Exchange tips and tricks for the Akai MPC4000
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By richie Mon Jan 07, 2019 11:47 pm
@koncepticon I understand what you are saying but having the clock set at 96khz means a bit more than that.

As far as I am aware, the 4000 can act as the master clock [someone correct me if I'm wrong here] and with that being said, can be chained across multiple pieces of equipment in the given path. Here's something that perhaps could shed a bit of insight: https://support.audient.com/hc/en-us/ar ... -Explained
By wavejockey Tue Jan 08, 2019 10:50 am
my eurorack records & samples at (max) 192khz, 32bit so i am considering it a valid choice to play/input it HiFi material

more & more gear is capable of higher frequencies

http://www.rossum-electro.com/products/assimil8or/
https://www.percussa.com/

-pity that AKAI chose to go the LoFi (16bit, 44Khz) route - one of the reasons i'm keeping my MPC4k
By CharlesRandolph Tue Jan 08, 2019 1:12 pm
Professionally, I don't record with anything less than 24/96 as my standard when recording acoustic instruments and vocals. My current system limit, minus my MPC 4000's is 24bit 192k. I have gear that goes higher, but not each piece.
By JVC Tue Jan 08, 2019 4:33 pm
If you are wondering if better than redbook standard bitrate & samplerate would be overkill, no, it is definitely not.
(I'd think that many of TR-808 sound libraries do not sound like a real thing, in part of it is that those are usually in 16 bit 44.1KHz.)

Also, I'd recommend people to try to listen to recorded music that are distributed in High Definition.
Many CTI and Blue Note staff are out in high definition audio files.
Oh, Micheal Jackson staff too! They do sound more open and provide much greater sound separation - you can hear each instruments more clearly. Also, I find that snare and phaser sounds much more real than from CDs.
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By Lampdog Tue Jan 08, 2019 10:02 pm
JVC wrote:I'd think that many of TR-808 sound libraries do not sound like a real thing, in part of it is that those are usually in 16 bit 44.1KHz.



Yep. Most 808 libraries I hear sound nothing like the real thing.
I think some Outkast and Scarfaces songs were the closest that fooled me.
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By tapedeck Tue Jan 08, 2019 10:22 pm
its just nice to have support for it. what if you get a project that is already at 96k? you'd be lucky to have a 4000.

also certain types of processing / plugins will benefit from a higher sampling rate.

its a nice option to have
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By tapedeck Wed Jan 09, 2019 8:33 pm
Lampdog wrote:One of us now needs to make a"96k" album.

Did one of us do it already? It wont be me though.

do it entirely in the 4k w samples 100% at 96k originating from the 4k, and i'll be impressed :mrgreen:
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By richie Thu Jan 10, 2019 9:47 am
One thing that became quite apparent many moons ago was when I had switched my DAW from default 16/44.1 to 24/96.0. Loaded up VST's and started hearing things and some how (believe) that operating at a higher head room noticeably benefited me in the mixing stage. Even recording vinyl to Cool Edit (shout out to Peter Quistgard serial key) had a noticeable improvement.

The only issue I can confidently say that I have never been satisfied with was the final conversion stage; dithering back to 44.1 for any which reason which never sounded satisfying to me and have yet to come up with a suitable solution for it -- Well one that will not require me to spend a bunch on outboard gear.

But what do I know, I'm old and the kids tell me that I should be running all my mixes through the SP303 for that swag.
By JVC Thu Jan 10, 2019 4:10 pm
richie wrote:One thing that became quite apparent many moons ago was when I had switched my DAW from default 16/44.1 to 24/96.0. Loaded up VST's and started hearing things and some how (believe) that operating at a higher head room noticeably benefited me in the mixing stage. Even recording vinyl to Cool Edit (shout out to Peter Quistgard serial key) had a noticeable improvement.

You are not crazy. I record from my vinyl copy (because there are a lot of music that are only available on vinyl format), and I always use 24bit, 96KHz (I still use Apogee Duet Firewire.)
(There was a member here who strongly believe that no one need higher resolution than 16bit/44.1KHz... I can only wish that that person does not work for audio production. It is a type of people that always mention Nyquist theorem.)

This is a bit off topic, but Steve Wonder's "In Square Circle" was mixed AND mastered in digital domain in 1985. They used SONY's 16bit 44.1KHz PCM encoder & decorder. The PCM audio data was stored on videotape!
Anyway, you should compare the sound between "In Square Circle", and his recording in 70s' (especially with "Songs in the key of life" LP). In Square Circle sounds pretty harsh, and pretty fatigueing on my ears. It doesn't sounds "open", like "Songs in the key of life"...

I'm hoping that "In Square Circle" would be remastered someday with today's mastering technology (without brick-walling.)

But, this leads to an other issue...
richie wrote:...
The only issue I can confidently say that I have never been satisfied with was the final conversion stage; dithering back to 44.1 for any which reason which never sounded satisfying to me and have yet to come up with a suitable solution for it -- Well one that will not require me to spend a bunch on outboard gear.


If you master in 96K and then downconvert your final to 44.1K then you get dithering error, which is not avoidable.
88.2K to 44.1K conversion is "cleaner", because it is dividable.
I'd say that, difference between 88.2K and 96K is not distinguishable, so if might want to work on 88.2K (or higher Hz that is dividable by 44.1K)
However, If your hi-def master would sound better than redbook formated CD master.

richie wrote:But what do I know, I'm old and the kids tell me that I should be running all my mixes through the SP303 for that swag.

Right... But "swag" can be added later, basically it is re-amping process. So even if you are to use SP303 leter, still you'd benefit using in hi-def format.
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By Lampdog Thu Jan 10, 2019 4:36 pm
richie wrote:(shout out to Peter Quistgard serial key)


WOW.....!!!!
Peter was THEEEE man back in CEP days gone by.