By lameaim13
Thu Mar 04, 2004 10:06 am
Hey everyone,
I recently snagged a 2000xl as my first piece of equipment after a lengthy decision-making process involving pretty much anything you can think of. I'm still wrapping my head around the MPC and reading the manual daily, but defintely feel like it is a very capable piece of equipment.
However, I've run into a couple of problems... one major, one minor. The minor is that I don't really have any real sounds yet - kind of has me toying with the idea of getting a sound module. That's really a minor problem though... I could always get a couple of sample CDs to tide me over... but the main problem I'm having is that the MPC doesn't really offer the sound mangling possibilities I was looking forward to. My tastes kind of run towards the grittier, more electronic sounding side of hip-hop, like Prefuse73, El-P, and Jel and Alias from Anticon, just to name a few. And I'm familiar with the kind of equipment they use, but I certainly don't want to straight-out copy people. But I do want something that I can use to do dirty, dirty things to samples. Hah.
As it would turn out, I'm getting a profit-sharing check from work soon and will have some money on my hands... so if I pool that with what I've saved, I should have enough for a companion piece. That's where you all come in. I could use some advice.
Essentially I'm looking for something that has better sampling and better effects than the 2000xl. Sounds would be nice, but not absolutely necessary. I've gotten it narrowed down to three items... the Roland MC-909, the Yamaha A4000/A5000, and the Roland V-Synth. So far, I've come up with the following observations:
The 909 would definitely allow better sampling, better sample editing and better effects, not to mention that it also has sounds built in.... and the general opinion about it has been positive. USB drag 'n drop is also nice.
The A5000 is the cheapest out of the bunch (used) and I've only heard good things about it. Plus it's a full sampler with a hard drive built in. The only drawback that I understand it has is the user interface... Yamaha isn't always known to have the cleanest UI on the planet.
Finally, the V-Synth is the most expensive out of the three, but I think it makes up that ground through sheer potential. I've used one a couple of times and loved the hands-on control. Main drawback is definitely its price.
So there's all the details... any input about those three items or any others that you think might suit my purposes would be greatly appreciated. My only real steadfast rule is that I'm trying to stay away from software for now... I fix computers for a living and am trying to stay away from them for now as far as the music hobby is concerned. Thanks again for making it all the way through this...
I recently snagged a 2000xl as my first piece of equipment after a lengthy decision-making process involving pretty much anything you can think of. I'm still wrapping my head around the MPC and reading the manual daily, but defintely feel like it is a very capable piece of equipment.
However, I've run into a couple of problems... one major, one minor. The minor is that I don't really have any real sounds yet - kind of has me toying with the idea of getting a sound module. That's really a minor problem though... I could always get a couple of sample CDs to tide me over... but the main problem I'm having is that the MPC doesn't really offer the sound mangling possibilities I was looking forward to. My tastes kind of run towards the grittier, more electronic sounding side of hip-hop, like Prefuse73, El-P, and Jel and Alias from Anticon, just to name a few. And I'm familiar with the kind of equipment they use, but I certainly don't want to straight-out copy people. But I do want something that I can use to do dirty, dirty things to samples. Hah.
As it would turn out, I'm getting a profit-sharing check from work soon and will have some money on my hands... so if I pool that with what I've saved, I should have enough for a companion piece. That's where you all come in. I could use some advice.
Essentially I'm looking for something that has better sampling and better effects than the 2000xl. Sounds would be nice, but not absolutely necessary. I've gotten it narrowed down to three items... the Roland MC-909, the Yamaha A4000/A5000, and the Roland V-Synth. So far, I've come up with the following observations:
The 909 would definitely allow better sampling, better sample editing and better effects, not to mention that it also has sounds built in.... and the general opinion about it has been positive. USB drag 'n drop is also nice.
The A5000 is the cheapest out of the bunch (used) and I've only heard good things about it. Plus it's a full sampler with a hard drive built in. The only drawback that I understand it has is the user interface... Yamaha isn't always known to have the cleanest UI on the planet.
Finally, the V-Synth is the most expensive out of the three, but I think it makes up that ground through sheer potential. I've used one a couple of times and loved the hands-on control. Main drawback is definitely its price.
So there's all the details... any input about those three items or any others that you think might suit my purposes would be greatly appreciated. My only real steadfast rule is that I'm trying to stay away from software for now... I fix computers for a living and am trying to stay away from them for now as far as the music hobby is concerned. Thanks again for making it all the way through this...
