Selling S2400 for MPC X ?

Then you can sell your One to get the FX and Filter boards hehe. But yeah I think best I expect from the S2400 from here is to fix bugs. I don't really see it as a fully fledged midi sequencer. It's not bad at basic midi editing at all. But it's strong point is sampling sound and immediate workflow.

robleighton22 wrote:Then you can sell your One to get the FX and Filter boards hehe. But yeah I think best I expect from the S2400 from here is to fix bugs. I don't really see it as a fully fledged midi sequencer. It's not bad at basic midi editing at all. But it's strong point is sampling sound and immediate workflow.

Haha... yeah, been wanting that filter card too.

Yeah.. I don't have high hopes either (that's why I started these threads and considering selling the S2400 for an Mpc X, lol).

But, Brad did mention a few times in the past that Mod & Pitch wheel will be added (eventually). Have no idea when that will happen tho.

Don't really want/need a fully-fledged midi seq like a new Mpc (tho, it'd be nice to try thems out)... only thing I really need is basic mod & pitch wheel, lol. And also fix them long notes/chords being muted, haha. Pretty simple wants/needs.

i have high hopes for you 2400 guys... so much dope stuff in the pipeline with the expansion card and that.. hope he works out the bugs because that chord bot was a shit show... thank god the hype was strong enough to unload it despite it's issues. just sayin.

Yeah the Kordbot was not a well executed piece. But S2400 has generally been well done. The bugs remaining I can live with. I'm not a keyboard player so the pitch / mod wheel request doesn't phase me. Although the whispers of their new synth project Caladan concerns me, as I want them to close out the S2400 given they are a small company. I really hope those new boards get delivered, but I wouldn't bet on it being soon.

robleighton22 wrote:Yeah the Kordbot was not a well executed piece. But S2400 has generally been well done. The bugs remaining I can live with. I'm not a keyboard player so the pitch / mod wheel request doesn't phase me. Although the whispers of their new synth project Caladan concerns me, as I want them to close out the S2400 given they are a small company. I really hope those new boards get delivered, but I wouldn't bet on it being soon.

they are a very small company, so my guess is, that they have to roll out new stuff in order to finance the business. i have no doubt that they will develop the S2400 further, and certainly cant wait for the new boards (FX and Filter) to arrive, but it will take them some time as they simply dont have the resources to develop faster.

back to the discussion: they way i approach working on the S2400 is very different, than the way i approach working on the newer MPCs. thats why i love both machines and dont want to sell any of it.

fooddude wrote:

Menco wrote:Have you also considered getting a cheap MPC1000 purely for midi sequencing? Pairing that up with the S2400 instead of swapping it for an X. That way you can have best of both worlds.

Yeah... I've looked into the 1000 a lot before. But, they're getting expensive (esp a nicer black-rear model in mint condition, mods, etc.). Also, a lot of peeps suggest just getting a modern One, as it has more capability, etc. Also, SD and USB connectivity seems easier on the newer One (1000 is hit or miss in CF cards, etc.).

I'd also like to venture into and try newer Mpc stuff (One, Live2, X, etc.). It'd be nice to move a lil forward and not be stuck in the old days all the time.

If your budget allows a One it's even better. Thought the 1000 would be cheaper to pick up than a One. Although the One only has one Midi In, and one Midi Out, don't know if that is sufficient for you.

Most ideal would be the X/S2400 combo like Lamp. Also gives you the best tactile experience if that's important to you.

For the MPC / S2400 combo, where are ppl finishing up their tracks? Find song modes are similar, S2400 has the edge with the Shift+F2 shortcut for me. But MPC is obviously better for deeper midi and FX editing. Weirdly I find that I lose some of the S2400 when u sample to the MPC (might just be my imagination). So I'm typically just using the MPC One as the sound source and primary melodic midi sequencer

robleighton22 wrote:For the MPC / S2400 combo, where are ppl finishing up their tracks? Find song modes are similar, S2400 has the edge with the Shift+F2 shortcut for me. But MPC is obviously better for deeper midi and FX editing. Weirdly I find that I lose some of the S2400 when u sample to the MPC (might just be my imagination). So I'm typically just using the MPC One as the sound source and primary melodic midi sequencer

If it was me (if I had a modern Mpc), I would...
- Mpc One, only/purely as the main midi seq for controlling synths and S2400 (no audio outs from Mpc at all, nor audio/sample ins). No point using its' audio outs if you have the better sounding S2400 (I'd only use Mpc audio outs/ins if I wanted to records live vox, acoustic instrumentalists, super long samples/edits/remixes, etc.)
- S2400 for all sample/drum audio outs.
- External synths, also obviously audio outs.
- S2400 and all synths and fx racks into old Mackie mixer for mixdown.
- From Mackie 2ch stereo main-mix out, record into anything or your fave/preferred 2ch recorder (into laptop/audacity, digital recorder, tape machine, r2r, anything, etc.).

That's the way I did it when I had the Mpc60 still (of course, used the outs from the 60 since it sounds good).
Ideally, I'd love the S2400 to be like my old 60 (ie: no need for an additional midi-seq (like getting a modern Mpc just for seq duties).

