First time MPC buyer/user

Hey guys, need some advice about what MPC to get, and equipment to go with it.
There's a few questions I'd like to ask before I commit my hard-earned money (left over student loan) to getting one.

From what I've read and researched so far it's a toss up between the MPC 1000 and MPC 2000xl - they're the most affordable and available on ebay at the moment

1. What type of prices am I looking at, so I don't get ripped off? (I'm from UK btw)

2. How important is the RAM upgrade, and what does this give you? How much more valuable would it make the MPC (is it better to but one with the upgrade, or install it myself, bearing in mind I'm not a tech wizard or anything)

3. Likewise should I only buy an MPC with new pads?

4. This is the first time I'm stepping into the world of music production, how easy are they to pick up? I know it'll take time to start banging out some heat, but are we talking weeks, months, years?

5. Im gonna be using it almost exclusively for hip hop, like that classic late 80's, early 90's sound, but also would like to be outside the box a bit ala Madlib and what not. So I'm going to be using samples as the back bone and body of nearly everything I do.

6. What equipment do I need to get started? I'm talking absolute basics, spending the absolute minimum here, so I can get started cooking beats straight away. MPC, sample source (record player, games console, whatever), headphones/speakers. Am I good to go?
Also, later on when I have more money, got to grips with it, want to expand and stuff, what tech would you recommend I get?


7. I know the MPC 1000 has more features, but as a complete novice do these matter, what are the features that make it 'better' and what exactly do they do. When I see the features lined up I'm not sure what they mean, so I don't know if they'll get used. (I understand that learning the machine means you'll incorporate them more as you get better, so could be worth it)

8. What difference does the operating system make. I hear talk about needing to upgrade the 1000 to the jjos one. Is it free? what are its benefits? is the 2000xl one good?

9. I don't have logic or anything, but I have audacity. I'll probably end up not using a pc for making beats. keep it simple and that, and have the workflow the MPC brings.




So! Cheers for taking the time to read this, any help would be much appreciated!

I'd just be done with it and go for a 1000, upgraded fat pads and the 128mb memory module. Later, if you start to feel the machines limitations, you can upgrade to JJOS.

aight probably will do.

How much do those pads and ram usually go for, and is it easy to install?

mmmsmith wrote:aight probably will do.

How much do those pads and ram usually go for, and is it easy to install?

if your going to get a mpc 1000 get the black one not blue and red one...the black one has the upgrade on the pad sensors already...the red /blue one does not and its about 150-200 for the full kit.


if you go the other route there is a bunch of youtube walk throughs on how to install.

look at craigslist and ebay..most people who are selling there mpc1000 have already done the needed upgrades.


-the madlib sound and what not come from running there samples through other units(303 i think for madlib) these other pieces are great collections to any studio but are not as needed as say a mpc/machine....the rabbit hole goes deep ,just depends on what you want your music to sound like.

-save your money right now....just get the mpc...give it time and practice...as time goes on you will know and learn exactly what you want/need to achieve the sound your going for....alot of people waste alot of money in the beginning because they think they need alot of equipment.

Learn audacity. It's powerful and readily available.

I am a new user and I have the MPC1000 with free JJOS. It's very good. I really enjoy it. I tried for a few months to get into production using my laptop. I just hated it. Something about using the MPC just works for me. I hate using the mouse.

It took about a week before I felt like I needed to upgrade the RAM. I got it on Amazon, it was about $30.

I would also suggest you pick up the MPC Tutor book on your machine. The price is steep IMO but it's totally worth it. I bought it because I figured what was the point of dropping $700 on hardware without knowing how to really use it?

That said, I've been watching Maschine videos recently and wondering why I actually got an MPC. I think it was because it seemed like the right thing to do since it was a proven workflow for hiphop producers of old. My only gripe with Maschine is a big one. I love how my MPC is 100% standalone. If NI made a Maschine that had all the inputs/outputs of the MPC1000 and was completely standalone I would probably buy in the next week.

I would not be surprised if in a few months I will switch to a maschine. But until then I really like my MPC1000 and I've made more music in the last week than I have in my entire life. (I've dived into software sequencers probably four separate times in life.)

oh and upgrading jjos is pretty usefull ,,for the music your going to be doing...you will be chopping samples...the akai os chopping interface sucks bad...actually the whole akai os sucks bad(imo)...upgrade to the free jjos just to see the differance though.

