mpc500...one backwords interface.....does it get better?

Sovereign wrote:
It's actually a pretty straight forward unit.

You can definitely find things that are far more complicated and less well laid out.

I like the 500, but I always find myself bangin' on the SP606.

Akai just over-did it. This should have been a basic MPC, a stripped down version of the 1000. Its a great machine no doubt and no other portable sampler can come close, but it just asks too many questions to save and load. Effects are too technical to get down with, I prefer simple knob twistin' of the 606.

I had mine since 2006 and now I'm ready to sell it. Workflow is just too much work for me and time is spent more with parameters than making music. Its a great beast and we had fun while it lasted but I'm just tired of the bullsh!t. No audio-thru, no way to lo-fi your sound, few effects, etc. There's ways to work around those issues, but c'mon, those should be basic features.

Ill-Green wrote:I like the 500, but I always find myself bangin' on the SP606.

Akai just over-did it. This should have been a basic MPC, a stripped down version of the 1000. Its a great machine no doubt and no other portable sampler can come close, but it just asks too many questions to save and load. Effects are too technical to get down with, I prefer simple knob twistin' of the 606.

That's to allow it to share with the other MPC's.

I like the 500, but I always find myself bangin' on the SP606.

Akai just over-did it. This should have been a basic MPC, a stripped down version of the 1000. Its a great machine no doubt and no other portable sampler can come close, but it just asks too many questions to save and load. Effects are too technical to get down with, I prefer simple knob twistin' of the 606.

this is a striped down ver.
save takes 3 steps and fx are basic
why dont you try music generator for playstation 2 its pretty basic.

ps if yours ASKS you questions maby a preist is needed?

bennisixx wrote:ps if yours ASKS you questions maby a preist is needed?

A priest wouldn't touch this 'demon' voice box with a ten foot pole with holy water on the end.

Believe me I'm not trying to diss the little guy, I had my fair share of defending the 500 from the other MPC users that mock it and I believe some never even touched an MPC.

Really I'm just a beat-maker with preferences. I didn't bought it because of the hype behind the Akai legacy, but merely because it has pitch tuning and numerical wave editing ( I like all my beats mathematically chopped because I prefer making a song in a single sequence ). I got like 10 different samplers from different manufacturers, I just like making beats period , the name brand doesn't matter to me. Though I feel the 1000 and 2500 with jjos are some comfortable machines to work with, but the 500 is not cuttin' it with me anymore.

Besides its just opinions, MINE.

i fly through the 500 with no issues, i think the problem is the users.


And ive used everything from a eps 16+,1000, and every software you can imagine.

the 500 reminds me of oldschool gear, one of the reasons i love it.

Yeah the only things I really wish the 500 had was under the trim section to convert a sample to mono (L/R/L+R/L-R...), audio input thru and some kind of chop shop that could either detect transients or set a number of equal length slices to generate from the sample and then generate a new program.

Sovereign wrote:I own/ have owned EVERY MPC and the 500 doesn't stink compared to any of the other.
Wanna know why?
Because I fully understand whay it supposed to be and what it is.
I don't expect it to be the same as the 4k or 5k I expect it to be a 500.
Why would you compare it to them?
Akai's goal of a portable battery operated MPC was fully achieved.
They were not trying to make a poor man's MPC or an entry level MPC since that's what they felt they did with the 1k.
If you have dealt with something like the MPC60 then the you understand that they made the 500 more like older samplers.

It's actually a pretty straight forward unit.

I know what it is.
I dont have to "own every MPC" to know what I want from a sampling drum machine.

I expect to be able to navigate and utilize the functions that it comes with reasonably quick and easily without being hindered by convoluted menu's and hobbled or unresponsive hardware.

I dont know how much money you've got falling out of your pockets but I dont think thats too much to expect for 499 dollars.

I dont care what the 4000 or 5000 does, I never said anything about them. MPC OS's got more cramped and difficult after they fired Linn IMO.
The 60 and the 2000 do not have the same workflow, I've tried them.

people in this forum complicate beat making on the 500 in the worst ways.

Something is definitely complicated.

If I had my druthers it would all be much simpler.

robthom wrote:Something is definitely complicated.

If I had my druthers it would all be much simpler.

Everything is complicated. The expectation is given enough knowledge/experience it should become less complicated.

If you know nothing about sequencing/sampling then the 500 is likely to seem like a crazy indecipherable box. If you've worked with sampling/daws it will probably seem quite limited. It just depends on your perspective.

NearTao wrote:
Everything is complicated. The expectation is given enough knowledge/experience it should become less complicated.

True nuff.

Although I wouldn't say everything.

The first time I got the 5 I couldn't make it do a damn thing. It reminded me of that stupid 2000. But after putting one foot in front of the other I've finally got it down enough to eventually, with a bit of wrangling and elbow grease, get it to do what I want.

But its no effortless machine, at least in my experience for what I want to do.

No, its not that bad at all once you get to know it. There's much worse (rolands). But there's also better is all I'm saying.

The SP 1200, the ASR and the MPC60 did not require a dang bit of manual study. I only had to watch those used or explained to me once to use them myself. But those are obviously and rightfully quite famous exceptions, plus being less advanced than modern machines.

(I still dont know how to use Daws, dont want to either).

Yeah... I find DAWs a two edged sword, especially on the computer. Amazingly deep editing, effects, sounds and resources... yet it is so easy to get lost in them forever just playing and never really getting anything done. I came from DAWs working with the likes of Ableton Live, Sonar, Acid, etc... got kind of exhausted with the constant upgrades due to OS/Hardware/Software demands and decided to get a 1k. The 500 showed up as a result of needing something a lot more portable and finding a ridiculous deal on ebay. I find the lack of functionality rather refreshing and it really helps to reinforce getting things done since you cannot play endlessly with different ways to do something... on the 500 especially you either can or cannot do something inside of it. There might be a trick to get something done, but there really isn't a point to endlessly noodling once you know your way around the device.