gear advice to help polish the 1000 sound

I need help with some decisions. ive decided to do a purge of any gear thats just sitting around not getting used, and with the funds from that pick up somthing nice and useful that sits into my (finally) refined setup that is working really well for me.

im running a Future retro XS and revolution (so nice analogue basses), an ipad (animoog and thru an audio inteface - so its high quality) and my MPC1000 into a mackie Onyx firewire which converts A>D at a really good quality.

The weakest link at the moment im finding is the D>A converter from the MPC 1000..and i love my MPC, its my favourite piece of gear. Im really not talking about a turd here - but i still want to polish it.

Im hearing a lot that the sounds of the MPC 3000 / 60 / 4000 have a much nicer character than the 1000 - but having never owned them im just going on what i hear. listening to the 1000 it does sound to me like akai have put some 'cheap' components at play in there though.

In saying that, I have no desire to part with my 1000, the JJ os is the best thing in the world as far as im concerned. but what im looking for is suggestions for 1 or 2 devices to put between the MPC and the mixer that will just bring it up to par with the rest of the gear. Yes, Im using good quality samples to start, and 99.9% drums. like i said im not unhappy with the sound, but im sure it could be made better

Im really interested to hear whart any other 1000 users are using as hardware processing on their MPC that they could absolutely not live without..

id say ill have about $1200 bucks to play with by the time ive finished selling my stuff. im really only interested in hardware, im not anti VST's by any means, and welcome any suggestions for post tracking DAW processing also - but i just like to keep my rig out of the box..

[edit] is anyone usinga hardware D/A converter like this
http://www.mav-audio.com/base/product/tubemagic_d2
to externally do the D>A conversion...this one seems more targeted at the hifi market but its a start?

you could run it into a nice stereo preamp, or even 2 mono ones.

Ive owned every mpc except the 5k, the 1k can sound just as good, you should eq more in the mackie to help the sound and if you wanna add something else then get a nice compressor/channel strip to add more flavor to the mix.

yeah, a compressor would work too, if you know how to use one. but imo, a dedicated preamp with a certain "sound" may work better, if you dont wanna mess with all the settings of a compressor, and have it on EVERYTHING that comes out of the mpc, you may want to think about a preamp.
the best case scenario would be a compressor and a preamp though then you can compress what you want, and also have your nice preamp sound on everything regardless of compression.

if you are leaning more towards a compressor or limiter though, and want a dirty-er sound, look into an 1176, its a classic limiter, and if you turn the "fast-slow" knob all the way until its the fastest, then it clicks, it turns into a line amp, and negates all the compressor/limiter settings.

i would go with one of those dual channel ones if i were you.

also like ark said, use those eq's, but remember its best to use eq within the context of a mix, so unless your hearing your whole beat, eq could be pretty destructive to your sound, especially if its drastic at all.

"Ive owned every mpc except the 5k, the 1k can sound just as good, you should eq more in the mackie to help the sound and if you wanna add something else then get a nice compressor/channel strip to add more flavor to the mix."

Right! I've seen Onra rock a show with 2 MPC1000's, and it sounded like vinyl on a Technics 1200. When people say the MPC2000/1000 sounds thin, I think their being way too critical. An MPC1000 might not sound as warm like an MPC3000, but how hard is it to add warmth? Is the answer really a $1000 drum machine, or can it simply be a cheap EQ? Personally I would try the cheap EQ first to find out! Worst case scenario, your out $50.

ArKyve-31 wrote:Ive owned every mpc except the 5k, the 1k can sound just as good, you should eq more in the mackie to help the sound and if you wanna add something else then get a nice compressor/channel strip to add more flavor to the mix.

I have owned every MPC and agree.
I use different MPs because of things they can or can't do more so than their sound.
Same samples in the 3k and 1k give different results for me because of workflow and features.

People have got to stop looking at shopping as a improvement or upgrade.

I have a Mackie Onyx 1620 that I use from time to time and it's a nice sounding mixer.

Just the other day I sampled the same drums in the SP, the 60 and 1k.
They all sounded different but here's the funny part.
The 60 and SP didn't respond to the EQ on the 02R as well as the 1k did.
They were more like tweaks while the 1k allowed you to round it out better and thicken it up.



