im thinking the 1k sounds dark

normally im not a hater on this piece. ive been using it for about 18 months now and ive made some of the best stuff ive ever done on this 1k. but i gotta admit, lately the thing's been pissing me off and ive been wanting get an XL instead. i started another thread with most of my gripes, but this one is for here.

for the people WHO INTIMATELY KNOW BOTH THE 1K AND THE 2KXL, do you also find the sound quality of the 1k to be kind of dark?

is the xl like that too?

it's like every time i either finish a track on the 1k by itself, or import the tracks into digital performer, i always gotta put a little nicey nice up in the treble. i have fancy eq's and all that so it's not a big deal - but id rather not have to use them because the 1k is robbing treble from the samples ya know?


so what do you think

I can compare the MPC with three other akai samplers I own (s3000xl, Z8, S20) and no, the MPC does not steal hi freq. But one thing is sure: if you layer a lot after a while the stereo out goes muddy and this is the time when it becomes mandatory to seperate a bit your tracks usinig the extra outputs.

tiger vomitt wrote:normally im not a hater on this piece. ive been using it for about 18 months now and ive made some of the best stuff ive ever done on this 1k. but i gotta admit, lately the thing's been pissing me off and ive been wanting get an XL instead. i started another thread with most of my gripes, but this one is for here.

for the people WHO INTIMATELY KNOW BOTH THE 1K AND THE 2KXL, do you also find the sound quality of the 1k to be kind of dark?

is the xl like that too?

it's like every time i either finish a track on the 1k by itself, or import the tracks into digital performer, i always gotta put a little nicey nice up in the treble. i have fancy eq's and all that so it's not a big deal - but id rather not have to use them because the 1k is robbing treble from the samples ya know?


so what do you think

do it through SPDIF (digital) connections or through the MPC itself, and you'll get the high end good and proper.

i noticed for the 1st time the other day that the amount of effect the master FX has is relational to how much you have the volume knob cranked, so it's a post-fade effect... This means it's a bit of a balancing act to get the master FX and overall volume right so that everything sounds how you want it... I have been working with the 1k cranked to full volume and wondering why everything sounded so gain-heavy/muddy... and it was because I was using a set from a few months ago where I had the master FX set up right for the volume to be about 70% of full volume.

freezerman wrote:I can compare the MPC with three other akai samplers I own (s3000xl, Z8, S20) and no, the MPC does not steal hi freq. But one thing is sure: if you layer a lot after a while the stereo out goes muddy and this is the time when it becomes mandatory to seperate a bit your tracks usinig the extra outputs.

ahh, see now i had an s3000xl for a long time and i never heard it being dark or anything like that. and the 1k, i noticed it from the very first moment i heard it. like, standing there in guitar center listening to the demos on my own headphones that i brought with me.

weird..

samuraisam wrote:do it through SPDIF (digital) connections or through the MPC itself, and you'll get the high end good and proper.

sometimes i do it that way yeah. but sometimes i feel like the digital outs are a little thin. the converters, to my ears, pack a bit more bass than the spdif outs. i hear that when comparing identical sounds on the 1k vs. my MOTU stuff.




anybody use an XL and a 1k who can compare the overall freq response?

i would like to know peoples opinions who have dealt qwith both, i was thinking of upgrading from 1000 to xl, should it even be considered an upgrade?

Not an upgrade.

just use da eq on da master out effect

just so u can boost da treble a little
then later on u can go more into details on ur pro tools, logic, w\e

the eq on the mpc doesnt sound very good. not every eq sounds the same, or even good, you dig?

also, i know these samples dont need to be eq'd. but after the mpc gets done with em, theyre dark. i produce and engineer for a living, i know im not hearing things

yeah, it's usually pretty good once i use some nice eq on it. but without eq it could be even better.

i'll say this here cuz maybe someone doesnt know it and would find it helpful -

every time you do a process on a bit of audio (like eq, compression, etc) you get a little degradation. sometimes it degrades a little but the benefits of whatever youre processing outweighs the negative side effects. but then other times you do a little something here, say to the raw sample - then later on in the mpc you use an effect. then in the mixdown a little something or 2 gets added. now before you know it, youve processed this sound 4 or 5 times and the cumulative degrdation really starts to show.

do this to almost every track in your mix and your nice clean mix now sounds like garbage compared to what it could be.

to make some little grimy beat, yeah who cares if the sound gets messed up. but that's not what im doing here. i do pro work for people so the little things matter

When you record to your DAW, what soundcard do you have? There might be a downgrade in your sound there? I don't think the 1k is darker than the 2k-xl.

T-fonk

AAAAAND you should check your signal paths ! ! !


seriously - do you run your mpc thru' a mixer or sum' like that?


Try to run your mpc straight to your pc - or EVEN BETTER - try to run your mpc straight to your Monitor-Boxes.


Then check back if it still sounds dark.

I've used to run my mpc thru' a shitty Bear-ringer for a short time as an interim solution.

I wasn't aware at first that it had something to do with the mixer.
I mean, they are not stellar - but I thought for the purpose it would be okay.

Man was I wrong - suddenly my sounds just started to suck (and NO - it's not my producing skillz).

Somehow everything what came out of the mpc sounded kinda dull - and had some graininess to the sound - very metallic and ugly.

After a few days of frustration (I just wouldn't get it faster ) - I just pulled everything out and tried the "direct" connection to my speakers.

And all of a sudden - it sounded great!


Maybe it's worth a try!

thank you for the suggestions!

im using pretty expensive gear - a nice mixer/preamps, MOTU hardware. definitely nothing behringer here. but that has nothing to do with it. like i said, i heard the dark thing in the first 10 seconds demo'ing the 1k at the store on headphones. it was really obvious to me right away.

i was like "hmm, sounds real beefy but kinda dark"

whatever, i have weird ears. im always hearing sh1t that clients dont even notice. i smell things a lot that most people cant smell too, which gets kind of annoying sometimes

thanks again for the xl vs 1k observations. very helpful!

only sounds "dark" to me when i record in through the stereo outs. i like the spdif a LOT more, the sound is superb. there's a definite difference.

Tiger Vomit has 'the ears' he's hearing the character of the recording circuitry and software. What we should ask is Dark compared to what?

well it's like if im hearing the demo tunes in the store like that, on my own headphones and everything, and there's a definite shortage of 16khz and up - that's the kind of thing that's gonna make me thing it sounds dark. it doesnt really need a comparison except me hearing an uneven freq response

at the time i was like "eh no worries, it's probably that the demos are using dark samples"

NOPE! haha

you know i could swear i even posted something about it way back then. this was a long time ago though, like arounf the xmas that the 1k came out