MPC 2500 Recording Quality Question

chances are though, if your interface's converter is crappy, the outputs are equally crappy.

so even if you did spdif, since you're listening to the output from the line 6, it'll sound crap.

its not the output of the mpc that's crap, its the recording and output of the interface you're recording and listening to.

The best way to have your MPC sound the same once it's in the computer is to just dump the audio into your DAW through the stereo outputs (or individual outputs.)

I prefer the sound of the stereo outs to the S/PDIF or internal mixdown within the MPC.

The best way to have your MPC sound the same once it's in the computer is to just dump the audio into your DAW through the stereo outputs (or individual outputs.)

subjective

I have a phonic helixboard that acts as my interface and mixer. Everything goes through the helixboard:
MPC main out,
MPC individual out,
and PC out.

Monitoring from the mpc and pc and recording, everything goes through the same piece of equipment.

That way everything maintains it's overall sound.

Bit of an old topic, but I think the AD/DA of the 2500 are bad. Sound coming out of the 2500 is very dull and there's not a lot of life in the machine. I don't really mix ITB. I use an Apogee Duet with Logic and the sound quality is way way way better. Much more life in to it. (Of course the conversion of the Duet is top notch compared to the MPC)

When I bang a beat on the MPC im always a bit depressed soundquaity wise.

IMHO the DA on the 2500 sounds pretty decent - good samples sound good and crap samples sound crap - so pretty transparent I'd say. The AD however, definitely colours the sound coming in.

I'd use USB dump for getting samples in to the 2500 and SPDIF for getting sounds out, if maximum transparency is your concern.

BTW there are laptops with integrated SPDIF I/O - check your manuals. Digital audio IO is not used much in consumer circles, so it's not always that well documented..

Always level match your A/B comparisons! The brain is easily fooled in perceiving sound quality differences when levels are off even slightly. To the brain, louder always sounds better - even when comparing the same sound against a duplicate file with 0.5 dB more loudness!