Moving to the MPC X after 20+ years on the 2000XL

Hi there!

I’ve been using the 2000XL for over 20 years now: for the first 10 years I mostly made beats by sampling vinyl, concentrating on chopping and programming sounds, then got into recording and sampling myself playing actual instruments and then eventually learned how to sequence hardware synths and other outboard gear with MIDI. So, basically, I have a bit of experience with the MPC workflow.

What originally kept me from even giving the new gen units a chance was the touch screen. I think they look rather un-MPC-like, and in general I don’t enjoy using a touchscreen when working. Also, I really like my 2000XL, for practical and for sentimental reasons.

However, for some years now I’ve been struggling more and more with the limitations of floppies, with broken Zip disks and drives, broken buttons, frequent errors and crashes and with the really slow workflow of tracking beats to a DAW, so I finally decided to give the new gen MPCs a try.

After a few weeks of looking into it, I found myself pretty impressed with all the quality of life improvements and all the bells and whistles, and in the end I concluded that the MPC X would be best for my needs. Today I managed to grab myself a used unit, the black one, and I figured I’d write down some first impressions and thoughts after the first few hours of using it, coming from years spent on the 2000XL.


Build quality:
Feels ok. Screen feels slightly, umm… screenish, wobbles a little, but no real issues there. The red sides have some of that funky rubber coating that’s starting to get sticky. Don’t really care for that stuff.
Pads feel nice. Clicky buttons feel good, jog wheel has a good spin to it.

Looks:
I’m not that much into the red color scheme and overall race car esque aesthetics. I will remove the red sides and replace them with some nice wooden sides later.


I like that I can set colors for the pads (or turn the colors off), but I don’t like the fact that you can’t set the colors on all instruments / plug ins. Not a fan of bright colours that jump out on different tracks.

The GUI:
Felt really funny at first, with the big image. Still does, after a few hours. But, I kind of also see the benefit of having more stuff on screen so maybe I’ll get accustomed to it. However, the design of the GUI doesn’t seem right to me. Especially the opening demo screen - super cheap. Like an automatic soda machine menu at the local pizzeria. A huge turn off. Thankfully you can customize the start up, slightly.

Sampling / sample editing / assigning:
Wonderful - quick, easy, convenient. Can’t imagine wanting to go back. Huge improvement.


The 16 Q links:
I’m really liking these! I’ve only scratched the surface, but I’ve been looking at some youtube clips so I am well aware of the capabilities. Lots of both creative and functional uses.


The touch screen in general:
The jury is kinda still out on that one. I will probably get used to it fairly quickly, and then wonder how I ever managed without one….. Or then I’ll be missing an LCD screen that stays out of the way and lets me focus on the sounds. Time will tell. I am still kind of distracted by it, but hopefully I’ll get some muscle memory going on soon and need to look at it less. I find myself constantly thinking ”do I really need to see all of this, with all of this colour…”




Storage:
A huge plus. No more floppies. Or external drives (also, I know you could install a card reader on the XL….. just never got around to it)

Workflow:
Coming from the XL, seems both intuitive and un-intuitive. Managed to throw a few quick beats together fairly easily, but needed to google some things.
Lots of options. Lots of small improvements on how stuff works. Lots of creative power. Will need to get used to new ways of doing things, so that might be a good thing.




Biggest pros:
-Feels like an MPC.
-Pads feel great
-Already finding fast ways of working

Biggest cons:
-by far, the screen: something about it makes me feel like I’m adjusting the touch screen of a Ford Mondeo.


All in all I’m mostly feeling positive about the MPC X after the first couple of hours.

I’ll be adding comments once I get to put in more time with it.
Please correct me if I say something that isn’t correct: there is still a lot to learn.

Thanks!

Lampdog wrote: After reading your story, you are me and I am you

Yes Welcome! I've also been there. Make sure you keep your Old School MP on Display...to show your journey lol. It'll be a little learning Curve but you'll Love it.

We around for any questions you may have Bruh!

Lampdog wrote:
I have an ASR-10 since 1994. It taught me EVERYTHING. Very rarely ever use it now.

That thing would go great with my S3000XL and E6400 Ultra!!!

Lampdog wrote:I didn’t have regrets selling the 2kxl.
I stopped myself from selling ASR-10 cause I KNOW I will instantly regret it.
Told a friend long time ago to come get it for $500. Glad he didn’t.

Yeah I got a couple pieces of gear in the same boat. I never use my Microwave XT anymore, and can get like 3x+ what I paid for it 25 years ago. But I know the minute its gone, I'll want it back and no way I will ever get another one again unless they drop back down to 2000 prices heh. Same with my SH-101. It was free, and I never even turn it on, but I've let go of too much classic Roland stuff I regret so that ones staying.

