Exchange tips and tricks for the Akai MPC4000
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By Moz Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:26 pm
Had the Ren worked as a standalone unit in its own right,I might have jumped ship with my 4K,its not until something like this comes out you realise how great and valuable the things you use daily are so important to your workflow even if they don't have the latest bells and whistles on board,the 4K for me is still one of the best sequencers ever even a decade later

I would have been happy if it worked as a hybrid,rather than as a middleman, having a computer in tow,that isn't what the MPC experience for me is about.

I understand Akai's motives,but its just a quick fix to appeal to the computer generation who perhaps want to delve into the MPC workflow,but Akai have forgotten there legacy of what makes their Hardware machines so great,giving it a hybrid personality would have been a more attractive solution,perhaps would have been a bigger selling point.

Each to their own,but for me,the idea of working on MPC hardware in a software reliant environment is anything but appealing,especially for those of us who prefer use nothing but Hardware.

Good luck to those of you who have been waiting for this from Akai,I'm sure it'll be useful in its own way if you utilise software,and would only pave the way to newer products if its successful,I'll be hanging onto my 4000 for a long time yet.
By dryad-66 Tue Feb 21, 2012 4:18 pm
feline1 wrote:
dryad-66 wrote:Some will disagree but i think the 4k has a sound/texture.Although fairly transparent.I feel the ren will have more a daw sound.Not as much character=not so interesting.but will see.



Er, if the MPC Renaissance controller has the D/A convertors in it and so is producing the sound output, then you'll hear its sound, not the computer's!

It has MPC60 and MPC3000 sound emulation modes, which seems a nice touch.

:lol: yeah,youl hear its 2011/12 sound and simulated vintage mpc sound.Imo the 4k has its 24 bit 2001/2 sound.Its kind of chunky.Try pitching your whole mix with the q link and filters/fx ect.Gives the Octatrack a run for it money.But i will say its going to be an eye opener i hope, this ren.
Had the Ren for a month, didn't like it. I couldn't stand the lady gaga light show.

Had the Ren for a month, didn't like it. I couldn't stand the lady gaga light show.

Back on the MPC 500!!!

:? :mrgreen:
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By sirparksalot Wed Feb 29, 2012 10:14 pm
Ill-Green wrote:Had the Ren for a month, didn't like it. I couldn't stand the lady gaga light show.

Back on the MPC 500!!! :P

And people were jumpin my shit because I said I wouldn't be able to handle the lights....thats why I use an MPC, because I can stare at that screen for 8 hours and not feel a thing, the lights would mess it all up. Glad to hear someone else agrees!
By labcoats Mon Mar 05, 2012 2:54 am
It doesnt make the 4k obsolete at all and im not just saying that because I own one. Just a few weeks ago I purchased the 8 out expander for the 4k knowing full well about the upcoming Ren.

Ren will be sample accurate of course which means you can move your notes around and they will always, without fail hit that position without any deviation whatsoever time after time. Cool. That sort of stuff is important to me as Im so used to sample accuracy.

BUT AHA!!! Check this new test results from innerclock systems. I did the same test recently and produced an insignificant 4 samples of drift between quarter notes. Innercllock has done a test with 16th notes and running the internal clock produces a stunning 1 sample of note deviation. Trully truly impressive. This makes the 4k only 1 sample away from being sample accurate. WOW. There are few hardware machines out there as tight as this. In fact this could be the tightest hardware midi sequencer ever made. I know of no other except for the MPC3k which is as tight as the 4k.

Im not just saying this but before I bought the 4k I just knew it was tight. I could only check YT videos and it was hard to tell from the majority of down tempo hip hop stuff but a few vids I found were up tempo 4/4 stuff. As soon as I heard those I knew in my gut the thing was tight I had no idea it was a mere 1 samples away from being sample accurate. Marvellous bit of engineering from Akai!!

http://www.innerclocksystems.com/New%20 ... itmus.html




Akai MPC-4000/OS Version 1.71

Test Date:25.02.12

This Test: Pattern Mode/Cycle - Internal Sync

Number of samples [48 kHz] between consecutive Sixteenth Notes:
5999/ 5999/ 6000/ 5999/ 5999/ 5999/ 6000/ 5999/ 5999/ 5999/ 6000/ 5999/ 6000/ 5999/ 5999/ 5999

Maximum variation between any two consecutive Sixteenth Note intervals:
1 Samples [0.02ms]

Litmus Ranking: 5/5

This Test: Song Mode - Internal Sync

Number of samples [48 kHz] between consecutive Sixteenth Notes:
6000/ 6000/ 5996/ 6001/ 6000/ 5999/ 5996/ 6003/ 5999/ 6000/ 5994/ 6004/ 5999/ 5999/ 5995/ 6004

