Q's regarding the upgrades on MPC 60's/3000's & What to buy

First off, I don't own an MPC and I have never used one other than messing around in Guitar Center. But, I have been doing really extensive research because I plan to buy one. I want to produce beats with that early 90's hip hop sound and most likely a lot of sampling.. Out of all my research the 60 and 3000 have come out on top. What I'm wondering is, are the upgrades really necessary? More specifically are they necessary for someone who has never used an MPC? for instance.. the SCSI interface boards and zip drives, extended memory, etc.

I really want the MPC 60..

Would I be good buying one that's stock or should I try to get one with 3.10 update and all of that?

Are more upgrades better or are they for the more advanced MPC users?

And lastly, does anyone think I should pick the 3000 over the 60?


I need some guidance from the experts.

Welcome to the forum.

Legacy MPCs such as the MPC 60 and the MPC 3000 aren't as user friendly as newer models such as the MPC 1000 or 2500. It will take a quite bit of work to learn the workflow on the classic machines especially if you are new to MPCs.

There is NO autochop on the MPC 60 or MPC 3000.

I started with my MPC 60 back in the early 90s, so I've developed my workflow around it. There are limitations to working this way, but I think the lack of choices has influenced me in a good way. Not to say it hasn't had its share of frustration along the way.

If I were to start over again today, I would probably pick something like the MPC 1000 and use external effects, trickery and a S950 sampler to give my samples that sound.

You can achieve that 90s hip-hop sound without using a MPC 60 or 3000, don't let gearlust get in the way of your creativity.

In my opinion, The OS upgrade for the MPC 60 is necessary. If you can live with working one floppy disk at a time, you don't need the SCSI expansion, though it will make your life much easier.

The RAM in an stock MPC 60 is 750kB which will limit your sample time. Expanding the memory on the MPC 60 to 1.5MB (26 seconds) will cost you anywhere from $100 - $150.

As for the MPC 3000, the SCSI option is already built in, so you can either use the internal floppy drive or add on a zip drive or whatever. By limiting yourself to a floppy drive, you can only work one floppy disk at a time...

The RAM can be expanded to 32MB using DIMMs. You should be able to expand the memory to 32MB for around $15 - $30.

Between the two, if you are dead set on either a MPC 60 or MPC 3000, I would lean toward the 3000...

And since these machines are quite old, you will need to open them up to service them or perform maintenance on them at some time. If you cannot do this or do not know someone that can, I would urge you to purchase a newer machine.

What Hunter said ^^^


But really, I started out on a 1000 but my curiosity got the best of me and I just recently picked up a 3000... I love 'em both in their own way, but the 1000 was really a great place for me to start...

If ur planning on sampling ALOT I wouldnt go for the 60.

Ima disagree with y'all.....as a first sampler drum machine a stock 60 is the shit
gonna force u to keep it simple and really focus on the sound and focus on drums...once u get that down maybe upgrade the ram and os or grab another sampler to midi up to the 60

the newer joints with tons of sampling time allow u too have waaay to many chops and options for someone just starting and like the kid says he wants that early 90s sound.....what better than a stock 60 with the option to upgrade after u get the basics of the 60 mastered

just my $0.02

Thanks for all the input ya'll. To be honest at first I was considering a 2000 or 2000xl because I was watching Exile, Kev Brown and Damu The Fudgemunk work on them. And I know it's really all about the man behind the machine and knowing how to use it and not just the hardware. But then I got caught up in the whole thing about Roger Linn not designing anything after the 3000 and how some people think anything after isn't up to par. I'm always looking for credibility on a piece of hardware a far as who uses it.. like DJ Premier is one of my favorite producers for example and I saw that he uses the 3000 so I was like that's what I want (I'm sure he uses other hardware too though). A guy at Guitar Center told me I should get Abelton live and a MPD because it would be cheaper and there's more sounds but I kinda want to stay away from computers.. I want that 12 bit sound like on the SP1200 and the 60, so I thought why not start off with the first machine and do it like everybody else did it. Back then they didn't have all these upgrades did they? I just want to get some hardware and get really good at using it.

MPCHunter, how does an S950 work? I've done some research on it but I don't really understand what it does..

