Worth Upgrading?

I have a MPC2000XL classic with 32mb RAM, Multi Card Drive from VST service, 8 outs and flash memory. I love the machine and have no need for any major gear upgrade. It has everything I need to make the music I want (except effects).

I have a dilemma though, my LCD screen is getting more and more of those lines and will probably die within a year (max, it has 4-5 lines now). So I'm thinking about buying a new one, and it looks like VST service is the only place you can get one and it costs $229. I'm also thinking about buying the EB16 effect board.

The problem is that those two will cost over $400 together and thats almost like a MPC2000xl! The new Linn Drum II looks very exciting and will cost between $1400-1800.

So I'm considering if its worth the upgrade, and if I upgrade if I should be patient and look for MPC2000XLs on eBay for $400-600 wiht a nice LCD screen and eb16 rather than just buying the two parts seperatly. Because that way I get a MPC200XL for "free" that can serve as a back up in case something happens to the one I have now (I can just transfer the parts).

Are you still upgrading/maintaining your MPC2000XL or are you now using it till it dies and then buying something to replace it? (like MPC5000/1000/2500, a computer etc).

I have no clue if its worth the investment of +$400, and it might be wiser to live with the 4-5 lines and then buy something new in a year instead of replace the broken parts.

Your input will be greatly appreciated.

dang... they went up... like a year ago, you could get em for $150

Yeah, thats why I wonder if its worth upgrading. What would you do if you were in my situation?

I say, If you're comfortable with the machine you're on now, why change? Shit pay the 229 for the screen and dont worry about the effects. The effects aint all that great anyway.

I would just go with an outboard effects unit over the EB16. As for the screen. Have you seen this thread? I am wondering if it can be done on the 2KXL. It would be cheaper than VST.

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=97249

Yes, I've thought about buying an outboard effects unit, especially since I have a SP1200 and s900 as well which I then can add effects to as well. The problem would be to find a reasonable effects unit that can give me different effects on 4 channels at the same time (minimum) so I can for exemple connect two channels from the MPC, one from the SP and one from the s900 at the same time.

I guess I should buy one effect unit with reverb etc. and one with filters (Sherman FilterBank looks very good). It will be more expensive this way, but in the long run it will be cheaper since I can use this with whatever I want. It seems worth it as opposed to buying the eb16.

That helped a lot, I think I'll drop the eb16 now. Then I guess I just have to buy the LCD screen for $220. That link you gave me was very interesting but I have no experience with soldering so I think I have to go the more simple and expensive route and buy the Akai one.

Do you know of any good effect units that can handle 4 (or more) channels at the same time? I'm not that into phasing and stuff like that. All I need is a very good reverb and deley/echo.

Digitech Quad 2 is a nice quality 4 x 4 processor and cheap too if you can find one.

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Looks good. I'll be more versatile this way.

I think it could be wise to buy a strictly reverb/delay/echo unit since I guess the more effects in one united the less the quality. So now I have to go out and find the perfect one. The Digitech Quad 2 is so far my only option.

Anyone with a reverb/delay/echo unit to recommend? I think the Sherman FilterBank 2 is a winner for filters. At least thats my impression.

It depends on your budget. All the sub £400 processors are a much of a much. Either you need high quality (lexicon etc). or you make do.

After owning about 10 or so mid price processors I can say the digitech has a pleasent, warm sound with a good interface.

Filter wise... if you can just go and buy a synth. The Shermans are good but expensive.
A frend of mine has one and for extreme screaming / distrotions its good but smooth deep classic filtering, I thought it was crap.

I built an OAKLEY filtrex, cheap easy to build and sounds SOO much better than the sherman. The modulation routing isn't as good though.

http://www.oakleysound.com/filtrex.htm

The Korg MS20 is also a good option for a very flexible filter machine plus that ESP is to die for. And its a classic capable of doing subtle richness to far more extreme than the sherman.

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I don't know my budget, I just need to find something that is good enough for me for a reasonable price. I don't think I want to spend more than £400 (thats like $800!) on an effect unit. Its a pity it doesn't exist a reverb/delay/echo only machine for under £400. I never use phaser, flanger etc.

Thank you for the information on the Sherman, I don't think its what I'm looking for. I'm not making filter heavy house/electro music that filters the whole song, I use filters for filtering out stuff to make bass lines, remove bass etc. and I like (like most people) my filters warm. My only priority is that it can filter out the bass, mid and high really well and keep (or even add to) the warmth of the stuff I sample from vinyl. I can use my computer for distortion and stuff like that.

So I'm looking for two units that don't do a lot of stuff, but what the units do they do well. I guess I can not expect them to do it really well as I imagine that is out of my price range.

The Korg MS-20 looks great. Vintage Synth Explorer wrote this:

In addition to two analog oscillators, the MS-20 featured two resonant VCF filters, two VCAs, sample and hold, a noise generator, an assignable mod-wheel and lots of knobs! The VCF filter section is capable of high-pass, low-pass, notch and band-reject which is unique and different than your basic lowpass style filter.

So it looks like it can filter everything, low, mid and high which is exactly what I'm looking for. I don't filter only to get bass, I often filter out bass to be able to just keep the mid or high or both so thats important to me. Its also a huge bonus its a synth as well, especially since my Juno 106 died last year. I've played with the soft synth version and loved it, so I imagine that the real deal is even better.

Do you have any experience with the filters and how they sound on the MS-20?

According to Vintage Synth Explorer its worth $400 - $900 which I can afford, but as I expected it goes for a lot more on eBay. The only one I found today are already at $800 and its 5 days left of the auction so I guess its out of my price range. It will easliy end up at $2000 which I could pay for a synth, but only if that was my top priority. It isn't at the moment as I need to get two new effect units and a mixer with between 12 and 24 channels before that.

The Filtrex looked great, but I don't think I'm ready to build my own filter. It would be much more convenient to just get the finished product that is tried and tested.

Yeah, at one point I had the MS10 (best bass synth Ive had) MS20 (my true love but sadly had to be sold a couple of years ago) and the SQ10 (very odd analog sequencer).

The filters on the 20 are very dependent of the heat of the input but can range from smooth (but not as creamy as moog diode ladder filters ie Filtrex) through to full on distroted glitch.
The bonus of the 20 is you can run your input signal through the external signal processor which has an amplifier stage, high and low pass fixed res filters (like the drawmer ds201 noise gates) then into the main filter which is high pass then low pass. The high pass is the best thing of the 20, its just wild!! The ESP then generates a CV and gate signal which can then be patched back into the main synth.....so, any audio source can play the synth. Now, as a pitch to CV converter its poor. Don't expect it to track perfect, but if your looking for really messed up random audio, its just the dogs bo****ks.
I was very sad to see it go.

For your application, try the DS201 as well. It amazing what you can do with a simple device like this. The fliter can only be descrided as surgical. The slope is so tight they can extract a snare from a full on piece of audio. They are built like a tank too.

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