Does the original 2k only have one out? I know the 2kXL had two..
"midi through. u can daisy chain as many synths as u want"
Providing:
a) timing is not an issue. Each synth you daisy chain will add latency. Some synths are notoriously bad at adding latency to their 'Thu' signal. If you are going to connect more then one synth, a better solution is to buy a midi through box. These cost like $20 and have the advantage of only adding one single extra latency to your chain - probably a very reasonable 1-2ms. Chain say 3 synths and you could be talking 10ms or even more. I recall reading claims that some synths add like 20ms alone! Okay, these tend to be older synths but still...
b) you dont exceed 16 parts. Obviously a single midi out can only send to 16 midi channels. Two midi outs can send to 2 x 16 channels. Remember also that there is something like a 1.7ms delay in the midi standard for each channel. So, you send 16 notes on 16 channels at the same time down a single output and there is a 25ms (15 x 1.7) delay between the first and last note. Obviously if you send the same 16 notes down two outputs there will only be a 7 x 1.7 = 11.9ms delay.
Dont worry too much about b) as this only happens for concurrent notes which probably dont occur too often. You can also help this by putting fast attach sounds on the lower channels as these 'probably' get sent first. I say probably as the midi standard does not enforce this but it is fare to assume that most companies implement the sending in numerical order.
Conclusion: A MPC1000 will sound twice as tight to a single midi out MPC2000 (if it is only single out) when controlling two synths, under heavy loading and playing lots of concurrent notes.
In reality, I would be surprised if you every notice this for most tracks..
