mpc2k vs software

im new to this board so hi everyone first .

now i have some questions i hope to get some helpful answers altough im new in her .

2 weeks ago i made some good money on selling my old mesa boogie amp on ebay , and bought an mpc2k for 690 euro with 8 outs 32mb ram étc . and thought it was a quite good deal , i prdouced my track until now on reason hooked up via rewire to neundo , but acutally fed up with all this mouse works .

i heared of the fabulous groove the mpc creates and thats why i chose to buy one . well now 2 weeks of testing in creating 1:1 beats in neundo using battery and then on the mpc i came to the result the rumours about the groove factor is actually crap or what is it you think ?
does it really make sense to use the mpc in home recording situation ?
i dont gig live so the stable sequncer offers no effort to me .

now im thinking of reselling the mpc again , to buy a tl audio c1 compressor , anyway could you guys gimme some advices that could convince me in keeping the mpc ?

what are the advantages of harware samplers nowadays , when you can use samplers like battery or kontakt with their great sounding filters unlimited ram/diskstreaming , easy to use sample management , possibility to use multible instances , and the very tight quanitsation ( as there is no physical datatransfere needed ) .

second question :

i have a waldorf pulse and would like to sequence it alongside the drumpatterns in the mpc .
but evertime i program some lines either the drums sounds sound alongside or there is only the sound of the pulse and no drum sound . you understnad my problem ? i mean how to split the midichannels ?
im quite new t this hardware midistuff , sry if this seems to to be common sense .


nevertheless excuse my bad english .

ps ive posted a dub track in the my track section .
would be nice if some of you take a listen at it .

cheers freshmints

Hardware vs. software is an endless debate. I think you won't find a lot of people on this forum that will advise you to sell your mpc

2 weeks using the MPC will not even give you an idea of what it's capable of. Give it some more time, and you'll find out (you can always sell it later)

Your sofware and the MPC perfectly complement each other, try using each for it's own purpose. For example, you can do you main drumsequencing on the mpc, use battery for multisampled instruments, the Pulse to add some subbass, and multitrack it in Nuendo.

I don't understand your question on using the Pulse trough midi. I have a pulse myself, it's not that difficult to hook up. Just run a midicable from the mpc's 'midi-out' to the Pulses 'in'.
If you use the samples INSIDE the mpc, you shouldn't even have to change midi channels at all. Just record the drums on "DRUM" tracks, and the Pulse on midi tracks. You make it sound like you're record drums on a midi channel as well, wich makes no sense to me. Do you have it hooked up to Battery or something?
Please explain.

if you are already comfortable sequencing into nuendo and using battery then you might be better off getting just the mpd-16 and using that to bang in beats.

the mpc60 and 300 are what are rumored to have that 'majic groove' or shuffle or whatever.
i found a zipfile full of groove templates created from a mpc60 that you can load into cubase or nuendo and apply (with varying amounts) to any midi track, so that is really the best of both worlds. i pretty much only use my mpc as a midi controller these days. i have considered selling it, getting a mpd16 and some other stuff with the leftover money, but I think i am just going to keep my mpc. it makes a nice midi merge box too.

oh come on guys , 60 hits and just 2 replies ?

i think this is an MPC board , and you guys should be able to give me some convincing pros to keep the gear , sup come on .
thnx for the replies anyway

mess with it some more, give yourself 6 months, if you aren't convinced, sell it. If you are, enjoy :lol:

[quote]you guys should be able to give me some convincing pros to keep the gear [/quote]

You expect us to convince you to keep your MPC? Why don't you give us a break and sell your MPC to someone that is actually interested in using it. You apparently hold software in high regards and frankly we can't compete with that, particularly when you can find no fault of software.

The people that enjoy the MPC most are those that are frustrated with the endless computer related problems of performance, unreliability and un-portability. You show none of these issues. If you want testimonials go read all the for sale adds at the online auction sites. Those sellers have already been here and asked the same question for quick plugs.

yo mpc 3000 sry didnt ment to offend you .

it was just like i had the cash and bought the mpc without thinking about it before .

i dont say software is the killer tool and only way to work with , im just not so experienced with the mpc , so thought to give it a discussion on this board to see what the experienced people think about this topic .

i ll probably will be able to make up my own mind on my own but this might take some months .

concluding : kust post your opinions this is now love/hate thread .

just list me some of your personal pros and cons .

i dindt mention the probs considering computers , as we all obviously know that they like to crash from time to time .
finally you cant produce a whole track on the mpc sooner or later you ll have to bounce into the mpc using a tracker like cubase , cool edit or whatever to fx and arrange stuff . so i just want to know : what is it that makes the mpc special as a drummachine ?

in a word: Versatile

The MPC 2000XL is mad versatile. You can use it for drums, you can use it for sequencing and you can use it as a multisampler. The last one takes some practice, but the tutor has some nice tutorials to help you through it.

