MPC 2000 Classic soundquality.

My trusty old 2KXL needs repair, so I decided to hunt down a 2000 classic. I always wanted one and to be honest I prefer the 2000 classic's looks and design over my old 2KXL.

So I've been playing around with my "new" classic for a few days now. Slightly different workflow, but nothing I can't get used to.

But I noticed a major difference in soundquality. It sounds warmer and when sampling hot you can really drive the volume. I love it! It's something I always wanted to be able to do on my 2KXL but couldn't because it would either clip or not distort/overdrive the way I wanted. It's amazing.

It's not my imagination. I worked 6 years with my XL, and sampled countless drumhits and loops. It always sounded good but I was missing something.

Do other users that made the switch from XL to classic noticed this difference in sound?
I really want to know if maybe people might have an explanation for this. Are some components inside the classic different from those in a XL?

....also,

The filter sounds thicker. How come?

i agree... i made that switch too

I've always wanted to pick up a classic and explore any differences in sound but haven't yet. I do have two XL's clearly manufactured years apart and they don't sound the same. The older one sounds better.

I have never heard a 2000 classic in person. So take my words with a grain of salt...

From all the samplers i've ever tried and compared, the 2KXL sounds the most "thin" to me. It has a certain character that is nice, but when you compare the sound to an MPC60, ASR-10, MPC500, MPC2500, etc... it just sounds a little weak and thin...

No idea about the hardware differences, and as stated above, i've never owned a 2000 classic... but i wouldn't be surprised if there's a difference in sound compared to a 2KXL.

Metatron, that is interesting about your two XL's sounding different... and yes, usually the older the better...
I know about the SP1200 that they have different filters depending on the production runs, and the last models didn't even have filters anymore (e-mu supposedly ran out of chips). Maybe there was something similar happening with the different production runs of the 2KXL as well...

great info...

i had the whole mpc range expect the 2k classic and asked a few times about a audio difference between the classy and the xl... i heared always they sound the same


btw: a have one of the latest 2KXL (the cheap build silver one)... never liked the cheap metal case and the sound was always a bit thin....

i had an akai dsp12 mixer/recorder (with same display like the 2k classic) and it sounded fantastic. i always believed, that this was the 2k classic engine (same era)

the xl and classic do sound the same... I dont know what exactly makes me like the classic better than the XL... but I find it sounds better than the xl I had... and I dont know why or what about it exactly sounds better.

I have an old 2000XL and like the S-3200XL/3000XL/2800 and so on you can drive the inputs very hard and no hard clipping.
This series of Akai is the only one I've ever seen something like this on, my EPS 16+, S-5000, MPC-60 don't do that

My friend had a original 2k (which I prefer the looks and jog dial!)
But I couldn't hear any sound differences or any differences in the sound of the filter.

Wish Rohan wasn't mia as he knows these machines very well.

The mk1 MPC-60 I had on the other hand if you clipped the input or drove it hard it sounded terrible especially if you transposed the sample down.

vinyl_junkie_1620 wrote:
The mk1 MPC-60 I had on the other hand if you clipped the input or drove it hard it sounded terrible especially if you transposed the sample down.

I always thought the 60 is good piece of gear to overdrive sounds (never had one myself) but the tracks I've heard (60 only tracks) sounded very nice (with slighly distortion)

peace

Wish I still had that machine here (It's my friends and I had it for a few months whilst he was moving house) so that I could post examples.
The clipping sounded pretty much like clipping on most A-D's if not harder, it was really noticeable if you pitched it down, it would be like a loud click.
I thought it was pretty strange as I hear a lot of people who like to overdrive the inputs on the 60

I loved the 60 a lot but the XL is my baby, not so much for the sound but the sequencer and everything else suits me right down to the ground.

Today I really noticed. I sampled some breaks to create drum programs and really wanted to go for that hot overdriven thumb on the kickdrum. It did exactly that! Works wonders for any snare as well. I repeated the same process but then high pitched from the turntable. And let it hit the MP hot. Pitched down the sample in the MP and good god! It became the hardest hitting drum kit I made in a long time!

My XL definitely couldn't do that.
My XL also made drums sound bigger when pitched down but not anything like this classic I got here.

This is gamechanging for me, and I'm happy I drove all those miles to pick up this classic. It was dirt cheap. 300 euros, memory expansion, zip drive + zips. Looks new! Sounds even better

Solowbeats wrote:Today I really noticed. I sampled some breaks to create drum programs and really wanted to go for that hot overdriven thumb on the kickdrum. It did exactly that! Works wonders for any snare as well. I repeated the same process but then high pitched from the turntable. And let it hit the MP hot. Pitched down the sample in the MP and good god! It became the hardest hitting drum kit I made in a long time!

My XL definitely couldn't do that.
My XL also made drums sound bigger when pitched down but not anything like this classic I got here.

This is gamechanging for me, and I'm happy I drove all those miles to pick up this classic. It was dirt cheap. 300 euros, memory expansion, zip drive + zips. Looks new! Sounds even better

Y'all got me looking at a classic at $299USD now.

Metatron72 wrote:Y'all got me looking at a classic at $299USD now.

make sure it's mint... cause I got my classic in brand new condition, 8 outs, eb16, smpte, 32megs, mint OG screen that looks like I was the 3rd time it was powered on... 230 including shipping. Seller got stuck at the boot disk screen and thought the machine was toast.


BTW, I think the filter in the 2000 and 2000xl are identical. I dont know about overdriving the signal because I dont do that... I prefer clean signals and if it needs a slight tad of overdrive I do that with the eb16... I am not a distortion type of person.

It's not distortion that i'm after. It's more off a driven sound. Slightly saturated. You can go pretty far with your gain control. The filter does sound thicker then my Xl. I know because filtering basslines always was my thing. And I don't recall the XL's filter being thick and in when playing your sequence with filtered bassline and drums and all you kinda get a little ducking effect going on. I have no idea why, but i'm happy it does what it do!

i have a microtech pcd47 cardreader, which should also work on the 2k classic.

is it possible to start booting from the cf card or do i need the boot floppy?