never satisfied!

Why are folks so worried about what drum machine is more powerfull? Or why do they glorify what their machines are capable of, and then don't use em to it's full capacity? I've found that the MPC2000(XL) have just enough features to make me happy. More features than the 60 and the 3000, you can still get them cheap, and they are proven hit making machines. With and mpc60/3000/2000, you need outboard gear, but that's where the difference comes in. Not everyone is using the same filters, effects, etc because their not built in the machine. If I want to resample, I have a choice of my many samplers which give my sounds a new character. If I had a machine that could do it all, I wouldn't buy anything else, because everyting is right there. It's just like the many roland machines that tried to compete against the MPC's... even the MC-909 could do more than many of the MPC's, but having all them stock sounds and other garbage just made the machine kinda gimicky. It's not about power, or features, it's about ease of use that makes good gear great. Remember the ASR-X...good machine..technically.
Anyways, I just though I would mention that. Congrats to all of you that seem to be waiting on the MPC2500, or the mpc1000 o/s upgrade. If your expecting a musical miracle to happen then I wish you the best. But if you can't do it with your current mpc, I don't think anything will help you. I'm keeping my 2000xl. For some reason, my XL works just fine.

werd up

roxstar wrote:Why are folks so worried about what drum machine is more powerfull? Or why do they glorify what their machines are capable of, and then don't use em to it's full capacity?

Like cats wanting 2gb flash cards.
Like cats worrying about usb vs cf speed.
Like cats wondering which mpc is better.
Like cats wondering how Kanye makes his beats (ask Kanye).

I think MANY need cheese to go with their whine.

"I think MANY need cheese to go with their whine."

That's the truth. I think it's all excuses to why their production isn't on point. Most of the people that I know that have a bunch of gear make the wackest music. The few that don't have much make the most of it. I know one person that usues the roland MC-303 and his tracks are on another level. He got the machine for free, so he had no choice but to make the most of it.
If your MPC is messed up, then I can understand why you need a new one, but to sell a perfectly good machine just because a newer version came out is wack. Who needs a 60gb hard-drive inside their mpc? Is grid editing that important? The new improvements are great, but if you already have an MPC and you can't work around the limitations, a new mpc ain't gonna do it for you. If the SP-1200 can make great music, I don't understand why anyone with any MPC suddenly needs more.

Just make music!! And STFU!!

roxstar wrote:That's the truth. I think it's all excuses to why their production isn't on point. Most of the people that I know that have a bunch of gear make the wackest music. The few that don't have much make the most of it. I know one person that usues the roland MC-303 and his tracks are on another level. He got the machine for free, so he had no choice but to make the most of it. If your MPC is messed up, then I can understand why you need a new one, but to sell a perfectly good machine just because a newer version came out is wack. Who needs a 60gb hard-drive inside their mpc? Is grid editing that important? The new improvements are great, but if you already have an MPC and you can't work around the limitations, a new mpc ain't gonna do it for you. If the SP-1200 can make great music, I don't understand why anyone with any MPC suddenly needs more.

real talk

What's wrong with wanting more out of your gear? Limitations are a good thing sometimes, I'll admit but really, why hate on people who want more. Or want to know which MPC will suit their needs. Or certain beat making techniques. I wasn't going to respond to this thread until I read the comment about grid edit. Yes I would like grid edit on my 2000. Am I going to stop writing music if I don't get it? No. This board is full of whining. Me included. But I'm constantly whining at all the **** haters whining about people trying to figure shit out. This **** thread is nothing but whining.

i feel you should stay up with the times with sounds and maybe technology, but i am fine with my 2000 studio. i guess some may think they having a fashion show or going to the playa's ball for mpc.

i kno nothing about the 60/3000/2500 or the 4g. but ive been workin on the mpc (2000/2000xl) for years and it suits me just fine.
however i feel like the filters are a little shit. the 1000 filters are better(pisses me off ). me personnally that alone is a good enuff excuse to venture out or want a newer mpc (not a 1000). but a lot are new machines have goofy sh!t so i understand what u sayin because people be feelin like newer machines will make u better and sometimes thats not the case. but nothings wrong with adding on to ya arsenal neither.

when i first got my xl i beat myself to death feelin like ''oh the xl is better than the classic so i no im gonna make better beats!'' but i found out it only had a few newer features (which ive took advantage of and it did help to have those few features). fuk it whateva floats ya boat. if you need a midi controller to go with ya keyboard FUK IT. go ahead and blow ya money but make sure it is gonna enhance ya talents not just because just blaze or so and so has it and u think itll make u sound like them. roxstar u seem like a tru mpc head and i respect that on some real sh!t but what works for you (or myself) might not be enuff for the next man

