need help ON DECIDING WAT 2 BUY!! NEED ANSWER B4 TOMOROW!

WADDUP SO I BASICALLY DONT KNOW WHICH OF THESE 2 SET UPS I SHUD GET FOR TOMOROW:

1) AKAI MPC 1000, M-BOX 2 WITH PROTOOLS LE, 49 NOTE MIDI KEYBOARD

OR

2) AKAI MPC 1000, 49 NOTE MIDI KEYBOARD, AMP, SUBWOOFER, AND SPEAKERS

I BASICALLY REALLY DONT WANNA USE SOFTWARE. U GONNA TELL ME THAT THEN I SHOULD GET OPTION 2 BUT MY BUDGET IS OF 2000 DOLLARS. THE MPC IS 1000, THE KEYBOARD LIKE 500 OR SOMETHIN. SO, CAN I GET AN AMP, SUBWOOFER AND SPEAKERS FOR 500 OR S0???

ANY ADVICE WOULD HELP!!!

THX

i personally would cop the mpc, used off of craigslist or ebay and order the pad upgrade if needed. that should cover about $800.

either protools and an mbox 2 or a digital recorder, thats $500-$800 i would say.

and that would leave you with at least $400, so cop a used midi keyboard, or even a cheap casio from bestbuy that has midi outs, $100.

cables, you are going to need 1/4" and midi cables, $40-50 im guessing if you only cop one set of each.

your down to $250, do you have monitors? actually, i would skip the midi keyboard for now. take the leftover $350 and grab some inexpensive monitors, but do your homework and find the best for that price range.

then i would spend $30 on a jjos password and the rest on vinyl if you have anything left.

if you are buying from guitar center, look on the internet because they will pricematch competitors. also, used gear is not always bad, i bought an mbox 2 for $250 off of ebay, i went to pick it up and there was an mbox 2 pro in the box, they didnt have the activation code and i asked them to pay for it and they did. mbox 2 pro and pt 7.4 for $250.

look for bargains because they are out there. try to negotiate with the seller too. whats the worst that can happen?

I completely cosign the idea of buying used gear, HOWEVER, the padfix is backordered until who knows when, so that is an issue.


Having said that though, I still think a used 1k is a better idea. Also, a used mbox is where its at too.


Whenever possible, dont buy new.

Lithion wrote:I completely cosign the idea of buying used gear, HOWEVER, the padfix is backordered until who knows when, so that is an issue.


Having said that though, I still think a used 1k is a better idea. Also, a used mbox is where its at too.


Whenever possible, dont buy new.

TOO LATE!!! LOL

SO NOW I GOT THIS SETUP:

MPC1000, OXYGEN MIDI KEYBOARD, M-BOX2 WITH PRO TOOLS LE, LOGIC EXPRESS 8 AND IM WAITING ON A MACBOOK PRO.

THE ONLY PROBLEM I GOT WITH THE MIDI KEYBOARD IS I CANT SEEM TO MAKE IT SYNC WITH THE MPC. IVE TRIED DOING THIS SEVERAL TIMES, MAYBE IM DOING IT WRONG? HOPEFULLY SOMEONE CAN TELL ME. I GOT A CABLE GOING FROM THE ''MIDI IN'' ON THE MPC TO THE ''MIDI OUT'' ON THE KEYBOARD. WHAT NOW?

THX AGAIN!!!!

AND R U SAYING ITS BETTER TO BUY OLD EQUIPMENT BECAUSE ITS LESS EXPENSIVE OR BECAUSE IT COMES WITH OLD SETTINGS FROM THE USER FROM BEFORE OR SUMTIN?

O AND I HAVE SOME M-AUDIO STUDIOPHILE BX5a SPEAKERS TOO

if you have your midi keyboard connected to the mpc, the mpc doesnt automatically place samples to keys. you will have to build the instrument by putting in however many samples there are to keys, which i dont know how to do because i have jjos 1 and autochromate my programs. btw, a midi keyboard isnt going to sync with anything unless it has a sequencer. it just sends data out.

as far as used gear, it depends on what your talking about. a lot of good equipment has been discontinued. some are popular for its sound, some for its functions. used gear is not alway cheap. it just depends on what it is, and if you are in the right place at the right time.

okay so how do I make it so my keyboard plays notes because right now i turn it on and when i hit a note nothing comes out. only when i press certain buttons like the Snapshot button do SOME notes play. anyone can help me? i only got a cable connecting the MIDI out of my keyboard to the IN of my MPC, do i need anything else? anyone have this keyboard?

In my opinion, if you know what you are doing and know what to look for, buying used is better for several reasons.


The first is that music production equipment drops in price drastically as soon as you take it out of the box. People are ALWAYS trading equipment that they don't like or don't use anymore. It's better to buy used in that respect.

Second, because of the ridiculous markup of new gear.

Third, because musicians are sometimes hasty, and will get rid of equipment at outlandishly low costs.


But....in your case, as you are very new, its probably wise to buy new and get that 30 day return policy if something isn't working out for you. Also, if per chance some factory setting was changed on a used unitl, you might not know how to fix it being new. So in the end it probably works out well for you. Enjoy!