Why is an MPC called an all in one unit?

I here alot about MPC's being called an "all in one unit" using it without a computer and such. What makes it more of an all in one unit more so than a piece of equipment like workstation synths, or an ASR-X or somthing similar. I mean how I see it, any piece of equipment you have you still need a mixer or a D.A.W. to track out your beats, mix em down in the general vicinity of -12 to -18 decibal's so they can be mastered. I just want to know if someone could give me an explanation as to why the MPC is reffered to so much as an all in one unit. Thanks, I would appreciate it.

The mpc is an all in one unit because.

you can make all your music inside the mpc.

I really need the mpc 500. I need something portable like that so i can use it in bed.

eoneel wrote:I here alot about MPC's being called an "all in one unit" using it without a computer and such. What makes it more of an all in one unit more so than a piece of equipment like workstation synths, or an ASR-X or somthing similar. I mean how I see it, any piece of equipment you have you still need a mixer or a D.A.W. to track out your beats, mix em down in the general vicinity of -12 to -18 decibal's so they can be mastered. I just want to know if someone could give me an explanation as to why the MPC is reffered to so much as an all in one unit. Thanks, I would appreciate it.

if you have a synth or a workstation
you still have to have a way to trakc out beats
that argument makes no sense

It's not an argument, I was just trying to understand why it's called an all in one unit by so many people. I did'nt say that one doesn't need to track out beats on a workstation. You can make all of your music in a Motif can't you?
MPC in the bed, nice. lol.

who said u have to track out your beats?

just save/extract from zip

Its an all in one unit in the sense of a sampler / sequencer... 1 solution to make beats fully..

As aposed to before the mpc there was rack samplers.. and either rack or software sequencers, they were all seperate units instead of 1 all together.. there for all in one unit..

It refers simply to making beats, not mixin and masterin etc etc, thats diff.. thats engineering not creating the music..

Same as production is not makin the music.. it is taking the created music in certain directions, deciding what will and wont work for the music to fit in a certain way.

Not all beat makers can engineer, Not all engineers can make music, most 'real' producers dont actually make the music, and simply a 'beat maker' is not a producer... they are all different things.

The mpc is an all in one beat making unit... its not an engineering unit, there for mixing / mastering isnt included... it does include effects like eq's.. filters etc... but thats not nessesarily engineering, thats just to do with artistically colouring and shaping ur music if u wanna put it like that (sh!t explanation i know just not sure how to put it)... Same as guitarists often use effects pedals... doesnt mean they know a thing about engineering.

Thanks very much for the exellent explanation c0mplex. That cleared it up very nicely for me. Also, I never quite thought that being a beatmaker doesn't necessarily mean you are a producer, but it is true.
mindcontrol, thanks for waving a light over that idea for me. I am so used to using older equipment without the use of a computer for my music, but I see exactly what you mean. That is probably a route I am going to start using now, extracting from zip and all. Thanks for the valuble info guys.

No problem glad to help

eoneel wrote:It's not an argument, I was just trying to understand why it's called an all in one unit by so many people. I did'nt say that one doesn't need to track out beats on a workstation. You can make all of your music in a Motif can't you?
MPC in the bed, nice. lol.

ok, I understand
it's called that because unlike a MIDI controller
you can sample/program/sequence/track out

KkonEl wrote:

eoneel wrote:It's not an argument, I was just trying to understand why it's called an all in one unit by so many people. I did'nt say that one doesn't need to track out beats on a workstation. You can make all of your music in a Motif can't you?
MPC in the bed, nice. lol.

ok, I understand
it's called that because unlike a MIDI controller
you can sample/program/sequence/track out

U should be comparin to a hardware sampler or a hardware sequencer, because they would be seperate before sp12's and mpc's came about.. it has midi controller yeah but it shouldnt be a comparison comparin mpc to midi controller like u did.. anyway its been covered above ^^

no what I was saying is that MPCs are'nt just controllers
nor are they just samplers
or just sequencers
they are all of that in one
which is what he was asking
whereas with a MIDI controller you can't do all taht stuff in one machine
so yes, my comparison rings true

KkonEl wrote:no what I was saying is that MPCs are'nt just controllers
nor are they just samplers
or just sequencers
they are all of that in one
which is what he was asking
whereas with a MIDI controller you can't do all taht stuff in one machine
so yes, my comparison rings true

Yeah true in that sense... but still, it should be compared to seperate sampler and sequencer.. not just a midi controller. Its all all in one mainly because its a sampler + sequencer, compared to when they were just seperates.

Maybe thats why he didnt understand from ur previous posts before i posted and cleared it up