I agree with what was said here partially, if you can't make good music on your gear working around its limitations, for sure. But who's to say that you need to shelve your creativity cause you don't have enough options to play with? Or enough features to add on to what the possibilites of what you can do? I love my mpc2000 to death, it's the heart of my studio and almost the brain of it if it weren't for my brain... but for example, if the filters are lacking, then there's something that needs to be compensated for cause if I have a sample I want to work with that requires a highpass filter to achieve, and I can't compensate with heavy eq'ing, why should I be limited and shelve the idea that I have and not get the results that I want because the gear can't perform up to it? There was a time where alot of cats had something BEFORE their mpc and they scrapped that to get the mpc, so if I have an mpc and want one that ADDS to the features and possibilities and takes NOTHING away from my mpc experience, and doesn't limit me, the possibilites of what I can do are expanded so why not upgrade? As long as the budget allows, upgrade as you wish. No need to stick to what you have if it limits you or makes you unhappy. Not saying all the features in the world will make you a better producer but if there's something that you want to do that you can't do on your equipment, the choice is quite simple, upgrade if that's what you want... I disagree with the "fashion statement" posting because who's going to see the new mpc in your studio? Probably nobody but you... should you stick to an mpc3000 because Dr. Dre has it or upgrade to an MPC4000 cause Large Professor uses it? Neither.... if you're upgrading for the sake of pushing YOUR envelope of what you can/want to do then go for it.

I agree with what was said here partially, if you can't make good music on your gear working around its limitations, for sure. But who's to say that you need to shelve your creativity cause you don't have enough options to play with? Or enough features to add on to what the possibilites of what you can do? I love my mpc2000 to death, it's the heart of my studio and almost the brain of it if it weren't for my brain... but for example, if the filters are lacking, then there's something that needs to be compensated for cause if I have a sample I want to work with that requires a highpass filter to achieve, and I can't compensate with heavy eq'ing, why should I be limited and shelve the idea that I have and not get the results that I want because the gear can't perform up to it? There was a time where alot of cats had something BEFORE their mpc and they scrapped that to get the mpc, so if I have an mpc and want one that ADDS to the features and possibilities and takes NOTHING away from my mpc experience, and doesn't limit me, the possibilites of what I can do are expanded so why not upgrade? As long as the budget allows, upgrade as you wish. No need to stick to what you have if it limits you or makes you unhappy. Not saying all the features in the world will make you a better producer but if there's something that you want to do that you can't do on your equipment, the choice is quite simple, upgrade if that's what you want... I disagree with the "fashion statement" posting because who's going to see the new mpc in your studio? Probably nobody but you... should you stick to an mpc3000 because Dr. Dre has it or upgrade to an MPC4000 cause Large Professor uses it? Neither.... if you're upgrading for the sake of pushing YOUR envelope of what you can/want to do then go for it.

I have no problem with someone upgrading because they need to, but folks are upgrading just for the heck of it. There's a lot that the older MPC's can't do.. there are also machines that for a few extra bux that can help your 'outdated' mpc do what you need it to do. If your like DJ Shadow and using 2 MPC's to make a track, you definately need to upgrade. If you like a simple setup and don't want to have 2 or 3 different pieces of gear to accomodate your mpc, again, you may have to upgrade. BUT...
Almost everyone that got a new MPC2500 act like they joined a new club or something. I haven't heard anyone say, "I really needed such and such features!" For the most part, I know the MPC2500 is a really nice looking mpc (that's what folks are talking about) Red pads, or black pads to upgrade it with, or what super duper feature it needs to take it to the next level. If folks were really limited with their current mpc, I would expect to hear these extra features in their latest tracks.. after all, that is the reason why they bought it in the first place.. right?
I think we should have a beat battle to show what each mpc is capable of. Since the mpc2500/4000 are so 'powerfull' and limitless, we should expect to hear some amazing music. I'd bet $1 the better tracks come from the MPC60-2000XL users...because they are forced to utilize their machines. I don't think those extra features in the newer machines will give them an ounce of an advantage.

word roxstar i'm with ya.... But maybe its just a detroit thang ...

I got to confess that I am one of those people Roxstar is talking about. I've thought about selling my 2KXL for the 2500 because of the better filters, USB connectivity, 8 outs, digital in/out, optional hard drive storage and cd/dvd rom drive option for loading samples. When I really think about it, I don't use all that my 2KXL has to offer already so why get something that has more and that I probably will never use (ie., q-link)?
I'll just stick my old faithful for now. It never did me wrong.

"word roxstar i'm with ya.... But maybe its just a detroit thang"
You know it.. they don't know how we do it up here. Dudes are still using roland XP-80's and other old stuff that peole sell for cheap on ebay. We make things happen from gear that ain't suppose to do nothing. For real!

"I'll just stick my old faithful for now. It never did me wrong."

There ya go! you won't regret it! I figure out new things all the time with my gear. Last week, I was thinking about buying a novation bass-station because I wanted some good bass sounds that I didn't have to find on wax. I was playing around with my proteus 2000 (I've had it for about 5 years and I've thought about selling it many times in the past).. Anyways, I'm playing with the proteus, and I created this bass sound that was EXACTLY what I've been searching for. I hadn't even saved a pre-set on the machine before untill 2 days ago. Throughout the years, I've talked kinda badly about the old proteus.. the drums were wack, the bass sounds were boaring, blah, blah, blah. If you stack the sounds and use them to layer your samples, you can come up with some nice stuff, but on the protues, as long as your not using the stock sounds, this module will be around for ever.
The point of me saying all this is that don't give up on your old gear, especially if you haven't given it a proper chance. Because I never fully took advantage of the P2K, I've spent a lot of money on dissapointing sample cd's and overhyped keyboards only to put them to the side and still use the machine that I talked trash about. I almost sold my XL for the 4000 when that first hit the scene (I was still a newbie back then), and I would have regretted it.