Basically I was where you are. I used reason rewired to cubase and used recycle to slice loops and rebirth for drums/303 bass. THe thing I came out with is,. I like to touch stuff. Faders, pads knobs, I feel more comfortable doing stuff that way. I could just buy a controller and use that to run my pc rig, but I didnt "feel" it.

As I got more into buying outside hardware I found that the hardware, right there powered up with knobs and faders gave me instant gratification. I got an idea about how to alter a track, in seconds I could test it out and see if I liked it. On the pC it took minutes so time was a factor. The "goove" of the mpc is best heard slow. make two track the exact same in the mpc and on the pc then pitch them waaaaayyyy down and listen. The pc will have fallouts, lags, weird little sounds that the mpc track wont have. It may be nitpicking but I like my ish to come out sounding correct anyway you listen to it.

The MPC is limited, but these limits force you to be creative, and find workarounds. 99.9999% of the workarounds I find actually sound cool, add something cool to the sound that I couldn't get another way. Basically limitations inspire creativity more then no limit (pun 100% intended)

add to that that the MPC fits right in with any setup (cant say that about every other piece of gear, in fact I would only say that about the Korg Triton other then the MPC) and its golden. I agree. try makin a track with just the mPC. its doable and it'l take time as you learn but use that as a benchmark for the mpc, use it alone.

"you might be working at McDonalds, flippin burgers it might take you 5 minutes to make a burger. but give it some time and you'll be flippin them burgers behind your back."
C-Note
San Francisco native and "soldier in the game"
as seen on HBO

I am a recent convert to the MPC. I got mine in Feb.
The only reason I brought an MPC was for the timing.

I love Fl. I have my MPC connected to FL now.
But I have to admit that the timing in FL can not compare with the MPC.
I have a lot of tight beats in FL.
From time to time I would create tracks and the timing was not as tight as I would like it. Highly frustrating.


I made a post on Futureproducers .com about this same subject.
Langs

http://www.futureproducers.com/forums/s ... genumber=5



I work like this. I use FL as a notepad. It's much faster to work with the ideas and grooves for me. Plus I have access to over 20 gb of sounds and samples on my PC

If I want to sample I use my PC. (Kontakt/Beat Slicer/Gold wave)

Once I 'm finished in Fl I transfer everything to the MPC and recreate the groove.

Some beats sound perfectly fine in FL. But once I run it thru the MPC add some MPC magic it's baked.
I basically spent 1200 dollars for the sequencer and pads.

To me the MPC sampler sucks. If you 're coming from a software world
the sampler is uselsess.
But Nothing! I say nothing can compare to the tightness of the sequencer in the MPC.
For me it was worth the 1200 alone.


You've used one before. You know It's damn near cheating.
You brought another MPC because you need it.

By connecting my MPC to FL I can control all of my VST's.
I then sample them and send them to the MPC

In other words I think if you use an MPC and a PC together you're working with the best setup.

If you have just an mpc and hate touching a PC you're limiting youself.
This could explain why most MPC users beats all sound the same.
Sample put a beat under it and I'm Premier. You guys might want to expand you're horizions to.

If you only use a PC you're limiting yourself. The timing on all you're
tracks will not be perfect. Unless you're just grabing a break beat and matching up a sample.

I think you have the best possible setup now.
The choice is yours.

>"This could explain why most MPC users beats all sound the same."

Thats possibly the silliest shit I ever read on these forums. I aint 'bout to go crazy wit the post (I see y'all already went thru that on FP). But I can play you any number of tracks, all totally different, done by the same artist (me) using the MPC only, without EVER touchin a PC. EASILY.

>"Sample put a beat under it and I'm Premier. "

Its funny how people tend to over simplify things. I'm sure if you compared a Premo track to what he originally sampled you'd recognize skillz.