Menco wrote:If your budget allows a One it's even better. Thought the 1000 would be cheaper to pick up than a One. Although the One only has one Midi In, and one Midi Out, don't know if that is sufficient for you.

you can easily add enough midi i/o to the One.. just by adding a USB audio interface / midi interface.
(even though usb audio interfaces disable the internal sound card, the midi I/O on the MPC's still work while using one)

Yeah my One is perfect for what u just suggested. I have a Model 12 and a Prologue 16 as well. Need to try your suggestions here, never thought to record a live midi sequenced synth into the final mix. Usually sample first but that's got me thinking!

The S2400 has one major limitation when it comes to sampling which is you can't have the sequencer playing when sampling unless in it's looper mode. The looper mode has got better now it does stereo and is pretty much no effort to setup but is limited by sample time, tho it does get you an extra 8 tracks/voices which is nuts. The MPC One has therefore another utility, I can record a synth line for a number of minutes in its sample mode whilst the S2400 is running, and not in looper mode. So this is prob one of the key benefits of the MPC combo. A SP404 would have same use case. But I prefer the One for it's midi capabilities. S2400 was ultimately meant to be just a S1200 with add-ons, so I don't mind it's limitations.

Ever thought about selling the S2400 and just getting another 60? Sometimes we don't want to feel like we're going back to something, but really sometimes its a method of correcting. If you felt at home and most inspired to work on that machine, then why not go back to it? You could pair an SP404MK2 with it an have an exceptional combination. Just wanted to offer some counter thoughts.

Sir Snaxalot wrote:Ever thought about selling the S2400 and just getting another 60? Sometimes we don't want to feel like we're going back to something, but really sometimes its a method of correcting. If you felt at home and most inspired to work on that machine, then why not go back to it? You could pair an SP404MK2 with it an have an exceptional combination. Just wanted to offer some counter thoughts.

Ha, yes of course. But, they are super expensive to re-buy one back. And I am also over the slow old process - floppies (not interested in floppy emulators, etc.), no usb connectivity, etc.

What I've noticed with modern machines (S2400) w/ usb or sd cards, I can experiment w/ diff samples easily, until I find stuff I truly like.

With the 60... it's like, I spent hours sampling stuff I think is gonna be good, but it doesn't really work with the track... but, I subconsciously feel I am obligated to use those samples (cuz of all the work sampling them) and force myself to use those samples, even if they aren't the best and most ideal. Make sense?

xantus wrote:

Menco wrote:even though usb audio interfaces disable the internal sound card, the midi I/O on the MPC's still work while using one

Didn't know this... That's awesome. I always thot it disables the onboard midi i/o too.

If you added a umc1820 interface (only has/giving you 1 extra midi i/o), what would the 1 extra midi I/O show up as on the Mpc? ... Midi B channel?

robleighton22 wrote:Yeah my One is perfect for what u just suggested. I have a Model 12 and a Prologue 16 as well. Need to try your suggestions here, never thought to record a live midi sequenced synth into the final mix. Usually sample first but that's got me thinking!

The S2400 has one major limitation when it comes to sampling which is you can't have the sequencer playing when sampling unless in it's looper mode. The looper mode has got better now it does stereo and is pretty much no effort to setup but is limited by sample time, tho it does get you an extra 8 tracks/voices which is nuts. The MPC One has therefore another utility, I can record a synth line for a number of minutes in its sample mode whilst the S2400 is running, and not in looper mode. So this is prob one of the key benefits of the MPC combo. A SP404 would have same use case. But I prefer the One for it's midi capabilities. S2400 was ultimately meant to be just a S1200 with add-ons, so I don't mind it's limitations.

Nice! ...I guess that combo is the most ideal for my uses and for ext hw synths.

Yeah... I totally prefer just playing/recording synths from midi seq and mpc. Gives you a lot more freedom and variation, than just static sampled synth-lines. I usually only use one-shots for samples. And anything melodic/harmonic/riffs/lines/solos, I just play. I'm no pro, nor even a decent, keyboard player... but I try and try to practice on occasion.


Edit:
Still considering just throwing in the towel and selling the S2400 for an X, for simplicity sake.

I know the S2400 is the best sounding modern sampler, real 12bit, magical, etc. But, I am thinking I can still make the sterile sounding mpcs still sound good with my dirty old mackie mixer and all my old fx racks. Also, most of the samples and packs I use are already old and dirty, from the 90s (so they obviously used old gear to make them).
I just like a simple, minimal setup.

...also, to be frank, I'm not in love with the S2400's workflow, menu-diving, constant help/looking-up f-key functions and UI at all. The opposite of "intuitive" to be honest and imo.
It's a super quirky and weird UI. Only thing I love on it is the shift+f2 for song-mode assembly. Really dislike the odd "record overwrite" and "playback override" methodology. Mpc is so much easier & faster for re-takes.

In contrast... when I learned the mpc60 (with absolutely zero background in music-production, drum machines, sequencers, samplers, composition, etc.), it was a breeze to learn and use. But, the S2400 was at least super easy to learn in only a few hours (prolly cuz I knew how an mpc works).