Questions about the mpc 5000: shoot

FYI: I am testing the MPC5000. I am not an AKAI employee (nor Numark, nor Alesis), but an MPC4000 owner and lover.

My personal opinion: it's not a replacement for the 4k and why should it be.
It's the 5k and the top MPC AKAI is offering right now.
The combination of midi sequencer, VA synth (really good sounding), sampler, HD-recorder, combined with all the mixing possibilties makes it a true Music Production Centre tmho.

Think it's time to have some in depth talks here instead of arguing about the status of the MPC5000 compared to the other MPC's.
So, if you want to know something about it, go ahead. I'll do my best to answer as accurate as possible.

From what I read in the manual all the qlinks are automated for each parameter, it that true?

How are the snap to zero function in sample editor and the hd tracks?

How are the pads?

Have you mixed down a cd yet and how are the effects?

Can you post a youtube video so I can see what you do?

Will answer tonight (Europe here).

Hey

i have a mpc 2000xl with 8 outs and my biggest problem i have is to bounce out those chanels, it takes alot of time and also i am not that happy with this. Is it possible with the 5000 to bounce 8 chancels at the same time directly to the HD and save them as waves so that i can send them via usb to my PC?

sorry for the bad english i am from france

thank you

Chris

ChrisScott wrote:Hey

i have a mpc 2000xl with 8 outs and my biggest problem i have is to bounce out those chanels, it takes alot of time and also i am not that happy with this. Is it possible with the 5000 to bounce 8 chancels at the same time directly to the HD and save them as waves so that i can send them via usb to my PC?

sorry for the bad english i am from france

thank you

Chris

Go buy a Firewire or USB 2.0 audio interface with 8 ins and use a multitrack recorder like Cubase or Audition to directly record all your channels to your PC.

Jesus, you don't need to buy a new MPC to do that.

Time-stretch. How is it?

What is the current OS version and date of that version? Also, is there a hidden menu (like the MPC 2500) where you can access the names of the people that worked on/designed the MPC 5000? If so, what are their names and their contributions?

I am really wondering about the cpu meter and just how much it takes to push this thing to stop and what happens when it does? Does it crash or just say limit reached? So just see if you can get it to reach a high usage and if not how high did you get it? Thanks.

Blue Haze wrote:From what I read in the manual all the qlinks are automated for each parameter, it that true?

How are the snap to zero function in sample editor and the hd tracks?

How are the pads?

Have you mixed down a cd yet and how are the effects?

Can you post a youtube video so I can see what you do?

The Q link controller do control a lot, but not everyting. You can't turn the mpc on and off with it
But there are functions in about every mode. The whole synth is controlled with them for instance, In trim mode you can set sample start and end with it. In mixermode they are used for setting level, FX choice, FX send, panning and outputs.In FX mode they control FX parameters... They are used for obvious stuff. But I am sure things could be added quite easily in the future.
And of course you can assign them to the pads. One pad, or all, realtime or things for note on stuff. They can send a CC plus value as well. I like them a lot.

Snap to zero works on the start or endpoints of a choosen sample. Pressing the button will jump to the first nearest zerocrossing.
This feature is not available on the HD tracks, if that's what you meant?

The pads are good to my opinion. They have the same size as on the 4k and have the same feeling to me as well. By the way, the housing around the metal plate that holds all the knobs, buttons, sliders and pads is plastic. It's the same structure as the mpc4000.
You can set the sensitivitie and velocity curve for each individual pad.

I have not mixed down a cd yet. My testmodel came without the cd/dvd drive. Hope to receive one soon though.

Unfortunately I have no videogear so I can't make movies.

Regards, Boele

ChrisScott wrote:Hey

i have a mpc 2000xl with 8 outs and my biggest problem i have is to bounce out those chanels, it takes alot of time and also i am not that happy with this. Is it possible with the 5000 to bounce 8 chancels at the same time directly to the HD and save them as waves so that i can send them via usb to my PC?

sorry for the bad english i am from france

thank you

Chris

Yes, you can select 1 to 8 audiotracks and export them as separate wav files to the HD (16 or 24 bits) and then copy them to your computer by USB.

Regards, Boele

OJ Reem wrote:What is the current OS version and date of that version? Also, is there a hidden menu (like the MPC 2500) where you can access the names of the people that worked on/designed the MPC 5000? If so, what are their names and their contributions?

I won't answer questions about OS versions and hidden menus. That's up to Akai. You'll understand that of course.

Regards, Boele

Also, I am curious to know about the construction of the unit. It looks like it is built like my MPC 2500 minus the very front of the unit just below the pads. What is that made of? It looks like 3 rubber pads or is that just some design in the metal or plastic?

Also, the sides of the unit. Are those plastic like the MPC 4000 and 2500? Are they removable? Do they look like they can be replaced with wood grain by Forat?

I know this questions have nothing to do with the operation of the unit but I am seriously interested in the build quality....

Dj Solace wrote:I am really wondering about the cpu meter and just how much it takes to push this thing to stop and what happens when it does? Does it crash or just say limit reached? So just see if you can get it to reach a high usage and if not how high did you get it? Thanks.

Well, didn't dive into this section too much already, but did some tests for you.
You have four FX busses, which can have two effects each.
I started loading every buss with a reverb and delay fx. On the fourth FX buss I could load the reverb, when trying to add the delay as second FX you'll see a sign before the FX that you can't load it. If you try anyway you get an error message saying that there is not enough memory.

Well, I used the long reverbs and long delays to do this test and I could fill 7 out of 8 FX slots with it, which is quite good I should say.

By the way, the MPC tells you which effects can not be loaded anymore, but you can still load a less consuming effect on that last FX slot then.

I don't see any problems here in terms of capacity.

Having four busses plus the independent master eq and compressor is pretty cool.

sweet i just wanted to make sure it dint crash and loose your work or something. Thanks.

OJ Reem wrote:Also, I am curious to know about the construction of the unit. It looks like it is built like my MPC 2500 minus the very front of the unit just below the pads. What is that made of? It looks like 3 rubber pads or is that just some design in the metal or plastic?

Also, the sides of the unit. Are those plastic like the MPC 4000 and 2500? Are they removable? Do they look like they can be replaced with wood grain by Forat?

I know this questions have nothing to do with the operation of the unit but I am seriously interested in the build quality....

The 3 "rubber pads" you think you see is indeed design in the plastic.
Like said before, the plate that holds the knobs, pads, sliders and buttons is metal, the surrounding contruction is hard plastic, the same as with the 4k. The 4k looks more robust (is that english?), but that's mainly because it is bigger and higher then the 5k.

So yes, the sides are plastic, attached with 3 screws on each side and as far as I can see removable.

Friendly regards, Boele