Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
By TheBsK Mon Aug 18, 2003 12:48 am
I have been looking at a host of Digital Recorders, such as Korg d12, Fostex VF80 and MR8, Digidesign 001 and MBox. What brand (these or others?) do you use or would you suggest for a primarily HipHop oriented home studio (MPC,Triton, PC?)?

Do you use ProTools or use just a stand alone Dig Recorder? Appreciate and encourage as much input as possible. Just for the sake of this, lets keep a max price of about $800 US for this topic. PEACE!!
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By DOVESKI Mon Aug 18, 2003 2:57 am
As someone who made the switch from a Fostex VF160 to Digi001 I cant recommend the Digi/ProTools combo enough without sounding silly, if you like feeling restricted stick with a stand alone, if you want to take your production to the next level and learn real world mixing at the same time (bus aux tracks, creative panning, unlimited plug ins depending on your cpu, etc) go for ProTools, I'll be around for support if you get one. I think Cool Edit Pro is good to, like a minor league version of PT.
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By Lampdog Tue Aug 19, 2003 1:36 am
Not to take away from Doveski but Vegas Video is nice also. Yeah, man, doing it on a stand alone is VERY restrrictive for reals.. I have a PC so I use cool Edit or Vegas Video. Protools LE on Windows sucks, but on MAC with the DIGI, it can't be beat.
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By mesh Tue Aug 19, 2003 1:39 am
no doubt doveski, im with you. plus you can get a 001 from samash or guitar center for $650 if you haggle the sales dude. that leaves you a buck 5 for some plugins or something else. word. get the 001 if you already have a pc, just make sure you got a pretty fast processor and a decent amount of RAM(512). you might think about getting a seperate hard drive too, just for audio ya know?

hey doveski, think dr foo is gonna like CEP being called a minor league version of PT? hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
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By trupro Tue Aug 19, 2003 10:09 pm
:twisted:You cats know your gear. Let it be know that the Digi 001 is officially discontinued from the production line. You can have Sam Ash or places like that order them from like misouri or some shit, but they are still about $650. That 002 controll surface is hot, but of course alot more money. You can always get a used 001 on ebay though, although if you are looking for portable, the oo2's are firewire which = laptop. Likewise, there's always ebay, for a used 001. Here's a good way to not get scammed: I asked this to dude send me a keyboard after he got half the cash, and then I inspected my product to make sure it was all good before giving up the rest of the dough. But, he was willing to take that risk as well, so the chance was 50/50 for both of us, rather than just for me. Keep in mind, you don't get a warrantee when you buy used.
THESE GUYS ARE RIGHT THOUGH, GET A DAW, NOT A STANDALONE.
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By Dr.Foo Tue Aug 19, 2003 11:11 pm
#1 Mesh ha ha so funny you are. notheless, you just dont know what you are talking about, take your beef thinking you are funny elsewhere. you dont know me, and I dont know you so take you fakeness and "beef" elsewhere.

I dont care what you use, or how u use it. I dont buy extraneous gear, I save that $$$ for vinyl. all you fools who think you need an MPC, protools and a triton to make bangers are full of it. its called gear addiction.
Pro tool is extraneous for 95% of us. here is why:

OK Protools and CEP are 2 distinctly differnet programs. THE BBC uses CEP For ALL their audio mixing. You can search their website.

#2 Pro tools is BS and here is why. A catch 22. Anyone who is going to drop an album, a real album they intend to sell, is going to have to go into a studio with a recording engineer at some point period. if you think otherwise you are delusional, the engineer has a job cuz he has the skills and the EAR to mix (different skills 100% from recording a track, look at production credits, Produced by so and so, recorded by another guy, mixed by this dude).
The engineer will sort thru all your stuff, with efx and plug ins all to find the un-altered DRY tracks, and use your mix as a reference GUIDE (guide being the operative word here) to mix the tracks himself on whatever, PT, a console etc. This basically means all the time you spent mixing and eqing and stuff will be tossed out and the engineer will take over and re-do it himself to make sure its spot on. THus you wasted 4-5 hours mixing reference that you could have done in 45 minutes on another rig.
NOW, the Mix you made, (unless you are a pro) is NOT going to compare to the mix a pro does with the same gear (those who are that good are the 5% I was talking about that its good for them to use PT since it does save them time and $$$$, but that aint 95% of us).
So, basically all that protools work, plugins etc. is all for naught since the engineer only uses that as a guide for him to mix the tracks.
Thus, you would save the $$$ for protools by simply buying a HD recorder, such as a DPS 16 or 24 and using that, then just dumping the audio to cd and allowing the engineer to load that into protools and mix it with the pro tools rig. A savings of what? like almost a grand?

