if you could do it all over would you?

Ok, I've been waiting and debating on making a purchase either the 2000xl or the 4000. I would like to know if any of you current owners of the 4000 would recommend it and why? What has it done for you as far as your production? I dont care about the learning curve all I care about is making hot tracks and I want the best equipment I can afford to make my production as tight as possible. I have a motif/6 and aw16g recorder and my beats are tight right now but they are missing that punch and it just takes to much time EQing my drums to get them to sound hot with just the motif. I am looking for a machine that will make my job as a producer easier. The motif and aw16g are both great but have there weak points. I know that the mpc will get me alot closer to a complete and fully functional set-up in terms of easy of use and decrease the time it takes me to make tracks with my current set-up. My dilemma is I need a full fledge sampler and I have to have the pads all 16 of them. I need some opinions, should i just get a 2000xl and a stand alone sampler or get the 4000. Thanks for you help in advance.

4ooo. No doubt about it. If you already owned a 2000 and were considering an upgrade then I would say to stcik with the 2000 and simply buy a MIDI Sampler. But, if you are starting from scratch, just get a 4ooo and save yourself the hassle.

jues.

thanks for your reply Jues but why do you suggest the 4000 and what has it done for you and your production.

Heheh, well I do things differently to most people around here.

I am the engineer for my band. I create all our backing sequences and such on my 4ooo and then take it to gigs to play live. I used to use a laptop, but it crashed once too often, so I got myself a 2000XL. Then, as I saw the limitations of the device (32Mb Ram and No HDD) I upgraded to the 4ooo and reaped the benefits. Most of our songs use in the reigion of 40-75megs of samples EACH! And that's with sequencing and space saving! (We are pretty "electonics intensive" - very unique sound.)

I found that the 4ooo offters me an all in one package. I can just load my samples in from the PC via AKsys and then sequence and arrange them on all the screen infront of me. It is also having a nice big screen to work on, not to mention the sequencable filter is f--kin sweet!

If you are only working on small songs in your stuido and do not require over 32Mb of ram per track (most Hip-Hop {which is what most people do round here, I've gathered} doesn't) then I would simply stick with the 2ooo. But do bear in mind the filter on the 2ooo is crap as and you WILL require an outboard filter if you intend to use filtering. Also the 2ooo has no EQ effects and sample editing is made tricky due to the small screen.

I like my 4ooo, just as I liked my 2oooXL. Different tools for different jobs IMHO

jues.

thanks again Jues I am leaning more and more toward the 4000. I just hope akai doesnt stick it to us and shutdown or stop upgrading the 4000.
Anybody else have any user info on he 4000 or advice on my issue.

I just traded my mpc 2000 for the 4000 and It's the best investment I've made for my beats besides my vinyl! Before I had to use another sampler in cojunction with the MPC because of the flaws in the 2000:

NO HIPASS FILTER! (unless you buy the effects board, and that sucks!)

NO REALTIME MANIPULATION OF SAMPLES!

LACKLUSTER EFFECTS!

The 4000 fixed those flaws and a few others and now i can sell my other sampler.

the 4000 seems like a better "all in one" kit and the MPC 2000 is best as a drum machine and sequencer. I dont think the 4000 os will be de-bugged fully until the 4000 is about to go out the door, (in like 2 years) personlly, I just look for gear that has longevity. The 4000 relies too much on aksys and using a pc with it, since the PC and software market change daily it will be hard for akai to "keep up" with all the stuff the box can do. This will lead to (and has alredy led to) problems with promised features and stuff like that. What do you think will happen when someone drops the new giga sampler and it has features that bury the 4000 and will make you want to use your pc again. Plus, for hip-hop you dont need more then the 2000, you just dont.

I love how this question comes up once a week like clockwork. Seriously I can set my wristwatch by this type of post. At least the title didn't have the word "vs." in it this time.

that is so true , all mpcs are the shiz whatever u can uu to sample make beats. and this question has been asked so much , cop one of em you willl find out if u like alll of em they all bangin