MPC 4000 or Roland MV-8000?

Has anyone used both or have the MPC 4000 or the Roland MV-8000? If so which would be a better buy for Hip-Hop/R&B production to go along with the Motif ES 6 and a PC? Right now I have the MPC 1000 on order to go along with the ES but in the future if I feel limited by the MPC 1000 I was lookin to upgrade to the Roland MV-8000 or the MPC 4000. So if you have tested both or have anyone of these production stations let me know your opinions and which should I choose to go along with my ES Thanks!

Don't get me wrong, I am a loyal owner of a mpc200xl. But the mv8000 has the more memory, cdrw, harddrive and multitrackin facilities all for the same price of a 4000le. With monitor and mouse support on the way. I don't know what i would get if I had the money.

man, I just tried an mv-8000. what a rip-off!!!

primo, it's $2300 for a 16bit /44.1khz machine with only 128mb ram, 40gb hd, no digital input, no wordclock, no scsi, no usb host for drives/keyboard, only 1 midi in and 2 midi out (what were they thinkin'?), stereo outputs. to get 6 more outputs (8 total) and a digital input, it's another $400.
the mpc4k+ is $2700 but it's 24bit/96khz, it comes with 272mb ram, 80gb hd, stereo digital input and ouptut, wordclock, scsi, usb host and usb slave, 2 mini in and 4 midi out, xlr inputs, stereo outputs and to add 8 more outputs (10 total) it's $300. you can add an adat optical i/o.
so, in the end, the mv is only $300 less than the mpc but with much less memory and connections.

secundo, the lcd screen is so messy and tiny fonts, you can't see a damn thing. plus it doesn't tilt. no wonder they'll make a vga out (add that to the $$). and it's over complicated menus.

tercio, roland may have copied the pads and the special keys of the mpc but they didn't get the sequencer: it's only a linear sequencer, no sequences/songs like the mpc for loop/pattern based sequencing.
plus, it ain't tight like the mpc and it doesn't have the mpc 'groove' and 'swing'. it's too square, like a computer sequencer. no shift timing. guess they didn't wanna pay roger linn
it's also only half the resolution and half the note capacity of the mpc4k.

quatrio, the sampler (16bit!) is no match for the mpc4k. only 16 parts when I can get 128 parts on my mpc. but the worth part, it sounds thin. the filters are not too bad, tho.

now the kicker: the dude from roland at the aes show in ny last october was tellin' us that the mv8000 reads akai sound libraries, like mpc2k/mpc4k. well I popped in my cd-roms and guess what? when I tried to load programs, it said 'incompatible format', it only reads the wav samples and you've gotta reprogram them all manually. it doesn't even take the pad assign!

don't get me wrong, it's got a couple cool features I'd like to get on the mpc (akai, listen!), like the 'in-track sampling' (like the triton or motif es), but it's no hard disk recorder. they're a few interesting effects and the timestrech thing is nice for live but not good enough quality for studio.

So it's back to the store for this puppy.

now, akai, give us v1.50!!! I've seen the beta version at the aes in october, with the 16 tunings pads (the mv doesn't have it) and the drum mixer like the oher mpcs. I've heard there's more goodies comin' in this update like midi note triggered sampling and sh*t. I've been told december 2003, so it's soon, right?

man, did I forget aksys? this softwate is so cool.
how long will it take roland to come up with something like this?

I feel that review.
1 Question if you have a MPC why did you cop the MV8000, right off the spec list you could of figuered out it was a lunchbox.I think I would go with a MPC1000 over that thing. Even a 909. I just think its a bad move by rolands part to have some corny ass rip off without blowing the MPC out of the water. I'm not hatin on Roland, I just want to see them make AKAI feel like it dosn't own this market (which it dose) and maybe they would be better with there updates and shit. At lest the should of gave it some expansion slots to drop in some SRX boards. That would have turned my head, a workstation that has SRX roms to upgrade and change. That would be dope.
2 midi outs..what were they thinkin?

I've got a 4000 so I should be biased the other way. The MV is not a joke and should be taken seriously.

You guys can talk numbers and bit rates and all that shiz but when it comes down to it...With the half hour I spent on the MV, all I wanted to do was make some beats on it.

I agree with you totally. These posts are going a little too far the wrong way.

The MV-8000 isn't supposed to read AKAI format disks. From the Roland website: "Sampler compatible with a variety of audio formats: Audio CD, .WAV/AIFF, ACID, Akai MPC2000/4000 Series and Roland S-700 Series". I like the 4 MIDI outs on my MPC4000, but 2 is enough. If you actually need more of them, an interface box doesn't cost that much. Wordclock and SCSI are no big loss. Unlike the MPC4000, the MV-8000 has a floppy drive in case you want to load old samples.

The RAM and hard drive are not bad at all. I have used the MPC4000 for a year, and could have easily made production recordings with 128 MB instead of the 512 MB I have installed. You don't want too many files on the hard drive. There's the risk of having a crash and rebuilding the drive. A lot of files means you're going to be scrolling through them on the display. I would rather do that on a computer monitor, then drag and drop as necessary.

This weekend I will check into the MV-8000 and see if any of the stores received them in the last couple days. I seriously doubt it, but you never know. Until you can try one keep playing the NAMM demo.

The NAMM demo: http://trio.harmony-central.com/ramgen/ ... -MV8000.rm

the 1000 price appeals to me most..lol...but the mv8000 is 1899 at riksmusic.com so its like 1000 less then the mpc4000....i am in a pickle

Hi.

The most important thing for me is the sequencer and the Roland sequencers normally are not really good.


Regards.

I checked the Roland MV-8000 brochure. One of the displays in that document shows that there is no loop end point. It isn't a big deal but it confirms what I wrote earlier. Has this changed in the final version of the MV-8000? Like everything else, Roland is improving its sequencing. We'll have to see how well they did with the MV-8000.

How good or bad is riksmusic? I might order an MV-8000 from them if their price is for real and they have the item in stock.

I never bought from Riks but if it helps a lot of my US email buddies swear by them for price and service - lotta guys get yamaha pro stuff from them and I've never heard a bad word about the service

Richard

MPC_Producer wrote:How good or bad is riksmusic? I might order an MV-8000 from them if their price is for real and they have the item in stock.

I just called Rik's, and they do indeed have it for 1899 (and that includes free shipping)....Rik's has been around for a while but I would check with Roland to make sure they are an authorized dealer which I am sure they are.


I called and said I heard you guys were selling them for $1799 and he said, nope, $1899 but it includes shipping...


P.S., from what I've read the MV comes with 128 but is expandable to 512. I just bought two 256byte sticks for $7.99 after rebates from circuit city for my ES,

Roland has some serios gear but then again alot of it is pure popycock...I am trying to decide and its tough...

Did you say popycock?

I am getting an MV-8000 on an evaluation basis in a few days. Look for my first impression comments on Wednesday. If images can be included in these posts, I might be able to add screen pictures, but I am not making any promises because my digital camera can't take close up photos very well.

As for gear quality, Roland makes some of the best gear. It has been used on thousands of professional recordings. Their latest synths, the V-Synth and Fantom-S are practically bug-free because they take so much care to get it right the first time. No one is perfect but they're doing a great job nevertheless.