MeSoHordey wrote:MeSoHordey wrote:J_Mayer wrote:Hey all, been a recent lurker on the forum, but finally choosing to weigh in.
(I'll have a pic of me in front of the MPC5000 up soon so as to squelch any identity issues)
I've gotten way into the MPC lately, and I've been able to take a bit of both my own experience and what I've read on the boards and I'd like to share some perspective.
I've owned through the years every incarnation of MPC since a 2000xl, but I never had the focus to dig in on it until a few months ago. I've been consumed by the 5000 ever since I bought it.
Here are some things I want to send up the flagpole and see if they don't help a few people out. (I'm also looking forward to getting advice on some issues as they come up for me as a user.)
*The MPC is a powerful and dangerous machine; powerful because it has the potential to produce some amazing MUSIC, but dangerous in that the act of creation can be so confusingly satisfying that you might not realize you're not really creating music. Building programs, constantly loading in as many samples as you can find, etc. are all great things to build an arsenal of sounds, but it can be very difficult to get to the actual production stage. I battle that all the time. It's better to play a bonehead 2 bar kick-snare-hat beat that you record a song around than to spend an afternoon trying to sync MIDI up with another sound module just to say you did it. One is creation and one is just activity for activity's sake. So with that said, I've only gone so far as to use the MPC to come up with beats and the occasional melodic sample. But I'm good enough on it to have already used it on the upcoming album. The thing is just fun to use.
I also want to say that I understand exactly why someone would want a 3000 or a 60, or even a 2000. Because it's romantic. I want to work on the same machine Pete Rock made all those great tracks on, but the fact is you can do it on any of the MPCs, and what people mean by "swing" isn't so much about the timing of the groove but the way it feels to use the machine as far as touch and sight goes. And that's important. If looking at yourself using the limited edition 3000 makes you feel like a badass and that makes you play something cool, then you did get a different swing out of it.
*MPC5000 gripes: I've read a ton of complaints about the 5000, but in general it's a great machine. They ALL are. To anybody trying to figure out which one to buy, remember that they all go "chick-chick-boom" with either sounds you recorded yourself or sounds that someone else recorded. I'm using the MPC in a professional setting, but admittedly rather lightly in terms of using every feature. So my thoughts are always going to reflect that.
The biggest problem with the 5000 is the interface on the TRIM feature. It's WAY too numeric for me, and the constant shifting of the "tens place" as a poor man's ZOOM + and ZOOM - feature is tough to work with, especially when hitting the WINDOW button returns your sample change intervals to 1. It's a lot of shift-clicking.
THE JJ OS 2 on the MPC 1000 has this LICKED, with a fluid jog wheel and zoom features that make all the sense in the world. I was cutting samples up faster than i believe I ever could on a DAW.
The jog wheel on the MPC 5000 is pretty bad. (Sorry AKAI people.) It feels hollow, and actually fails to deliver on the basic fundamental principles of wheel-iness. Go into the effects mixer and you'll go mad trying to set each pad to "1". It's an average of about 2-3 clicks for every one increment change. That's tough to get over.
BUT, it's got a ton of power. There's no worry about RAM restrictions, and I'm actually inspired by the size of the internal HD. I like the idea of traveling from studio to studio with a world of music inside it. Which leads me to another thought:
File hierarchy on all MPCs have always been crummy, but for reasons I don't understand, the 5000 seems even worse. I'm starting to believe the only way I can make sense of my files is to keep a mac connected through USB and mount the MPC every couple of hours to organize through the desktop on OSX. There is also a huge bug in terms of extracting samples and file naming. I won't get into it now, but the naming and numerating of the samples goes haywire. Imagine wanting to make a program of tambourines and having TAMB, TAMB1 and TAMB 001 stand for 3 different samples. It's got to get smarter in terms of assisting in naming and organizing samples.
MPC 5000 awesomeness: button layout. Feels great to me. I can work around it very fast. Even though I have a feeling any MPC you use can get comfortable.
So check it out: All I want to do on an MPC is play drums on it, be able to record and cut samples, and be able to recall my saved files with relative ease. Guess what? The MPC 1000 with the JJ OS2 becomes the perfect machine. Once I get the memory expansion, that is. I'd like to know if the pre-amps are any better on the more expensive MPCs, because if not, I'm going to become a full-time 1000 user. Everything is more intuitive. I know it sound corny but it's true: less time futzing wit electronics means more time laying music down. And for me, 1000 seems like the machine to go with. I'll never need a synth inside the MPC and I'll always use a DAW to record real-time audio.
I'm excited to trade/share ideas on this board and I'm looking forward to getting super knowledgeable on the MPC...
John
Let me just be the first to say, Mr. Mayer, "Welcome to the forum". As far as the pads on your 1000, I'd suggest that you get the new fat pads from mpcstuff.com
Regards,
Meso
John - Realize you're probably busy and all but wondering if you got those pads put on your MPC yet. Waiting to hear. Thanks.
Meso
Dear John- you still ain't called or wrote, I hope you have a chance
I ain't mad - I just think it's **** UP you don't answer fans
If you didn't wanna talk to me about your pads
you didn't have to, but you coulda answered back for Tad
That's my little brother man, he's only six years old
We waited up all night by the computer
four hours and you didnt show
That's pretty shitty man - you're like his **** idol
He wants to be just like you man, he likes you more than I do....
Awaiting you response with best regards,
Meso
Sometimes I still laugh out loud about the beat kangz and that time some English dude hacked the Akai marketing website and stole a bunch of pictures of the Ren before it was released.
