MPC1000 - 28 Days Later

I've had my MPC 1000 for a month now and wanted to share my thoughts to far. This post is aimed at those people who are currently using software and are considering buying an MPC. Please note the following are only my personal impressions and I am still learning the machine.

1) If you get an MP....upgrade to JJ OS ($30 or free for earlier versions). JJ is a winner. Trust me, it's worth the money and is easy to install.
For more info go to the sticky post on JJ...it's all in there.

2) You will probably need to get 128 Ram upgrade also. Coming from a PC, I was shocked at the small amount of memory in the machine.
Thankfully, the upgrade is cheap and easy. RAM can be bought from Ebay (approx $40 US) and is a cinch to install.

3) If you don't already have a mixer you will probably need one down the road (any why not....it's useful piece of kit). Just an additional
expense you may have to consider.

3) Before you leap in and buy and MP clarify your expectations. I thought I had done plenty of research but I was still thrown a few curve balls.

- Time stretch is very basic and clunky. There are software tools out now that are far better.
- Same for goes for pitch alteration (Kanye heads take note).
- The MP will not chop your loops for you. JJ has autochop (using peak analysis similar to Recycle) but even that is weak compared to software.

4) Be prepared to put in time learning the machine. The manual is comprehensive but not very user friendly. This forum is useful but fools are not suffered gladly. Know your basic audio connections at least.

5) Saving your work is not as straightforward as using software. I had major frustrations trying to save and reload my work until I figured it out.
Master this fundamental function before creating your killer tracks to save major stress.

6) You might be thinking that it all sounds too hard but I wanted to get the 'negatives' out of the way first. The MP excels in the following areas

- Recording samples....grabbing audio from vinyl, CD, PC, internet, TV....is too easy. Much less hassle than messing with a computer

- The MP plays great. The pads feel good and are very responsive. Much better than tapping beats on a keyboard.

- Once you get a process worked out (sample, loop, chop, adjust, create program), chopping samples is very easy. You need to use your ears
but once you have the method it's actually less trouble than messing with Recycle or whatever. Read the manual and be sure to use the play to,
play from and loop pad options. Once you master this, you will be flying.

- You have all the tools for sample shaping in the box (effects, envelopes, eq, filter) and the workflow (with JJ ) is really good.

So as you can see, the MP is not a wonder machine. It is a powerful tool but only as good as the person operating it. The small interface
means you really have to use your ears (which is good!). For sample based music it's definitely the business but if I was doing techno
or other electronic genres I might lean towards a computer with software.

I hope this helps prospective MP buyers.

uptightkid wrote: - The MP will not chop your loops for you. JJ has autochop (using peak analysis similar to Recycle) but even that is weak compared to software.

is there anything about autochop that isnt weak?

Autochop is fairly useless (esp compared to Reycle or SoundForge). The MPC1000 doesn't even have autochop as standard (it comes with the JJ OS).

On the upside, once you get a method down then chopping manually is easy (esp with JJ becuase of enhanced wav display).

This is my method....

1) Record a sample
2) Get it to loop in the MP
3) Press Slice will automatically create 16 regions of equal size.
4) Adjust the start and end point of each region until each region is looping and there are no clicks.

Now, say you have sampled a 1 bar loop and it's looping perfectly. If you take that sample and divide into 16 regions of equal size then each region should be 1/16 note (or close enough). Of course it's not 100% perfect but you will be surprised how close you get just be slicing into equal parts.

Any slices that are not working can be adjusted manually but if your loop is tight you will find that most slices will not need adjusting.

To sum up, the fact that the MP will not chop your samples like Recycle is in no way a negative and this should not put you off.

"Once you get a process worked out (sample, loop, chop, adjust, create program), chopping samples is very easy. You need to use your ears
but once you have the method it's actually less trouble than messing with Recycle or whatever. Read the manual and be sure to use the play to,
play from and loop pad options. Once you master this, you will be flying. "


I have been looking for this question and answer all through this forum and many other forums with no luck. But you have saved the day.

I was gonna just post the question as a new thread but I didn't want to get roasted for being a noob and your thread pretty much answers everything I was wondering about as far as the MPC goes compared to PC production. I use Logic Pro, Reason and Recycle. But I just felt that the workflow for the MPC had an advantage over computers. Sometimes my ideas get lost in the steps of getting a loop ready in a computer. I assumed that the MPC's workflow kinda helps your get around this because like you say, once you understand how to get around, you are relying on your ears instead of fiddling with software features. However, I will say that the automation in Reason is unfukwitable.

On top of that, after chopping loops and them experimenting with them in Recycle and Reason, it seems a little limited. I saw a clip where a guy made a beat on an MPC2500 and then changed the tempo and the samples kept their pitch and octaves but the overall bpm changed. I have yet to have come across a software program that does that.

Logic kinda does it but you have to use the Apple Loop format. Which is cool I guess because you can create your own apple loops. So stretching is pretty easy in Logic, but Logic is missing a slicing loop player like the DR. Rex or the MPC. Ultrabeat is close but not quite the same thing. Logic also has a powerful time stretch function that I saw a demo of at Guitar Center when the guy took some Natasha Bedingfield vocals and adjusted their tempo without turning her into a chipmunk. I have used the fucntion but not really usefully.

I am sad to hear that the time stretch is kinda wack because I thought that was the strongest feature on the MPC over PCs. Second to the "on the fly sample chopping."

One of my boys had a 2000xl with an expanded board but once I showed him Reason, he said he'd never touch an MPC again. But he also didn't know about upgrading the OS and the sample friendly functions.

I had the MPC 500 for about two days but when I realized they stunted its capabilities I took it back immediately.

So anyway..........

This is what I needed to hear. I am going to buy an MPC today unless I find a stupid awesome deal on Ebay or something thus having to wait for shipping. Gotta decide between a 2500 or a 1000. My wallet is leaning towards the 1000.

After I learn how to use the 1000 and upgrade the OS and sh*t, I'll post a follow up as well as some video clips of the MPC in use compared to my PC workflow.

i saw the title of this thread and thought your mpc had turned into a zombie...

The main reason why I bought an MPC1000 is for using it live on stage. Load your live set into memory and go!

In the 90's I started with a sampler, some synths and a midifile player. I loaded the whole set into the samplers RAM and sent some program changes to the synths. Changing between songs was only a second. Fantastic, but... my back was suffering under this heavy hardware.

So I got a laptop and tried Cubase and Ableton Live. But software/laptops are not really reliable on stage and it took too long to load new songs. Not very convenient during a live set. Also working with a mouse didn't look cool

So I thought of a hardware solution that was as portable as a laptop. And it had to have at least six outputs, because a want to have separate outputs for beats, synths and bas. Our drummer doesn't use a click track. Just send the beats and bass on his monitor. In came the MPC1000.

So there we are again. Autoload your set. Use next sequence or save your sequenses as a song and your ready to go. Live playing the pads? No problem. Far better than a laptop.

I'm happy and waiting for JJ to send my a password.

Regardz,

Joz