THIS IS HOW A LOT OF ARTISTS DO IT, DJ. Clue (when he was on the hard knock life tour and working out of a bus) did it this way, pete rock does it this way too, record in a DPS and then dump for mixing at the studio.

think on it, spend 3 grand on a protools rig and a pc to go with it, or buy a PHAT DPS 24 track mixer, with the same if not better sound quality then pro tools digi 001/002. The sound quality being the best should be the goal for recording at home to have a pro mix your music. Like I said, only 5% of us or so can come close to equaling what a pro can do with our tracks, so for that 5% the investment in a nice pro tools rig DOES save you tons of $$$< but only for this small %. for the rest of us , it is 3 grand down the drain cuz we gotta have the "same shoes as Michael Jordan" a status symbol is what PT is.

also the other part, say you want it to make home recording simple and sound like a pro.. nope.

NOW, if all you wanna do is home recording, your mix will not sound better just becaue digidesign's magic, super old software is doing it for you, the gear u use is not as important as how you use it. READ THE SPEC's for Cubase SX and compare it to Protools LE, it is NO CONTEST.

I have heard mixes from protools that are bunk and mixes from Cubase that rocked, its all based on the skill of the peroson mixing, which is not dependet on gear.(note that a studio will have an entirely different and MORE POWERFUL protools then you got w/ your digi 001/002, read up on it, it aint pro tools LE in the studio baybee)

AS far as the "compatability" issue with studio's, newsflash! YOu can load almost any DAW sessions into protools, and can convert and load the rest. IE all DAW that use wav's are compatible w/ pro tools. In short, you dont need protools to get a protools mix.

I think even the tutor rolls out like this, records to a DPS 12 (I think thats what he said he was on) then dumps audio from it into pro tools at a local studio for mixing (correct me if I'm wrong tutor) This is how I get down, I mix the track to a rough mix to give him an idea of how I would like it to sound, then give him the tracks in wav form and let him go to work.

. This allows you to get a protools mix, and spend that 3 grand on a nice hardware recorder and some records, a lot of records. soooo
have a status symbol that you really cant use to the full potential thus its akin to having a ferrari with 4 blown cylinders, sure its a Ferarri, but you will lose in a race to a honda civic since you cant use it to its full potential, frustrating to say the least.

in short, CEP, Cubase, Nuendo etc. are better chioces for th ehome muscian. this is the
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By mesh Wed Aug 20, 2003 2:03 am
i didnt here that the 001 was discontinued, but my friend just bought one 4 days ago from samash, so hurry up if you wanna get one.

although foo doesnt like me too much:(, i will say he has good points. the thing is, if you are not trying to be a mixing or recording engineer and just trying to get some stuff tracked, there are a bunch of options for you. if you already have a computer and are willing to make into an audio computer, my money is still on protools because you can get a sh*t load of editing done by yourself, saving you some studio time. also, transfer will be that much easier, not to say it won't be easy if you don't use PT, but handing them a disc of a session versus a disc of just wav files is a little easier. but hey, if all you are trying to is produce, save yourself some time and get something simple to work with, cuz when you are an engineer, you spend countless hours over the most minute details, it is enough to drive some crazy, but i love it. you have to to put up with it. so definietly take that into account. i am an engineer before i am a producer, that is way i give PT such big praise, but like foo said, if you are not trying to go that route, leave it to the pros and just get something to work with. just make some music and have fun!

