SO FRUSTRATED.....dunno what to buy 1000 or 2000 (i searched

I changed my mind and think imma get a 2000xl jus cuz i want these features and if i ever travel on a plane i have enuff programs alone on my laptop to suit me for a few days (software to manipulate my beats)

This post must be almost dead, but i would just say two things. If sound is your main thing, go for the XL. the warm and almost dusty effect the recording engine has on samples is not present in anyway with the 1000. The 1000 renders all the sound super clean.
If you are used to the speed of computer proccessing and require this to get your ideas out before they dissapate then you need the 1000. Zip disks are slow, as is zoning and all the procceses involved in the XL. doing this on your PC is a little tedious but at least quick. also if you are used to 512 of Ram on your PC, 32 on the 2000xl May try your patience.
Be warned though, the 1000 (to my ears) has about 10 audible steps of velocity, where as the 2000XL seems to really be sensitive to many more degrees. In short, the pads (a common reason for buying the MPC) are not the same.

as in the pads are better on the 2kxl right (bigger and more degrees of sensitivity)?

yeah bigger and more sensitive. the 1000 pads are like rocks to play, where as the xl feels like coming home.

i have a 1k and an XL. at least for now anyway

the pads feel pretty much the same on both of mine. maybe my XL has some sensitivity lost on the pads though. the buttons (like the menu button and that stuff) on the 1k are a beeotch, they hurt my fingers after a while, the XL's buttons are nice and soft.

you can definitely make whatever kind of hiphop you want on a 1k. obviously the 2000 is gonna sound more "authentic" but that's only because more people have used it to make big songs. in a few years the 1k "sound" will probably be just as familiar.

and yeah, the 1k delivers clean, the XL is colored. one isnt better than the other in that regard. for some songs i want clean and for other beats i want the sound to be colored. it depends on the situation.

The sampling engine on the 1000 is almost identical to the 2000, there's no difference in sound quality. The mpc1000 has more filters (and better ones at that), tons of effects, right out of the box with six outputs. All that stuff will run you twice as much on the xl.... get the 1000, coming from a mpc2000 classic owner!

Toecutter wrote:The sampling engine on the 1000 is almost identical to the 2000, there's no difference in sound quality.

if you've listened to them side by side and can still say that, your next equipment purchase should be a box of q tips

the 2 boxes sound nothing alike

mwalker wrote:you should get mpd16/trigger finger and reason 3.0 instead of the mpc1000/2000/xl

live4/5(sequencing/timestretching), reason(sound module(s), samplers, drum machine, dr rex (loop player)), mpd16/trigger finger (mpc replacement), sound forge (slice and dice samples), fruity loops 5 (rewire to live) and acid pro 5 (remixes) with a lappy is a very nice setup.

with the purchase of mpd16/trigger finger and reason 3.0 you will save about $300 over the mpc.

live4/5 + reason 3.0 + mpd16/trigger = steak and potatoes

and

sound forge + fruity loops 5 + acid pro 5 = the gravy

yes i am a little hungry

I DO agree with this to a point, but this also would mean you'd always have to lug your laptop around with you (same's true of the MPC, I suppose), which may not be an issue if you do it anyway. Also, if you ever do live gigs down the road, computers are almost ALWAYS more crash prone (and especially in comparison to the 1000) vibration prone, with the hard drive spinning and such, so it's not quite as "reliable" a setup, though it offers more flexibility in certain ways. Having owned an MPD-16, I can say that IMHO, the pads aren't nearly as nice as on an actual MPC, but that might just be me. They feel a little too rigid and don't seem to me to give as good of velocity as either of the MPCs. The 1000s pads also felt a lot like those to me. I've had an MPC 60 II, a 2000XL, the MPD-16, and a 1000 at different times. The 60 was my favorite because it's HUGE and has a lot of space between everything (I have big fingers, though...hehehe). Had to sell it for rent (DAMN)....but out of the ones I've had, the 2000XL has been the best ALL AROUND machine for the way I work. The 60 is really a pain at times because of limited RAM and things, the 1000 was too cramped for me and I didn't like the pads, just like on the MPD-16, but in your case, I would ultimately have to recommend the 1000. That in conjunction with the laptop would make for a killer setup, really...

Like it's been said above, try to check out all of them that you can, and see what "feels" right to you, because they all have serious advantages and disadvantages over each other, depending on your workflow. I mainly like the 2000XL because it's a really good compromise between the models (excluding the 4000, as said above), but with all your software, the 1000 might just be the ticket.

Oh, one more thing- remember you CAN trick out the 2000XL with a card reader or zip drive OR any external SCSI device, and it DOES have more outputs, so if those things are important to you (they are to me...), take a serious look at it before you buy.

Sorry....long answer to a (relatively) simple question. Good lookin' out though for actually searching first. You'll find that will automatically get you 100 times more respect around here than someone who comes in and says "uhhh.....how do I turn on my MPC" or something.

Later,

MANiK