is such a huge fanboy for the 1000, even though its completely overrated and overpriced.

Not overrated... definitely not overpriced either. The OS and operation of the 1000 is really similar to the 2500. Basically, the 1000 is a baby 2500 if you really think about it. The 2500 has a few extra features but, the 1k is up there with the 2500. And really... that's what you should do. Just my opinion but, that would be the logical choice. Think about it... the capabilities of the HardDrive and USB and CompactFlash reader alone are worth saving up a couple extra hunnid. Ok, you can snap now!

i say .. i dunno where you are at homie, but u can go on craigslist.org and u can look in the music instruments section of wherever you are in the world and u can find someone selling the mpc 2000xl for cheap. I suggest if you're gonna get a 2000.. u get the 2000xl.. whether you have the 8 outs installed or not. You can always upgrade the 2000xl. as far as people on here saying they need 16 pads per bank.. here's a trick that i use on my 500.. i may chop a sample up into 16 parts either on my 2000xl and save it as wave to put in my 500 or I'll use soundforge to half a sample into 16 equal parts. yeah there are only 12 pads, but that's per bank.. so if i need to.. i'll put the first 12 in bank A and the other 4 in bank B.. it's not that serious that i need all 16 pads in one bank. The zone feature isn't that serious when it comes to the 500. if you have a computer which most of us do the most editing on outside of the mpcs.. get soundforge, u half a sample.. basically break it down by halves until you have 1/16 of the sample and make regions out of each 16th part and then transport them into 16 diff waves and then put them on your 500. I may have explained it with complexity, but it's really simple to do on soundforge.
Don't get me wrong I love my 2000xl but If i were you'd i'd actually save up a bit more and get the 2500. It's like the 2000xl on crack! You can get a used one for around 1400 and if you're persistent 1200..holla back.. i brought my 2000xl as soon as the SCSI II interface was on the mpcs because i used to hook it up to a JAZ drive (there's some history on how long i had my mpc 2000xl) and I never even got the 8 outs cause they just weren't neccessary for me. Instead I opt for blown out memory and smart card drive installed where that floppy (lol@da word floppy) drive once was.

Update on the item. The seller seemed kinda sketchy for a while, but he said he could fix the slider issue or I would get my money back. I was also having problems getting anything to be recognized through SCSI connection. I made the mistake of letting the guy work on the mpc without getting my $ back in the meantime. I couldn't get ahold of him for a few days, even though I called him a bunch of times. He finally calls me back and says he couldn't fix it, but I can't get my $ back. He says he bought a new slider, and I will have to find someone else to do it. I argue a little, but eventually go get the mpc back. He gave me back the mpc plus a new slider, plus $50 extra. He also tossed in a SCSI hard drive I have not gotten to work yet. So I ended up getting it for $400 plus a new slider. I tried hooking up another MID controller to it yesterday, and I could use the sliders on that to control what the onboard slider controls. I will still want to fix this eventually. I was digging around my work the other day, and I found an old 1GB Jaz drive in a junk pile. I took it home, hooked it up, and it works! Now I just need another one for the computer.

Here's the kicker, and another reason I hate computers. I spent about an hour trying to find and install the right drivers for the computer to recognize the jaz drive with no success. I hook it up to the mpc, and immediately it was ready to go.