has anyone REALLY outgrown their mpc?

Over the past few weeks I have had a laptop and a desktop both give up on me.

So short of getting them repaired I have spent the past 2 weeks going, maybe I should get this or maybe that or maybe and on and on..

Then I asked myself "Do I really need to replace them for the pupsoses of making music?"

I had been watching vids on youtube and people had truck loads of gear. I wondered how can they really really master all that gear and use it to its full potential? Im guessing most dont.

So do I need really need anymore than my mpc and vinyl ?The reality of it was 'No'. I haven't pushed my mpc (2000xl) to the extremes and realised that often the chase for more gear actually has no logical reasoning behind it.

I realised with an mpc the potential is huge and that as the user I hadnt really pushed it. There are simple chop shop and loop styled operators right through to the mad composers like RJD2 and DJ Shadow (insert your own examples as required)

Often the cliche pops up about more gear not making your music better and limitations can work in your favour.

So I checked out peeps who had JUST been using vinyl and an mpc and decided until I can honestly honestly say I have out grown the mpc then the need for new gear is redundant.

Overall it has opened my eyes to how som many of us are always looking for that next bit of gear but dont really need it and our time is watsed when we could be spending that time actually maing music

heist wrote:Over the past few weeks I have had a laptop and a desktop both give up on me.

So short of getting them repaired I have spent the past 2 weeks going, maybe I should get this or maybe that or maybe and on and on..

Then I asked myself "Do I really need to replace them for the pupsoses of making music?"

I had been watching vids on youtube and people had truck loads of gear. I wondered how can they really really master all that gear and use it to its full potential? Im guessing most dont.

So do I need really need anymore than my mpc and vinyl ?The reality of it was 'No'. I haven't pushed my mpc (2000xl) to the extremes and realised that often the chase for more gear actually has no logical reasoning behind it.

I realised with an mpc the potential is huge and that as the user I hadnt really pushed it. There are simple chop shop and loop styled operators right through to the mad composers like RJD2 and DJ Shadow (insert your own examples as required)

Often the cliche pops up about more gear not making your music better and limitations can work in your favour.

So I checked out peeps who had JUST been using vinyl and an mpc and decided until I can honestly honestly say I have out grown the mpc then the need for new gear is redundant.

Overall it has opened my eyes to how som many of us are always looking for that next bit of gear but dont really need it and our time is watsed when we could be spending that time actually maing music

That is the gearlust that has been referenced numerous times on this forum. I had it horribly at one time. I had as many as seven rackmount samplers and a MPC 2000XL, each with 8 to 16 outputs and all maxed out. I was forced to sell all of that stuff and it was a blessing. Truth is that the 2500 that I have now is more than I need right now as a sampler. If I am ever working on a serious project and cannot complete it, then I will buy more gear.

not everyone is the same, not everyone's goals are the same, and the tasks different people need to do to complete a track are going to be different.

for some people a motif and an mpc are enough to make what they make... some people a few records and an mpc are enough. for some people an isolation booth, racks of compressors and reverb units, a nice mixer with a digital multi track are enough... hell two sticks and a few rocks can be viewed as enough until you do every possible pattern with those things.

I'm so relieved to say that I believe I have all the gear I need for making music right now. I totally agree with heist, the things you can do with an MPC and some vinyl is literally endless. I like using samples as instruments because of the absolutely infinite potential it has. I was originally drawn to electronic instruments because of how boring and limited other instruments I played were, and then I learned about sampling and everything in music is still getting bigger and bigger to me. Vinyl is especially thrilling to me. When I find old, obscure records, I think about how those songs may never have met the ears of our generation. I like to think that sample based artists such as ourselves take nearly forgotten relics and breathe new life into them. We take whatever we can from music and give it a new meaning.

I think if you know what you're doing with software you can definitely do all your dynamic processing in the computer, so you don't need racks full of compressors and eq's.

My gear lust used to be painful but I've got it in check now. The only upgrade I need to make is suping up my pc, and other than that I'd love a TL Audio Fat Track and a small analog synth. The MP is the heart of my studio though.

Pc is the way to go esp Ableton.I sold my 2500 and nearly all my korgs this week just keeping the Micro x.

So yes you can outgrow the mpc as i loved him so much last year now am disgusted in him cos he is kinda limited haha.

