konc3pt wrote:I played with the thought of gettn 5000...especially with 2nd hand market prices being this attractive...but you must ask yourself. how much further will the os development support go, knowing that the machine was discontinued within first few yrs of its production and before the OS had even time to reach maturity. are there better alternatives for the money and features you're after, why is the mpc5000 appealing over other models/alternatives. for the price of 5000 you could pick up nice laptop to go with your maschine that would far outshine the 5000 in terms of what can be done with it for the price
Valid Questions. I find that in my musical journey I have answered these type of questions in two ways, logistics and feel. I have found that both are equally as valid, and sometimes as much as a certain logistical approach might work better on paper, feel sometimes trumps logistics.
I have probably 20K plus in gear, more than half of that invested among 5 guitars and 3 amps, and one thing I find important for myself is immediacy. Another point as far as feel goes, with a decent modeller you could convince someone that they could achieve the same sound as from a Les Paul with a 24 fret thin neck light shred guitar. As much as logistically that might make sense, a player might still prefer the heavy weight of a Les Paul, big chunky neck, and limited upper region access access.
I have maschine, .. A few times I had MPC 1000 that I had to sell because of money, an electribe, and a Beat Thang that I sorely regret to say I even tried out. I liked the MPC 1000 the most. I like Maschine, but prefer the weight and feel of an MPC. I already do so much in the box with my desktop and VS-700 system, it's nice to have a piece of outboard gear with different converters that I can use to get a different sound. With an MPC (and other like gear,) I sometimes would just fire it up at a friends house, chill back and make some sounds, informal. Somehow me dragging out a laptop along with Maschine, logging in, getting all the software going does not seem in that same laid back informal frame. I can't see myself getting the laptop out if I am chilling with my boys watching a movie.
Also the whole reason I am interested in the 5000 in particular is that I can direct record, play guitar along with a sequence and get it right there. With a laptop I need to involve another piece of software to record the audio, as well as bring a breakout box soundcard with audio in. I could also sample friends' records and so on.
At the end of the day though it is a feel thing. Of the money I've invested in the last 20 years in gear (and lost a lot of it of,) all the things like amps, guitars and physical hardware units that do not need OS upgrades and changes have retained decent value. All the computer junk, as advanced as it is, has lost it's value. It is the promise of upgrades until you need to get a new computer or software that i am trying to get away from. My Dell laptop died on me after 3 years. How many MPC 3000's are still doing there thing? My $500 investment in Logic for PC in 2000 before they went straight MAC is worthless. 2 years ago I bought VS-700 system that cakewalk is making obsolete with every software update. With an MPC 4000 and 1000 at least, there are parts still available, techs who can keep them working, and you do not have to track down a 1996 PC running Windows 3.5 to get the hardware to work. What happens in 15 years when my VS-700 won't run on Windows 2027 and I can't find a 2012 computer to run Windows 7 on? My VS-700 will be useless. But the guitars and amps I bought will not be outdated or worthless in 15 years. In fact, with the problem manufacturers have lately getting quality wood, some of them may be worth more.
