MPC 2k vs ASR-X

I used to have an MPC2000XL now i'm bangin' the MPC4K alongside with the ASR-X..It has descent effects, usefull sampling,the sound is crispy and warm..but that's all i guess.The sequencer is f*ckin' wack.But i like it for those 2-3- reasons i mentioned plus it has nice resampling and bit truncate.I got it for 300$..It's pretty fair i think.I'm using it as a resampler/fx unit.Not a drum sampler/sequencer.

Lampdog wrote:Find an asr x pro (it's the red one) and get that if you can. You will QUICKLY grow tired of the etch a sketch knobs. I'm talking about the 2 knobs that you control data with. The pads are hard as hell (hard plastic). Advatanges I saw over the 2k were, it has internal stock sounds, internal stock effects, optional max ram is 96mb. STOMPER software is already in the box, meaning you can create your own sounds outta thin air (setting a bunch of pages of parameters and then "create"). The sequencer is garbage, sampling into it is garbage. The black one is lacking but the red if found cheap is the better choice even though the BETTER choice is just stay with your 2k. Save that money.

Lampdog you my peeps and all but from mine own having of the asr x pro to the mpc2000xl se by far if I could go back in time i would go with the asr x pro "red edition". Now don't get me wrong for a long future in the music industry I see it being more the mpc2000xl than the asr x pro because of options and other reasons but by far if you can do, go with the asr x pro if you are trying to save money, but I can't lie I got a love for akai mpc's now that I have owened a few and work on the mpc4 currently.

yeah ampdog really wilding when he said the asr x samplers was wack. that guy has NO clue. NONE.

i had a black asr-x. the sound coming out of there blows the hinges off the xl!!! I sold mine cuz the damn knobs keep going, otherwise i still have it. If i could control the ASRX parameters remotely, i would get it again.

Lampdog wrote:sampling into it is garbage.

Wondering what made you make that statement?

Another KILLER thing about the ASR-X is that it's not a phrase sampler, rather a full featured MIDI instrument.

You can use it as a module, controlled with a keyboard you can play the sound up & down the octaves and pitch bend samples!

You can also use the X as a stand alone FX processor!

If you have an mpc with additional outs you can keep 2 of them into the ASR ins-

The X is also 20-bit internally (weird I know). There is no digital I/O but the sound of the X-Pro is fantastic- anything you run though it sounds..... better!

They're always on ebay & Craigslist cuz the A stands for Advanced.

Picking up one tomorrow ... mint 10outs ... harly used ..in box

I loved that thing when I had it,, regret ever selling it,

now that 10 years have passed and I can´t wait to have it again,.. re/sampling is its so quick and the sound is fantastick (the FX are the highest quality ever in a sampler)... I was going to cope a MPC5k to go with my 4k mainly for more outs, resampling and going out live,.. but the ASRX is just a way better option for me...

its actually used by many great acts Daft Punk for one .. just fly tinghs though your mixer and resample; make parameter copies with dif filter and loop settings ... its a hell of a time saver...

highly recomended as a 2nd sampler..

besides its like Dark Vader in the studio...

where did u find tht piece?.........4k and asr is a nice combo indeed.

If there was a knob or slider for every parameter on the ASR-X you would need an interface bigger than a 32 channel mixer. It is really far out how many envelope params there are- if they had a better way to access them besides the 2 knobs Ensoniq may still be around today!

Lampdog wrote:

Higher Hat wrote:if they had a better way to access them besides the 2 knobs Ensoniq may still be around today!

YEP!!!!

I think they could easily still be a super force in the gear industry w/o a doubt.

The two knobs used with the additional function buttons that were added to the X-Pro weren't bad to use function wise, the two knobs were just of a poor quality.
If you replaced them with the longer knobs they performed more accurately and held up.

Because people no longer buy what they need, instead they buy and then want the manufactuer to make it do what they want or add the missing features, smaller companies suffer.
Ensoniq just was never big enough a company to deal with the changing times or shift in consumer expectations.
They spread themselves thin at a bad time and could never recover.
They started trying to make their gear more viable to use with other gear by adding things like wav support, GM etc which meant they were redesigning many of their old ways.
They did that at the same time they were trying to develope and market the PARIS System, plus they had designed and built a Digital Mixer (which never hit the streets) along with some new effects units.
They just had a lot of overhead that never turned a single $$$$$.
Thing that really did them in was them wanting to get out from under the situation.
This made them sell the company in it's entirety to someone who had little or no desire to move forward with the Ensoniq brand.
Worst part is their proprietary nature is what made their products distinct but is what makes them a problem now, it's hard to get parts for them.

