Guitar cable jacks (TRS) instead of RCA (phono) jacks ????

The 1 thing that does not make sense to me is why they put TRS cables on this thing instead of RCA jacks. If you are going to be sampling out in the field... more then likely you are going to be encountering consumer audio equipment, turntables, tape decks, aiwa book shelf stereo systems etc... These devices are not going have TRS outputs, and are probably going to have RCA outputs.

If you have a numark pt01 or something like that, or you go to the library and sample from their records, or over to your uncles house, you are going to need to bring an adaptor.

I also wish it came with a detachable lithium ion rechargeable battery. buying batteries gets expensive.

I've been using adapters (1/4 to RCA) for years my friend. Needed them cause of the mixture of different pieces of gear (pro/pro-consumer or prosumer). Just visit your neighborhood RadioShack and they'll have a pair wait'n for ya. And for batteries, you can buy rechargables for little to nothing now-a-days.

The last time i tried to use rechargable batteries was in the late 80's and the damn things never worked, tired several brands, maybe the technology has gotten better and they are more reliable now.

yeah, ive got those same adaptors from radio shack, but sometimes I cant find them and then i have to go around looking for them which gets me angry then by the time i've found them I've lost the idea that was in my head in the 1st place. I'd rather not have to use adaptors espacially when 90% of the stuff its going to interface with is consumer level anyway.

4000is1monster wrote:The 1 thing that does not make sense to me is why they put TRS cables on this thing instead of RCA jacks. If you are going to be sampling out in the field... more then likely you are going to be encountering consumer audio equipment, turntables, tape decks, aiwa book shelf stereo systems etc... These devices are not going have TRS outputs, and are probably going to have RCA outputs.

If you have a numark pt01 or something like that, or you go to the library and sample from their records, or over to your uncles house, you are going to need to bring an adaptor.

Huh, every MPC uses TRS ins and outs. And what is the difference? You would have to bring a 2 x 1/4" to 1/4" cable anyway... what's the big deal of bringing a dual 1/4" to RCA cable instead? or a dual 1/4" to 1/8" stereo? The idea of a CF card is you do all of your work ahead of time...sample a ton of stuff and have it readdy for sequencing.

Yeah well this thing isnt like the other MPC's... first of all its small... less room for multiple types of inputs and outputs which is why they only put one type of input on it.

2ndly its portable which means (for me anyway) I'm not going to be using this in my home studio, thats what I've got my 4000 for, Im going to be using this out at other places, for instance... I go to the library and look for samples there, I go over to relitives of mines homes who have old records and I get samples from them. At both of these places Im mostly going to be encountering turntables or tape decks or my PT01, all of which have rca outputs.

if you put my 1st point together with my 2nd point

1st point : This thing is small, so small they only have room enough for one type of input connector on the back of the unit.

2nd point: This thing is portable, which in my opinion is the ONLY reason anyone would be interested in buying one considering its scaled down features.

1+2 = if the only reason I'm going to be buying one of these things is to use it out in the field, sampling and to sketch out ideas on site so i can take it back to my "real" MPC... Then why doesnt it have the most common type of connector that I am most likely going to find out in the field, an RCA jack.



To me its not an affordable MPC its a portable MPC, If you look at the price... ($799.99) They are not trying to appeal to a low end market, if that was the case the thing would be priced at around $550. The whole point of its existance is portablity not affordablity... if the latter were true then It would not be priced so close to the 1k which is only $200 more.


The funny thing is that everybody that seems to be bashing the 500 are 1k owners as if it was competition to their machine and I remember when the 1k came out all the 2000xl owners were bashing that saying the same exact stuff... "it looks like a toy" "it looks plastic".

I thought the 1k was going to run on batteries when I 1st heard about it then when i found out that it wasnt going to, I was like "well whats the point" it wasnt that much cheaper then a 2000xl at the time.

Someone on another thread said something like "if you travel so much that you need to be using a mpc that runs on batteries then most likely your name is will-i-am, in which case you're gonna get one for free anyway".

