How Long Have You Owned The 500

How long have you owned your 500 and any other MPC in your arsenal?

I have had mine for 3 months now.

2 months

Like a month now I think. I moved from Reason/Recycle/Logic, and owned some very primitive samplers in the past (Roland MS-1), so the learning curve has been pretty low. After taking an hour to read the manual and messing with it for a couple days I felt right at home. I haven't made a beat in Reason since owning the 500.

6 months

but I've had 1000 before

WoW
I didnt know people here are short time users of the 500.
I have noticed that alot of us are happy with the 500 considering everyone else bashes it randomly. I love the 500 and for the price it holds up will to its expectations, it is more than I even imagined.

Watever happened to that 1K Brazeca?

Explicit: It was too heavy for me to travel overseas with it, so I sold it to my friend and bought a 500.

Here's why I bought my MPC . . .

Years ago I used to have a cheap and horrible Gemini 8-second sampler, and later on a Roland MS-1. I moved onto using DAWs and Reason/Recycle because I always had a PC around. I took a long hiatus from DJing and beatmaking and am getting back into it again -- with pretty intense vigor.

One thing I missed was just sitting by the turntable, hearing a possibly dope sample, and loading it, looping it, and throwing a break or some drums over it to see if it would fly. I bought the MPC to get back to that. Using my Mac to work on beats it's just tedious as hell to get samples loaded up quickly and play with them. Load Audacity, export as .WAV, load in Recycle, chop it up, count the bars, load Reason, load the sample into Dr. Rex, rewire Reason into Garageband or Logic. Okay -- 30 minutes into it just to see if a sample will sound dope.

I started building a hardware studio that would give me everything I want at my fingertips for instantaneous experimentation. The whole idea was to minimize my workflow as much as possible. I have a Casio RZ-1 for dirty drums (I call it the poor man's SP), an Oberheim DX for some old school sounds, a Boss DR-202 for the old Roland sounds and a bass generator, and my MPC -- the jack of all trades. Oh, I have a Casio VL-1 -- I can't justify that, I just wanted one.

I didn't intend to work on hardware primarily, but that's what's happening. I haven't loaded Reason since I got the 500. The drums I chop on the MPC sound better for some reason; I don't know why. I listen to records I pick up and if I hear something I might want to use, I spin it back, sample it, and store it in a folder on my CF card. When I'm bored on another day I end up with a huge stack of samples I can play around with. That just wouldn't happen on the computer.

I used to be one of those guys who said, "Why do I need all this equipment when Reason has like everything in it?" I dunno, maybe that's still kind of true. I can't quantify it. It's just like I can't give you a technically good reason why I would much rather sit with a turntable spinning beside me rather than CD when I'm relaxing. I just feel more at home. I like real machinery with real personality.

The beauty of the 500 in my opinion is its simplicity. It makes you develop a different kind of workflow.

Had it about 2 months now - best MPC for me i've owned, and i've had my fair share of MPCs over about a 10 year period (had a 2000xl, then a 1000 - now down to a 500, and loving it)

I've noticed that a lot of u ppl have downgraded back to the 500 when they have had the 1k before or a higher upgrade y is that? I myself wanted to upgrade to the 1k, but now I'm a littke skeptical!!!

bedouin wrote:
I used to be one of those guys who said, "Why do I need all this equipment when Reason has like everything in it?" I dunno, maybe that's still kind of true. I can't quantify it. It's just like I can't give you a technically good reason why I would much rather sit with a turntable spinning beside me rather than CD when I'm relaxing. I just feel more at home. I like real machinery with real personality.

The beauty of the 500 in my opinion is its simplicity. It makes you develop a different kind of workflow.

I've decided to get an MPC500 in the next few weeks. I've read up on it, and it seems the kind of thing I want. I've tried using computer set-ups but I always revert back to hardware sequencers and synths. I've just never got on with writing on a computer. The simplicity that you mention appeals to me, and I've always liked simple sequencers, like the Alesis MMT8. I'm using a Yamaha RM1X at the moment, and while it's OK, there's still a little too much faffing around for my liking. I've been reading the MPC500 manual a lot, and I feel the sequencing side of it is something I'll hopefully get to grips with quickly and will become second nature. I need operational transparency, and computers and complex hardware sequencers don't offer that in my opinion.

About CDs vs records: I used to own high quality amps and turntables, (I've not the space or finance at the moment though) and a good analogue set-up will always beat CDs for me. With records, you don't get that "listening fatigue" thing, where after a long time of listening everything starts to feel/sound harsh, even with a good set-up.

4 months, i had a mpc 1000 since it came out.

bedouin: Yeah working on hardware does feel better... I have a friend who makes beats on FL and honestly to me that is wack. The workflow is very different and I have tried only using software and I feel like I cant put my soul/ energy in the music. Working on a PC to make music is straight up wack. I use Cubase but thats just to put on the final touches to the beat.

Plus I came into this as a Dj/ MC and I like working on hardware cuz Im used to touching records and having my hands on the mixer and so on...

i've had mine for 3 months

it's funny just the other day i went to guitar center to test out a 1000 and that shit was complicating yo lol, like i didn't like it at all cuz it was so hard to use. i'm happy with my 500, at first i hated it becuz no chopshop, but once i actually started chopping on it, i found that it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. i actually like the chopping process on the 500, i think it's hell of a lot faster than on any daw. like str8 up record what you want, and stick it on a pad, simple as that.

Don't let Akai find out we like the 500 more than other MPCs, they'll start charging a premium for it.

500 is wack yo!!!
Hope Akai reads this post.