Yep no 1 reason why not to buy an ASRX is the wear of the data knobs.. picking mine up hardly used.. locally..

but if your on the hunt for one: replace the controle knob encoders and swap the floppy drive with a card reader and its a brilliant unit...

the scratch pad method of sampling is so clever.. dunny why other companys dont pick that up... no setting up programs or multis just sample and play.. its like a pro version of a DJ sampler... way way way way faster than any mpc will ever be..


personally I prefer the Black version cus tof the way the buttons are placed.. then again I grew up on it, and its all 2nd nature to me..

Ok here’s the scoop on ASR X vs. MPC

Let’s start with interface

MPC´s have brilliant interfaces, smart simple and easy, even my full fledged 4ooo is a breeze to operate.

ASRX horrible, 2 line LCD, I’ve owned arm-watches that show more info, its built on the concept that the user can jump between major sections of the Pad edit mode by repeatedly pushing the same button this goes for the Seq and other section aswell... the jumpy encoders don’t help much, and adjusting a 5 stage envelope is like playing tennis in the dark (you can hear the ball but you don’t quite know ... to its defense there is a software around that displays everything the envelope’s have graphical representation etc.. and there are a few user shortcuts around when menu scrolling
The good thing about the interface is that sampling can happen anywhere anytime (cool to be adjusting loop points while sampling) and is always just a one button press away, if you look at the interface there are 4 buttons for dedicated for sampling but only three for the entire parameter edit pages … this tells a lot about what its designed to do..

Built quality: the MPC are study and fairly built although the construction can be improved..

The ASRX has a metal casing but can easily get scratched, the buttons are poor so are the encoders the pads feel like a simple normal midi keyboard but instead of keys they are pads ..they are quirky but all right, but nowhere near the MPC quality of pads

Now The sound

The MPC is sharp and punchy, (never liked the 2k sound much but it has that Akai punch) but my 4k at 24bit 96k can cut eardrums,.. the bass is clear and punchy so is the entire mid range, the highs are very bright and all in all on a very high level with detailed sound, the downside is that the FX are usually cheap sounding..

The ASR X sound is amazing ... might be the best sounding 16bit sampler ever produced, warm, round ,rich the bass is low and big the mids and highs have a rich quality to them the FX are phenomenal and this is the only real reason to buy this thing..

In use,

The ASR X seq is useless compared to the MPC as an all in one tool for producing. So is the reliability if your using anything under the latest OS, (even the latest OS will mess up sometimes) I can count on two hands how many times my 4k has messed up since 2002, and I’ve got 1000´s of hours on it. The timing is sloppy and the envelopes are slow and compared to the fast envelopes and the tight timing of a MPC the ASRX is a hobo in a disco... no wonder it never saw the light of day in on the market... The seq is alright if you look at it to scratch an idea down and it does offer the option to scoop up/erase notes on the fly like the MPC, and if you really want to be positive you could say the timing has a loose human feel to it... you can even finish songs on it if they are basic enough.. but in no way is this in anyway a centerpiece of a studio like the MPC´s are, and there isn’t much around to play your sound its all about programming and hitting pads
You do on the other hand, create different music and do different loops compared to what you do when working on an mpc and that is one of its attractions


Final word

So why would anyone buy this sampler that behaves and works like an active alcoholic...

Well the 2 obvious reasons are the ease of sampling /resampling with instant playback (you don’t have to set up programs or multis, you can start playing with the sample almost the same moment you sampled it) and then there’s the SOUND... everything else about it is a joke.. but man its a gem if you know how to get the best out of it ..and can add a quality at a very high level to your productions.. The sound would hold up in the most expensive studios with the most demanding Pro´s.. the FX are on par with fx units that cost more than a new MPC´s … and I´d say it matches the TCelectronics fireworks in pure quality of sound

Its one of these music machines that has character and some producers will look at as a secrete weapon due to the fact how quickly it samples and how good it sounds while others might look at it as a joke due to all its downsides

Personally I love it and will be using it quite a lot besides my 4k, its defiantly a highly usable sampler, if your looking for more demanding alternatives the ASR-10´s is a more pro option as a workstation but if your looking to simply resample and loop,the ASRX will do it at high speed with high quality and deliver superb work..

great post glide, i'm in the market for an ASR-10 rack, which is pretty similar to the ASR-X so this post gives me some confidence in purchasing one. i'm on the same page in that i want the unit for the sound and sampling features and not so much for the sequencing. i've got my MPC for all that. have you had any experiences with the ASR-10R?