Its not even as complicated as that.... I get ideas all the time at the most inconvenient places, like when im at a realitives house for dinner or when im sitting on the couch watching tv, if ive got the 500 close by I can punch it up real quick no matter where im at, I hate loosing ideas and the best stuff comes to you when u least expect it, When I make it a point to sit down at my 4000 and make a beat.... sometimes nothing comes to me or the stuff that I think up sounds forced and stale.

All of the analog ins and outs on every MPC are TRS. RCA inputs and outputs are actually cheaper and worse than TRS. If you know you are going out in the field and you are going to encounter RCAs...you buy a dual 1/4" to RCA cable... it costs the same. I have no idea why you are so dead set on RCAs when the cable you would need costs the same and is easily found in any store.

the 500 should at least recharge rechargable batteries like the novation keyboards.

King_Vitamin wrote:the 500 should at least recharge rechargable batteries like the novation keyboards.

I understand where you are coming from...but the Novation is a midi controller...the MPC-500 is not. The USB is there simply for file transfer.

MY POINT IS.......


yes yes yes i know about the quality of RCA vs. TRS outputs/inputs, and I could care less.

MY POINT IS whether you like it or not, whether you think one output is better then another output or not.....WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE ENCOUNTERING OUTSIDE YOUR STUDIO is most likely NOT, I REPEAT NOT GOING TO BE TRS OUTPUTS.

Dig what im saying? And I dont care what type of adaptor you put on your cable...When you go over to your grandmothers house who has all those cool jazz records I guarantee you that her record player is not going to have TRS outputs. Its probably going to have those inferior quality RCA outputs (like it or not) and the fact is... I dont care what kind of adaptor you put on that RCA cable going from her 1945 RCA Victrola to your MPC the fact is the quality is still going to be inferior, because its the output of whatever you are sampling rom that determines the quality, i dont care what kind of adaptor you use. So why not just have RCA inputs on there in the 1st place if you only have enough room on the unit for either TRS or RCA.

The funny part is... your probablly not going to be able to tell the difference between a sample taken through your TRS input or RCA input, the quality of the output you are sampling from is the biggest determining factor in terms of quality and like I said 90% of the time its not going to be a TRS output.

And the people that say that they wouldn't sample through the RCA input becaue of the lower quality... I bet they are the same people that love the older mpcs because of their lower bit depth, lol funny.

4000is1monster wrote:MY POINT IS.......


yes yes yes i know about the quality of RCA vs. TRS outputs/inputs, and I could care less.

MY POINT IS whether you like it or not, whether you think one output is better then another output or not.....WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE ENCOUNTERING OUTSIDE YOUR STUDIO is most likely NOT, I REPEAT NOT GOING TO BE TRS OUTPUTS.

Dig what im saying? And I dont care what type of adaptor you put on your cable...When you go over to your grandmothers house who has all those cool jazz records I guarantee you that her record player is not going to have TRS outputs. Its probably going to have those inferior quality RCA outputs (like it or not) and the fact... is I dont care what kind of adaptor you put on that RCA cable going from her 1945 RCA Victrola to your MPC the fact is the quality is still going to be inferior, because its the output of whatever you are sampling rom that determines the quality, i dont care what kind of adaptor you use. So why not just have RCA inputs on there in the 1st place if you only have enough room on the unit for either TRS or RCA.

You are really arguing over something that does not matter. People will use this in the studio as well...not only on the bus. Akai's designs have always had 1/4" ins and outs...why change it because you have a fetish for RCA on this device? Most of us don't care what it has as long as it works.

You are the one thats arguing, if you didnt want to respond to my post... you didnt have to. If it dosent matter to you then stop responding

4000is1monster wrote:You are the one thats arguing, if you didnt want to respond to my post... you didnt have to. If it dosent matter to you then stop responding

I'm just trying to point out to your that wether it is 1/4" or RCA...you still need to bring a cable to grandmas house...who cares if you need to bring a pair of 1/4" cables or a dual 1/4" to RCA? It doesn't make sense to me.

I think i wrote that above... I sometimes lose my rca to 1/4" adaptors and have to run around the house looking for them and by the time I find them im pissed off and forgot what my idea was. Im just lazy

just was reading another post and I read that the 1/4" inputs arent even really balanced anyway, and neither are RCA inputs, so whats the point of having unbalanced 1/4", other then it makes it look more pro and less consumer.