Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000

By mpc3000 Mon May 24, 2004 6:06 am
"The only advantages I found on the 1000 were the usb connection, the ability to sample whilst playing yo' beatzesz, and that's about it. Oh, yeah. There are a few extra cheapo filters and effects with very little editing capabilities."

Don't forget:
4 times the memory capacity.
Multiple filter types (additional `cheapo` filters is still better than one).
Dual filters
24 times the sound capacity
two q-link
footswitch jacks
Normalize

CF is not necessarily an advantage for the MPC1000 since you can (and I have) put a CF card reader in the other MPC's.

There are few things that the MPC1000 does not have but Akai is still developing the OS (unlike the XL).

By Liam Kincaid Mon May 24, 2004 7:34 pm
mpc3000 wrote:There are few things that the MPC1000 does not have but Akai is still developing the OS (unlike the XL).


Until a new mpc is coming like always and they forget the costumuer who buy the mpc 2k mpc2kxl etc...
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By sensewondah Mon May 24, 2004 7:47 pm
i dont see myself ever letting go of this machine

By DaFunkDocta2004 Mon May 24, 2004 8:07 pm
The 1000 does seem more computer-friendly, so I only recommend to cats who are more familiar with and are deep into software sampling, sequencing and composing. I've seen a cat or two with them and a G5, and it appears to add a somewhat fluid and natural feel to their ideas. Personally, I'm too used to going by ear for composing as opposed to seeing it all...
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By trupro Mon May 24, 2004 9:44 pm
Look out man! PIPE: DO NOT hook up any MPC scsi to your computer.
They are both scsi controllers, and therefore both want to be the 'master', and can't see eachother through the cable. Also, you run the risk of blowing your scsi bus fuse on the MPC. Do not let anyone else tell you different; it does not work. Yes, that is a drawback. But, all you have to do to swap sounds back and forth is to put a PC formatted Zip in your Mac, save sounds as .wavs from wherever, or programs from MPC PGMmaker program, and then load them into the mpc zip. Both the Macintosh and the MPC read PC formatted zip disks.

Gotta throw 2 cents on the 1000 model. I think it's cool if you don't care about any of your beats you have made so far. Or, if you don't ever dump to a multitracker to do finished works (cus then, who needs the extra filters; you got em in protools). Or, if you do rediculous techno compositions, but only hang out with hip-hop producers who sold you on the MPC sequencer, and you really need those filters. If you like any tracks you made previously, your program parameters will not load. And, without your computer powered up, or spending maad dough on Flash cards, you will be ass out for storage space anyway. If your computer goes down, there goes everything you saved. It's a different beast, with added features, but that's my word, that screen is bosti. That means: THA WORST.

Peace
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By djadonis206 Mon May 24, 2004 11:11 pm
Is it very easy or cheap to get one of those scsi cables?

If your computer doesn't have a floppy drive or zip drive what's the fastest way to get samples out of the MPC and into my Power Mac for further editing?

How much sampling time does the 2000xl have in it?

Can I hook it up to my TiVo and sample for days or just a short few seconds? And after I sample some big files, what am I going to save them on?

Does the pad size really matter? Do you play the pads with drum sticks?

How many filters does the 2000xl have? Can they be used in parallel?

How many outs (standard) does the 2000xl have? How much does it cost to upgrade? Would I use all 8 outs? plus the digital outs?

Is the Slice feature in the 2000xl more powerful than Recycle?

Is there a sound quality difference in wave files to Akai's file format?

Can you hit a pad on the 2000xl midi track and record it back in the xl - can you resample your samples with the effects?

Just curious!
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By GeoffShoulders Mon May 24, 2004 11:45 pm
pipecock wrote:it seems as if though i f'd up. but i guess i didn't judging from the feedback. i have mac g4 with no floppy drive so the floppy drive on my mpc is pretty much useless right? so i'm assuming my best option given my current setup is to get a zip drive.... i currently have a
mac g4
digi 001
mpc 2000xl (basic memory, floppy, no expansion board etc... basic!)

will getting a zip drive be the answer to my prayers?

you guys are all great. thanks for the advice.

ps... is it recomended to get 100mb zip or 250?


Pipecock,

Get yourself a copy of this:

http://homepage.mac.com/seishu/ssworks/MpcPgmMaker.html

and a USB Zip for your G4, and internal/ext zip for the XL, and you will be set.

