The Drumzz

Being new to the MPC world i hear a lot of peoples to about how phat the drums are on the MPC. Being a newbie i never knew what there were talking about but now that I am a fellow MPC owner the drums really sound much dif. than my computer based drums. What makes the drums sound so powerfull on the MPC?

It is mostly due to the fact that the MPC is a real piece of hardware circuitry. Computer softwares are trying to immitate that circuitry. Some softwares can immitate that pretty well, specially when you add some good plug-ins, but until now,... they were not able to be as good as the REAL thing.

I co-sign wit that!

Umm.

A computer is hardware too. As the MPC is a sampler, it only sounds as good as the material you play on it.

If the same material sounds less good on a computer, it's the soundcard that is of less quality. Hardware.

Yes, a computer is hardware too, but it is not specifically designed for such purpose as, for example, the Mpc is.

Therefore a computer has to use special software to emulate some, if not all, of the features that samplers and mpc's have built in, special dsp chips, filters, and so forth.

But that is not to say that computer-based software sounds worse, they just don't have that special circuitry that makes the sound of different "hardware" samplers so special. But software sequencers, synths and samplers too, have their own sound.

Everybody has (or should have) their own preferences on what to use for music creation. Use whatever that works for U, but don't go around tellin people what U think will work for them. Tell em about your experiences, but ultimately let everybody decide for themselves.

P's

i go along with the original statement totally, had my MPC 1000 for 3 days and am still blown away by the difference in the sound of the samples... much fatter than my PC (which uses an Ok soundcard - about 1/3 the cost of the MPC)

overall, really chuffed with this kit but i'm just a bit gutted that already the F1 button has started to sink into the console and I don't rilly have time to return the unit!!!

cut out wrote:overall, really chuffed with this kit but i'm just a bit gutted that already the F1 button has started to sink into the console and I don't rilly have time to return the unit!!!

Man samething is happening to me!!!!

I think the better sound comes from three things:
1) Good A to D converstion; good D to A conversion
2) The TC function of the sequencer
3) The compressor-like response of the recording engine when the gain is too high

1) Most computer sound cards sound like crap on both ends (in and out) so if you do all your music on a PC your making your music sound muffelled times two. If you generate music within the computer and the mix down within the computer then there is no A <-> D conversion and it sounds even worse. Good A <-> D conversion is what makes the music roll over your ear.

2) The TC and swing function are unbelievable. You can practically just hit pads at random and it sounds great. I've been taking drum sequences off my goovebox and running them into my mpc as midi files and then playing them back and it breathes new life into the part.

3) It has been said that the grimey beats legendary to the MPC are partly due to what happens when you jack up the gain when recording to the mpc, it gives the drums a subtle over drive or compressor type feel which we all recognise from the hip hop music we grew up on. Again, I have been taking my groove box beats and recording them on the MPC with a high gain and it sounds great, particularly the cymble crashes but also the kicks and snares.

All modern synths and samplers have special hardware, yes. But what runs the hardware? Software. Todays computers are powerful enough to emulate/simulate the shit out of most synths and samplers. For me, hardware music equipment is for stability, portability, getting away from the screen and of course, creativity.

I'm definitely not saying one sounds better than the other, just the other way around. Say that you digitally rip a piece of music from a CD on a PC, then transfer it to the MPC and play it there. If it sounds "fatter/better/groovier" there than on your regular CD, without any effects/filters etc being applied to it, then something is not right, in my opinion.

A couple of words on hybridbeats points...

1) If AD->DA conversion makes the music muffled times two, how can then music "created within the computer" sound even worse, when you are in fact missing one conversion? This sounds like a personal opinion to me, maybe he's not to fond of clean sounds?

2) Quantize on Recording and Swing are available on most computer sequencers. And once again, like with the sample above, a midi file should not change characteristics between different systems if no effects are applied to it. The MPC's swing function is hardly unique.

3) This is a viable point. The AD converters can have characteristics on for example overload that other samplers/soundcards don't. But then again, we don't know this. Also, this is a hardware thing, not software/computer specifically.

Once again. I have an MPC. I love it. I also love my other little boxes and my computer with it's next to irritatingly endless possibilites. I just think it's a bit naive to think that once's beats would suddenly get fat from buying an MPC.

Believe me, I know the feeling. I'm a gearaholic with a severe case of the newgearitis. But it's not in the gear, it's in your head!

And oh yeah by the way, I didn't grow up on no hip hop music. Sorry.

also don't forget the original swing!

sux about yall F1 buttons!

Tiny - your right about all this being a matter of personal preference, everything is going be subject to opinion. Perhaps my roots in hip-hop and your roots elsewhere are the reason for our difference in opinion. And you are right that i dont like purely digital, clean sounds, I like a little grime in my coffee and a little bite in my cake.
To each his own
HB

Well coming from no musical back ground what so ever i would like to say to my vigin ears the sounds on the MPC sound much diff. than the sound comming out of reason 2.5 just to say a program, I dont know what makes it diff. but I do know that if it sounds diff. its not about personal choice or that you think the MPC sounds diff. because you love hardware, 2+2=4 no one can change that the same way the sounds coming out of my MPC are much diff. than hte sounds out of my comp. Maybe its my sound card Tascam 122 but to ME there a major diff. in sound

Just my humble opinion!