But its a start on the journey to make music and when you upgrade to PC its like being a kid in a sweetshop.

So NuAkai thank you

I haven't outgrown my mpc and doubt if I ever will. My reason for collecting a bunch of gear is...I rarely get rid of the outdated stuff, so I find new roles for them to take on.

Yes, I started out with rack efx & dynamic processors to only see them sitting around gathering dust, because their cyber countparts do just as good of a job and do it much better IMO.

But there's nothing out here yet that'll convince me to do away with the mpc. I need it just as I need all of the other pieces of gear to fulfill and bring my ideas to reality.

I'm ole school and guess what I did before sampling came about...play an instrument (which I still do).

dabmeister wrote:I haven't outgrown my mpc and doubt if I ever will. My reason for collecting a bunch of gear is...I rarely get rid of the outdated stuff, so I find new roles for them to take on.

Yes, I started out with rack efx & dynamic processors to only see them sitting around gathering dust, because their cyber countparts do just as good of a job and do it much better IMO.

But there's nothing out here yet that'll convince me to do away with the mpc. I need it just as I need all of the other pieces of gear to fulfill and bring my ideas to reality.

I'm ole school and guess what I did before sampling came about...play an instrument (which I still do).

+100 on this one. "Ole School" people remember the OB's and Prophets that got sold to buy the DX7 with Grey Matter E. Now those "outdated" boards are worth thousands and are highly sought after. We are paying huge sums for keyboards to emulate the one we got rid of!!!

As long as I sample, I don't think I will outgrow my MPC.

Never that.

If you use a computer with your MPC, you get the best out of both worlds. I was very close to buying a Maschine (and other software) until I started to think about what the real benefit was. Really, there wasn't much! Things like having all my samples immediately at my disposal was cool, but anyone can buy Battery for their computer and have the same ability for their MPC.
I like my MPC. She's crashed on me twice in 4 years. My computer crashed 4 times this week.

Outgrown? At this point, yes. Definitely yes. My 2kxl is priceless, but those drums coming out the SP will never be outmatched. So, I just learn my machines and always look where everything can fit. Which of course doesn't mean that sometimes the 2kxl isn't enough alone, but still that's a very rare occasion these days.

I agree with most all the responses but I did wanna touch on one thing.

heist wrote:I had been watching vids on youtube and people had truck loads of gear. I wondered how can they really really master all that gear and use it to its full potential? Im guessing most dont.

Most ppl with several pieces use each piece to its strength as opposed to learning every single feature or using it to its full potential.

Like for example, I have an ASR-10 which I use almost exclusively for making playable patches out of vinyl samples and 'found sounds'. I NEVER chop samples on it (I don't really even know how to lol), I don't use it for drum samples, I don't sequence on it, etc and so on.

Why? Well because those things are what what my MPC1k is for. But the ASR is the master at looping (you can loop ANYTHING on as ASR-10), modulation, and advanced sample playback (transwaves, modulation, etc) which is something my MPC just plain can't really do. Could I rock out on the 1k alone? Of course. But I am keeping the ASR around because I consider it a useful extension to my lab.

I think the trick is to promote one single piece to 'centerpiece status'. Then if you get other pieces to go with it, buy those other pieces to complement it. So yeah, if an MPC and some crates is your comfort zone then do it your way, but there are also valid reasons to have several pieces of gear. The trick is to find a balancing point, where you have enough to realize the sounds in your head, but not too much to get lost in the possibilities. (And never forget its all about the sounds anyways - what's the use of having 4-5 samplers if you have no dope samples to feed them???)

My name is MP3 and I'm a recovering gear addict.

When it comes to drums and beats, i havent heard any existing music that cant be done with an mpc.. so no, i have not outgrown the mpc.

I bought my MPC in early 98. By 02... I thought I had it mastered. Then I stumbled on this site and found out I had not. Again, in 06 I believed I'd mastered it... til I ran across a Youtube video from Aswell, "Live MPC Work". Once again there was more to learn. My point is... every time I convince myself I've done everything that can be done on it... I find there's more to do. I don't think I CAN out grow it... shit keeps on growin WITH me.

Every other piece of gear I started on has been upgraded and/or replaced except for the MP. I bought Ableton 5 or 6 months ago and haven't completed a track in it YET. The MPC is just like "home"... I can visit other places but I couldn't live there.