Maximum variation between any two consecutive Sixteenth Note intervals:
11 Samples [0.23ms]

Litmus Ranking: 5/5

This Test: Pattern Mode/Cycle - External Sample Accurate Midi Clock

Number of samples [48 kHz] between consecutive Sixteenth Notes:
6000/ 5998/ 5999/ 6000/ 5999/ 6000/ 5998/ 6000/ 5999/ 5999/ 6000/ 6000/ 5999/ 5999/ 6001/ 5998

Maximum variation between any two consecutive Sixteenth Note intervals:
3 Samples [0.06ms]

Litmus Ranking: 5/5

This Test: Song Mode - External Sample Accurate Midi Clock

Number of samples [48 kHz] between consecutive Sixteenth Notes:
5999/ 5999/ 6000/ 5998/ 6000/ 5998/ 6000/ 5998/ 5999/ 6000/ 6000/ 5999/ 5998/ 6000/ 5999/ 6000

Maximum variation between any two consecutive Sixteenth Note intervals:
2 Samples [0.04ms]

Litmus Ranking: 5/5
By labcoats Mon Mar 05, 2012 2:56 pm
gertie wrote:would be interesting to see how the akai pro flagship - mpc5000 fares



I think you mean against the Ren, but hey heres the numbers anyway. Not that great actually. BUT, if its synced via an innerclock systems sync gen the clock is much tighter.

All this stuff just proves to me the original Akai engineers knew what they were doing. The Nukai ones need to go back to college for a while :)



Akai MPC-5000/OS Version 2.00

Test Date:16.02.12

This Test: Pattern Mode/Cycle - Internal Sync

Number of samples [48 kHz] between consecutive Sixteenth Notes:
5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 6060/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 6060/ 5922/ 6060/ 5922/ 6060/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 6060

Maximum variation between any two consecutive Sixteenth Note intervals:
138 Samples [2.87ms]

Litmus Ranking: 2.5/5

This Test: Song Mode - Internal Sync

Number of samples [48 kHz] between consecutive Sixteenth Notes:
5922/ 6060/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 6060/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 6060/ 5991

Maximum variation between any two consecutive Sixteenth Note intervals:
138 Samples [2.87ms]

Litmus Ranking: 2.5/5

This Test: Pattern Mode/Cycle - External Sample Accurate Midi Clock

Number of samples [48 kHz] between consecutive Sixteenth Notes:
5991/ 5991/ 6060/ 5991/ 5922/ 5991/ 6060/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 6060/ 5991/ 5991/ 5922/ 6060/ 5991

Maximum variation between any two consecutive Sixteenth Note intervals:
138 Samples [2.87ms]

Litmus Ranking: 2.5/5

This Test: Song Mode - External Sample Accurate Midi Clock

Number of samples [48 kHz] between consecutive Sixteenth Notes:
5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 6060/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 5991/ 6060

Maximum variation between any two consecutive Sixteenth Note intervals:
69 Samples [1.44ms]

Litmus Ranking: 4/5
By labcoats Mon Mar 05, 2012 3:01 pm
feline1 wrote:To be honest, what I'm gonna do is sell my Roland TR808 and use the cash to buy the new Dave Smith/ Roger Linn "Tempest" :) :P


trust me dont do that. Sure sell the overrated 808, but do not get a Tempest. YOu would actually be far better off with the Ren and you will have a good bit left over for a very nice synth or a holiday, or a laptop.
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By gertie Mon Mar 05, 2012 7:12 pm
no i meant the mpc5000, thats their current flagship model...just curious if timing has got worse since numark took control....i guess it has.....lol....

i think ill take the tempest instead of a dodgy numark controller :D
By labcoats Mon Mar 05, 2012 8:17 pm
I suppose that could be said. However the tests I did on an MPC2000xl produced around 46 samples of jitter between quarter notes. Definitely still very tight and I doubt anyone could really notice that. As for the 500, 1000 and the 2500 I dont have any test results for them.

I honestly cant over how good the 4ks clock is though. I think (but dont quote me on this) its the tightest midi sequencer ever made. Then again 1 sample away from sample accuracy----cant get any better than that for a hardware sequencer :mrgreen: The 3000, and 60 are also superb, as is the ASQ10.

Having the 4k just gives me a lot of confidence using it along side my Daw when synced together. If its not groovin theres nothing and no one to blame but my self. Before I would have been concerned the sync wasnt bang on or something.