MPC X/Live filters vs the MFC-42

A friend of mine claims the MFC-42 was modeled in MPC 2.0 software.

Little does he knows that I own an MFC-42 and if it was on my MPC X I would have came across it by now.

I told another friend of mine about this argument and he says my other friend could be right.

WTF???

Nah, I don't believe it.


Can anyone confirm this or make any sense of this because I don't see it and I damn sure don't hear it...

If you scroll through all the filters there are some wierd named ones and vague descriptions of them. I imagine the mfc was modeled after say a ms20 filter or older Roland.

The digital filters are ok on the Mpc but much much prefer analog filters to any digital. The filters on the live or x will be nothing even close to the mfc sound just out of principle.

I owned the MFC for 15+ years. None of the filters in the Live come anywhere near it.

Coz wrote:I owned the MFC for 15+ years. None of the filters in the Live come anywhere near it.

I try to avoid using the filters in my MPC X altogether. I rather use my collection of analog filters instead...

There pretty good for digital filters tho.

I like them both and both are very usable. The difference I've found,

Live/X Filters: No noise floor
MFC42: Noise floor


Live/X Filters: Over driving causes digital clipping/distortion
MFC42: Over driving cause distortion but it's usable.


If I did not over drive the Live/X Filters or MFC42, they both had a good sound. Not much of difference from each other.

pretty sure the filters are from the fusion/ion/micron/miniak family also used in the mpc5000 and modelled after korg, arp, moog, roland, etc. they‘re ok in static use but modulated with lfos or adsrs you can clearly hear that they‘re digital. i really don’t like that sound. not even close to an analog filter imo.

ringmaker wrote:pretty sure the filters are from the fusion/ion/micron/miniak family also used in the mpc5000 and modelled after korg, arp, moog, roland, etc. they‘re ok in static use but modulated with lfos or adsrs you can clearly hear that they‘re digital. i really don’t like that sound. not even close to an analog filter imo.

What analog filters are you currently using?

CharlesRandolph wrote:What analog filters are you currently using?

atm i’m using a biscuit, a boum and a vermona retroverb lancet. and the ext ins of some of my synths of course. my favorites are moog filters obviously, but i really love the ms20 too, which i use mostly as a filter and drive unit.

ringmaker wrote:atm i’m using a biscuit, a boum and a vermona retroverb lancet. and the ext ins of some of my synths of course. my favorites are moog filters obviously, but i really love the ms20 too, which i use mostly as a filter and drive unit.

2019, I'm doing a 8 channel 500 series box of Shinybox Guillotine or the Great River 32EQ. While I enjoy filters on instrument, having a room full of MS 20's is not very convenient. I need pieces that can be used for vocal recording, audio tracking, sound design, and portable.

Still going to get 2 more of the MFC42.

CharlesRandolph wrote:

ringmaker wrote:atm i’m using a biscuit, a boum and a vermona retroverb lancet. and the ext ins of some of my synths of course. my favorites are moog filters obviously, but i really love the ms20 too, which i use mostly as a filter and drive unit.

2019, I'm doing a 8 channel 500 series box of Shinybox Guillotine or the Great River 32EQ. While I enjoy filters on instrument, having a room full of MS 20's is not very convenient. I need pieces that can be used for vocal recording, audio tracking, sound design, and portable.

i try to avoid 500 and modular because of high addiction risk and i do have a big space. the shinybox looks pretty nice though. it‘s white and 12db so probably sem style i guess?

ringmaker wrote:i try to avoid 500 and modular because of high addiction risk and i do have a big space. the shinybox looks pretty nice though. it‘s white and 12db so probably sem style i guess?

It takes time to put together the right 500 series box. I'm lucky I don't really have an addictive personality. I buy gear for a particular purpose, never been a gear addict. I never saw the purpose of having things, I don't use. If it's not hooked up, it's gone.

The truth is I should've bought more MFC 42's when I had the opportunity. I knew a guys selling them for 75 dollar a pop and he had 4 of them. I dragged my feet and the whole RETRO thing happened.

what is the mfc filter based on anyway? ax/vx synths? I think the s612 had an analog filter but non resonant.

CharlesRandolph wrote:I buy gear for a particular purpose, never been a gear addict. I never saw the purpose of having things, I don't use. If it's not hooked up, it's gone.

sure i sell stuff all the time but i love to experiment and try things out to FIND a purpose for it. and i can't have just ONE filter/comp/delay/reverb/chorus/flanger/phaser/sampler/synth...

my rule is at LEAST two flavours of everything

A worthy mention / alternative to the MFC 42 worth looking into is the Electrix Filter series. They were cheap for a while, people offloading them for 30-50 altho have slowly went up in price again.