Share your knowledge on these two classic MPCs
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By Dj Khayos Fri Dec 21, 2018 11:41 pm
Yes that is correct, lowpass filter only.
Dre and Dilla would probly have external analog filter boxes
and SSL or Neve mixers in the studio to fix all their filter needs.
By brodel34 Sat Dec 22, 2018 5:45 am
Dj Khayos wrote:Yes that is correct, lowpass filter only.
Dre and Dilla would probly have external analog filter boxes
and SSL or Neve mixers in the studio to fix all their filter needs.


1. This is one of the most (if not the most) understated facts in Hip-Hop history. It's huge.
2. You have no idea what these guys were doing. Since I now know that in fact the 3k has no EQ settings and no highpass filter... You dont know if they were using external filter boxes, pitching up drums, or using frequency sliders on an audio receiver. Nobody knows. This is so huge to me and a giant hole has been blown open in my eyes.

I thought I had J DIllas sound cornered and trapped (for research purposes, not to copy). Now I have literally no idea what is going on. If he was using other external analog highpass filters.... I feel like it would've been more stated. Its fairly well documented that J dilla would listen the record and let it marinade, figure out what he wanted to do.... and then be sitting at his 3k for about 10 minutes. The end. I feel like it wouldve been more of a nuanced discussion if he was doing heavy EQ lifting on other machines. And all signs point to heavy lifting of some kind going on... I would be FLOORED to learn that he was only doing things like pitch shift, envelope attacks, and low pass filtering. There has to be more to the story.

I believe i've read that Dre used the 3k for the drum programming for most if not all of chronic 2001. I believe they said they did instrumentation and mixing on the big SSL's.... which makes perfect sense because thats exactly how it sounds. The drums sound like they were done on the 3k but all of the other sounds on that album are way too pristine to be ran through the 3k. But then again... did dre bring in already designed and processed sounds into the 3k to do the drum programming? That seems against the grain. Did he bang out the drums on the 3k and the drums were mundane on the 3k before he brought them to the ssl? that also seems unlikely. Seems like he used the 3k for the drums because it was obvious... they were gonna smack. Doesnt feel like its a "lets make some fire drums and then maybe sprinkle some of the 3k sound on there".... that doesnt feel how the story was told in my eyes. He used the 3k because it was the 3k.

I know for a fact they were all touching the envelopes and attacks of their drums. But how in the hell were they designing their sound? I dont think I have a choice at this point then to buy one..... need to get in there and get my hands dirty.

Black Milk has a similar sound to Dilla and I believe Dilla could've put him onto some cheats at some point. They were kin like that and I think if he would've gave anything to any producer, it wouldve been black milk.

In this video they dont really show his drum process.... you hear the drums just appear in the video when he's banging out. But we do catch a glimpse of him playing with some EQ filter sliders on a receiver or something.

By brodel34 Sat Dec 22, 2018 8:51 pm
DustParticle wrote:You can see in Black Milk’s vid he’s got the following setup: turntable -> mixer -> MPC3000. You can shape your sound using mixer’s EQ before sampling.


1. i literally said that already if you are talking about the multi band eq but i dont think you are.
2. if you are talking about a 3 knob mixer eq then thanks for the laziest answer of all time. the answer to the universe lies in a high, mid and low pass mixer knobs. No.
By brodel34 Sun Dec 23, 2018 7:23 am
richie wrote:@brodel are you retarded?


not sure how this got hostile. but if you arent going to bring anything to this discussion then i suggest you leave.

are you suggesting that im retarded because i didnt already know the mpc 3k only has a lowpass filter? if thats the case then f*** you for not seeing the obvious as it being about a discussion rather than one single question.

are you familiar with high pass filters? because there isnt one on the 3k. are you familiar with j dillas sound? becuase if you are you will FULLY understand that there is a strong probability of him using a LOT of high pass filters in his music. Do you think you can achieve this sound with a 3 knob filter? Do you think this is the same and that all filters are the same? are you familiar with the settings on the other mpc's? do you think a 3 band eq is the same as a 10 band eq?

im the retarded one so im simply asking the questions. you are the expert so please tell me.
By JAYCEE3K Sun Dec 23, 2018 7:44 am
Maybe I’m missing something, but how is the discovery of the fact the 3k only having a low pass filter (as opposed to hi pass) such a mind-blowing revelation? Seems you may be lacking some detail about something else and/or are misinformed about something, not sure what exactly.

