Got some cash to spend. iMac or another MPC?

Just got my student loan refund money back today . Thinking about getting an iMac or an older MPC such as the 3000. NOt sure what I wanna do but I know that I really want an iMac so I can run Logic and Ableton flawlessly. Right now I have the old powerbook G4 and feel that today's DAW demands so much power and processor from your computer. My powerbook is lagging when I run these apps.

On the other hand I've been wanting an MPC 3000 from the get go awhile now just haven't had the money to shell out. I currently own the MPC1000 right now and it is treating me fine. I love the sound of the 3000 and the build and it looks like some serious machine. On my local CL's somebody is selling a 3000LE and the opportunity is right there.

What should I get? Would love to hear some feedback.

Compute..self destruct..choices there too difficult lol

MPC3kLE = the most sexual MPC just under the 4000 and 60 for me
new iMac damn fine machine and probs more use than the MPC 3k

One thing I will say about the 3k is that it's very old skool! VERY lol in the way it works, seeing as you come from the 1k..saying that I love it and if I had the money mannn I don't know hahah
If anything buy the 3k as a good looking paper weight, great investment too! As this paper weight goes up in value!
That was useful wasn't it lol

I love old school! Haha I have the S950 and S3000XL so the learning curve won't be a problem.

Go with the iMac. You 1000 can do pretty much what a 3000 can, but your powerbook can't do what an iMac can do!

get the computer, you dont wanna get jacked off craigslist like that other dude almost did... even though he got those idiots good it cost him time and energy.

seems like new computer is what you're looking for

rebel_lion wrote:I love old school! Haha I have the S950 and S3000XL so the learning curve won't be a problem.

I guess the S3000XL uses the same sound engine as the MPC3000, so maybe get the iMac and try to use the 1000 as a controller for the 3000xL. It'll be like the best of both worlds.

Five years ago i had a hard time choosing between buying a new computer or a synth i was really lusting for, my current computer really sucked.

After a while i decided to go with computer, because then i could really produce better quality music in-the-box with nice processorheavy plugins and stuff like that.

Always regreted that choice. Make the decision with your heart not your head

You got plenty of samplers dude... Truth is at the end of the day, the only people who are gonna care what machine you use is people like you and us... The only thing everyone else (rappers, singers, label types, consumers, etc.) cares about is if the beat is hot or not. But if you're gonna get another sampler, then why another Akai? You already got three... To be honest all the akais are different shades of the same color - just goes from dark (old) to light (new). Same goes for every 'family' of samplers. The ASR-X just sounds like a newer version of the ASR-10 just sounds like a newer version of the EPS just sounds like a newer version of the Mirage... The E4 Ultra just sounds like a newer version of the E4 Classic just sounds like a newer version of the EIIIX just sounds like a newer version of the EIII just sounds like a newer version of the EII just sounds like a newer version of the original Emulator.

To me, even though the 3k has a distinct sound that you don't have in your pallette, you would be better off getting another brand of sampler if you wanna expand your pallette. But bottom line is you don't need anything else, as long as you can do whatever you want to do with a sample right now... So if you're not adding something (a feature, sound character, workflow, etc.) that you don't currently have, then for real you're just blowing money to fulfill your gear addiction...

If I was you I wouldn't buy another piece of music gear (unless your music itself is paying for it - then its an investment). A more up to date computer would be a good option if you really feel limited by that G4 (and your meal plan etc. is already taken care of lol!).

I would get a used Macbook/iMac for around $400-600 and sell that powerbook on feebay to offset the cost. And a top notch audio interface. I'm never buying a new computer again its a ripoff.

iMac

I'd steer away from Imac for simple reason of being stuck with a slow 5400RPM hard disk drive.

I used to have a 20 imac and that thing would start bottlenecking past 10 tracks of various content

...which is fine for everything but lots of audio tracks... I wouldn't sweat that, because if you're serious about audio recording on your computer, then you already planned to invest in an external hard drive... For beatmaking its more than adequate.

konc3pt wrote:I'd steer away from Imac for simple reason of being stuck with a slow 5400RPM hard disk drive.

I used to have a 20 imac and that thing would start bottlenecking past 10 tracks of various content

iMacs have used 7200's ever since the G5's with the 600Mhz bus.

Sell the 3kxl and 1k, keep the 950 and get the 3k then add the iMac to that.

Sovereign wrote:

konc3pt wrote:I'd steer away from Imac for simple reason of being stuck with a slow 5400RPM hard disk drive.

I used to have a 20 imac and that thing would start bottlenecking past 10 tracks of various content

iMacs have used 7200's ever since the G5's with the 600Mhz bus.

Sell the 3kxl and 1k, keep the 950 and get the 3k then add the iMac to that.

you are right about 7200'rpm that's my bad...however that thing would bottleneck regardless...I was real disappointed by the performance given that I had a lower end macbook and that thing worked like a breeze without a hiccup.

Imacs are cool, just forget about dropping a solid state drive in one without taking the whole thing apart