MPC 4000 or Roland MV-8000?

Well, I can honestly say that im not brand loayl as you put it, infact i hope the mv is alot better than the 4k, then i'd get that instead. Problem is, I just dont have the confidence in its sequencer as I do in the 4k. But thats where you hopefully come in and let us know

Kalei

[quote="MPC_Producer"]Compatibility doesn't matter with the MPC4000.
Not to you maybe, but I think it's pretty unique when you can get on a forum and find out everything you need to know about one piece of equipment. Plus, I got all my sounds from swapping them with my producer buddies. So to me, and all the people I know, it does.

well, i'm impatiently awayting for your review too Mpc Prod, 'cos I'm gon' cop an MPC 4000 or a MV 8000 in a few weeks and I can't figure which one is the best....

I played around with the MV in Sam Ash for a lil while. Nice unit, real nice but if the question is MV or 4000 you have to look at it in 2 ways. The MPC is the Midi Production center of your studio. Its seq's your beats, holds and stores your samples, controls 4 other midi devices ECT.
The MV is the whole studio, it records tracks, and sets up your song, even master it to a disk. It depends on what you need, the MPC is not an all in one unit, and it’s the brains of a bigger operation. The MV can be a stand-alone unit that can” do it all". If I were building a studio I would look towards a MPC, if I were only getting one piece of gear and nothing else I would look at a MV8000. It depends on your need. Te MPC can stand alone but its overkill. The MV can play nice with other equipment but then that’s overkill (Why would you need a 2200 piece if your only gonna sample with it!!) Why pay for a mastering box if you going to run MIDI DEVICES from a MV? HENCH THE 2 OUTS. Yea you can record them onto a track but then why have a computer or DAW, and so on and so on.
So it goes to what you need. They both can do the job, but which is gonna do it for you? Do it all units never do it for me, because something falls short eventually.

aprim wrote:I played around with the MV in Sam Ash for a lil while. Nice unit, real nice but if the question is MV or 4000 you have to look at it in 2 ways. The MPC is the Midi Production center of your studio. Its seq's your beats, holds and stores your samples, controls 4 other midi devices ECT.
The MV is the whole studio, it records tracks, and sets up your song, even master it to a disk. It depends on what you need, the MPC is not an all in one unit, and it’s the brains of a bigger operation. The MV can be a stand-alone unit that can” do it all". If I were building a studio I would look towards a MPC, if I were only getting one piece of gear and nothing else I would look at a MV8000. It depends on your need. Te MPC can stand alone but its overkill. The MV can play nice with other equipment but then that’s overkill (Why would you need a 2200 piece if your only gonna sample with it!!) Why pay for a mastering box if you going to run MIDI DEVICES from a MV? HENCH THE 2 OUTS. Yea you can record them onto a track but then why have a computer or DAW, and so on and so on.
So it goes to what you need. They both can do the job, but which is gonna do it for you? Do it all units never do it for me, because something falls short eventually.

you can cop a mv8000 from rik's music for around $1800, which is cheaper or on par with what the mpc4k goes for -- and the akai does less. i agree with your points but the price argument doesn't work if the MV actually DOES MORE for the same price. both units would then be overkill for the price.

i'm more concerned with how good the sequencer is on the MV, which could be the roland's achilles heel.

not to mention akai still have unimplemented features and a horrible support record -- this makes me shy away from giving them anymore of my money. i mean wtf? audition isn't on the mpc4k? that to me would seem like a no-brainer feature.

actually I do have a question: do you know if the MV can sequence other instruments? i don't have any external sound modules, but i think it'd be dope if i could trigger VSTis using it.

E&E, yeah of course you can trigger any external midi sequencer (or sound module) including VSTIs from the MV. That's just basic MIDI.

JusDaFied wrote:E&E, yeah of course you can trigger any external midi sequencer (or sound module) including VSTIs from the MV. That's just basic MIDI.

tight

actually i got another Q. how many external instrument tracks can you have on the mpc4k? the MV's got 128 for internal instruments and then 32 for external. i couldn't find the mpc spec on that. is it unlimited?

More you say??
A mastering section, and 16 tracks of audio is not "more" it’s a very different machine. It’s a digital recorder that is packaged with a sampler. Like I said if you need both then maybe its for you, But I wouldn’t trust mastering and Audio Recording to a All in wonder sampler. Seems like a lot to through into the mix, something going to fall short.

