Can't decide which MPC to choose? Read these resources or post your questions here.
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By Retro Styles Thu Apr 04, 2013 12:23 pm
Whassup y'all.
Look guys I want to buy an mpc but I don't know which one. I want an mpc with dirty phat sound really old (true) skool and a lot of memory. I end up between 2kxl and 3k.
2kxl has more style and has time stretch effect and the 16 fx expansion board. The 3k I heard that it has more phat sound than 2kxl. Also, 2kxl I heard that it has whack sound. Something else, I want to do as more things I can do with the machine, things like mixing.
Please help me to make the best choise and don't throw my money away.
By dccarson Thu Apr 04, 2013 1:02 pm
I have the 3K and 2K classic. If you want a clean sound, go with the 2K (classic or XL). If you want a punchy, warm sound, go with the 3K. You could always get a 3K then buy an S2000 which gives you the best of both worlds. You should be able to pick a S2000 up for less than $100. Or, you could get a 2K and buy an S2800 or S3000. They normally go for a little over $100. I would also add you could get a 2K and a ASR-10 (which also has a punchy warm sound). That way you have a keyboard as well.
By m56p87 Thu Apr 04, 2013 2:56 pm
Retro Styles wrote:Ok and what about things like mixing or pad editing. Which one gives me more things to do with?


2000xl is more feature rich than the 3k
By m56p87 Thu Apr 04, 2013 3:32 pm
Retro Styles wrote:Oh Jesus I ain't gonna choose


If the features of the xl aren't a big deal breaker and you can afford it go for the 3k... But make sure you want the 3k don't buy it on a whim. Old stuff like that needs to be taken care of...
By m56p87 Thu Apr 04, 2013 8:03 pm
Retro Styles wrote:Can I Have the same dirty and phat sound with 2kXL with resample?


No not from resample alone. That being said getting an MPC3000/60 is not the only way to beef up drums...
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By faze1 Fri Apr 05, 2013 1:14 am
Before I bought my mpc1000, I dreamed of copping a mpc3000. Def a dope machine. But I could not drop $1300+ for one sampler. I decided to go mpc1000 (jjos)/S3000 combo (about $850). I use the s3000 for drums and bass, and occasionally to sample into and sampling out to the 1000. Its also great for helping with polyphony cuz stacking sounds/layering sounds in the 1k can eat up polyphony. I love the combo....and yes my 3000 has its own "sound". Not anything like a night and day difference, but it does have a warmer/punchier sound.
By m56p87 Fri Apr 05, 2013 1:41 pm
Retro Styles wrote:OK thank you
Resample from 16 to 12 bit and if it's possible to change from 44.1KHz to lower freeqency that will make the sound more phat?


Yes most s series samplers and the xl allow you to lower the sampling rate. Which makes much more of a difference in terms of phatness than a 12bit resample. On the s series it's usually called "bandwidth".

As far as other means to beef up drums... Layering,EQing, compression, parallel compression, saturation, pitching, filtering and of course a mix of any of those.. The list goes on. I've gotten much phatter drums employing techniques like those than just stand alone old school sampling.
By dccarson Fri Apr 05, 2013 7:57 pm
Honestly if you have can access a tube preamp for a couple of days, you would be surprised at what you can do. Check this out.

Years ago, people used the big mixing consoles because everything was played live and went to tape. From tape it then went to either a record or tape. Enter the digital age and the quest to make everything so clear was crazy. Only to find out it was too clean. Kind of like eating off fine china at a backyard bbq. So they started trying to dirty it up again. Thing is you cant emulate the entire chain becuse the cost would be crazy. Hence the development of channel strips and tube amps. Can you use a tube amp plug in? yes, but it needs to be a good one and they can cost you. What the MPC60 and 3K give you is those analog artifacts that we like and as you see everyone tries to emulate.

I will put it like this. With a good tube and tape emulation plug-in along with eq and stacking sounds, you could make some really great sounds. I love my MPC3K and ASR-10. But I could get by without them. What I do want to applaud you is for looking at ways to better your craft. Many producers these days just hook up FL or reasons and wonder why their kicks dont knock. Great songs take great sounds and great sounds many times have to be hand crafted. This takes time and this is what seperates the men from the boys. Kudos to you!!