anyone digging the MFC42?

they're kinda giving them away at Turnkey UK, seems to me this product bombed for Akai as it halved in price after 6 months and is now even less - I guess they are also getting rid because they won't fit an MPC1000. I had a 10 minute demo on one in a noisy shop when they came out and my basic feeling was it sounded pretty hard and cheap, not as nice as the Electrix filters for example. Now they are so cheap I'm wondering if I should think again, amybe I didn't give it enough time - anyone think they are shit hot? Its the filter aspect I'm mostly into

Richard

I live in the US where prices of the MPC42 are not going down. I have owned mine for quite a while. The MFC42 isn't worth what they want for them here ($400 for the MFC42 + mounting hardware + special cabling). It isn't a very good product. They never sold very well. David Whittle of AKAI said that the color is changing in December. You can already see the new one in the MPC1000 video. Turnkey must be dumping them to clear their inventory because no one will want the old MFC42's after the new ones are released. If you have a chance to get an MFC42 for much less than we pay here in the US then you might consider getting one. It's your last opportunity before AKAI changes the color. Just don't expect a whole lot out of the thing.

I played with one not hooked up to anything and with both filters self oscillating I got some really good self running sounds.

Yo aint this puppy a truely analogue filter??

That would mean it would take a while to start sounding good???

I would think it would sound better than an electrix that 'aint analogue???

Hmmm....droppin in price....meez might take a look...!

Electrix is analog, Filters don't need to warm up unless you are using them as tone sources, and that is just for the control aspect so it plays in tune across a keyboard, they still sound good.

While the Electrix is analog, it uses entirely surface mount components. The Akai uses the old-style-through-the-board full-size. IMO, Akai has a much better and thus expensive design. I had/have all the Electrix stuff, but sold the filters after getting the Akai.

Some of you need to dig a little deeper that just the price. Want quality? You are going to pay for it. I think the filter has been selling pretty good in the US, hence not much of a price drop. I paid well over 500 for mine +accessories and I got it day one.

In hindsight, Akai does not have a history of dropping prices. Only the MPC4000 and DPS24 have had any significant manufacturer price reduction. Out of all the MPC's, only the XL had a price drop and that was less then 10 percent.

mpc3000, I'd love to hear more. I don't really know what you mean by surface mount - do you mean the MFC is made of discrete componants and not just a bunch of boards, like a mutronics mutator?, surely that would cost more like $1000?

Soundwise, I know its difficult to talk about sound but I'd be very interested to know how you would characterise the MFC filters, and especially the envelope following aspects. The MFC sounded colder and harder than the electrix stuff - which I'd characterise as soft and not very detailed, but quite warm, but like I'm very prepared to admit that i might have been wrong about it - 10 minutes in a noisy shop usually tells me what I need to know (enuff to really dislike the line filter modelling stuff) but its not ideal. I'm a bit of an analogue filter nut I have to admit - ultimately I want them all, so I'm worried I might be letting this baby slip past

Richard

these are going for 320 right now.

Surface mount chips are smaller, and the pins just rest on pads and are attachd by solder, usually from a machine that sprays it with solder. Thru hole componants have pins that go through the circuit board, they are bigger. There may be something to the larger format ading to the sound. There is an indirect correlation to analog synths with large circuit boards and traces sounding better than smaller format circuits. It could be bullshit, but minimoogs, moog and emu modulars, OB SEM synths have incredible sounds.

but who knows.

"especially the envelope following aspects"

Well, that is one drawback of the MFC where the Electrix had an advantage. The Electrix was better in that it's envelope could be triggered by incoming audio (and that could be selected by high, mid, low or all audio range). There was nothing like filtering a bass off the cycle of a hihat. Can't do that in the MPC since it's env can only be triggered cyclicly (1/16, 1/8, 1/4 and up by midi clock), manually by the button or by midi cc. I have no clue why they did not implement a selectable midi note trigger on the MFC, then it would have certainly been an Electrix killer. This would allow you to trigger the MFC by any set of notes coming from a sequencer whether they be the same notes of the audio source or not.

That sounds like a good project. A blackbox that converts a particular midi note to the CC that matches the trigger of the MFC. I will look into it.

" it's env can only be triggered cyclicly (1/16, 1/8, 1/4 and up by midi clock), manually by the button or by midi cc"

but you can just use the audio peaks to trigger the envelope like a normal simple envelope follow right? I'm thinking I'd just use the midi clock input to set the LFO clock and use the audio to trigger the envelope - does this make sense?

I'm looking at the manual but its not so clear

I think I'm gonna go for one anyway - do you reckon the mounting kit is worth it? - looks like a ripoff to me but nice to have those knobs so handy, I guess its irrelivant if go for an MPC1000 because it won't fit anyway

"but you can just use the audio peaks to trigger the envelope like a normal simple envelope follow right? I'm thinking I'd just use the midi clock input to set the LFO clock and use the audio to trigger the envelope - does this make sense?"

It make sense but the MFC does not trigger the envelopes from audio.

HA! that explains why the damn thing didn't make any sense to me in the shop! Encouraged by the £145 price tag I just got one. Its actually a sophisticated design and I'm rather pleased by the way it really integrates wiith the MPC2000xl - it llooks like it belongs in a 1930s sceiece lab as well which is nice - the new blue ones won't!

I like the sound in general but I miss some things about the electrix - I think the MFC needs the settings to be just right as it easily sounds harsh and vulgar, not totally convinced by the resonance but all in all I'm pretty happy with it - I know it'll see a lot of use. I'm getting quite good results with filter input volumes set about 75% and filter outputs set about 65% - any comments on this?

Richard

if anyone is looking to buy a used MFC-42...i'm willing to let it go for 250$ let me know! at least throw some offers at me =) thanks

peace

"any comments on this"

Don't forget the phaser and the distortion on the MFC. Both are pretty amazing. The distortion is a little smoother than the Electrix and the phaser can and a nice subtle touch when used in moderation.