another report

Another report from the frontline:

Good thing: any pad in any of the 4 drums can send to either fx bus1 or two, then fx bux 1 can be sent to fx2, don'think you can send fx2 back to1 and create feedback loops, different fx setting scan be programmed and kept and installed in sequences so u can have different fx automated for verse chorus intro etc (add an MFC 42 to that I u have a LOT of preprogrammed fx happening) great!

Problem: The manual says you can use 4 drums at once - just like the mpc2000 but there is no place I can find to associate programs with drums. What is odd is that the bit where you can change which program a
drum live is using is absent on the MPC1000 so you can't change a whole kit in one press - you have to program it as sequence event, instead you seem to be able to select the individual programs each track is using. On the face of it this looks like you can select 24 programs at one as the drum thing is completey bypassed but in reality some programs are selected but do not sound. I don't get it but it looks like a problems. I'll have to read the manual again on this but its not clear... mabe not such a spontanious machine after all

Also I can't find a way to grab all the mixer levels at one - must be hidden somewhere

Richard

I need a hell of a report about the MPC 1000 because they are takin long with my order I've got side tracked and now lookin at the MPC 4000 or the Roland MV-8000. Has anyone tested the MV-8000 yet? I also have the New Motif ES with the MPC 1000 on order but if I feel limited in the future I'm lookin to upgrade to the Roland MV-8000 or the MPC 4000. Who thinks I should cancel my order for the MPC 1000 and get either the MV-8000 or the MPC 4000 Plus! Holla back at cha boy ASAP so I can make my decision Thanks!

well my other posts have been pretty glowing. I'd say the machine suceeds in what it sets out to do pretty much 99% sucessfully - which is unusual for new (Akai !) machine. The 1000 is fast to work with, portable, sounds good, great fx and its definitely a serious machine and ideal for live use

But if you have the bread for a MPC4000 and its studio tool u need then go for it without hesitation. Haven't heard much on the Roland, but apart from the timestretch I can't see them competing with an MPC if u like the way MPCs work - and I do!

personally I felt I needed both the 4000 and the 1000 as I need something completely different onstage than in the studio, so maybe get a b-stock or used 4000 and u can still afford a 1000 (that's what i did)

Richard

Richard

"The manual says you can use 4 drums at once "

I do not believe this is stated in the manual.

" On the face of it this looks like you can select 24 programs at one "

You can. The MPC1000 is 24 part multi-timbral. I believe the manual states that drum program selection for a track is independent for every track (or to that effect).

You can select a program loaded in the memory by turning the
DATA wheel in the Pgm field in the MAIN page. This is for THAT track.

actually its 32 part polytimbral

and in that case I'm an idiot, but a happy one... I think I got confised where it mentions 4 pad banks - of course its just referring to the rubber pads themselves, not the actual sounds. So what u r saying is that theoretically you can have almost immediate access to 4 X 24 banks - which is 1568 sounds, if the memory will take it!


If u can really have 24 programs going at once then this is a considerable advance on the 2000xl - however live kit switching is no longer an option (u can still program it tho) which may be a reason to hang onto the MPC2000 for some people

thanks MPC3000

Richard

"actually its 32 part polytimbral"

According to the docs it can hold 24 programs, so you can only access 24 program at once. That makes it 24 part multi-timbral.

"4 X 24 banks - which is 1568 sounds"

Actually it 6144 samples. This has been covered before in the forum.

Hi man

the manual definitely claims it can access 24 programs but has 32 part polyphony, I guess if you had some pads triggering multiple samples at once that extra headroom would make sense

likewise, I guess 6144 assumes that 4 samples can be attched to each pad.

bloody 'ell that's a lot of samples, and 132 meg (including 5 meg flash Ram) is a lot too, I wonder if the original 16 meg stays active, making 148meg?

Richard

What's up rich, always good to hear from the front lines.

To clarify:

A timbre is an "instrument" in this case, a program.

The level of polyphony refers to the number of actual tones (notes) the unit is capable of playing at once, rather than the number of instruments. Thus, you could have 2 4-key chords playing on one program simultaneously as 3 drums hit and another layered pair of loops on another pad played. That'd be (2x4=8)+(3)+(2) = 13 chomps into your 32 part polyphony.

The MPC has been 32 note polyphonic for some time, dating at least back to the 2000.

Also, I believe samples can be loaded into memory without being loaded into a program, as has always been the case. So regardless of where the figure came from (I'd assume it's a memory limit...) it's still 6144, nyeh?

Anyhow, cheers. I'm starting to think more and more on getting a 1000. Have to toy in the store, I guess.

-tank.

Are the midi tracks part of the polyphony?

I mean, if I send midi to an external unit, is it counted with the 32 "voices" or whatever?

Nope. But, depending on how crazy you get recording CCs like filter sweeps, pans, volume movement and whatever else into the MPC, it will seriously waste the sequencer's memory.

The majority of crashes I've experienced on my MPC2k have been from overloaded sequence data. First the track slows down (though tempo remains the same) and then I get a memory dump. Ugh.

-tank.

what do filter sweeps, pans, volume movement have to do with the seuqnecer?wouldnt it be wasting the sampling memory?

MarkWolbirgh wrote:what do filter sweeps, pans, volume movement have to do with the seuqnecer?wouldnt it be wasting the sampling memory?

If they are recorded as midi data - it has a lot to do with the sequencer !!!

I'm shure that's what he's reffering to.