MPC Trip/Travel & Conspiracy

I currently have 2 MPC 3000's and I'm planning a trip for a couple of months which is motivating me to get something to go along with my Mac Book to make music over there. I was interested in either the MPC 500 or MPC 1000 . For some reason I get the fealing that everybody all over the place (not just in ths forum) has been making bad comments about it and once in awhile someone comes out of nowhere and defends it to death. I'm really having difficulty choosing which one to go with and at the same time I'm becoming paranoid about the fact that maybe Akai has people become members of these forums to kind of hype their products or to defend their image.
Any help on the first matter would be really appreciated and am I the only one to feel this paranoia ?? hahaha...

This is just my personal perspective.

I had a 500. Did not care for it. I use the 1000 for sampling, chopping, looping, adding drums and effects. Basically, the idea for me is besides compressors, effects the 1k doesn't have and EQing, the beat is basically done inside the 1k before I track it out and tweak the settings.

So for me the 500 was useless besides the fact that it didn't need to be plugged in. I mean, sure I could use it on the plane or in my car or on the bus or whatever, but to quote another member of the forums (I forget who) I'm a grown ass man, I don't need to be banging on pads in public.

So for me, it became that I was just never in a situation where I absoluetely needed a battery operated MPC, because in any scenario where I would need an MPC, there was a plug readily availible.

Plus the 1000 is portable enough. In actuality, I was thinking about buying a second MPC1000 because they are so cheap now, one for on the go stuff and one to stay in the studio. I was consdiering buying a 2500, but when I thought about it, if I synched up two 1000's, I get 12 outs, 8 midi in/outs, and 32 pads, so for half the price of a 2500 I can have all that, plus have a "stationary" MPC and one for on the go.


So basically, for me, the chopping, looping, workflow and other issues with the 500 led me to sell it. But some people love it. For me, I need to see a waveform, I need to see more information on the screen than what the 500 gave me, and when I'm feeling creative, I need to not be backed up by endless windows and screens. Plain and simple, the 1k gave me that, and the 500 did not.

Thanks man,that In fact it enforces some thoughts I kinda had about the screen LCD size issue. I'm use to doing things without a waveform showing on the screen of the 3000 but I still wouldn't want to take 2 hours to chop some lil sample.
Yeah it's true about the prices, on ebay I saw a black MPC 1000 with custom protected carrying case for $720 US....not bad

MPC500 and mac book pro. chop in Audacity and Recycle on da mac, Transfer the files via usb to the 500. das all you need.
grab a 25-key midi Keyboard controller and UNO and your set.

Chopping on the MPC500 alone is not that hard, pretty easy to me actually.

I'd go with a 1000 w/ the JJ OS. If you buy new though, make sure you get the BK version with the new pads

master-ceo wrote:MPC500 and mac book pro. chop in Audacity and Recycle on da mac, Transfer the files via usb to the 500. das all you need.
grab a 25-key midi Keyboard controller and UNO and your set.

Chopping on the MPC500 alone is not that hard, pretty easy to me actually.

See that's just stupid to me. You named about nine things that you need in addition to the mpc 500 to carry around with you.

THAT IS NOT PORTABLE!!!!


A laptop, a keyboard controller, its all you need!!

That's not "all you need man" you just rambled oof like 2 grand worth of electronic equipment lol.

With that setup that you just named, why don't you just use reaper or Reason and completely bypass the mpc500, there is no sense in that setup you just described.


It's not "all you need". Rethink that.

For me, it would have to be the 1000 becuase the 500 has only 12 pads.
If you are doing hip-hop (mostly in 4/4 time) then only having 12 pads is stupid.

In addition the 1000 is still backpackable so the 500 has no advantage over the 1000 for travellers.

I had nothing but processing problems with the MPC 1000 I bought. I sent it back to the store who sent it to Akai. It was returned with all the same problems. I ended up trading it for a music PC. Such a shame Akai sell dodgy equipment because I loved the accessability of the MPC 1000. I am considering getting a 2000XL second hand because I miss the creativity of the MPC. I don't think there's any problems with that particular model.

if you absolutly need battery power then its a no brainer go with the 500. if that doenst matter then its the 1000 all the way with the jjos.

I had a 500 for less than a mth i sold it because i hated the pad response (to me it was absolute sht) now i dont know if there was a problem with it but i bought the 500 brand new and even with the full levels button on i couldnt keep a beat going on time.

so +1 for 1000