What's good from Australia!

Hey everyone,

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kwan and I've been living with, and enjoying music for most of my life.

A few weeks back a mate of mine showed off his MPC1000 and I knew I just had to get one.

Although I have some recording experience, and knowledge of programs such as Cubase, Nuendo & Acid, I've never used anything like an MPC before. As such, I've been doing some mad reading and decided that the MPC500 is probably the best fit for me - as a total noob.

Ideally, what I want is something self sustained, as well as have some interactivity between the programs I use for recording on the PC.

My equipment list so far -

Rode NT1-A Condenser Mic
PC
Edirol UA-25 USB Audio Capture
Acid Pro & Fruity Loops

So what I'm saying is, I wanna make a beat on the MPC, dump it into my recording software, then add vocals or whatever through my mic. Is this possible with the 500?

In the future I'm thinking of switching over to Ableton Live, at which stage I will look into the APC40 from Akai. I think that plus an MPC500 would be a pretty decent set up.

Please let me know if my decisions/justifications for getting the MPC500 are at all realistic ...coz really, at the end of the day, I just wanna make BEATS!

Sorry for the long post,

Kwan

not sure about prices in australia, but for the price of new 500 you can pick u second hand 1000...I would suggest getting that instead of 500. if you not on the move that much there is no need for you to limit yourself.

Actually yeah I've been thinking about it more, and I probably will not be moving around all that much. This will be a more of a "plugged into the computer" while I work thing.

In fact, the more I think about it and compare specs and people's opinions, the more I lean towards the 1000.

The newer black models currently out, do they still have pad problems? Or has this been resolved?

Also, which music recording programs work best with the MPC in terms of ease of transition? (Ableton, Cubase, Acid etc...)

black models dont have pad issue

I like using ableton with my mpc, but it varies from user to user, there is no definite answer.

It's about what feature set you looking for and interface you are comfortable with.

It'd be best if you looked around the net for demos of DAW's you interested in and tried them out before you commit.

Ah ok, if that's the case I will most likely pick up the 1000 and continue using one of my already familiarized DAW's with it.

Thanks for the input man.

Well guys, I thought things were smooth sailing for me in terms of what to get ...until I came across the NI Maschine...

Although I've been largely software based in the past, I was actually quit looking forward to just getting on the MPC1000 and banging out some beats without having to rely on anything but me and the machine, but now, the inter connectivity the Maschine offers to DAWS just seems to good to not notice.

Now I definitely DO NOT just want a controller. What excites me about the Maschine is that it tries to be the middle ground between DAW and MPC.

For anyone who replies to this with advice, what would you have gotten had you not purchased your MPCs yet?

Btw, sorry for the double post.

I'm a hardware head and I can't get with software. I tried but I like to take out my frustration physically, and a beat machine gives me that.

You are raised up on software. So you know your way around it, feels like home to you. Yeah, I know you wanted to rock a box, but your love is calling.

So you see? Do what feels comfortable for you and f**k the hype and the trends, just be you and be original.

Yeah Ill I feel that. Thanks for the advice, I'd like to **** with the MPC one day too ...just be be a part of history for a moment.

But for the meantime, for the sake of picking up something I have a bit of knowledge in already makes sense to me.

Hopefully the Maschine will allow me to get a feel of what hardware allows the musician to achieve, and I'll take it from there.