What's your favourite MPC and why?

I think to answer this question you need to of owned or used more than one MPC model.

So what's every ones fave and why?
If you had to pick a close second what would it be?
What other MPC's have you used in the past/still own?

Guss I'll go first and it has to be the 2000XL
Why? Ease of use/sequencer and for me it's kinda the best compromise for the all round "classic feel" kinda MPC. Had mine now for about 6 years.
Also retains the classic Akai look and color and although smaller than the prev models still a good size and not too small.

The bad bits? Only 2 MIDI outs instead of 4, sound is bland (although not bad), waveform display is annoying as is waiting for it to buffer and the machine doesn't feel as nice physically to use compared to the 60 or 3000

Pick a second? MPC-60 mk1..The sound, the looks, feel and history... It's a winner

So far I've used and borrowed the following models.. 60mk1, 3000, 3000le, 2000, 2000XL and a 1000 without JJ OS I tried in a shop once.

I think it would have to be the 2000 and 2000xl... and also the 60 making a close second... but sometimes, the 60 and the 2000/2000xl making a close second.


the 2000 and 2000xl, well I like using the 2000 better than the xl, but the xl has the obvious edge. My 2000 doesn't have bland sound I dont find... it sounds quite warm... the waveform display does lag when you first go into trim or you switch samples... but it doesn't matter, you can still scroll and push the button and the sound works..... the waveform is purely a visual bonus... ie: you dont need to wait for it load to do cuts.




the 60 sounds thick... and it has a bit of a crunch. workflow is alright, it works... but that is where I prefer the 2000 series. The 26 seconds of sample time? That is like hours to me... I never have ran out of ram when trying to record samples on the 60... You just need to go in knowing how to use one sound twice.

I've loved working with all my MPC's so it's tough picking an outright winner. With a gun to my head I would say...


Joint second: 2KXL

Sometimes simplicity is king. My first foray into the MPC way of working and many thousands of hours under my belt with it. Great machine.


Joint second: 2500 with JJOS

The Swiss Army knife of Nukai MPCs. There's not enough superlatives to describe how refined and fluid the JJOS is. Bags of control, unfortunately shoehorned into a machine with questionable build quality and fairly basic underlying specs. Still great though.


Winner: MPC 4000

The stuff you can't do with the 4K ain't worth doing. The fundamentals are all solid - 24/96 sound quality, 64 note polyphony, 512MB ram, high resolution sequencer, loads of filters, computer integration, keygroups etc. I enjoy working with it which is the most important aspect for me though.

mr_debauch wrote:I think it would have to be the 2000 and 2000xl...

My fav's, feel like they are perfect balance of legacy & features.

Coz basically saved me the trouble of writing a post, exactly what he said. Happy to still have all 3 and would only add I feel a little foolish for never getting a 60 or 3000.

Metatron72 wrote:and would only add I feel a little foolish for never getting a 60 or 3000.

Me too

dryad-66 wrote:

Metatron72 wrote:and would only add I feel a little foolish for never getting a 60 or 3000.

Me too

Me three

m56p87 wrote:

dryad-66 wrote:

Metatron72 wrote:and would only add I feel a little foolish for never getting a 60 or 3000.

Me too

Me three

So I'm not alone in the regret then. I actually have a 1000 and a mega lined extra XL too. I look at the lot of them and think, "what kind of idiot buys 5 MPC's and has no Roger Linn model represented...oh yeah me. "

Metatron72 wrote:
So I'm not alone in the regret then. I actually have a 1000 and a mega lined extra XL too. I look at the lot of them and think, "what kind of idiot buys 5 MPC's and has no Roger Linn model represented...oh yeah me. "

shame on you.

It is shameful I'll admit. All I can say in my defense is they were all local used buys in a town with no good gear ever trading really, with the most expensive one the 4000 at $800.

Metatron72 wrote:It is shameful I'll admit. All I can say in my defense is they were all local used buys in a town with no good gear ever trading really, with the most expensive one the 4000 at $800.

haha, yeah I feel that. You will need to probably snag one on ebay or something.... sucks to have to do that but it's one of those things.

Metatron72 wrote:It is shameful I'll admit. All I can say in my defense is they were all local used buys in a town with no good gear ever trading really, with the most expensive one the 4000 at $800.

Meh Alteast you have a good excuse. I just can't justify spending the extra $$$ for a 3000 instead of an 2000/XL. Love the linn machines, but I don't really need one for my workflow.

xl cause its what i got and changed my whole perspective.

jjosxl anything because every time i use my homeys i'm like, i cant believe you can actually do that.

Technically I want all the classic MPC's and some of the new ones... Thank god I can't afford that shi* lol

JJ OS has been tempting me to the dark side for a long long time but the way I think of it is.. Essentially you are still just inputting notes you play into a sequencer, you input whack ish, whack ish comes out... Input something good into it, good ish comes out.

Ahhh the MPC-4000, I think I'd like it! I have a S-3200XL and 2800 and the 4k is basically a fully blown out Z8 with a pimped out MPC sequencer.
I've heard some say it looses the whole MPC vibe by being too complex but I don't think that would bother me.

I see no one has mentioned the MPC-5k yet heheh