Smallest, cheapest, workable rig (has to include Mpc)?

1/ Mpc1000 (999) + Micro x (649) = ($1,648)

2/ Mpc500 (699) + Fantom XR (1,395) + Oxygen 8 (115) = ($2,214)

3/ Mpc1000 (999) + Juno D (595) = ($1,594)

4/ Mpc1000 + Alesis Micron (399) = ($1,398)

Any other suggestions? I like it small, but it has to be workable enough to produce some decent tracks. Budget: $2,500 (Max)

Out of those choices, I like the Micro-X with MPC by a good amount. If you like small cute things, like I do, rack units aren't going to do it.

A nice small analog synth might be fun.....check out old analog monosynths by yamaha or roland, moog, arp etc. see if those look interesting. MS2000 is a really good option. Moogerfooger pedals are nice, and really small. Korg R3 is a good one.

Personally, my favorite setups involve some sort of analog mixing just to eq a touch, even if its not the best.

What are you mixing down to?

Noticing that you said smallest, cheapest, and pro-quality, the Micron comes out the leader----Small for sure, cheap for sure, and used by many pros.

If you don't know how to synthesize it may be tricky though.

a small synth? with the micromodular from clavia u cant go wrong, especially if u like tweakin.
if u dont, the web is full of patches to be dloaded fo free

the micromodular is big as two cigarette packs...
but u'll miss the keyboard...

d_loc wrote:Noticing that you said smallest, cheapest, and pro-quality, the Micron comes out the leader----Small for sure, cheap for sure, and used by many pros.

If you don't know how to synthesize it may be tricky though.

I do like the idea of analogue synths, but i need some polyphony for chords etc. I think I will prolly go with the Micron because it has a great sound, and it will leave me some cash left over for a little analogue.

Got my eye on an MFB Synthlite....it's nice and small too!

I would say get the MPC2500, and then a keyboard. It depends on what type of tracks your making, different keyboards have different styles.

If I were you, I'd stay away from the MPC1000. The pads kinda suck. I have an old Blue 1000. I'm selling it for like $550, some of the pads need to be replaced. I suggest finding a MPC2500 used. It has 8 outs standard, bigger pads, and over all a GREAT machine. You can find them from $1200-$2000 (new).

I would suggest getting something like a motif for a keyboard. Its a sequencer itself, and you can create sounds too. Tons of effects as well. The new ones just came out, which makes the last ones real cheap. The Motif ES6 I have was worth $2000 at one point. Now new, its only $1000. I've also owned the micro korg which is excellent. And I should also mention, you could just get a nice big MAUDIO 88 key weighted keyboard for 1-200, and then a sound module like the mophatt or something... GOOD LUCK BRO! SOUNDS FUN!

If you have a good PC and are good with it, I'd say get a MPD and a midi keyboard and some software. I think that is the most cost effective and comprehensive thing you can do if you want to keep it truly small, but since you must have an MPC....

I say get a 1k. I never had problems with my pads. Getting a 1k doesn't mean the pads will be bad. Also, what you can do is buy one of these MPC's with bad pads (pay no more than 5 bills although) and wait for the official Akai fix or contact Antonym and he'll hook you up, and your pads will be great. Best of all you'd still end up paying half the price of a 2500 and you will be set, especially if you have the JJ OS.

I also suggest if you get a keyboard to look at getting some cheap sound modules like some older Emu or Roland ones. You can find some really decent ones on E-bay for $200-300.

jigginz wrote:1/ Mpc1000 (999) + Micro x (649) = ($1,648)

2/ Mpc500 (699) + Fantom XR (1,395) + Oxygen 8 (115) = ($2,214)

3/ Mpc1000 (999) + Juno D (595) = ($1,594)

4/ Mpc1000 + Alesis Micron (399) = ($1,398)

Any other suggestions? I like it small, but it has to be workable enough to produce some decent tracks. Budget: $2,500 (Max)

On that 2nd choice, you can find a MPC 1000 for $700 easy.

or you could just go with the 1000 and learn how to use the whole unit. i would suggest the JJOS to go along with it.