Yea the 3k only has a low pass filter. That is a big part of the sound. But It also has 8 outs. Hello! which allow for a quick solution for EQ and further sound shaping needs when ran through studio board of choice. But we can’t just stop there. The EQ of the board matters also, but that’s just EQ. A bunch of other stuff matters too. I mean he did have a few other boxes besides the 3k you know, and he has used tape and a few types of boards and fx units. I don’t know why anyone would assume his sound must ultimately be boiled down to only one single sampler and a non-existent high pass filter option of that sampler that you decide must’ve had to exist in order for him to achieve his whole shit. Lol
By brodel34 Sun Dec 23, 2018 7:57 am
JAYCEE3K wrote:Maybe I’m missing something, but how is the discovery of the fact the 3k only having a low pass filter (as opposed to hi pass) such a mind-blowing revelation? Seems you may be lacking some detail about something else and/or are misinformed about something, not sure what exactly.

Yea the 3k only has a low pass filter. That is a big part of the sound. But It also has 8 outs. Hello! which allow for a quick solution for EQ and further sound shaping needs when ran through studio board of choice. But we can’t just stop there. The EQ of the board matters also, but that’s just EQ. A bunch of other stuff matters too. I mean he did have a few other boxes besides the 3k you know, and he has used tape and a few types of boards and fx units. I don’t know why anyone would assume his sound must ultimately be boiled down to only one single sampler and a non-existent high pass filter option of that sampler that you decide must’ve had to exist in order for him to achieve his whole ****. Lol


I never ruled out outside machines.
like i said before... its fairly well documented his process and nobody ever talks about other machines, so yes I assumed the 3k had basic eq settings and basic highpass filter. thats not crazy to assume it did, but obviously a mistake. Again, not assuming he wasnt using other machines but like i said... there is a blaring hole in the way people describe his process. there was heavy lifting going on outside of the 3k. and it wasnt being done with a 3 knob high, mid, low. thats for sure. and if this is the case then the case COULD be made that too much emphasis is being put on the 3k in correlation to dillas sound.
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By mr_debauch Sun Dec 23, 2018 8:40 am
i think you are relying on the "his process is well documented" thing a bit too much...... people don't have one piece of gear and out of principle because it was once witnessed by others.... they from that point forward refuse to touch any other gear..

We are talking about dilla, he had gear. Isn't he known (via documentation) to have used the sp-303? a voyager? which both have filters? how about the piles of gear that didn't get mentioned or shown on videos.... how about the fact that people switch equipment, they try new things... they only pull out certain pieces for certain beats when it fits... or how about the sample source, maybe he altered the samples on a computer or on a tape machine... or on another sampler..

You can't assume by 2 videos on youtube and a dilla poster what gear he was restricted to for his entire career.
By brodel34 Sun Dec 23, 2018 8:54 am
mr_debauch wrote:i think you are relying on the "his process is well documented" thing a bit too much...... people don't have one piece of gear and out of principle because it was once witnessed by others.... they from that point forward refuse to touch any other gear..

We are talking about dilla, he had gear. Isn't he known (via documentation) to have used the sp-303? a voyager? which both have filters? how about the piles of gear that didn't get mentioned or shown on videos.... how about the fact that people switch equipment, they try new things... they only pull out certain pieces for certain beats when it fits... or how about the sample source, maybe he altered the samples on a computer or on a tape machine... or on another sampler..

You can't assume by 2 videos on youtube and a dilla poster what gear he was restricted to for his entire career.


