MPC 4k or Add S5000/z4/z8 to 2kXL?

If you want a faster workflow, the MPC 4000 is the last MPC to go with IMHO. The 2000XL (or any of the other MPCs) and an S or Z series sampler are great options.

well, one thing the XL doesnt have is sample preview, which really slows me down alot when I'm looking through my drums library. I'm going to be adding the EB-16 and see if that will hold me down until I make a more expensive decision.

I just got beat for a 4k by armens repair on ebay fvckin fag. That sh!t really blew mines because I know he's just buying it to fix it and sell it. I would've had me a 4k for $950 The only thing wrong was 4 pads didnt work (the guy didnt know why, it was a pawn shop selling it), and the data wheel had some of the grey worn off. I know its business but I'm just really mad because I know I wanted to buy it to use it.

Im sorry but I dont understand your problems in using the 2kxl. I also was looking into a 4k for a long while but I figured that its not realy needed if you are running a daw next to your mpc. The XL is really dope you just need to give it time to get used to. You only had it for what like 1.5 years? I had mines for going on 4 and I still learn new things. When I want to eq drums and samples I eq them with my mixer before I even sample them into the mpc to get them knocking right. Im guessing your using library drums from the cpu and loading those into the mpc. If you make your own custom drum and sound programs you pretty much have your stuff eq'ed and ready to go. No need to preview each sound just load a program and purge the unused sounds to free up pad space. Freeing up pad space will give you more flexibility with the limited number of programs the xl has (4). Im not against you switching mpc's all Im saying is give it time to fully learn and understand before selling it. I bet you havent even scratched the suface of things you can do in the XL. I run Reaper next to my XL and that combo is AWESOME!! I got custom bass, instrument, strings, fx, all sorts of programs I run on the XL all ready to load up and play using Autocromatic. In my opinion I think you should just take the time to fully learn the XL build some dope autocromatic programs and drum sets and keep that shit.

Im running a mixerless setup and Im not using library drums from the cpu hahaha. Sample preview is just something that gets on my nerves when I'm in the creating process, no matter how many kits you make, you still end up adding other sounds from your library. I guess the XL just slows me down, I had a 1k before and I used to make my beats with the mpc1k and es rack, and I didnt need anything else, I only used the pc to record my beats into and track, thats all. Thats how I want to work, make my beats on the mpc with a dedicated sound source and track into the pc. Then take my session to the studio. Its more my fault then the mpc really, its how I want to work.