Exchange tips and tricks for the Akai MPC4000
By deaf-mute Mon Apr 04, 2005 2:24 pm
doomdada wrote:Hi guys, I was at Guitar center the other day, and I loaded up some of my drum samples on the motif es via cd-rom, and on the Mv-8000 via cd-rom, and on the 4000 via cd-rom.its hard 2 explain the sound, but out of all the 4000 sounded best,mv-8000 next, and motif ES last.I dont know how to describe it but the 4000 just sounded better.What I am wondering is what makes the samples on the 4000 sound better?


if they were all the same sample cd, it probalby boils down to the digital to analog converters. this can dramatically change a sound and is usually why some high quality audio interface's are way more expensive than crappy one's.

it may also be that the sample cd was 24 bit 96k. The mpc can be either 16 or 24 bit... not sure about the mv-8000 or the motif es. if they are not then that explains it

best regards

and

By glide Mon Apr 04, 2005 7:02 pm
Akai have always been known for a very detailed sound, it's dynamically very rich in the highs and mids, a very sharp sound (so highly prefer on drums by many

Yamaha samplers sound a bit "muffled" although clearly its not the right word here as its not muffled at all just not as detailed as the Akai's sound, dynamically not as rich/full but the sound is much rounder (i.e. low mid & highs are displayed with more harmony though yamha D/A

Roland has a round sound aswell (I studied on a S760) possibility a better more dynamic D/A (not as muffy as yammy) never heard a MW so I can't comment but the S760 sounded very musical had a nice balance between the high mid & lows

that said I personally feel yamaha has the best "analogue" sounding digital filters (so if its the DJ-filter effect your looking for yamha wins although Rolands COSM filter sounds truly excellent for those type of FX by far outperforms all others digital filters (although only one at time globally), Akais filter are more like detailed tools, sharper more precise, if I want an analogue filter FX I'll run it though an analogue filter and resample, although I do have audio of the 4k's filters doing some analogue style damage..

this all has to to with like Deaf-Mute pointed out the quality of components used on the hardware side

if you think about it though: the Motif sounds stellar but the sampling side is no where near the same quality, they didn't sample though the Motif A/D: the sounds are all done & recorded in a top notch recording studio, also when a company can bring out a product that cost 1/3 as much as a 2k and offer 3x as much it tells you corners have been cut (although corp. like Yam and Roland are massif and are running though a massif production chain which leads them to be able to offer better prices

I now I haven’t heard every sampler in the world and I bet their are some very soulful musical sounding sampling engines out there with analogue filters (E3 anyone) but as of now I do think most other samplers sweat when the 24bit balls 96k shaft 4k walks into the locker room :? :lol:

A very good discussion on MPC1000vsRS7000 from an avid RS user/ goes into sound allot aswell

http://data.rs7000.org/forums/showthrea ... eadid=1387
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By rookie Tue Apr 05, 2005 6:46 am
the yamaha a4000 sounds pretty good too,very clean a tight 4band eq,the best I heard coming out of a sampler.the fx could have been better being that they made decent stand alones.the filters are good & it has synth type processing it was a sleeper,if you can find one cheap grab it! the only knock it had was the loading time but i'm not usually in a big rush when I'm producing anyway.e-mu is pretty tight that was akai's only comp at one time,if they would have made the mv8000 I would have gave them the nod because of the sp1200...roland too me just flat out bit the mp4000 style but since they did'nt have that type of track record I'm not so sold on it...

By MAD T Tue Apr 05, 2005 3:35 pm
were they connected to the same monitors?? just asking. Personally I never use the MPC4k for string sounds, it can't compete with the E-MU ULTRA sampler.
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By feline1 Tue Apr 05, 2005 6:53 pm
yeah guys,
before getting esoteric on D/A convertors,
please remember SIMPLE things like -
what speakers were they coming out of?
where they plugged into a mixer?
Was there EQ or FX on it?
were the cables wiring the thing up covered in dead hair, spilt bear and oxide?
was someone playing Smoke on the Water very loudly in the background.

Object A/B tests must consider all these factors....
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By ikke Tue Apr 05, 2005 9:49 pm
ta ta taaa ta ta tataaa
ta ta taaa ta tataaa
(only riff i can play) :lol:
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By feline1 Wed Apr 06, 2005 5:34 pm
you shoulda pulled the cables out of the back of the Akai and swapped 'em with the ones for the other machine, so see if there was a difference
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By feline1 Thu Apr 07, 2005 5:29 pm
doomdada wrote:they were all the same cables, it was a snake type cable thing


Yeah but different channel strips inside the same mixer can sound different.

Especially if they're in a guitar shop and someone has spilt beer all over one of them
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By feline1 Fri Apr 08, 2005 5:18 pm
Hey y'all,
your question/thread were full of sh*t,
get over it :lol: :lol:
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By Kalei Fri Apr 08, 2005 5:20 pm
hehe stfu? i think feline1 has some valid points... You cant make a reference test with different cables and mixer settings etc...

Kalei
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By ikke Fri Apr 08, 2005 9:41 pm
the man is always right :(
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By JusDaFied Sat Apr 09, 2005 7:24 am
Ummm, guys that are on the DA converter thing are missing the mark.

The people that are talking about what speakers they are coming out of. Settings within in the system, EQ's and the like are more on the money.

DA converters only matter when you are sampling, not playing from CD.

Hence the term Digital to Analogue converter.

If it's already digital (and you are just importing it, not capturing it), it aint being converted.

By elmacaco Sat Apr 09, 2005 8:01 am
It is on playback.