Let me introduce myself

(I apologize in advance for this being a bit long)

Hello peoples,

I've been making beats for a while. Started back in the day using an Atari STE computer. I went from Tracker sequencers to Midi. In college I moved to PC based sequencers but spent most of my time fighting with the software and PC than making beats. Throughout college my beat making was very limited due to most time being dedicated to school. Now I'm finally done w/ school and I want to dedicate more of my time to beat making and maybe put out some underground releases.

I have always wanted an MPC but I could never afford one. However, now I might soon be able to afford one. I hope that this time around I can dedicate more time and be a bit more successful at Hip-Hop production.

Over the years I have accumulated some equipment.
I have the following:

Berhinger Eurorack 1604 mixer
Event 20/20P monitors
Alesis SR16 drum machine
Yamaha Midi patch bay
Alesis Nano verb
Zip Drive
Sequential Circuits 6-Trak


and hopefully soon ...AN MPC2K !!

I have been reading some of the posts here and there is a lot of useful info. I hope I will be able to contribute to this forum in a positive way in the future.

I also have a few questions.

Are the 8-Outs absolutely necessary ?

I'm trying to avoid PC recording all together, what are teh pros and cons with going with a dedicated HD recorder vs a PC based multitrack HD recorder like Cool Edit Pro ? And what are your opinions and recomendations ? Right now I am trying to decide between Cool Edit Pro vs a Fostex VF80. Good choices ? Or both garbage

Does anyone have info pertaining to getting your stuff mastered professionally and put on vinyl. Where ? Who? What websites ? How much $$$, etc ?

Thanks

Well I used cool edit 96, pro1.2, 2.0 over 4 different computers and never had any problems. I've always contiplated using something from the vs series until I went pro 1.2. I love that damn program!! I used cakewalk and had problems even on my newer pc. Syntrillium software has been bought out by adobe and it is now called audition to work perfectly with their premiere software. It's the only serious multitrack only program besides $800 Samplitude. As for your mpc questions, the only good reason for an 8 out is processing individual drums sounds, you will be better off get the effects board and using the internal mixer to mix your volume levels. The website www.mpc2000xl.com helped me out before I stumbled on to this site. By the way, the sr16 was my first peice of equipment and the shit i learned on that machine made me get the hang of the mpc in about 20 minutes. Damn that thing was mostly reverb heavy rock drums and only 2 usable kits.

Get the 8 out's!!!! If you get them, you can have more control and expandability. Then you can get a much more modern and better effects unit, bounce stuff down to hdd etc. Much better option IMO going with 8 outs.
Every piece of equipment has its advantages and disadvantages. I use an MPC, SP808 and a laptop. They all work really well together. THe MPC is for getting beats etc down and just making good rythms etc. The PC is great for sample editing, multi tracking etc. The SP808 is a kind of shit really but the effect son it are great. I've got my main outs on MPC going to channel one on the mixer, and my alt outs (1 and 2 of going to SP808 to be stuffed around with. That all goes into mixer then. I'm trying to hook the lot up with midi too so i can automate stuff coz i'm running out of hands. And all this is (only just) portable and gig ready!!!
I guess what I'm saying is, decide what you want to do, now and in the future and try to get gear that will allow freedom.
It sounds like you got a pretty workable rig as is and an MPC of course would just round it out.
Dude, they are a fun machine and these days they are great value for the bucks i think.

"Then you can get a much more modern and better effects unit, bounce stuff down to hdd etc."

Not having 8-outs does not prevent you from having `better effects`, more `modern effects` or being able to record to HD.

I recommend buying the effects unit before buying the 8 outs for economic reasons. Additional details at a popular mpc site.