2000xl or keyboard and if keyboard which 1 for like 1500$??

okay guys first off i want to say thank you for all the help and answers to my illiterate questions but i am learning a lot detail wise.-Joey

Im going to be making underground hip hop beats,i will be wanting alot of piano loops in the beats also.i am very new to the industry as you all know.Ive been looking and asking around about the 2kxl and so far i think it may be my choice although in my quest for info on the 2kxl,some people say i should get a keyboard(multi-tibral).
Also i have a powerbook g4(mac),Protools le 6.2.3 i just want to make a good choice i know in the middle or end of my beat making i will have both for for now i want to know what will best fit me in the begining a key board or the 2kxl? thanks for any feedback!!!!!!!!!...........

It all depends on what you are trying to do. A keyboard and an MPC are two completely different things. I mostly do sample based beats, so the MPC is right for me. With an MPC alone, bear in mind that you have to sample every single sound you want to incorporate in your beats. You said you wanted to use a lot of piano loops - if you buy the MPC you'll have to find the loops that you want to sample, with a keyboard though, you can just play it out. The best of both worlds would be a keyboard workstation that incorporates sampling (the Yamaha Motif, Korg Triton, or the Roland Fantom S/X), although that would set you back a lot more than an MPC.

In my opinion, I would say buy the MPC and go from there. If you really want to make "underground" hip hop beats, you're going to end up using samples anyway, and the MPC is a great way to master the art of sampling (as far as hip hop beats are concerned). Once you got sampling down to a science you could cop a keyboard and add to your beats...

I'd say get an MPC 2000xl and buy a $300 keyboard piano and just hook them up together..........you can't define your beatz, but I'm sure you want grimey, maybe you should get the E-MU SP 1200

for 1500, I'd skip a mpc and get a motif classic or Fantom S. They go for about $1400 now. More bang for buck.

both.

i would get an MPC and a rackmount like a korg or motif and a midi controller.

maybe a cheaper ebay mpc 60 and a sound source w/ effects?

Who are some of your favorite producers? What are some of your favorite songs? Sample based or some punk crying over a casio beat (no disrepect to keyboard lovers ). Decepticon hit it on the nose its all on your type of sound. I had a couple of idiot friends (still my dawgs though) convince me not to get the mpc because it was to dificult to understand (thiers just sat there like a coffe table piece) meanwhile I had this salesman convince me the motif was easy to learn, so I copped it, and it was easy to learn but just not for me....all I used that thing for was the sampler, sequencer and some of the cheezy synth sounds for fx and filler and what have you...but I'm a sample loving muther hugger and though Ive just had my mpc2kxl for bout 3wks I am way more satisfied with it than my motif...so the moral is dont listen to your friends! I am a complete stranger and advise you to think about the sound your looking for, and which gear can help you capture that sound.

What's more important to you ? How your drums come out or the sounds that you use ? I've had about every machine possible (MPC, SP-1200, Triton, Motif, ASR-10, S-950 . . . . . . ) and for me it's all about the "realness" of the drums . Working w/ keyboards is dope because you have an arsenal of sounds at your command (except for the ASR-10) and the good ones usually come w/ effects . To me they're wack though because all of the drums are usually synthesized (the Motif had some dope drum kits though) and banging out a drum pattern just isn't the same on keys . Sampling drum machines are usually a lot more str8 forward on operation and more fun to use (in my experiance, at least) . But , if your'e not a DJ then digging for samples might not be something you'd enjoy and if you don't chop your sh!t right you could end up in serious trouble (like Herb Alpert trying to sue De La for $1,000,000,000.00) . All I know is every machine I get besides a MPC ends up gathering dust and I have to sell it because it's just taking up space (I'm selling a S950 on eBay right now) . The choice is yours .

Thanks guys but i came across a 2kxl w/8 outs,internal zip,hard case (skb)and maxed out memory for 740$ so i had to pick it up i figured i really had nothing to lose,although the screen has a slight crack but you can still function around it.so all i need is som focking speakers and speaker cable alot a fockingtime reading old threads and ill be making some beats.if any one is selling some decent speakers w/ or w/o sub let me know!
...Thanks guys i really really appreciate all your comments ive been learning a lot in such a short time its a lot to soak up in this sponge bob brain...-Joey