MPC 1000 or MPD 16 - Advice needed please :)

Hi guys,

I am new to the whole music making scene and have been doing alot of research regarding the best equipment to buy for the music that I want to make. But after probably too much research (2months) my head hurts and I think that I may be getting lost up my own a** hole with all of the differing opinions, so I hope some of you will be willing to help me out so I don't make any expensive mistakes.

The sort of music that I am into is Hip Hop / R&B, but am looking to experiment a little too. I like producers such as Kanye West, Neptunes, Dre, Dark Child etc and really want to learn to produce tracks like "Loose My Breath" Destinys Child and "Overnight Celebraty" Twista / Kanye, where the beat is slow / quick with plenty of drum roll and vocal roll type effects (if thats the right word )

I have just bought a PC.... Athlon 3700, 2GB Ram, 200GB HD and a creative Audigy 2 Sound Card (Prob a bit of a weak link the sound card). I have also Bought Reason 2.5, Recycle, Cubase SX and Sound Forge.

My first question..... is this software ok, I have read that this is a pretty decent setup and should allow me to produce some decent stuff.

Second question..... in order to achieve the sort of effects in the above songs, is an MPC / MPD essential, if so which is better for my needs considering I have the above software?

I am getting on well enough with the software, but am finding it hard to do complex drum rolls, especially as the sort of music I want to produce is slower bpm's, but like some of Kanyes stuff has fast drum patterns.

Hope this all makes sence, I will keep a close eye on this thread as Im going to the Music store tomorrow to buy either an MPC 1000 or MPD 16. In the UK there is a £400 price difference and I don't want to buy the MPC1000 if alot of what I need is already contained in the software.

Sorry its such a long post guys, but after such a large £££ outlay, I wanna make sure I am getting the right stuff. Once you all bless me with your wisdom, I will bury my head in all of the magazines / manuals I have bought so I don't post any more silly questions in the future.

Any help would be GR8, thanks, Nate

Well, the MPD-16 is just a MIDI controller, it gives you MPC-like Pads that send MIDI to wherever you want.
I'm not the best person to ask about Cubase (Sonar fan all the way), but one question might help you decide:
- Can you work with the supplied LM-7 VST Plugin? If so, the MPD-16 might just be enough for you to get started with.

Then there are plenty of commercial drum sampler plugins that would do the job, e.g. Linplug RM IV gets good reviews (http://www.linplug.com/Products/RM_IV/rm_iv.htm). Native Instruments Battery is a software "MPC Engine replacement" that loads up old Akai sample CDs too, works standalone or as plugin, but it's not cheep. (http://www.nativeinstruments.de/index.php?battery_us)

I could do all that myself in Sonar, I use Battery sometimes too, which is actually inspired by MPCs. But I got a MPC1000 anyway, because I wanted a standalone hardware drum machine/sampler that I can work on without firing up the PC. It starts quickly, runs quietly, samples cleanly, and saves standard WAVs I can muck around with on the PC later. It is better sounding than my sound card (though not quite as clean as my "good" Echo Indigo I/O card), and easier to control. And it has a heavy base, I can hit it harder.

Cubase does come with a VST (Drum) plug in, it sounds ok.... to be totally honest I have been trying to get to know Reason first as I have to wait until xmas before the missus lets me have the "get to know cubase" cd roms and manuals I have asked for

The issues I have with Reason (and poss Cubase) are that I cant fire the Drums / Samples off quick enough in the sequencer, even when I raise the bpm, its too slow.

Edit: I think I have just found out what that may be, think the auto quantize is set to on as standard! So it is snapping everyting to bar!!!
Will keep you posted as I test it in a sec This could save me a bit of dosh sorry if im not making much sense !!!

Anyhow, even if this does solve some of the issue's, will an MPC 1000 be worth the investment for the type of music I am looking to make, or will an MPD 16 be just as good?? I am pretty proficient on a PC and with the software I have I would be able to build up quite a comprehensive sample bank.

I have heard a rumour that the MPD16 can't do Drum rolls where as the 1000 can. Anyone know if this is true??? If so is it possible to work around it by programming drum roll samples then loading them to trigger with the MPD 16?

Thanks for the helpl so far! Sorry to ask so many questions!

Yep, there's no live Note Repeat on the MPD16, there's a good picture of the panel at http://www.akaipro.com/int/mpd16/mpd16_spec.html . Note Repeat would need access to a clock signal for the repeat timing, and some way to set the repeat rate (1/16 note etc), so it's more of a software function.
But Note Repeat doesn't always give you realistic results. e.g. acoustic snare drum rolls are hard to do with note repeat IMHO - I get better results with samples, if I trigger smoothly and listen carefully.

I wouldn't say you need a MPC to do, well, any particular kind of music. The MPC1000 does have limits too, e.g. its sample engine is tight... maybe too tight, it doesn't support pitch bending or modulation of samples.
The other question is PC Latency, which affects how tight it feels when recording, but has no effect on playback when the whole track is in the PC. If you had a MPC1000 you would have to run it as a MIDI Clock slave, not Master*, but if the rest of the PC audio was lagging behind the MPC... ugh.

* Cubase SX can't be a MIDI Clock Slave, only a Master: http://stereoroid.com/sounds/mpc1000/faq.php#pads09

I'm off home now...

Thanks stereoroid,

I worked out that my issues with Reason were simply down to it snapping the notes to grid. (The thought just came to me when writing the above post, strange when things are clearer when down in writing!

Now that I can program more random, less rigid patterns, its like a million new possibilities have opened up and the software doesn't seem so restrictive. (Bit of an embarrasing mistake but we have all got to learn somewhere I guess )

In a way this may have answered my own question in terms of whats better for my needs. £150 for an MPD 16, which if im right in saying is a midi controller that I would need to link it into Reason / Cubase, then create / cut my own samples, assign them to the MPD 16, which in turn will program patterns in the sequencer? (confused myself there)

Or £550 for an MPC1000, which although has advantages and differences, may not necissarily offer me more when plugged into the PC. I guess the 1K is more of a stand alone piece of equipment, that you can use instead of or along side a PC.

With all of this said, would most agree that I am better off going for the MPD 16 and running it through my software??? I think that I am more clued up on the stuff I have on the PC and it would hopefully produce similar results as long as I feed the right samples in!

Im not setting off to the store until 2 / 3pm tomorrow UK time, so any advice before then would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Am I too late? Work has kept me off the Forum till now. Never mind, I don't really have anything more to add, except to say Good Luck...

I took the plunge

All sense of rationality deserted me once in the store and I decided on the MPC 1000 instead of the MPD 16.

Ok, it was £400 more expensive, but sensibility has never been a strong point of mine!!!

Thanks for the advice so far though mate. Now that I have my MPC 1000, what are the first things I should do with it?

I read about upgrading the software somewhere on here, also upgrading the Ram asap and buying a new compact flash card! Apart from reading the manual and doing the above, is there anything else I need to do?

Also anyone know the best / cheapest place to buy compatable Ram / Flash Memory?

Edit: Been using the MPC for an hour or so now..... what a machine...... the sound is so crisp straight out of the box!!! Now just need to get more samples If anyone can point me towards any decent sites that would be great. I will also continue to search the net and this forum............... Once I can pull myself away from the MPC Lol

for samples check out ueberschall, east west and pro samples. or get some old records and sample your own ofcourse