Cats Frontin On the MPC-2000XL

Aiigh, one of my cats with a MPC-60 would always front on the 2000 and XL cause Roger Linn didn't have anything to do with it, but does it REALLY matter that Linn didnt have anything to do with it? I know the history of Linn and his Linn Drum machine but ya'll seem to be the experts, so is there a drop off in the XL cause Linn wasn't involved? I actually went through his crib and messed with the 60II and I didn't like it at all, went home and cooked up some stuff on the ASR but I LOVE the 2000xl so to me there is a difference but not in a negative sense! I haven't even turned on my ASR since I got the XL!

Kil wrote:Aiigh, one of my cats with a MPC-60 would always front on the 2000 and XL cause Roger Linn didn't have anything to do with it, but does it REALLY matter that Linn didnt have anything to do with it? I know the history of Linn and his Linn Drum machine but ya'll seem to be the experts, so is there a drop off in the XL cause Linn wasn't involved? I actually went through his crib and messed with the 60II and I didn't like it at all, went home and cooked up some stuff on the ASR but I LOVE the 2000xl so to me there is a difference but not in a negative sense! I haven't even turned on my ASR since I got the XL!

There's a lot of myths surrounding gear in general. If you ask me Akai retained the best bits of the original Linn design and added their own tricks.
The timing of MPCs is special not because it has some magical swing but because Linn designed it to be very accurate. More accurate than Midi. Midi is serial in nature e.g A kick drum and a Hi hat will never be exactly on the same beat because one piece of Midi information follows the other. The MPC works in parallel so each event triggers the sampler instantaneously. That's why it sounds tighter than software sequencers.

Roger Linn's basic sampler/sequencer engine was saved as the template for the rest of the MPCs design. Advances in technology only improved it IMHO.

The MPC 60 is 12 bit. Some people say this is a better sound. Grungier etc. etc. But only if you like that kind of thing. The Mpc 2000 onwards is more hi-fi but still retains some of the graininess. Personally I prefer working with 16bit upwards. You can always reduce the Bit rate later on a computer if you want that gritty sound.

Also the MPC60 is S...L...O...W. It takes an age for anything to happen.
I think the 2000xl is the best choice because it does most things you want very simply. The lack of options on it are a blessing rather than a curse. Everything nowadays e.g. Reason, Ableton Live has so many options and methods of working that it's easy to get lost in the sea of options available. The MPC 2000, on the other hand, has a very specific and logical workflow. So you spend less time fiddling around with options and more time making beats.

My .02 cents

kraster wrote:I think the 2000xl is the best choice because it does most things you want very simply. The lack of options on it are a blessing rather than a curse. Everything nowadays e.g. Reason, Ableton Live has so many options and methods of working that it's easy to get lost in the sea of options available. The MPC 2000, on the other hand, has a very specific and logical workflow. So you spend less time fiddling around with options and more time making beats.
My .02 cents

I agree.

yeh, i agree

MPC 60 is not slow. Where do you lames get this stuff. a MPC 60 just sounds better end of story.Sampling with a 2000xl, brings back samples that are thin sounding with no bottom. I got a Blown out MPC 60, MPC 3000, MPC 2000xl, SP1200 sitting side by side, and the 2000xl sounds the worst out of all of them. If the MPC 2000xl is your first MPC you are a straight up Newbie and should shut the **** up when it comes to which machine is better.

PS. Talking about slow, try resampling with a mpc 2000xl (piece of shit)

djdynasty wrote:Sampling with a 2000xl, brings back samples that are thin sounding with no bottom.

...Or the MPC60 has less top end. The 2000/xl doesn't sound thin to my ears but the MPC60 sounds more distorted,crunchy,muffled and noisy. But, it's a nice sound if you like that sort of thing.

The MPC 60 tops out at a 40khz sample rate and 12-bit bit rate using really old sampler technology. I know that the graniness and grittiness that's associated with low bit rate samplers can have a nice character but it's easy to make a High Bit rate/Sample rate sampler sound like a lower one. There's thousands of free Bitcrushers,distorters and resamplers out there if you want that sound. But it's 100% impossible to do the opposite because you're trying to create something that was never captured.

