C'mon be honest........

I have to ask this. It is out of pure ignorance to the capabuilities of the 4K.
Is there any thing that you can do with the MPC4k that you can not do with the 2kXL a computer w/CDR recycle, mpc editor, and DAW program (Nuendo / Sonar or something like that)?
I really don't know and want your true opinion.

The sampling power of the 2kxl is a joke. It's useful and serves it's purpose (drum sampler) but the mpc 4000 is a full spec 24 bit 96khz sampler.

Real time filtering
six controllers that can be used and programmed simultaneously to control pan, lfo, filter, delay etc...
That's incredible flexibility. There's the ability to record track mutes. A very powerful sequence editor (on par with cubase 3.6)

Each drum kit can have six pad banks and you can have as much as 512 megs of sounds loaded at once. Built in hard drive and cdrw.

So without the pc and sonar and yada, yada, yada, the 4000 is a beast; You'd be silly to try and compare it.

Now b4 I get wisecracker comments; like I bet I could make a phatter beat with my 2kxl than you could on your 4000. That's all up to the creative person behind the weapon of their choice. I know someone who could make phatt beats on fruity loops and doesn't need and mpc. There's katts doing full productions with reason.

It's all about the weapon of choice and what u r comfortable with.
Spec wise; I bought the mpc 4000; not because I think it blows awaythe 2000xl. Little by little I am upgrading my gear to satisfy my needs for the 24 bit 96khz demand. And I am a fan of sampling drum machines. I've owned the tr-808 Tr-909, tr-707, Sp 1200, Mpc 3000, 2000, 2000xl; they were all incredible and I wouldn't compare them to one another. Rebirth has replaced my original tr drum machines. The sp 1200 was ok but the mpc 60 was really the better machine. I was very upset at the time because I didn't have the money for an mpc 60. The sequencer really sucked, really,really sucked on the sp 1200. It's the shitiest drum machine sequencer i ever used.
Chose your weapons wisely; The mpc 4000 was a smart choice for me because of the sampling ability. I'm not into thin sounding soft synths or v-synths/samplers. The 4000 is a workhorse sampler (like emu's e4xt/ultra) and that sampler alone is 3000.00 so with the 4000; you get the amazing sequencer/drum pads/ drum features of the greatest drum machine ever made (the mpc series) along with a full spec sampler for less than the top of the line sampler (emu's e4) That one piece replaces a computer sequencer; your computer hardware midi interface, software sampler or hardware sampler. I like the fact that I can use the piece without turning my computer on. There's over 2hrs of sample time (Mono) or 1 hr (stereo)
on the mpc 4000 and I have access to those sounds via the internal hard drive. No need for expensive flash rom.
There's my take on it cuzin!

peace

Damixx that is all I asked for.. I really do apreciate your honesty. I don't sample the way you do but as my needs grow that is my next choice. Thank you for giving me true insight to what I can expect with the weapons of my warfare in the audio domain...

Pe@ce Ron

cool; I hope i didn't sound like I was coming off in a bad way; I just re-read the post and didn't realize it read the way it did; my fault.

I felt the same way with my 2000 and the 2000xl. When the question was asked how it compared to the mpc 3000 I responded similarly.
Wav sample loading was one of the reasons; looping samples was another; the optional efx was another as well as the optional flash rom.
the lack of the extra two midi out ports (tje 60 and the 3000 had 4)and the sound quality was the only beef I had with the 2kxl but hooked up to a good mixing board the problem was easily solved but midi ports still remained the problem for me. I loved the mpc 2kxl. In fact I held on to it; until an incredible dwal came along; (the mpc 4000le for 1695) I traded the 2kxl studio plus; with two rom cards (triton and emu rom card) w/ some dj speakers that i no longer used. I actually got and extra 140.00 back. With that extra cash I bought a 52x cdrw and a 40 gig ide hard drive and installed it into the 4000; I had memory chips laying around from other computers and dropped those in then i spent an extra 300 for the 8 out 2 in adat litepipe for the 4000. I turned it into a studio D for 2100.00; so that was a steal for me. If I wouldn't have had that deal; i would have continued with the 2kxl.
The mpc's are wonderful machines. Any of the mpc series stand out far above the rest of emu and ensoniq's as well as rolands boxes; the mc 909 looks promising but the pad layout is WACK!!!! if the pad layout was like the mpc 4000 and the build was sturdier looking i'd be a mc909 user; I can't resist those d-beam controllers; they are awesome.

hey if you want to add some convenience to building sample libraries for your 2kxl; check out mike goins mpc editor at www.midicase.com it's impressive.