Ok cheers for the advice guys.

So if there's a blue and red one on sale only get it if it has new pads right? And the black one looks better imo

Its cool how you can add stuff to improve your tools over time, reminds me of upgrading my vinyl set up.

What's the upper limit on money I should part with to get one of these bad boys? I'm thinking £280 - is that too high/too low, unrealistic or ok?

im not sure about uk prices, but yeah, you can get a blue one if it says it has the pad upgrade kit installed.

also, the black ones with the black back panels (the newest black ones) all have the upgrade kit, but some of the black ones with the silver backs do not (i have heard anyway), a crude way you can tell is if you move one pad in the corner, the rest will move with it if it has the upgrade kit, if it doesnt, the mpc doesnt have the upgrade kit.

i would just go for one with a black back just to be safe, unless it says has pad upgrade kit i would also just make jjos 2xl a requirement on your search for the perfect mpc, youll thank yourself a million times later.. trust me.

also, make the 128mb RAM upgrade a requirement too, maybe not as crucial as jjos2xl, but its good to have anyway, you can buy it aftermarket cheap enough if you dont get one that has it.

GET 2xl though!

and like the others said, save your money, youll need to invest time into this, start off with a 1k, i think youll be happy with it.

also, later on you can upgrade to internal hd, it would be good to just get one with it, but again you can get one for pretty cheap, they are AWESOME and wayy better than just having a flash card.

check ebay for finished listings to see the prices over there.

good luck.

Cheers Damian, some sound advice.

Definitely keep an eye out for a decent one then. So generally it's better to wait for a souped up one coming up on ebay at a decent price rather than just trying to snatch up a cheaper unupgraded one right?

So forget UK prices, how many dollars(US, Canadian, Australian, whatever not assuming you're any or either) would you be prepared to put down on one? cus I don't have a job at the moment as I'm just finishing uni, but got some money saved up and get some money in from a house deposit, so don't want to overspend. I put a bid in for a 2000xl last week of £250, got beat by someone who bid £280, kind of regretted not going higher but I'm grateful now cus it seems the 1000 would be better for me

And the internal hard drive sounds sick! what size can you put in there or can you just put like a monster terabyte in there or summat?

i just copped my 1k on ebay for 770, it has a 80 gb hd, jjos 2xl, the 128 RAM upgrade, a black set of pads from mpcstuff.com and also a 1gb CF card..

yeah i would definitely wait for a upgraded one.

i paid a tad higher for mine, but i dont mind cause ill be using it for years. you can usually find one like mine in the 500-700 dollar range.

someone just sold one on here for 500 that came with the pad upgrade and jjos 2xl. i saw another one for that price on here a couple weeks ago too. i think they were both blue models.

just keep waiting, one will come up, people do ship international from ebay too, whatever you do, DO NOT buy a new one.
imo they are generally good machines if you dont beat the hell out of them, and a new one would just be like wasting money, you can get so much more buying used, especially if you wait for the right one.

As for price mine was dead stock with probably an hour of use on it. I've dirtied it up more in the week I've had it than the previous owner did it's entire life and I'm a very clean person. I paid $600 for it.

Also I didn't realize this until after I bought it, but the MPC1000 and MPC500 both have rectangular pads, not square ones like all the MPC/MPDs. This really upset me because I had been drumming on an MPD18 and the pads is what tipped the scale for me to pick up the MPC1000. I had a line on an MPC2500 almost brand new locally for $775 but went for the MPC1000 for portability reasons thinking that (naively) the pads were identical. Sometimes I wish I had snagged the 2500 but I try to remind myself that the best producers could make incredible tracks with nothing but a tape deck and some scotch tape and scissors.

I guess some people have square fingertips and others have rectangle fingertips. Lucky for me mines are round so anything with pads will get banged.

taiden wrote:I try to remind myself that the best producers could make incredible tracks with nothing but a tape deck and some scotch tape and scissors.

I'm pretty sure you'd rather have rectangle pad beats than scotch tape beat though.

Ill-Green wrote:I guess some people have square fingertips and others have rectangle fingertips. Lucky for me mines are made of sausage so anything with pads will get banged.

fixed...