By PLATINUM1 Wed Aug 20, 2003 3:00 am
check it homey. I have used all of the programs stated above and stand alone recorders such as vs1880. I think you need to take a saturday and go to your local guitar center and just see how the stand alones work. which ever one is easiest then go for it , at the same time check out Cubase, Protools and CEP and see what is more logical for you to work with and maybe go with that. Don't listen to some of these bias remarks , because regardless of what someone else says its your money. I have Protools on Pc and it works great. I also use CubaseSX on PCand its cool too. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.I think Pt is a lot easier to use , but Cubase has more plugins( which you will never use all of them). Thats also the main difference between Pt on PC or mac. The mac has more plugins(available to purchase) , but so what most people find a few they like and thats all they ever use. Good luck with your search. The bottom line is what you do with what you have. Peace
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By Dr.Foo Wed Aug 20, 2003 4:10 pm
word. xactly. If you want to engineer, and are/can become good at it, protools is a good investment. If you don't want to it may not be. Remeber protools can recognize other programs session data with a little conversion, so it aint too tough, you still can hand the engineer the session, but if you sit down and watch them (I do, more to learn then to "hover" over them) they just listen to the track you mixed, nod their head and maybe jot down some notes or ask you a question or two ("the low is kinda muddy here, what do you want to do with it?" or "We (meaning I) could eq this a little tighter") then grabs the dry tracks and goes to work on them. Seriously, the first time I went in and gave over the tracks I had mixed (took me mad time too) he basically didnt even need them beyond showing him a "reference" for the final mix. When I got it back I was amazed at how well he had done it. Leaps AND BOUNDS better then I could have.

Bydeafdiction Wed Aug 20, 2003 4:36 pm
DOVESKI wrote:As someone who made the switch from a Fostex VF160 to Digi001 I cant recommend the Digi/ProTools combo enough without sounding silly, if you like feeling restricted stick with a stand alone, if you want to take your production to the next level and learn real world mixing at the same time (bus aux tracks, creative panning, unlimited plug ins depending on your cpu, etc) go for ProTools, I'll be around for support if you get one. I think Cool Edit Pro is good to, like a minor league version of PT.


yo doveski this is going off the topic, but i understand the concept of panning left and right, but i dont hear it when i try it. i do alittle, but i am deaf in my left ear. so when i pan basically the sound just dissapears from my hearing and then it comes back in. is there something you can suggest and also. what sounds should be centered and what sounds should be panned? i know its experiment. Do u even double sounds and pan one left and one right? does this make for a better mix?

peace thanks
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By Dr.Foo Wed Aug 20, 2003 5:35 pm
a cool trick for double panning is to take a loop, set it up on 2 pads, pan each one hard l/r, on the hard l one, add some efx, a filter and some heavy reverb and turn the dry one down low, it creates a cool "bounce" effect for the sound.

Panning is key, and basically, think of how an orchestra is set up on stage and pan it that way. IE the strings like viola, violin etc. should be panned slightly to the left and the reverb should place it up front in the mix, while the deeper strings, harps etc. should be panned the same side but the reverb should put it further back in the mix, like in an orchestra.
By phillythump Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:35 pm
Mixing is an art that many are cluless about, so if your knowledge of MIXING is limited then just get you a standalone , I use a vs880 to record all my stuff...I take it to the studio and let them take over from there ,...
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By TheHypeArchetype Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:46 pm
Lampdog wrote:Yeah, man, doing it on a stand alone is VERY restrrictive for reals.. .


You said it...

I'm rockin a Fostex Mr-8 (just my broke-ass project studio... don't hate.) and for the price ($300) it can't be beat..... but if you can spend 800, go Pro Tools or otherwise. Don't get a stand alone.
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By mesh Wed Aug 20, 2003 11:24 pm
PLATINUM1 wrote: but so what most people find a few they like and thats all they ever use.


that what it really comes down to. get something and go wih it.
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By mesh Wed Aug 20, 2003 11:25 pm
PLATINUM1 wrote: but so what most people find a few they like and thats all they ever use.


that what it really comes down to. get something and go wih it.