Gear is a great asset but in 2012 method is going to deliver a bigger return based on the quality of the tools available.

don't forget sum kind of Pedals......

thanks for the tips all..

im definately tending towards a compressor / limiter or preamp.. i definately want to colour the sound i guess is the point of this post, just wondering specifically what other users are using to do so.. looking for 3 way love stories between a user, their MPC and (insert gust star here).

definately no intention of getting a different drum machine, as a cheesy analogy.. my MPC is a delicious steak already, nicely cooked and of perfectly acceptable texture.. i just want to find some really nice salt and pepper for it.

.

Ntalec wrote:People have got to stop looking at shopping as a improvement or upgrade.

Ntalec, i get your point that method is more important than gear, but the point of my post is that Ive sold a bunch of unused gear that id just be much happier turning into something tangible, awesome and useful in the context of my hardware setup (treating myself to some salt and pepper). I just feel i owe it to my sound to invest slightly in some sort of signal processing as right now all Ive really got is generators.. and im kind of going for quality over quantity here.. that and collecting gear is a hobby in itself and im just looking to other users for some informed info.

golfdogz wrote:im definately tending towards a compressor / limiter or preamp.. i definately want to colour the sound i guess is the point of this post, just wondering specifically what other users are using to do so.. looking for 3 way love stories between a user, their MPC and (insert gust star here).

well if you want a compressor/limiter AND a preamp, then get two channel strips like this
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audi ... nnel-strip
they have the eq, preamp, and compressor. You would need 2 though because its only one channel aka mono.

If it was me and I had your money to spend, I would do what I did 6 months ago, I purchased a classic reel to reel tape machine from the 70's. The preamps have several vintage tubes in them and it adds great color to my projects. I honestly don't really use the tape to much I just run my mpc into the inputs after the tubes warm up and then back out of the stereo outs to a mixer, or you can run it from the mixers busses as an effect.

this is one I purchased and I got for less then a 100 bucks.



For an A/B comparison of sounds here is a track I recently did without the Reel to Reel



And this is one I ran everything through the preamps of the reel to reel and back out to the sound card.

Hell yeah Ark That reel to reel trick sounds cool. I didn't realized u could bypass the tape part. I can imagine the revolution would sound sick through that treatment too. Definitely continue the research on that one..

Do u know how that channel strip would compare to The behringer t1952 tube compressor quality wise. I had one of those but it just sounded terrible, that was definitely a classic case of cheap components. I switched out the tubes with Nos Mullards which helped to a extent, and considered spending like 2/300 to replace all the shitty OP amps with good ones. But in the end I quit that idea. But yeah if it was of better quality would have served me well.

Honestly I'm not familiar with a lot of compressors/ channel strips. I had the the presounus one I posted above and it was pretty decent but thats as far as my hardware compressor knowledge goes. And yeah most tape decks you can just run the sound in and back out without having to run it to tape. If you do go that route just make sure it has the vacuum tubes, most do but not all of them.

just use the spdif out on the mpc.

Nym wrote:just use the spdif out on the mpc.

yeah

Nym wrote:just use the spdif out on the mpc.

would love to give the spdif out a go but the Onyx doesnt have a digital in.. all analogues only. thats why i was wondering if anyone's tried something like that external D/A tube converter. - from reading other posts it seems that the spdif out of the mpc may not work with all all digital in's...something to do with levels

[edit] cos if that one works - it seems to use high end burrbrown OP amps and D/A converters, and obviously the tube can be switched out with different kinds.. so right there spec wise, im sure (guessing here) its gonna beat whatever is in the MPC by bypassing the MPC internal D/A components. question is would it sound $200 better...

To be honest, you're stumbling into an expensive rabbit hole.

I've compared a lot of high-end gear, vintage MPC's, preamps,,, and I'll say this--

The output of the MPC1000 is full, hot, and overall-- excellent. U have everything u need. Focus on your compositions. You don't need anything to "improve" the sound of the MPC. Skip the fairy dust. And certainly skip the consumer hi-fi converter you linked. It won't make an audible difference in your music. Use that money to have a vacation from work, and practice your craft.

My 200 cents