MPC5000... Surely this can't be right.

Hi and greetings from England.

I had an mpc1000 when they first came out. Thought it was suprisingy useful.

I'm now in a band again and I'm looking to do away with their backing tracks and sync up to 3 video projections.

Rather than use laptops for sounds I think an MPC 5000 would be better, triggering sequences and samples from it's RAM, onboard synth and attached Virus TI and a couple of Emulator 4 's.

So I go to my local retailer to buy one and what he tells me about the MPC cant be true.

apparently the inboard synth is presets only. Changes to cuttoff, release, resonance etc can't be recorded as part of the sequences, they are realitime only... Is this true....

Also, can the MPC output and sync up to SMPTE? And how reliable is it moving between sequences in a song order. My 1000 used to jump !

Thanks in advance

DONT ASK THE STUPID STORE PEOPLE!!! ASK US!!!

no, ... you cannot directly record the synthesizer function movements on an MPC, ... ***BUT*** on ANY mpc, you can assign and control and record Q-link movements.

on the MPC 5000, ... you can directly assign the Q-link's to the parameters of the soft synth, ... and then record those.

you can also create and save any preset of your desire. its a really good synth, and although it definitely cannot beat other hardware synths, ... i have found it infinitely favorable to software synths because of the great hardware control, ... it still 'feels' like a hardware synth, ... although it cannot compete with analogue, (of course), nor could it compete with something like a nord lead, etc. but compared to basic other stuff, ... its made from the same alesis lineage as the ION, ... and what i like more about it is the starting point if you don't load any preset, ... that 'sound' is such a fantastic sound by itself, ... if you start from there, its WAY better than any of the presets.

the more the know, the farther you can push it, .... it takes time to fully learn it like any hardware synth.

a.k.a., when treated like a hardware synth, it will fulfill all your desires, ... plus the MPC can load and run like 20 instances of it.

(but q-link controls would be limited), ... but when treated like a software instrument, ... in general, i would not suggest it be looked at in this way.

mpc doesn't compete with computers, ... mpc completely destroys computers for what it does, ... computers destroy mpc for what they do that mpc does not do, ... by definition.

it really comes down to you and your willingness to except it the way it is, or to regret the purchase before you even make it.

You cant record all the parameters with the q links.The synth is unique.Its a good source of sounds and should not be overlooked.Ive made some stuff with the synth alone in real time and arpegiater.-ReSaMpLe-

only a couple of parameters of the synth can be recorded (it is exactly the same as the parameters for samples : custoff, resonance, ADSR parameters, FX)
for me not enough to be useable