Differences between making music on an MPC and Reason 3.0

Hey all,

I've been wondering something ... I just bought a MPC500 for travel ... but the more i play with it ... the more i think how obsolete something like MPCs are getting.

if you have time, tell me what are some of the benefits of the MPC over Compter software like reason.

well i cant reallly explain, you just do.


i like just gettin into recordin my drums in the mpc, in reason id prgram step sequencer on the redrum,then shift manually with the mouse to make it off more(this is my limited knowledge of gettin into it fast on programming with reason, not knockin it.)

like i said i just do.

pz.

Both are going to have benefits. I prefer hardware.

Upright wrote:Both are going to have benefits. I prefer hardware.

^

actually reason has way more capabilities, but mpc's are more fun, and limitations make u more creative.

DHGonzalez wrote:I've been wondering something ... I just bought a MPC500 for travel ... but the more i play with it ... the more i think how obsolete something like MPCs are getting.

I've always been a hardware cat but once I started sequencing in Cubase I realized the power of software.

I still love hardware though and although I plan on getting into Reason soon I can see the two worlds playing nicely in my setup.

With an MPC500, you can travel and compose and you also have a great MIDI controller for software. Sure a dedicated MIDI controller is cheaper but you have fewer options.

Then there's the live show advantages of the 500, which of course aren't a priority for everyone.

its also good to sample synths or whatever super manipulated sounds you have in reason into the mpc(which cant be created in the mpc)

it's interesting - now that the mpc500 is out, everyone is jumping in to put in their $.02 on the hardware vs software discussion.

i bought a 500 and i like hardware, in fact i'm actually an analog dork who uses most analog modular and circuit bent junk. but i'm having a lot of fun with my 500.

but on to my point (and my $.02)...

i never used it, but a good friend of mine was very loyal to his "nord micro modular" for years. this was a fine item, imo, because it was a reasonable marriage of hardware and software. you did a large amount of patching and template construction on a desktop, then loaded it into a small hardware controller, assigning different parameters to the few knobs/buttons on the hardware. this was a stand-alone item, perfect for live shows. it was pretty powerful, and nice and small too.

something that could be developed that would be cool would be mpc/seqeuncer type version of this. there could be a large deep software application for computer in which complex programs/patches/samples could be transferred to the hardware. this way there would be no menu surfing and tedious programing. the device could look like your standard mpc-pad type midi-controller with lots of assignable knobs and sliders, ribbons etc. this way for live gigs or traveling you don't have to sit there with an open laptop AND a controller, but just a nice hardware interface with user-defined controls.

i'm sorry to anyone who knows more about computer programming than i, because there may be some crucial problems with what i'm suggesting which i don't understand just now, but this is mereley a suggestion for future designs. people are very amped about what software is doing these days, and understandably so, but i find the the whole open laptop and external USB box to be counter-intuitive and tacky - this combo is barrelling towards obsolescence faster than one would think.

all musical instruments are hardware. they will eventually have to transition complex software concepts to hardware somehow in order for it to be fun and musical (imho)...

boumitemple wrote:all musical instruments are hardware. they will eventually have to transition complex software concepts to hardware somehow in order for it to be fun and musical (imho)...

I agree, hopefully the new mpc that everyone is waiting on will be something along these lines.

The problem with the Nord Modular, and your idea for a similar style MPC, is that you are then tied to whatever version of the computer operating system that the editing application runs on.

Once the developer drops support and updates for the editor, as with the Nord Modular, that is the OS and computer that you are stuck with.

The Nord Modular is going to have to be tied to a computer running the appropriate OS for the editor application, and in the future you will have problems maintaining that computer.

The computer then becomes part of the device.

I'd prefer it to be all dedicated hardware. At least then it will keep working, without being dependant on a computer that is used only for the editing application.

SimonInAustralia wrote:
The computer then becomes part of the device.

hmm, yeh good point. i guess that is something kind of nice about hardware, is that it doesn't ACTUALLY become obsolete, because there's always cool stuff you can do with any instrument.

i'm currently doing a lot of stuff for my 500 in cubase on my PC. so i guess right now i'm thinking about it as conected to the computer anyhow. i mean, how long until compact flash is obsolete? are WAVs going to be around forever? i don't think i would enjoy the 500 as a stand-alone little box, because i don't love menu diving. cubase makes some of the tedious stuff on the 500 easier.

i bought the korg esx sampler about 5 years ago (man, has it been that long?), and even though the thing is super cheesy, i really like how everything is brought to the surface and it feels like a synth as much as a drum machine.

i like the way the currently available midi-surfaces are user-defined with lots of cool x-y pads, drum pads, knobs, sliders - i just wish that they weren't tethered to laptops. maybe i need to see a therapist about this, but i find something about laptops really depressing.

We live in in an age where information is so abundant and so in reach. Spoiled with this information we can argue about why this thing is better than another. Experience in living 30 years here on planet Earth is that there is a pro and con to many things in life,thats what living is about. Reason is powerful. Any MPC is powerful. Hell,give me two SL-1200 MK2's and some vinyl and I'll give a kid wid Reason/FL or an MPC a run. An MPC will never be obsolete ! We Still have vinyl. We still have cassetee tapes. We still have programs saved on floppy disks.We still have SP1200's,ASR's,60's,3000's.An we still have people bitchin' about this and that.Do what you do.

strength wrote:actually reason has way more capabilities, but mpc's are more fun, and limitations make u more creative.

Word!