Advice Needed: which MPC model for live band use

ok, newbie on this forum, so be gentle.
my screen name is short for "S-series lover", to show my love for multiple versions of that group of samplers.

i'm currently thinking of getting the MPC 1000 to use as beats in a live band situation. it seems like the 2500, 500, or even an old 2000 or XL could be good too.

i have done research online on this and other similar boxes, but nothing connects with my brain like user feedback. i've read through a bunch of answers here and i still want to take a stab at describing my needs and seeing what people say.

i've never used any MPC. my experience is programming drum machines and sequencers like the Roland R-5 and Alesis MMT-8. if the latter had more notes and patterns, i'd get a good little sample box and use those two things live. but i'd prefer one unit, so here i am.

in my band, i'm the singer and guitarist. so my hands are not free to do DJ-like stuff on the fly. but when it comes to recording beats, i always play the pads, never use step write.

i need to:

- control start and stop with a footswitch
- transfer my own samples from a computer to the MPC quickly and easily
(sampling/truncating or multi-stage "importing" are pains in the ass)
- know the volume of a particular instrument is the same on all patterns/songs if i raise/lower the instrument
- make and save those and other changes quickly
- easily or automatically timestretch phrases if i change the pattern/song tempo
- jump in and out of record mode in the middle of rehearsal/writing sessions
- build, copy/paste, erase parts+beats quickly and easily
- have an easy way to back up everything
- keep more than a full set's worth of songs and maintain a large sample library on it so i can access sounds w/o always having to transfer more from the computer

because it's for live, smaller and lighter is better, but not at the expense of features and durability. being able to use this as a main drum box and record separate outs would be nice too, but not my primary goal.

i've heard about the weak pads on the 1000, so i want to know which models and revisions have the same kind.

feel free to ask more questions about what i do and don't care about from the unit i end up buying. thanks in advance for any helpful replies.

Hi,

some features you have listed can`t be done with any MPC (don't know about the 5000) but maybe the roland mv8800 could be the one for you (hope i don't get banned lol)'
It actually have some some of the features you are looking for like realtime timestretch, jump in and out of record mode (one of the best features anyway IMO), sample library with lots of classic roland instruments etc. etc. there are lots of other progressive features in there.
I think the machine is really worth a research.

peace rob

WatchYoNuggets wrote:Hi,
some features you have listed can`t be done with any MPC (don't know about the 5000) but maybe the roland mv8800 could be the one for you (hope i don't get banned lol)'
It actually have some some of the features you are looking for like realtime timestretch, jump in and out of record mode (one of the best features anyway IMO), sample library with lots of classic roland instruments etc. etc. there are lots of other progressive features in there.
I think the machine is really worth a research.
peace rob

thanks for answering, rob. which features do you mean?

when i check the OS comparison chart for the MPC1000 @ http://stansteez.com/files/pdf/JJOS_Comparison.pdf
it says that there is timestretch. what do you mean by "realtime timestretch"?

all i mean is...let's say we're playing a song that has phrase samples that matches the tempo of the song (e.g. 150bpm). we stop and say "hey, the song needs to be faster". i push the tempo to 155bpm. what happens to the phrase samples? will they automatically match the new tempo? or is there some process i have to go through to fix them to the new bpm? if the latter, how long or difficult is that process?

the MV8000 is really too large and too much for what we're using it for. and i would like to get back to the AKAI sound and feel.

Well I never use timestrech but timestreching on the 1000 would mean (if it´s the same as on the 2000xl which i assume is so) you go to trim mode and and stretch the sample for your needs with realtime TS you can trim the sound phrase etc. while it's playing.
Although realtime TS could be possible with JJ oS on the 1000 but I´m not sure about that.

The not provided features are step in and out of rec/play mode, a sample library (at least a decent sample/sound library, not talking about the couple MPC demo songs samples etc. coming with a new unit.) and the before mentioned realtime timestretch.

I see that you want the AKAI feel and the MV may be a little too much.
I would check the 1000 with JJ OS or the 2500 then.
the 2500 have a specific function called the patched phrase which may be interessting for what you described above and it has a HD and cd-r option.

The other things you mentioned should be possible with any MPC

WatchYoNuggets wrote:The not provided features are step in and out of rec/play mode, a sample library (at least a decent sample/sound library, not talking about the couple MPC demo songs samples etc. coming with a new unit.) and the before mentioned realtime timestretch.

the 2500 have a specific function called the patched phrase which may be interessting for what you described above and it has a HD and cd-r option.

The other things you mentioned should be possible with any MPC

rob thanks so much for the help. i searched "patched phrase" and found this youtube video that proves both the 2500 and 1000 do what i need.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--GzodmsZtI

the lack of literally switching in+out of rec/play modes is actually minimal - i'm willing to stop and start when i do that. it really just needs to be a fairly quick thing.

i also don't need some other sample library...just space to store my own samples. i don't need a CDR option, but it seems i can add a hard disk to the 1000, right? there is also simply maxing out the RAM to 128k. not sure what the difference is really. can anyone explain?

one disturbing thing i read was that the samples don't stay in memory when you shut down? you have to set up some kind of "auto load" function? and this may be incompatible with something else i might need to do? can anyone speak about this?

No problem You´re welcome
The more ram you have the more samples songs sequences etc. you can work on.
You always need to load up the stuff you wanna work with or on in the ram memory of your mpc if you shut down the MPC all data that have been in the RAM is gone unless you saved it before.
the 2500 definitely has a HD option but I don't know if the 1000 has.

Maybe im not getting something but with my 60 mk1 i can go in and out recmode while playing whenever i want. Newer MPCs dont have this?

64hz wrote:but with my 60 mk1 i can go in and out recmode while playing whenever i want. Newer MPCs dont have this?

That would be dope, at least my 2000xl can´t do. You sure the 60 can?

It goes like that, you play a seq. and switch between the overdub/play mode anytime you want while the seq. keep playing on.

Yea works that way, you mean you have to press stop to be able to record? Wow i can imagine that being a dealbreaker lol.

64hz wrote:Wow i can imagine that being a dealbreaker lol.

Yep!

64hz wrote:Yea works that way, you mean you have to press stop to be able to record? Wow i can imagine that being a dealbreaker lol.

i was able to take a peek at a 1000 in a store today (had no time for a live demo as it wasn't hooked up to a mixer). while playing, both REC and OVERDUB buttons can be pressed and the light lights up, but does not stay on when you lift your finger. i'm not sure if that means they won't work at all, or just not when you lift your finger.

i don't consider that a dealbreaker. as i'll likely be in song mode during rehearsal anyway, i assume i'll have to switch to pattern mode to make changes so i have to stop anyway.

dealbreakers for me would be:
- not having a USB connection or card for sound transfer (why resample when i already made the sounds)
- not using .WAV format
- being too large/heavy (i'd like to just fit this on my guitar pedalboard)
- not having a footswitch controller
- not having MIDI program change (i want to use my MIDI MOUSE so i don't have to lean down to change songs)
- changes i make in sounds or patterns not being reflected automatically in the songs they're a part of
- difficult to use