>TT >MPC >pre >interface type question (signal chain?)

hi peeps - long time reader, first time poster. MPC 3000 owner, vinyl hoarder, aging DJ.

have found this forum very useful in the past for all info MPC related - have tried to read on here and google everywhere possible rather than clutter up your reading with questions that have been answered many times (like layering tips - or how to sound like dilla, no offense to anyone). first post after year of reading.

I'm in the very early stages of learning my MPC 3000 - very briefly had 2000 classic and 1000, but at the time didn't find them inspiring for whatever reason (prob NO good reason - barely touched them though), and have always been into sound quality first over features - so after months of flogging old crap on ebay I had £500 budget for which I managed to pick up a great condition fully working 3000 here in London. now loaded with 32meg RAM (fitted myself thanks to info I got on here). eventually will get the 3.5 OS and card reader.

anyway - want to throw out there a few different scenario's re the way to get the best from the vinyl sample into mpc >ending up in logic (logic 6 plat, slightly oldschool).

getting some feedback on these posbbile setups would be great - although I've seen a few threads covering part of this, still think this would be useful for others to see too - at the very least for people just starting out like me.

I get the impression the less in the chain the better, plus the less clashing of different 'colours' of sound the better (ie not using one vintage pre on the way into MPC and one on the way out).

Turntable >DJ mixer >3000 >stereo out >pre amp >interface
Turntable >preamp >3000 >stereo out >interface
Turntable >DJ mixer >good rack EQ >3000 >stereo out >pre amp >interface
(if you use a preamp, do you rig the turntable direct to the pre rather than >TT >dj mixer >preamp >MPC - if so how do you do this when your 1210 is phono out, conversion cable??)

this option would be too big of a chain surely?
Turntable >DJ mixer >preamp >3000 >stereo out >mixing desk >interface

or...
Turntable >preamp >3000 >individual outs >mixing console >interface
reason I ask about this specific setup is, I randomly got hold of a cheap 24 channel Allen+Heath System 8 mixing desk - not exactly a neve or anything, but for budget mixer of this type its useful and allows me to rig up my various synths for quick action too. ALSO largely bought because was planning on using the individual outs of my mpc3000 + my s950 >>BUT then when it was too late I started to read that a large amount of people much prefer to use the stereo outs on both machines for the better quality, leaving a large amount of channels I just don't need, for now.

have a DBX 160x compressor - bit confused where his goes in chain, at mixing desk stage (>MPC >mixer+DBX), or not at all if I'm stereo tracking to interface I guess.

other tools at my yard, s950, asr10 keyboard, various cheap but good effects rack units, synths.

if anyone can offer some advice that would be great, even if its to blow one of those combos out of the water.

once my studio is closer to being setup how I want will post in the cribs section.

THANKS!! and as a bigger thank you will try to chip in when people ask even more basic questions than this and you guys don't want to repeat yourselves.

oh - at the mo I only have a cheap-o tascam us-122 interface (1x stereo input only) - this will change at some point, or not if I'm just tracking out of 3000's stereo outs...

hello mate,

i not going to tell you how to set up your gear just what works for me!

i have a 16 channel 8 bus mixer with direct outs on each channel. i have my TT pluged into a DJ mixer which is in turn plugged into the mic pre's on the big mixer, from there I take the direct out into which every sampler i want to sample into, but is usually the MPC 1000 for chopping, the MPC 1000 is also on a big mixer channel and I take the direct out from that into the S900, S2000, S3000xl or MPC 3000 and do minimal chopping just top and tail on the vintage samplers.

does your allen and heath have direct outs? cause it is really handy. you may have to wire a custom cable for that to prevent ground loops.

tbh I haven't been using the MPC 3000 to sample much as I haven't had it long or the s900. So i'm sampling in the MPC1k or s900 and sequencing from the MPC3k.

hope that helps.

thanks bro.

yep its got oldschool tape outs - still figuring out how to route the thing (its a frickin beast, 1.5 metre wide, 8 or 16 bus, not quite sure techically how many, manual is confusing me). its got pres, fairly decent ones, late 80's mixer, useable EQ.

so:
TT >DJ mixer >A+H studio mixer >MPC 3000 >A+H studio mixer (with option of DBX 160x for kick/snare) > Tascam US-122 interface >logic 6 plat

not bad solution...

guess inclusion of another preamp, would be if I could some how get a fantasy 2 channel rack stereo one like aurora, neve, amek - if I was luck enough to win the lottery or something. might be OTT, esp when you can get your final mixdown done in bigger studio elsewhere.

this is what I've got (not mine, but exact same model) - at some point might get rid of for a smaller better quality vintage mixer - was cheap enough for me to get it to try out, then flog year down the line if not the one for me.

sorry for large image!

grab the service manual / schematics from here while its still up just in case you do get a problem with it.

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/geekslut ... tions.html

thats probably a pretty okay mixer, especially for the money these days, replacing all the capacitors will help no end if it hasn't already been done.


win the lottery eh?

RND 5088 would be the first thing I buy, probably before the house to build the studio in.

thanks v much for the link! yeah did bit of research before buying, one of the better oldschool mixers with that many channels for a v small price, warmish and functional, for tracking + routing at very least.

re capping would be an idea, but budget is tight these days, so will no doubt stay like it is, or one day get sold to put towards some thing smaller of better sound quality (have few other cheap mixers on radar, if I get bored of having something with so many channels, or something so BIG).

yeah the RND 5088 looks heavy we can dream eh!! to be honest something of that beauty would be slight wasted on me at my current skill level.