Damn I want one of these things.

I'm new to the MPC, but I've been around antiquated hardware for a while. I recently picked up an MC303 groovebox and have been having a blast with it. It seems like yesterday that my buddy paid about 700 bucks for one of these hilarious devices... Dont get me wrong.. I love the 303, but I am ready to step up to something else.

I cant believe how attainable some of this equipment has become in the past few years.. I picked up a Korg PadKontrol last night... the thing is great, it will probably be a lot of fun once I get used to using it with Ableton Lite.... (I'm having a tough time figuring out the logic of assigning the pads and looping.)

Now I'm kind of having seconds thoughts about picking up the PK. As awesome as it is, it ties me to my computer. I've tried to steer clear of making music on my PC alone, but the allure of the pads was too great.

I definitely need to pick up an MPC500.... I've played with the 1000 a bit, and its awesome. But I just cant resist the pull of a totally portable sampler/sequencer, it seems too good to be true for a dude that grew up with a battery powered Alesis step programming drum machine and an old DR.

I travel a lot with my family when I'm not working. BBQ's, camping trips, etc. every weekend I'm away doing something... instead of pulling out the PSP to get my electronic fix I could actually be creating something.

I'm hoping the 500 isn't as unfriendly as some people make it out to be. It cant be all that bad. right?



Now I just need to get the funds up... I've been selling off some old stuff I don't need. Next on the list is my small compact FM radio station. Someone will want it

/impulsive

wax808 wrote: I'm hoping the 500 isn't as unfriendly as some people make it out to be. It cant be all that bad. right?

No it's quite nice actually somehow people on forums tend only to visit if they have a problem with their device (or think about buying it), so you don't read much about the people that don't have any problems and just make music with their gear.

Snerg

wax808 wrote:I'm hoping the 500 isn't as unfriendly as some people make it out to be. It cant be all that bad. right?

From my experience it's not bad... then again it's my fist MPC. Before the 500 I had no production experience at all. I can see where other users that have had the bigger machines might see it as a little unfriendly. Small screen might make that a problem for them. Navigating through the menus and some features are different from I have read. But all in all, it does what it's supposed to do. I love my 500! Good luck

Another vote of confidence here with my first 500. I think the people who have issues with it are users of the bigger MPC's already and can understand their gripes.

But being a first time user, it's really opening up my creativity with sampling/production.

Cool .. thats exactly what I am looking for... something I can actually be creative with.

My 303 is great... I hear all kinds of smack talk about them too... I used to use one back after they first came out.. I was a lot younger back then and grasping the interface was too much for my video-game addled mind. Now I've learned how to unlock some of the magic in that box and have made some of the best music of my life, even with those dated internal sounds.

My PK pads are driving me nuts though... I dont know why I kept having these fantasies of playing it right off the bat and making crazy music... I should know better. I'm sure a few nights with Live and Reason and these pads I should be a lot better.


Time to save up for my 500.... I guess I'll pass the time gathering samples or something. Unless someone buys my lil radio station. Then I'll get one right away.



That radio station was fun too.... in a town with no FCC presence I went nuts for a while with it. I had a community DJ project going, anyone with an internet connection could host their own shows and play their locally stored music on the air from their own house. It was great. If I dont sell it I am just gonna broadcast some beats from time to time.... it's fun spraying your music into the air for all to catch.

FYI, www.americanmusical.com. A little secret, I bought mine on their easy pay plan, which means, 3 payments of $216 for three months. You don't need credit or a credit card, you can use a debit card, they only do credit checks for purschases over $1000.

I have bought every piece of gear I've owned on their payment plans.

It's like layaway but you get what you buy upfront.

Dude, you are awesome.... I think I might do that.


Maybe I can keep my pirate station after all....

yeah man, go for the 500. i got a 2000xl but used it only with my computer, i didnt use it to sequence alone much. but wen the 500 came out, the portability was a blessing. so now i replaced my 2000xl with the 500 and its awesome. yeah it can be a bit more tedious with the small screen and more menus, but it definitely makes up for it with other things. once u make a good beat with it u wont be complaining about the screen size. i use it alone a lot without my computer and im amazed how good some songs come out. and if u already hav a computer to do beats with.... the combination is deadly. u can use either of them, or both together. -opens up more routes to do beats with. and the mpc500 alone.... pssh.... if u use it to its full potential... the possibilities are sooo big for such a small thing. its all on the user for its potential of greatness.
i still take a step back sometimes and look at it like "WOW!!!" its a dream come true for me. theres no other machine its size thats even half as good!

Cosmic wrote:yeah man, go for the 500. i got a 2000xl but used it only with my computer, i didnt use it to sequence alone much. but wen the 500 came out, the portability was a blessing. so now i replaced my 2000xl with the 500 and its awesome. yeah it can be a bit more tedious with the small screen and more menus, but it definitely makes up for it with other things. once u make a good beat with it u wont be complaining about the screen size. i use it alone a lot without my computer and im amazed how good some songs come out. and if u already hav a computer to do beats with.... the combination is deadly. u can use either of them, or both together. -opens up more routes to do beats with. and the mpc500 alone.... pssh.... if u use it to its full potential... the possibilities are sooo big for such a small thing. its all on the user for its potential of greatness.
i still take a step back sometimes and look at it like "WOW!!!" its a dream come true for me. theres no other machine its size thats even half as good!

Thats quite the endorsement.

I was agonizing over this today too... I actually got my Korg pads figured out last night with Reason and had a freaking blast making music with some friends.

I love what my PC does, and is capable of. But I hate being tied to it. I work on one for 10 hours a day.

I assume it's possible to use the MPC500 the same way as the Korg pads as a PC interface. This would be cool, but from what I have seen I doubt I will be using the PC much if I have an MPC in my hands.

I am busy all summer long, having the portability of the 500 is what I am looking forward to most. I also need to create my music on portable hardware, I have a good friend who is a hip-hop artist in town and she has some wicked lyrical skills, she wants to work on some projects that we can play live so she doesn't have to keep rapping over the same old CD tracks.

I guess I'd better order it.

Don't forget the MPC500 is 'in a way' quite limited, part of the fun on this box is doing things on it that weren't supposed to be done. But this takes some patience and getting used to.

It's a battery powered drumsampler and sequencer. A PC/MAC laptop would prove to be more flexible and feature rich and offer the same portability.

Reading the MPC500 manual might prove usefull to see if it really fits your needs.

http://akaipro.com/supportdocuments.php#MPC500

Snerg

Snerg: Thanks for the link.. I appreciate it.


I've thought about getting a laptop. I'm a network engineer by trade, and laptops freak me out bro. Of course there are some that are reliable and have the power you need to play live, but honestly I would just lug my tower to a show before I would trust a sub $1k laptop.

I've seen more than one backpacker get all red-faced when their laptop crashes and they don't have a backup. It's most likely their own fault for using their laptop to do their daily finances/emailing/bukkake-viewing. But still, cheap laptops freak me out.
I would like to compose and/or play stuff live using just my hardware. I can rock a party for hours just using my mc303 (scary huh). I cant wait to see what a little portable MPC can do.

I love digging into hardware.... I think the 10 hours a day I spend working with computers kind of kills the whole computer thing for me. I would love to be able to make the kind of music thats in my head without touching a mouse. Maybe it's just because I grew up using hardware and am overwhelmed by the learning curve on some software. I do love Reason though.


Laptops sure are nice though for what they can do, I use my old cheap one all the time for mixing and playing MP3's outside when we BBQ.

I guess you're MPC material then

Go for it!



Snerg

get it!!!