Also the MPC60 has little memory, no waveform display, doesn't read wave files doesn't work with a lot of SCSI devices( (without the OS upgrade), the sequencer is more limited and the workflow is most definitely a lot slower.
I don't believe in old school or vintage when it comes to digital gear. It's Like comparing a "vintage" pentium processor with a Dual-core Pentium 4. Digital audio was still in its infancy when Roger Linn designed the MPC 60. and it improved a lot since then.

I used to own an MPC60 but I got fed up with everything having that Lo-Fi sound on everything. I like to have something the way I want it to sound not the way Roger Linn wanted it to sound. This is definitely more possible on a 2000/xl upwards.

At the end of the day on the MPC 60 and 2000 it's all about 1s and 0s but the 2000/xl does a better Job at capturing all the 1s and 0s.

YMMV

The timing of MPCs is special not because it has some magical swing but because Linn designed it to be very accurate. More accurate than Midi. Midi is serial in nature e.g A kick drum and a Hi hat will never be exactly on the same beat because one piece of Midi information follows the other.

what does "more accurate than midi" mean?


when you create a sequence in/on a mpc you are creating midi data.

One thing i gotta disagree about, someone said before that it felt better built than the 2500?

I had a quick play on one today and they both feel pretty much the same to me, except for the data wheel. The XL wheel wins hands down for feel

But banging on the pads and buttons felt the same, neither felt more solid than the other.

mwalker wrote:

The timing of MPCs is special not because it has some magical swing but because Linn designed it to be very accurate. More accurate than Midi. Midi is serial in nature e.g A kick drum and a Hi hat will never be exactly on the same beat because one piece of Midi information follows the other.

what does "more accurate than midi" mean?


when you create a sequence in/on a mpc you are creating midi data.

Only when you send it in or out of the Midi ports. Internally the MPC uses a different method. When playing from the Internal sequencer all events on the same beat trigger the sampler almost simultaneously.

E.g. Take a Kick with a hi hat on the same beat. Midi data is sequential so even if you program these two events to land on the same beat there will be a tiny gap between them. The gap between events is very short but our ears can detect these tiny differences in timing.
So in the midi Kik/Hi-hat scenario we'll hear the Kik and Hi-hat flam against one another.On the Mpc there is no flam. It's much tighter than Midi.
It's this rock solid timing that gives the MPC its feel IMHO.

When you send Midi from the MPC to synths etc. the Data from the MPC is subject to Midi's shortcomings.

Spirez wrote:One thing i gotta disagree about, someone said before that it felt better built than the 2500?

I made that comment and thats how I feel, I dont think they feel the same at all

Dont let these nyggas Gas u up about the 60 either. Only on this website do dudes suck 60 dick soo much. Its cool but got damn It aint that hot.

2500 feels...well...brand new, cant think of any other way to describe it

the xl? it feels brokenin. i've never touched a new xl, but i imagine it'll feel the same.

the only way i can see the 2500 and the xl feeling different is through the button pressing and such...everything's all over the place on the 2500, but the xl is very organized and refined

issues wrote:2500 feels...well...brand new, cant think of any other way to describe it

the xl? it feels brokenin. i've never touched a new xl, but i imagine it'll feel the same.

the only way i can see the 2500 and the xl feeling different is through the button pressing and such...everything's all over the place on the 2500, but the xl is very organized and refined

Good point. I own 3, the one i primarily use is a brand new mcd version and i think it feels 100 times better than used 1's

Because a dope beat is a dope beat...bottom line IMHO. Just because a beat sounds grimey, crunchy, grainy or whateva word you wanna describe it with doesn't neccessarily make the beat better. If you are dope producer then it doesn't matter what you use. If you have the ear, you can make it sound however you want to...it's called having skillz/talent. Pick a drum machine and master it...

djdynasty wrote:I got a Blown out MPC 60, MPC 3000, MPC 2000xl, SP1200 sitting side by side

haha, sounds like you are a jack of all samplers but a master of none...lol! im playin man...don't get all offended now.