My Views of My Mpc 2000

I bought my Mpc 2000 about a year ago
Before that I had a S3000i for about ten years.
Don't get me wrong. I will never sell my beloved Mpc 2000 , but it's just a sequencer to me, hopefully it will last me ten years also, but if you come from a S3000 to a Mpc 2000 you might be surprised by it's lack of possibility's.

The ability to shape sounds is very limited
Why is this more sort after than a S3000?
A S3000 is a far superior machine, it basically pissess on a mpc2000 in every way imaginable, apart from having a sequencer, but you can get a Sr16 for about 30 quid.
I don't think there is anything special about the quantize, if you're beats are shit they will still sound shit.

I'm not dissing it
Obviously, I spent a vast portion of my life trying to get one, and I know that I am blessed that I do.
But it's just a dated obscure drum machine.


Please feel free to to wax lyrical about why the Mpc2000 is actually the greatest drum machine on earth.
Deep down I know it's true.

If you want a fully featured rack mount sampler in your MPC, the MPC4000 is possibly what you want.

Up until the MPC4000, all MPCs had cut down 'drum' samplers in them.

Co-sign with Lamp and Simon. I've owned a few MPCs and S-series samplers in my day. Having both MPC and an S-Series running together is really the best of both worlds, though the 4000 is the king. I'd probably buy another S2800 or maybe an S3000XL to go with my MPC2000. I always loved the pads on the 2K as well as the simplicity of it's sequencer. There aint a ton of features to get distracted by, so it keeps you focused on getting down with those pads and making good beats. It's the playability of the pads that I find really important.

I started out using a 2K back in '97 and finally bought the 1K back in 2004. The pads on the 1K started failing after the warranty expired. Even the replacement pads while being more responsive, still never had the feel of the 2K. The quality of the pad rubber on the 2K also feels better, in my opinion. I can use anything to make my beats between Reason, iOS apps, as well as my hardware stash. But sometimes I'd rather just play them pads on the 2K because it's one badass instrument that I enjoy playing as much as my guitar.

@hok-2 I agree with a lot of what you had to say. I still like the 2000 as a sequencer although I find myself kind of questioning what the point is in using it when it is so much more convenient to sequence on a daw at this point. I think a lot of our dedication to our old (and some believe technically obsolete now) machines has to do with our age, and being used to using one tool instead of being open to venture out and try some new shit. I see people doing that now with the octatrack now though.

Yeah I know some are going to comment on the timing of the sequencer but there is more than one player in this game. On a side note, it would've been great if Akai kept the 2000 build quality on the XL series. I don't know about the rest of you but the XL felt more like a toy in comparison.

Sorry for the long post, lol.

yeah the sound and features of the s3000 is far better.... but one nice thing about a 2000 (or any mpc) is that you can save sequences, samples, program related data, etc.. all on one floppy disk and load it all at one time. You don't need to load up things on multiple machines for one song.

Some people like using the mpc for just drums (which the mpc's sampler is fine for that) while sequencing synth patches on external synths. This often also only requires one floppy disk or set of save files.


It is easy to program what you want on an mpc, and to get it to replay exactly as you saved it when you reload the song on another day. Think of many of the other options available when the 2000 came out, some samplers you needed patience to program some of those. The 2000 was one of the earliest machines that had waveform display, which must have been a big deal at that time.

richie wrote:Yeah I know some are going to comment on the timing of the sequencer but there is more than one player in this game. On a side note, it would've been great if Akai kept the 2000 build quality on the XL series. I don't know about the rest of you but the XL felt more like a toy in comparison.

Sorry for the long post, lol.

I'm not sure what you mean about the timing of the sequencer. Are you saying it's not that good? Or were you referring to the Octotrack. I haven't used one before. However, I've always found the timing on the MPC2000 sequencer to be very tight. That's really important to me, especially when using external gear synced to MIDI. I can always count on the MPC to work flawlessly as a master, which is another reason I still use one after 17 years.

BTW, what did you find on the XL to be of poor build quality? I agree that it's not quite as good as the 2000 classic. But the only thing I've noticed was the Master Volume and Record Gain pots on the XL were made out of plastic, as opposed to them being metal on the classic. I haven't taken part any XLs personally, though I've seen plenty of pics. I'm curious to know if I missed anything else.

@distortedtekno No I am saying that it is good but that it isn't the only tight midi capable sequencer in the game. The Octotrack is cool from what limited amount I have witnessed and doesn't have f*cked up timing like a ASR-X lol. I totally agree that having a tight clock/sequencer is important and does make a difference.

Regarding the build quality? Maybe it's all in my head but when holding and handling the 2000 vs the XL, the 2000 felt heavier and more solid when using where as the XL felt hollow and just "something" didn't sit well to me. Again, it may just be me. On a side note, even the paint jobs on the 2000 have a different luster in comparison to the XL's I've handled. *shrug*