Learn to sample and create what you need inside the one box. then when you go and cop a set of keys, you will be in for an easy step up.

but this is coming from a guy with more synth modules then i can count, and rarely use some of them. latley is have been staying inside the 2000XL as much as possible, about 1 in 12 beats im going to a module. just learning my main machine inside and out.

Peace,

Rob

Don't think so hard about the budget. You are in a good spot, building from the ground up, so be clear about your needs.

When you go for small gear, you make compromises. Do you want to sacrifice polyphony? Real time control? How much control do you want to have over your samples?

The bottom line is, what works for you and helps you make tracks, is the best gear. What is "the best" for someone else, is irrelevant. There is lots of gear that is "the best" that I wouldn't even care about, and other stuff that nobody else likes that I love.

For example, I have a Tascam 564 minidisc recorder. Not expensive, but I really like it. Just does what I need and has decent sound.

The Fantom and MPC is a little too much gear for a studio with no mixer, IMO. I would rather be able to control sounds in realtime and have some analog gear somewhere. But thats just me....And there is realtime control on that board anyway.

What the **** would anyone want an mpc500 for, except to go to work? The 1000 is already too small, but has the balls to back it up.

Get some kind of Korg little keyboard, instead of the Micron, and the MPC 1000. Maybe a MS-2000 (a little overpriced on the used market) or an R3 or a Micro-x, I would get the Micro-x probably. That would make a great setup---The MPC does the drums and audio, the Micro-x could handle the rest. all in a very compact space.

i got an mpc 1000 and an S5000 slaved to my mpc. The s5000 was about $350 (full 256 ram, 16 analog outs), plus usb card and external scsi drive for it (another $250), but it's sweet and works great. I run the s5000 into a mixer, or the stereo outs to the mpc thru (using jjos, JJOS is sweet!). no synthesis, although you could run the sound through 2 oscillators and 2 effects in the s5000 and get a pretty analog sound from even a simple sin wave. the mpc1k and s5k together feel kinda like a big fat mpc. Akai aksys is used on my computer to control the s5000 and sounds can be sent from one device to the other via wav files. I think it's a good setup for working with lots of samples, but i'm definately lacking analog synthesis. Thought I might mention another possible cheap route.
Computers are making some older sweet digital gear much cheaper now...

People seem to worry a lot about the pads on the MPC1000. If you could swing it you could always get an MPD24 and control the MPC with that.


I run a Korg PadKontrol into an MPC500. It kicks ass being able to have pad bank A on my MPC and Pad Bank B on my PK. Then I can always use the PK on my computer and run the limited version of Reason that it comes with.

The MPD24 is a very nice machine. Great pads.


I try and do everything within my MPC500. Mostly because I dont have a lot of time to sit down and work. When I do its with the MPC/PK/PC/MC303/Synth. But when I am mobile the MPC500 is incredible.

Don't underestimate the power of being able to compose and create anytime anywhere. It is a great feeling to be stuck somewhere with nothing else to do and coming up with a nice beat.

I do have to say that if I wasn't so freakin' busy all the time and didn't have a PC I would definitely get a 1000.

MPC + Talent

That's some good advice on picking up older gear, but I want to avoid going the whole mixer route. That would mean picking up fx units/compressors, buying a load of cables etc, which is what i'm trying to avoid.

Stuff like the Microx and other workstations has a bunch of decent Fx loaded in already, so I could simply combine the signals by running one of them into the audio input of the other for a nice clean setup.

So many choices/combinations. This may be defecting, but i was even thinking of just copping a juno g and maybe throwing in a small analogue synth

You are right on about running the micro-x into the mpc to avoid using a mixer. That is how to work it, for sure.

I would way, way rather have that mpc1000 micro-x setup than a juno-g and say, a minimoog. seriously. you were on point with that combo......deadly! the sounds of those two would really go nice together......and the mpc to sequence the micro-x!!