1. he also had a 1200.. couldve been doing the old drum tricks on the 1200 and bringing them into the 3k. he used the 303 in his late work
2. he didnt get the voyager till later when he was more seasoned in his career
3. i know a lot more than two videos on youtube and a poster but thanks for assuming and being smug.
4. and yeah thats my point.... the 3k might be getting too much love in the j dilla story if he was doing heavy lifting on other machines. i assumed by the way people constantly associate dilla and the jay dee era to the 3k that there was at least an eq and a highpass filter on there.
By JAYCEE3K Sun Dec 23, 2018 9:09 am
brodel34 wrote:
JAYCEE3K wrote:Maybe I’m missing something, but how is the discovery of the fact the 3k only having a low pass filter (as opposed to hi pass) such a mind-blowing revelation? Seems you may be lacking some detail about something else and/or are misinformed about something, not sure what exactly.

Yea the 3k only has a low pass filter. That is a big part of the sound. But It also has 8 outs. Hello! which allow for a quick solution for EQ and further sound shaping needs when ran through studio board of choice. But we can’t just stop there. The EQ of the board matters also, but that’s just EQ. A bunch of other stuff matters too. I mean he did have a few other boxes besides the 3k you know, and he has used tape and a few types of boards and fx units. I don’t know why anyone would assume his sound must ultimately be boiled down to only one single sampler and a non-existent high pass filter option of that sampler that you decide must’ve had to exist in order for him to achieve his whole ****. Lol


I never ruled out outside machines.
like i said before... its fairly well documented his process and nobody ever talks about other machines, so yes I assumed the 3k had basic eq settings and basic highpass filter. thats not crazy to assume it did, but obviously a mistake. Again, not assuming he wasnt using other machines but like i said... there is a blaring hole in the way people describe his process. there was heavy lifting going on outside of the 3k. and it wasnt being done with a 3 knob high, mid, low. thats for sure. and if this is the case then the case COULD be made that too much emphasis is being put on the 3k in correlation to dillas sound.

Well yea I suppose that might be surprising depending on how long you been a Dillaversity student. Lol.
The 3k play a major role in setting the foundation of many his beats, but hell yes all the fine tune, EQ and nuanced details of his drums sound design def came from other specific processes in combination with that machine. Variable gear, routing and mix engineer options.

It’s not something the average outsider would even know details about to even dicusss in the first place and the ppl that do know or at least have some idea about the processes either from first hand or secondhand account of ppl that were in the studio with him, they probably wouldn’t kick too much info about it either for obvious reasons.
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By mr_debauch Sun Dec 23, 2018 9:45 am
Here is another mind blowing fact.... the 3000 has NO EFFECTS AT ALL except for that one low pass filter... At least the 60 had an effects send/return... on the 3000 you have to do that with a mixer on the assignable outputs.

I guess people who spent a lot of time using those old pieces of gear see stuff like this as a non issue... if you need a filtered sound you aren't **** because your mpc doesn't have one.. you just take care of it with something else.
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By richie Sun Dec 23, 2018 10:00 am
brodel34 wrote:im the retarded one so im simply asking the questions. you are the expert so please tell me.


No hostility on my side. It was a simple question, if you are retarded. You answered with a confirmation that you are so we're good.

I'd also like to add -- I'm not sure if English is your native tongue as you tend to come off very smug to anyone that has dignified you with a response.

Also come on man.. Do you really think that some how by you getting your own MPC 3000 that you're going to crack this entire Dilla code, adding Dr Dre to boot? You are some how the end all be all authority in matters like this?

And yes I'm "familiar" with high pass filters.
By brodel34 Sun Dec 23, 2018 10:27 am
JAYCEE3K wrote:Well yea I suppose that might be surprising depending on how long you been a Dillaversity student. Lol.
The 3k play a major role in setting the foundation of many his beats, but hell yes all the fine tune, EQ and nuanced details of his drums sound design def came from other specific processes in combination with that machine. Variable gear, routing and mix engineer options.

It’s not something the average outsider would even know details about to even dicusss in the first place and the ppl that do know or at least have some idea about the processes either from first hand or secondhand account of ppl that were in the studio with him, they probably wouldn’t kick too much info about it either for obvious reasons.


yeah i read somewhere that he also used a certain compressor rack i believe as some of the paprika. theres definitely some curtains hiding some of the facts judging by some of the videos of how the SV members talk about "formulas"... but i also think that was a lot more to do with the sampling strategies.
Last edited by brodel34 on Sun Dec 23, 2018 10:39 am, edited 1 time in total.