I use an iMac G4, and the Zips above with the MPC PGM Maker, and it's a great combination. Check the link below if you are in need of any more beats. You can't use the pgm files as they are intended for the 1000, but use the wav's with the MPC PGM Maker:

http://www.akaipro.com/int/mpc1k/arc_kotw.html

GeoffShoulders
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By descartes Tue May 25, 2004 12:44 am
djadonis206 wrote:Is it very easy or cheap to get one of those scsi cables? Yep.

If your computer doesn't have a floppy drive or zip drive what's the fastest way to get samples out of the MPC and into my Power Mac for further editing? Hmm... Well if you dont want to splash out the cash for floppy or a zip, the editing program you have on your computer is probably cheap too, so you should just edit on the mpc.

How much sampling time does the 2000xl have in it? Sampling time: 21.9 seconds with 2 MBs. You can fit over 40 drum samples in 2 MBs. Times that by 16. Thats lots of drum samples for your drum sampler.

Can I hook it up to my TiVo and sample for days or just a short few seconds? First, if you can afford a TiVo to go with your other toys, you can afford to buy a zip. But, hmm... No you can't sample for days into your mpc. Sorry.

And after I sample some big files, what am I going to save them on? The zip you just bought buy selling your TiVo.

Does the pad size really matter? My wife says size doesnt matter but my girlfriend would argue. If you like your pads small, thats a personal choice.

Do you play the pads with drum sticks? No, fingers are fine, but playing style is different for everyone. Some people just make heavily quanitized techno on thier mpcs so they dont really need to "play" the pads at all.

How many filters does the 2000xl have? 1 for each voice and its not very good. However, if you want filters, Im figuring that the sale of the TiVo will also buy you a sherman filterbank.

Can they be used in parallel? No.

How many outs (standard) does the 2000xl have? 2.

How much does it cost to upgrade? $250 or less.

Would I use all 8 outs? plus the digital outs? I dont know if you would or not. I do.

Is the Slice feature in the 2000xl more powerful than Recycle? No. Thats why you use the zip drive you bought if you feel you lack the skill to slice your samples yourself.

Is there a sound quality difference in wave files to Akai's file format? No, but every sampler sounds different to the trained ear. My S1000 sounds better to my ears than my MPC. Both sound better, again to my ears, than wav files.

Can you hit a pad on the 2000xl midi track and record it back in the xl -
No. For this you must use some type of recorder. Maybe your TiVo would work. Oh wait, you sold it... Well, Im sure if you save up you will someday own a digital recorder.

can you resample your samples with the effects? Nope. See answer above, and ask yourself, do I want to use these effects anyway?

Just curious!

Glad I could help! :)
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By djadonis206 Tue May 25, 2004 3:23 pm
djadonis206 wrote:Is it very easy or cheap to get one of those scsi cables? Yep.

If your computer doesn't have a floppy drive or zip drive what's the fastest way to get samples out of the MPC and into my Power Mac for further editing? Hmm... Well if you dont want to splash out the cash for floppy or a zip, the editing program you have on your computer is probably cheap too, so you should just edit on the mpc.

How much sampling time does the 2000xl have in it? Sampling time: 21.9 seconds with 2 MBs. You can fit over 40 drum samples in 2 MBs. Times that by 16. Thats lots of drum samples for your drum sampler.

Can I hook it up to my TiVo and sample for days or just a short few seconds? First, if you can afford a TiVo to go with your other toys, you can afford to buy a zip. But, hmm... No you can't sample for days into your mpc. Sorry.

And after I sample some big files, what am I going to save them on? The zip you just bought buy selling your TiVo.

Does the pad size really matter? My wife says size doesnt matter but my girlfriend would argue. If you like your pads small, thats a personal choice.

Do you play the pads with drum sticks? No, fingers are fine, but playing style is different for everyone. Some people just make heavily quanitized techno on thier mpcs so they dont really need to "play" the pads at all.

How many filters does the 2000xl have? 1 for each voice and its not very good. However, if you want filters, Im figuring that the sale of the TiVo will also buy you a sherman filterbank.

Can they be used in parallel? No.

How many outs (standard) does the 2000xl have? 2.

How much does it cost to upgrade? $250 or less.

Would I use all 8 outs? plus the digital outs? I dont know if you would or not. I do.