I'm not a PC basher by any means, to each his own...... but thats just silly.

If you only use a PC you're limiting yourself. The timing on all you're tracks will not be perfect. Unless you're just grabing a break beat and matching up a sample.

i use a PC and an mpc. i dont know why people thinking something is wrong with the timing on a pc. that just doesnt make any sense. if you mean when using midi and syncing up with hardware, i have a real soundcard (not a gamer card) with real midi and its flawless. do people think that you can't apply swing/shuffle/groove templates on a computer, you have been told wrong. if anything you have much more flexible quantize/swing/groove options on a pc.
maybe if you were using a real program not fruity loops you wouldnt have had timing problems. cause i use real programs like reason and cubase SX and have no problems.

ok dude,
#1 Pete rock, only uses an MPC 2000XL and a DPS to do his tracks. He has said it numerous times. His beats are mad varied.

DJ Shadow> enough said. The "only using an MPC is bunk and limits you" argument just does not hold water.

It takes time, and effort to work through the mPC limitations, but this is where creatvity comes in. Despite all the flexibility of Reson and Cubase I bet 95% of the users use it for the same thing, in almost the exact same way.

In my experience the MPC creates a "style" for each user, who uses it how they use it, often quite distinct from all other users in how they sample and arrange the music.
In short, the PC actually creates limits by allowing you to slip into a rut where your music is done "formula" style. With little variation and if there is variation it does little to change the outcome of the music.

In the MPC, slight chages, from as tiny as how you lay your tracks down (order) force certain changes to the production. These changes keep the music "fresh"
who is more creative? the filmmaker who has access to the biggest stars and the best locations or the artist who has to work around not having big stars for all the roles and not having access to every location he wants to film at?
well the guy who has limits is FORCED to find a creative way around it. the key word is CREATIVE.

That is the main strength of the MPC to me and is why akai has been able to keep selling this overpriced piece of gear.

"finally you cant produce a whole track on the mpc sooner or later you ll have to bounce into the mpc using a tracker like cubase , cool edit or whatever "

This is not true. My music never goes near a computer. Just as the MPC is the king of sequencing since it is dedicated hardware, there are outboard recording, mixing, mastering units that are dedicated for their very purpose. It is not necessary to dump your music into a machine that was designed to surf the net and do word processing.

As far as the harware vs software, I have found that music created from hardware is generally better than software based setups. No, this has nothing to do with whether one is better than the other, but rather the investment the artist has in making the music. After a few peices of hardware (MPC, DPS, effects) an artist has 2-3 grand invested in their trade. They make sure that what they do is going to pay off (at least some amount). Most software types never pay for software. They have no investment in this trade. Taking a free ride without paying the bus fare. There is no `loss` if they fail to produce anything good. This underlying difference reflects in the music produced.

There are software users that make good music, but these are consistently the types that make investments in the tools of their trade (i.e. buying the software). There is nothing like dropping a few hundred in new tool whether is hard or soft to make some inspiration.

I have to agree with you mpc3000, In part. I use nuendo a triton and an MPC 2000XL. You are right about most software users taking a free ride.
But as far as for me I have mixed on alot of difernt mediums and have found my own method to produce, mixed masters at a level to where my tracks are sold as is to majors and locals. I am buy no means bragging just giving the point that I have to admit with out a PC I would have to put more poeple in to the mix just for a passable product. If you have found your succes of mixing out side the PC format I would love to shake your hand. Getting retail ready results with out a major studio and or a PC is very difficult.

well thx for so far for your opinions

i think ill keep the mpc until i get a mpc 60 .

so here is another question


how can i use to slave nueno/cubase .

i tried this one time to play some basslines in nuendo snd do the beats on the mpc , but they weren't working sync . when i link up reason to nuendo thy both work sync and when i hit the play button in any of them , both start playing sync .

so how to manage it that , when i hit the mpc play button , that nuendo starts sync too . how the link it up ? soundcard midi in/mpc midi out ?

and how to keep the latency low ? there is always a time delay of up to a second or more , when i hit a button on the mpc until the drum sounds at the speaker . i have a hoontech dsp2000 ?

on more , is it possible to keep msesing in one loop ? ie i create a bassline loop it and make a drumloop on the mpc how to that ?

eaz