2000xl Filter - Info Please

Hi, thinking of getting a 2000xl and need some more info about the filter please.

This is the kind of thing I want to make: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppMeFfCy9Go
That was made on a 3000.

Here are my questions:

Is the 3000 / 2000XL filter effectively the same? Sound the same?

Is there just one filter on the XL? For example - Can I only have one filter setting like an FX send that I can send different pads too - but it's the same for each pad.

Or can I have different filter setting per pad - for example, one cutting at 100Hz, another cutting 500Hz with more resonance etc. etc. for as many pads as I like, all doing different filter things?

Can the filter cut-off be recorded / automated into a sequence to automate it?

If it can, and you can have different filter settings per pad - can you record / automate more than one filter's movements.

Is all filter information saved into a program?

Is there an LFO on the XL? If there is, can you assign it to filter cut off?

I really like the sound of the 3000 filter on that track and other tracks he's produced - if the 2000XL sounds the same I'll be very happy with it - pretty nice digital filter.

Anyone using the MFC42? Sounds nice too and really nice LFO settings and pole modes.

Thanks

henryoakley wrote:Is the 3000 / 2000XL filter effectively the same? Sound the same?

close enough, but sure there are minor differences.

henryoakley wrote:Is there just one filter on the XL?...Or can I have different filter setting per pad - for example, one cutting at 100Hz, another cutting 500Hz with more resonance etc. etc. for as many pads as I like, all doing different filter things?

yes, filter is set per pad. there is no 'master' filter. nothing is set in hz, its just 0-100. resonance has even fewer steps.

henryoakley wrote:Can the filter cut-off be recorded / automated into a sequence to automate it?

kind of, but like you are asking about, no. the filter acts whenever you hit a pad and you can't adjust it in realtime while the pad is playing. you can however fake it with an envelope or by re-triggering the pad. you have to hack it using velocity or note variations, and it's not immediately intuitive if you're new to mpcs.

henryoakley wrote:If it can, and you can have different filter settings per pad - can you record / automate more than one filter's movements.

see above.

henryoakley wrote:Is all filter information saved into a program?

yes.

henryoakley wrote:Is there an LFO on the XL? If there is, can you assign it to filter cut off?

if you have the fx card, there is an eq effect with lfo. otherwise, no.

henryoakley wrote:I really like the sound of the 3000 filter on that track and other tracks he's produced - if the 2000XL sounds the same I'll be very happy with it - pretty nice digital filter.

are you sure he is just using the filter on the 3000? could he be using an external filter? if he is using the filter in the 3000, he is getting that animation using envelopes and retriggering, as i mentioned.

henryoakley wrote:Anyone using the MFC42? Sounds nice too and really nice LFO settings and pole modes

its a cool filter.

i would not buy the xl for the filter. when i was a noob and got my first xl, thinking much like you, the filter was one of the first things to disappoint me until i really learned how to use it.

Thanks Tapedeck

tapedeck wrote:kind of, but like you are asking about, no. the filter acts whenever you hit a pad and you can't adjust it in realtime while the pad is playing. you can however fake it with an envelope or by re-triggering the pad. you have to hack it using velocity or note variations, and it's not immediately intuitive if you're new to mpcs.

Could you explain that a bit more, please? Can't you assign the filter cut off to the fader and control it that way in real time and record the fader movement into the sequence? Yeah I can see how you could fake it with envelopes - but can you play with envelope amount in real time and maybe record this in?

tapedeck wrote:if you have the fx card, there is an eq effect with lfo. otherwise, no.

OK, so if you have the FX card, you can assign the LFO on the FX card to run the filter? Is that right?

tapedeck wrote:are you sure he is just using the filter on the 3000? could he be using an external filter? if he is using the filter in the 3000, he is getting that animation using envelopes and retriggering, as i mentioned.