The MPC has more midi outs, not to mention akai.sys, 24 bit recording 98khz sample rate, Q-link that if you don't know what it dose you can't appreciate it. Multi angle LDC made to build a studio around.

The MV might be a great machine, from what I played with I dug it, but you can’t tell me its more or better then an MPC, because it just not in the same league. It a all in wonder
1899.00 is a great price but I would shell out the rest just to get 2 more midi outs, and 24 bit sampling. IMO

aprim wrote:More you say??
A mastering section, and 16 tracks of audio is not "more" it’s a very different machine. It’s a digital recorder that is packaged with a sampler. Like I said if you need both then maybe its for you, But I wouldn’t trust mastering and Audio Recording to a All in wonder sampler. Seems like a lot to through into the mix, something going to fall short.

The MPC has more midi outs, not to mention akai.sys, 24 bit recording 98khz sample rate, Q-link that if you don't know what it dose you can't appreciate it. Multi angle LDC made to build a studio around.

The MV might be a great machine, from what I played with I dug it, but you can’t tell me its more or better then an MPC, because it just not in the same league. It a all in wonder
1899.00 is a great price but I would shell out the rest just to get 2 more midi outs, and 24 bit sampling. IMO

word -- good points. those other features aren't really important to me like 96khz sampling and 2 midi outs. most of my samples are in 44.1khz 16bit format anyhow. i mean it's hip hop - i kind of like it lo-fi (as if 44.1khz is somehow lo-fi). especially when cats are still using their sp1200s to sample.

but the mastering thing could be dodgy, i agree. i'll wait for the review on the sequencer, too. it looks linear, which could be OK because people can still make good music with it. just different strokes.

isn't q-link just assigning functions (like filter cutoff) to the knobs up front? i guess that's aight, but you're making it sound like it's god's butter. if i'm wrong, please explain.

Well the Qlink is cool for me because besides the filter control, it allows me to send messages to a 4 of my Midi mods, for example,
1 Turbo Phatt,
2 Virus C
3 Triton Rack
4 Motif Rack
With QLINK option I can control all Volume, Pan, effects, Pitch, anything midi from the MPC. Makes it a powerhouse when using all 4 midi outs. I use it on a reguler, its just gives you control of you external gear. It also remebers the settings and loads them up for you. Really QLINK is a keeper on the 4000 even the 1000 has 2 of em. This is a amazin featue because you can programs them for almost anything.
And if akai fell of the map tomarrow and never released another OS again, I still would never get rid of my MPC, and it would still be a powerhouse monster that can't be touched.

To everyone following this discussion, I think you will like tomorrow's review which covers an introduction to the MV-8000. In the meantime, here is something to think about. Another $100 less to pay!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... gory=38069

Be careful with that link to that MV-8000 on ebay...Only accepting cashiers check and money orders on high priced items is a red flag in my book. Also, one should check about warranty transfer policy with Roland.

You can't judge the listing by payment type alone. The seller has an actual photo of the item and he has been on eBay for over a year. I have had some buyers who refuse to pay by any means except check or money order. The reasoning goes both ways. The seller in this listing obviously knows little about PayPal and eBay. He's just uncomfortable with returning the item to the music store, so he's selling it the only way he knows how.

I eagerly wait your review of the MV 8000, MPC_Producer. But I have a serious question, Why? I mean If you already own the 4000 why get the MV? I could understand if you didn't have the 4000 but you do. I just believe if its capable of making hits than its good enough, and the 4000 is very capable. Just Blaze, Dr Dre, & Timbaland.... or just to name a few that are making great productions from the 4000. I just feel if you have the 4000 who gives ah @#$% about the MV. But to be honest, I am interested to see what you think of it though. Good luck and enjoy.

I purchase a lot of new equipment every year. Sometimes I can get an item on an evaluation basis and pay for it if I keep it. In this situation I decided to buy the item and pay the least amount. The expense is a tax deduction anyway.

Dre and others moved on to Logic and ProTools. There is still a place in music production for a hands-on tool such as an MPC or (as Roland calls it) a Production Studio. I find it a useful, more interactive, less abstractive tool than software alone. It can serve as the center of a studio or be used as a sketchpad whose audio and MIDI gets recorded into a sequencing application such as Cubase or Logic.

My review will be through a series of posts. Its first installment will be posted before noon today. There is enough in it so that you will understand the importance of writing it. Everyone will learn more than they could from hearsay, since I have an actual MV-8000 and its manuals. Someone who has been trying to make up his mind whether or not to buy the MPC4000 will find this information very practical.