Advice for a newbie: 4000 or 2000XL?

hi folks! great forum!

As many MPC-geeks seem to be present here, I'd like to post a request for advice.

I'm an electronic musician focusing primarily on live performance. I'm looking for a sequencer/sampler for this purpose.

I've been investigating the MPC4000 -AKAI's newest model. But studying your posts in the respective forum has made me rather unsure. It seems rather unfinished, this thing. However, I personally have never touched one.

A friend of mine uses a 2000XL. I've worked on it too, a little bit. It seems far more simple in design, and has always performed flawlessly. I appreciate it's rugged physical design and conceptual straightforwardness.

I'm a guy who has to get down to work fast. No time for quibbling about bugfixes and OS releases. What would you recommend? Is the 4000 worth a shot? Or am I better off with an 2000XL?

Grateful if anybody with experience takes time to post a reply.

yours,
void

If you're writing electornica then I would seriously reccomend the 4ooo to you. People seem to blow these "bugs" out of all proportion. Sure there are a few "niggles" that we have with the 4ooo, but there is no denying she is a total BEAST!

jues.

thanks, jues, for replying to what has turned out to be one of those superlame questions ...

...ahh, nothing like being new to a forum

My reason for getting an MPC (whichever) is to be able to work autonomously without a PC, even on the road. But it seems that some features of the 4000 cannot be unlocked without a PC nearby (so far I can gather from specs etc.) Or are they?

errr, where did you get that piece of info from.

You can indeed work autominously(sp) from a PC on a 4ooo with no problems at all - the only tricky thing is sample maipulation, but it's not impossible once you get to grips with how the wav editor works on the 4ooo.

However, I get the distinct impression you might be better off with a laptop... Unless you NEED stability, in which case, the 4ooo wins handsdown every time.

jues.,

....yeah man, I NEED stability!

I know enough about computers as not to trust them 100%.

I never forget that computer crash while the PA was open full blast -it took my ears 2 DAYS to recuperate! Thought they never would. No man. Computers belong in offices or in studios -where they remain stationary in an fixed environment. Not on stage.

On an MPC you can happily pound away on the pads in the heat of live performance. They are built for that. If you pound away too long and too hard on a laptop keyboard ...err... get the picture.

I love computers in the studio. Fast, efficient, perversely cheap (yeah it is, compared to hardware!), total recall... it's all there for you. But I get nervous when I see a mouse pointer on stage. Or -even worse- a microsoft-logo... god forbid! Geez...

So -great to know one can unlock ALL the 4ooo's functions without one of those things. Coming from an age where one coded one's own little step sequencer in assembler code, that little extra work beyond the "drag&drop"-mentality doesn't scare me at all.

Thank you for your reply, jues.

All the best to everyone.

It sounds to me that the 2000xl would better suit your needs then the 4000. Firstly, the 2000xl is MUCH smaller. It's also a better road tool in my opinion because I think it's a little more rugged. Coupled with the fact that you said you want simplicity, well the the 2000xl is about as simple as it comes. There is a larger learning curve with the 4000 but then again it's a lot less expandable. I have both, and if I ever gigged with it (which I don't any more), I would bring the 2000xl. On the other side of the coin, if I was forced to give one up, it would be the 2000xl. I'm sure this has been no help to you.

LOL

you're absolutely NO help, man!

No, seriously. I've been thinking the same thing. The 2000XL is simpler, smaller and a bit more robust in build. (And I prefer the more sober design on the panel. That violet print job on the 4000 is.... ugh.)

Plus: I've started on a new tactic, which is about NEVER GETTING THE NEWEST MODEL A COMPANY HAS TO OFFER. Always get the one of the previous generation.

Then at least you have the chance of it being worked out, doing what it should do, nothing more nothing less. I don't know what's wrong, but the good old days are definitievly over, where you could buy a new piece of gear and be sure that it was thoroughly worked out and behaved itself. (I have to exclude folks like YAMAHA -their stuff still rocks right out of the box.)

If I'm going to be a Beta-tester, then I want to GET paid rather than HAVING to pay.

I mean... man -the Clavia Nord3 has been out there 2 years, and I just found a new bug yesterday.

oh well...