Hi again, thanks for the welcomes and comments!

I am currently FIGHTING the idiotic installation system. I am being told to install drivers for the MPC X on my MacBook, yet I cant seem to find them anywhere. I’ve installed the software (twice now), but no luck.

How hard can they make this?

Supraphonic wrote:Hi again, thanks for the welcomes and comments!

I am currently FIGHTING the idiotic installation system. I am being told to install drivers for the MPC X on my MacBook, yet I cant seem to find them anywhere. I’ve installed the software (twice now), but no luck.

How hard can they make this?

Yeah its not very clear, but its part of the same installation process. The installer should warn you to install the driver first. It's been a long time since I've seen that installer, but there should be a 'Driver' option to click on, then pick your particular model from the list, and it does its thing. Then you go back to the main screen and install the actual MPC software part of it. The Network MIDI stuff is a separate installer though if you need that part.

Thanks for the reply - I actually just found the driver 10min ago.

**** editing my post for clarity:

To access the driver, you need to download the INMUSIC SOFTWARE CENTER app. Inside the app there is a Hardware section. In there you should be able to see your MPC. Clicking on the MPC thumbnail should open up a drop down menu with all of the downloads that you need, including the driver.

On the inmusic MPC Downloads page, you can only find some of the downloads. Not the drivers. It makes no sense. There you also get told about the Inmusic software Central app, but are given no link to download the app.

It’s a pretty stupid system that could do with some streamlining. My issues came from downloading everything from inmusic’s downloads website, and not being able to find the driver (as it wasnt available there for downloading..)

But it’s all good now. Now I can access the SSD storage from my MacBook and move stuff around easily.

Success.

Back to the unit:

After getting the USB connection to work, transferring samples and building libraries is fast, easy and effortless. Very nice!


However, whenever I need to name something on the MPC I find myself missing the option to write using the pads like I did on the 2000XL. Writing on the touch screen is cumbersome. Perhaps I need to hook up a dedicated BT keyboard for that.

Supraphonic wrote:However, whenever I need to name something on the MPC I find myself missing the option to write using the pads like I did on the 2000XL. Writing on the touch screen is cumbersome. Perhaps I need to hook up a dedicated BT keyboard for that.

They could at least gave us copy & paste to speed things up like JJOS. It would also be dope if we could use the pads to store commonly use name/texts, like pressing pad1=Kick, pad2=Snare, pad5=Bass, pad16=the current date 20250102.

B-Wise wrote:They could at least gave us copy & paste to speed things up like JJOS. It would also be dope if we could use the pads to store commonly use name/texts, like pressing pad1=Kick, pad2=Snare, pad5=Bass, pad16=the current date 20250102.

Yeah I feel like there’s a lot of missed opportunities here.
I also find the lack of a ”go back” -button to be infuriating. If you are going to do a modern menu system type thing, you need to be able to go back.

Thanks for the link Lampdog! I have one extra bt keyboard but haven’t yet checked compatibility.

I find myself missing a slider when trimming samples. The q links are convenient for different speeds of trimming, but the fastest one does not move fast enough for me. With the 2000XL i could hold down shift and go where I need instantly.
Maybe there is a way to calibrate the q link to go faster?

Supraphonic wrote:
Yeah I feel like there’s a lot of missed opportunities here.
I also find the lack of a ”go back” -button to be infuriating. If you are going to do a modern menu system type thing, you need to be able to go back.

I find myself missing a slider when trimming samples. The q links are convenient for different speeds of trimming, but the fastest one does not move fast enough for me. With the 2000XL i could hold down shift and go where I need instantly.
Maybe there is a way to calibrate the q link to go faster?

The lack of things like a back button infuriating & a borderline war crime. The fastest why to trim is the touch screen.

I would suggest you time to make the effort to use it until to get use to it. I know, I know... at first you may be uncomfortable with it eps starting with the 2KXL, I started with the 1k & thought I would hate it, but that's what I did because I could tell, going with the modern tech vs fighting it would be better in the long run. Now, I be trying to used the screen on my non-touch screen devices & wondering why they ain't working...

Oh totally, I’m happily taking the time to learn and having a lot of fun while at it. I am nitpicking on purpose and being super critical while making notes. Like I was gathering pre-release feedback for the developers, things that should be etc.

I am mostly just stoked at having a working MPC and being able to make beats. Also I am really appreciating a lot of the next gen features.

So this unit is already a win in my books.

Having said that, I am still slightly confused with sample trimming / assigning / programs. Like every once in a while a sample I assigned to a pad has been changed into another sample.
But I’m slowly getting there.

Just need to keep chill and not make too good beats yet, just in case I mess up something and lose the thing lol