Thanks

PattyMacAttakk wrote: A guy at Guitar Center told me I should get Abelton live and a MPD because it would be cheaper and there's more sounds but I kinda want to stay away from computers.. I want that 12 bit sound like on the SP1200 and the 60, so I thought why not start off with the first machine and do it like everybody else did it. Back then they didn't have all these upgrades did they? I just want to get some hardware and get really good at using it.

Well then what're you waiting for? sounds like you already have your mind made up! Just do it...

Thanks for the reassurance b.read I have one last question.. I watching a youtube video about DJ Quik talking about the MPC 60 and he was like if you were smart you got the 60II. I thought the only difference between the 60 & 60II was the plastic chasis and the headphone output??

PattyMacAttakk wrote:MPCHunter, how does an S950 work? I've done some research on it but I don't really understand what it does..

Thanks

The S950 is a rackmounted sampler. The hardware inside the S950 records the input analog signal and converts it a 12-bit digital sound format. The algorithms, editing functions and hardware analog-to-digital converters inside the sampler give the music that "sound" -- sometimes intentionally, sometimes not.

A main difference between a MPC and a rackmounted sampler is that the MPC is a sampler with touch senstive pads that you can play back the samples with. The MPC also has a sequencer so if you want to program a beat, you will be able to do this.

If you want to play back the samples and sequence them on a sampler like a S950 you need some sort of MIDI interface (keyboard, MPC, computer, etc). However, an added benefit with a sampler is that you sometimes get advanced editing functions.

PattyMacAttakk wrote:I thought the only difference between the 60 & 60II was the plastic chasis and the headphone output??

That's the only difference I can think of, besides the having a tiltable LCD window in the Mk1 and a fixed one in the MPC 60II
.

That's the only difference I can think of, besides the having a tiltable LCD window in the Mk1 and a fixed one in the MPC 60II

Backlight?

Ima disagree with y'all.....as a first sampler drum machine a stock 60 is the ****
gonna force u to keep it simple and really focus on the sound and focus on drums...once u get that down maybe upgrade the ram and os or grab another sampler to midi up to the 60

YUP...

But make sure you have OS 3.1... the Original OS was widdack.

But make sure you have OS 3.1... the Original OS was widdack.

What's the difference between the original OS and OS 3.10?

the new os makes chopping alot easier and makes it so the sounds cut can themselves off, also you can compress sounds to take up half the memory which is why I think it is more important than the ram or scsi. I notice alot of people chose the s950/new mpc combo to get the gritty sound and the features of the new machines. also, on the s900/s950 I believe there are more ways to edit samples than on the 60, but other than that the older mpc's are alot simpler than newer ones because of the lack of features

edit: the full list of differences is in the beginning of the 3.1 manual http://rogerlinndesign.com/downloads/MP ... fonts_.pdf

Can someone explain to me the purpose of these mods?

This is all from the FORAT website for the MPC 60 & 60II:

-Internal Zip 100 MB modification

-Output Boost Modification on the Stereo and all 8 direct outs

-MPC 60 Floppy drive (is this different from the internal floppy drive that the MPC already has?)

-750 KB memory expansion modification (is this 750kb more so you will have 1500kb? (I'm wondering because MPCHunter said the RAM on an MPC 60 stock is 750kb.) (When people say they have maxed out RAM on their MPC's, is that the same thing as having the 750 kb memory expansion?)

And is the SCSI expansion so you can work with more than one floppy disk at a time? What is the purpose of working with more than one at a time?

Sorry for so many questions.. Hopefully someone can help

Thanks

keep in mind none of these are necessary,

-the internal zip is just a zip drive that goes instead of the floppy drive. zip disks hold >100x the amount of floppies

-the floppy drive forat sells is just a replacement if yours breaks, its not a 2nd drive.

-the scsi card is so you can hook up external zip drive or hard drive but if your fine using floppies then you don't need it.

-the output boost just makes the outs louder I think

-the 750kb memory expansion will max the ram to 1500kb


also to have an internal zip you need to have the scsi, and to have the scsi you need atleast 2.14 os

Sorry for maybe a basic qustion:

Somebody sells MPC3000 with OS 3.11 that only loads
from a floppy...
is that a problem, doesn't OS3.11 has to be permanently installed...
thanks in advance
jazz