Yeah pretty sure he's just using the 3000 filter - he uses a 3000, 03D mixer, 909 and 303 in his set up. You can see him making a whole track here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys15ZGntgyY and you can see him messing with the filter using the fader at around 1hr 40mins - ish. He's pretty famous for using pretty much just the 3000.

tapedeck wrote:i would not buy the xl for the filter. when i was a noob and got my first xl, thinking much like you, the filter was one of the first things to disappoint me until i really learned how to use it.

It's the whole package really - but I guess the filter is pretty important for what I want to do with it. It sounds good to me for that filtered house sound. I don't need a super duper self oscillating analogue job - although that would be nice if I could afford an MFC42 too

henryoakley wrote:

tapedeck wrote:kind of, but like you are asking about, no. the filter acts whenever you hit a pad and you can't adjust it in realtime while the pad is playing. you can however fake it with an envelope or by re-triggering the pad. you have to hack it using velocity or note variations, and it's not immediately intuitive if you're new to mpcs.

Could you explain that a bit more, please? Can't you assign the filter cut off to the fader and control it that way in real time and record the fader movement into the sequence? Yeah I can see how you could fake it with envelopes - but can you play with envelope amount in real time and maybe record this in?

as i said, no. when the sample triggers, it plays back through the filter wherever it is set, and you can't change it while the sample is playing until you retrigger it - or use envelopes, which are not 'realtime control' as you have to set them up in advance.

henryoakley wrote:

tapedeck wrote:if you have the fx card, there is an eq effect with lfo. otherwise, no.

OK, so if you have the FX card, you can assign the LFO on the FX card to run the filter? Is that right?

again, as i said, the lfo is part of the eq effect.

the point is, the filter runs at wherever it is set each time you trigger the sample.

I think the later mpcs like mpc1000, mpc2500, have real time control over filter and tuning. I haven't used them yet. seems like it might take up a lot of MIDI events to record fader movement like that.

I think the sound of the xl filter is pretty dope. You can get it to do what you want, sometimes you just have to put a bit of effort into setting the thing up over multiple pads. But at the end of the day, it is very limiting and will not do half the things a stock filter in a daw will very easily. For basic/raw house it is fine, I only wish there was a high pass too.

The filtering on that track is IMO made with a 'real time' filter, I don't see how that could be done so smoothly on a 3000 or 2000XL as they only have 'note on' filters. Sounds like it was run through an external filter IMO.

MPC-Tutor wrote:The filtering on that track is IMO made with a 'real time' filter, I don't see how that could be done so smoothly on a 3000 or 2000XL as they only have 'note on' filters. Sounds like it was run through an external filter IMO.

it does at first, but it could be really clever filter enveloping. does a 3000 do that though? i don't want to make too many assumptions cause i don't know what the exact capabilities/sound of a 3000 are.

also i would agree, if you want more control over the filter, the 1k/2.5k are really good options.

Thanks.

It sounds like it could just be layers of samples with filters set at different levels and different envelopes. Plus a lot of the time the filter movement does exactly the same thing - could you do that live on multiple samples and get such consistent results each time???

Maybe he used something else? I know he has a s950 too - could you do it on that - or is that the same as the MPC? I've emailed him to ask.

Here's another one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhTwh0UgISM

Pretty sure you can hear the filter step each time the sample re-triggers on this one.

How about same question but for a 4000? Same answer?

henryoakley wrote:Plus a lot of the time the filter movement does exactly the same thing - could you do that live on multiple samples and get such consistent results each time???

you cannot move the filter live on any playing sample. i been trying to explain this in each post. where it's set when you start the sample is where the filter stays. the ONLY way the filter moves while a sample is playing is if the envelope is working too.

tapedeck wrote:

henryoakley wrote:Plus a lot of the time the filter movement does exactly the same thing - could you do that live on multiple samples and get such consistent results each time???

you cannot move the filter live on any playing sample. i been trying to explain this in each post. where it's set when you start the sample is where the filter stays. the ONLY way the filter moves while a sample is playing is if the envelope is working too.

Ha, yes I understand that - I meant if another filter had been used, as suggested above - instead of the MPC's.