Damixx laid it out pretty nice. The fact that all of the features that you covered with your set up -2kXL a computer w/CDR recycle, mpc editor, and DAW program (Nuendo / Sonar or something like that)- can pretty much be handled by one machine, is the whole concept behind the 4k. You can take it on stage instead of your laptop and play it. I think having a computer running alongside the 4k in todays studios is an essential but for the most part you can turn on you 4000 and rock. Not a lot of bullsh*t and a very flexible, great sounding machine with a sequencer thats familiar to mpc heads.

by the way damixx, you can get a stand alone midi version of the D-Beam controller and hook it up to whatever parameters you like on the 4k.

Where and how much?!!!! I'm going to rolands website now.

the mpc 4000le for 1695

WWWWWWHHHHHHAAAATTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Where Damixx?

What is the difference between the MPC4000 and the 4000LE and where did you find it at that price.

There is the mpc 4000LE; the Mpc 4000, The Mpc 4000 studio a, and the Mpc 4000 studiod. There's also the Mpc 4000 Studio plus.

Mpc 4000 LE is a barebones mpc 4000; no hard drive, No cdrw, 16 megs ram, no extra outs. 2299.00

The mpc 4000: has the cd recorder 272 megs ram and a 40 or 60 gig hd in it. 2599.00

The Mpc 4000 Studio A is the same as above with analog 8 ouput option installed 2999.00

The mpc 4000 Studio D; has the digital spdif and 2 in 8 out adat litepipe card instead of analog output expander; 3299.00

I bought mine at a used music retailer; well i traded the above equipment for the mpc 4000LE and turned it into a studio d for and extra 4 hundred and change.

Ron I just purchased a brand new mpc4000 with 60 gig hardrive,cdburner,and 272 megs for 1935 plus tax

hit me on the email..if you want the info.. [email protected]

My fault; it was rogue music in NYC where i got it.

word. I've jumped on the 4000 and it is mad tight, its the next step. I went from a pc only to a mpc and pc, now we can go from mpc pc to only MPC which is tight. THe self contained studio is the way to go and the 4000 is a nice piece of gear no doubt.

I like the 2KXL and I will prolly cop the 4000 when the price drops down to around 1800 for the bare bones one (so the 2KXL should be around 900 barebones new then, prolly in 18 months or so if the economy keeps up)

But yeah, the 4000 is a nice unit, but I just cant justify spending the $$$$ when I have my studio set up now. There are more important pieces of gear that I need to get.

I got my 4000 for 1550.00, wth 256 megs, a HD and cdburner. It in mint condition, only 3 months old.


Check ebay

When you say you can go from MPC PC to just MPC, what specifically are you talking about? I have never played with the MPC4000 before or experienced it in real life. When you say self-contained studio, do you mean that you do not need a DAW or anything like that? I am not knowing anything about this machine but I was that wants to learn about multi-track recording....will this machine allow me to skip all of that for great sounding tracks?

P.S. I just have an MPC 200xl, TRITON, and a CD recorder...trying to get a better quality of sound out this stuff...

Thanks

Im My Opinion:

The 4000 is a great machine, etc, etc - however - it is at heart an MPC with an amazing sampler included. It operates very similarly in some respects to the MPC2000XL, so I doubt very much that you will benefit from switching.

Instead I reccomend you use a DAW package (Cubase, Sonar, Logic, etc) to aid you mix and master your current set up - You can still use the sequencer on the 2000XL, but you will also gain all the benefits of using a computer system (VST Instruments and Plugins).