By Lithion
Wed Mar 28, 2007 11:49 pm
I've had the opportunity to work with the 500 for about a week. This is my opinion:
I have had the MPC1000 for about a month. I was using FL studio and other programs to try and make music before this, and once I got the 1000 I never knew music production could be taken to this level in my home. In short, it was awsome. After reading about the 500 I though that it would be perfect for me, because I work night shift and I have about 5 hours of kill time a night. The 1000 was a bit cumbersome for me to take back and forth from work, so I think 'perfect.' I was horribly wrong.
The machine: Its small, light and compact. This is good because I can just stick it in my bookbag, throw a few rechargable batteries in and I'm good to go. The bad news is its like one of those ultra-portable laptops. The button configuration is akward. Everything is so small and close together my fingers are **** everything up, mashing the wrong keys and such. Having a small size somehow idecreases my abilty to access functions, and slows me down. This is frustrating when you have an idea in your head and you have to slow your mind down because the technology is slow. Its kind of like when you are writing in pencil and you are frustrated because the words are in your head and they arent coming out fast enough. The 'main' button has been substituted for the seuence and track buttons, so in essence there is no real 'main' screen to be brought back to. This sucks, and makes creating tracks an akward and difficult process.
The pads feel stiff and unresponsive. I don't know if this is because it is brand new (I bought the 1000 used) or if this is the design, but it makes it really frustrating pushing pads. Half the time I just end up putting on the full level button and then later mastering the volume.
The screen on this thing is so **** tiny. I'm guessing that they couldnt replicate the 1000 screen because this would jeapordize battery length, but it just makes everything suck ass even worse. I can only read half of the words on a folder when loading a kit or program, so I can never tell what the **** I'm loading half the time. And also, for some reason the volume on my headphones sucks ass. I have to keep the volume at max half the time if I want to get the level of sound I need for production. Its not my headphones, because they are like a hundred dollar pair of studio headphones, and its not really the machine, because I plug it into studio monitors and it sounds great, so it must be something about having headphones in without some sort of power source besides the 500.
I admit, I have been spoiled by the 1000. I got greedy and thought I could buy a portable version of this. Another reason I bought it was I thought, 'cool, if I get an idea on the go I can put it down and then work on it in the 1000 later.' To its credit, the 500 is really good for this reason. I use Acid Pro to chop samples and then upload them to the 500, work on them and then later work on them in detail with the 1000.
In short, if you want to blow your time running through countless menus that are not intuitive at all, buy the 500. If you want unresponsive pads, and you want to make yourself think you are hard of hearing, buy this machine. If you want to make music, buy a 1000 or better and don't think you are going to make your next hit while on the go, becasue the 500 will not accomodate you. I will probably use it for the nexy year or so and sell it for around 500-600 bucks to try and salvage some of the money I wasted, and some of my pride.
I have had the MPC1000 for about a month. I was using FL studio and other programs to try and make music before this, and once I got the 1000 I never knew music production could be taken to this level in my home. In short, it was awsome. After reading about the 500 I though that it would be perfect for me, because I work night shift and I have about 5 hours of kill time a night. The 1000 was a bit cumbersome for me to take back and forth from work, so I think 'perfect.' I was horribly wrong.
The machine: Its small, light and compact. This is good because I can just stick it in my bookbag, throw a few rechargable batteries in and I'm good to go. The bad news is its like one of those ultra-portable laptops. The button configuration is akward. Everything is so small and close together my fingers are **** everything up, mashing the wrong keys and such. Having a small size somehow idecreases my abilty to access functions, and slows me down. This is frustrating when you have an idea in your head and you have to slow your mind down because the technology is slow. Its kind of like when you are writing in pencil and you are frustrated because the words are in your head and they arent coming out fast enough. The 'main' button has been substituted for the seuence and track buttons, so in essence there is no real 'main' screen to be brought back to. This sucks, and makes creating tracks an akward and difficult process.
The pads feel stiff and unresponsive. I don't know if this is because it is brand new (I bought the 1000 used) or if this is the design, but it makes it really frustrating pushing pads. Half the time I just end up putting on the full level button and then later mastering the volume.
The screen on this thing is so **** tiny. I'm guessing that they couldnt replicate the 1000 screen because this would jeapordize battery length, but it just makes everything suck ass even worse. I can only read half of the words on a folder when loading a kit or program, so I can never tell what the **** I'm loading half the time. And also, for some reason the volume on my headphones sucks ass. I have to keep the volume at max half the time if I want to get the level of sound I need for production. Its not my headphones, because they are like a hundred dollar pair of studio headphones, and its not really the machine, because I plug it into studio monitors and it sounds great, so it must be something about having headphones in without some sort of power source besides the 500.
I admit, I have been spoiled by the 1000. I got greedy and thought I could buy a portable version of this. Another reason I bought it was I thought, 'cool, if I get an idea on the go I can put it down and then work on it in the 1000 later.' To its credit, the 500 is really good for this reason. I use Acid Pro to chop samples and then upload them to the 500, work on them and then later work on them in detail with the 1000.
In short, if you want to blow your time running through countless menus that are not intuitive at all, buy the 500. If you want unresponsive pads, and you want to make yourself think you are hard of hearing, buy this machine. If you want to make music, buy a 1000 or better and don't think you are going to make your next hit while on the go, becasue the 500 will not accomodate you. I will probably use it for the nexy year or so and sell it for around 500-600 bucks to try and salvage some of the money I wasted, and some of my pride.