Is the Slice feature in the 2000xl more powerful than Recycle? No. Thats why you use the zip drive you bought if you feel you lack the skill to slice your samples yourself.

Is there a sound quality difference in wave files to Akai's file format? No, but every sampler sounds different to the trained ear. My S1000 sounds better to my ears than my MPC. Both sound better, again to my ears, than wav files.

Can you hit a pad on the 2000xl midi track and record it back in the xl -
No. For this you must use some type of recorder. Maybe your TiVo would work. Oh wait, you sold it... Well, Im sure if you save up you will someday own a digital recorder.

can you resample your samples with the effects? Nope. See answer above, and ask yourself, do I want to use these effects anyway?

Just curious!

Glad I could help! :)


Thanks for your help - but why would I sell my Tivo System - R U CRAZY - it's like the greatest thing to happen to my television - anywho

I think I'll get a 1000 (wait I have one) I sold the 2000xl to buy TiVo and a PowerMac with all the bells and whistles (i.e. pro-tools, logic, reason, blah, blah, blah) minus the Floppy and Zip

I think our point here is either one is fine but depending on your set up already (i.e. if you have a Mac that doesn't come with a floppy or Zip drive standard) or if you want to sample a whole season of RENO 911 get a 1000 - if your more comfortable hardware editing then get a 2000xl - they both do the same thing - rather well I might add!!!

I sold my 2000xl but the 1000 is my friend - but to be totally honest in the last 6 months most of my tracks have been written in Logic and REASON - go figure

Sell my TiVo! Your Crazy :)
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By trupro Tue May 25, 2004 5:03 pm
Adonis, why don't you play us what you are making with all that stuff you bought...
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By descartes Tue May 25, 2004 5:17 pm
djadonis wrote:I sold my 2000xl but the 1000 is my friend - but to be totally honest in the last 6 months most of my tracks have been written in Logic and REASON - go figure



Yeah... I think you are exactly the market Akai created the 1000 for: computer based producers who want the mpc "magic" at discount to record into Logic.

That makes sense, if you are using mainly the computer, the 1000 makes a good "sketch pad" I guess.

Im not hating on the 1000, and I would maybe buy one if it came with batteries and wasnt so gay looking. :)

But trade my 2000 for it? Nah...
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By djadonis206 Tue May 25, 2004 6:58 pm
trupro wrote:Adonis, why don't you play us what you are making with all that stuff you bought...


I don't know how to put stuff up on the web MP3 style - or better yet I haven't taken the time out to figure it out - I could send you some stuff

I'll look into it and have some stuff up somewhere in the next couple weeks / days
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By trupro Tue May 25, 2004 7:16 pm
You got a mac? In iTunes, just go to preferences; advanced; importing. Change the import option to MP-3. Then when you bring stuff in, it does it automatically, but change it back or it will always import everything as an MP3. Once you select MP3 as import format, you can also select already imported joints, and theres a menu on the tool bar at top (forget which) that just says convert selection to MP3, or whatever format your prefernces is set to. You can use IM to send people MP3s, or whatever way you wanna do it. My email is bosti. It aint big enough for mp3s. Some people have larger email formats, but I feel aol is the mark-0'-tha beast. But, there are many places to post your ish, including this forum.

By Toecutter Tue May 25, 2004 9:10 pm
You can slice the samples manually on the mpc1k. The effects dont' sound too bad, and neither do the filters. The filters on my friend's 1k sound much better than the doo doo filters on my 2k. The CF cards load super fast, faster than any zip I've seen. Do what you like, I personally think the 1k is awesome for the price.
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By djadonis206 Wed May 26, 2004 3:16 pm
Toecutter wrote:You can slice the samples manually on the mpc1k. The effects dont' sound too bad, and neither do the filters. The filters on my friend's 1k sound much better than the doo doo filters on my 2k. The CF cards load super fast, faster than any zip I've seen...


I forgot about how lightening fast the 1000 loads sounds and programs - your definately up and running way faster - one of my biggest complaints about my OLD 2000xl was how slow it was to load Sh** -

For example, my boy rolled over the other night with his 2000xl (which he is very talented with) - but I was like hey man I'm going to run to the store while youir song loads up -

Makes me compare the two (the 2000 to the 1000) to 56K and DSL - I could see all the old school 56K heads out there going, "56K fool, I thought you knew!"
Last edited by djadonis206 on Wed May 26, 2004 10:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.