The MPC 4000 vs. 5000

Oh, I'm really gettin tired about all this 4000vs.5000vs.8800-the-new-tech-sucks-keep-it-vintage-but-consider-the-4k-has-24/96-sampling-fuzz!

Why discuss all this gear nonsense? Real life shows that you have people with stacks of synths sitting behind a 128 channel ssl board and you're bored to death by their music while the kid next door makes fire hitting a cookie box with a spoon!

As long as you don't master your stuff the gear will always suck big time in your hands! If you can't drive your '89 VW Mexico Beetle, buying a fancy vintage Ford Mustang won't make you a good driver!

I got the impression that most of the people braggin about the 5k didn't even touch the unit yet and are only frustrated that their 4k is a discontinued product and no longer supported by AKAI! IMHO

So just buy what you buy and check for yourself what you need !

Just my 2 cents!

dabmeister wrote:Well, I figured I'd be the first to kick it off on comparing these two beast. There's a lot of new features on the 5k geared towards those that want an all in one box. But my feelings are that the 4k is more of a "musicians sampler", or geared towards us keyboard players since one of it's stronger points is it's keygroup feature, higher bitrate, memory and a few other things. However, I do like some of the new implemented features put into the new 5k but it's still not considered an upgrade to a lot of us 4k users.

I think most of us agreed even prior to the 5k release that it isn't an upgrade for the 4k...maybe it's one for the 2k5. However, the 5k has a certain consumer aspect. Probably AKAI was more aiming at keeping customers away from buying a MV 8800 or an iMac with MBox.

The 4k as a more professional unit feature wise (24/96, keygroups etc. etc.) probably doesn't have such a big target group as some sort of all in one box?!? So, people in the need of its features either still use their 4k or switch to some sort of combination of DAW and keyboards or whatever to think of.

Comparing the 4k to the 5k will in most aspects have the 4k as a winner, when considerng the figures..........for me I have my 5k and a S 5000 for keygroups and multisamples. I don't care about 24bit shyt so it's okay.

To be honest I was initially considering gettin' a 4k but since I already had the S 5000 sampler the 4k didn't have any added value for me...

If I could afford a 4k, I'd get one in a second

NguoiDuc wrote:the kid next door makes fire hitting a cookie box with a spoon!

Yes! I love it!

Alot of good points in this thread.

But I honestly believe Akai is putting out a machine that people actually want. Whether you want to believe it or not, the MPC 4000 is the least popular MPC. With the 5K, they went back to what people loved about MPCs in the first place and added numerous improvements. I keep pointing out that the MPC 5000 has only been out 6 months. Don't you remember what the MPC 1000 was like when it was released? Its a very different machine today. I suspect the same will be true with the 5K.

Askia Shaheed wrote: Don't you remember what the MPC 1000 was like when it was released? Its a very different machine today. I suspect the same will be true with the 5K.

That statement actually hurts your case not helps it.
JJ improved the 1k not Akai.

Askia Shaheed wrote:the MPC 4000 is the least popular MPC.

Soulja Boy Tell 'Em is popular, It doesn't mean that he's good.

kneebone77 wrote:

Askia Shaheed wrote:the MPC 4000 is the least popular MPC.

Soulja Boy Tell 'Em is popular, It doesn't mean that he's good.

True. But we are talking MPCs...the MPCs that created so much classic music were not the 4000 brand:

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

Sovereign wrote:

Askia Shaheed wrote: Don't you remember what the MPC 1000 was like when it was released? Its a very different machine today. I suspect the same will be true with the 5K.

That statement actually hurts your case not helps it.
JJ improved the 1k not Akai.

JJ wrote in this forum that he was contracted to do the operating system of the 1K's "official Akai OS 1 and 2". Akai OS 2 is on a different level than OS 1. So how does that hurt my case? I am simply indicating the possibilities. But even without a single feature added, there is no MPC I would rather use.

Askia Shaheed wrote:

Sovereign wrote:

Askia Shaheed wrote: Don't you remember what the MPC 1000 was like when it was released? Its a very different machine today. I suspect the same will be true with the 5K.

That statement actually hurts your case not helps it.
JJ improved the 1k not Akai.

JJ wrote in this forum that he was contracted to do the operating system of the 1K's "official Akai OS 1 and 2". Akai OS 2 is on a different level than OS 1. So how does that hurt my case? I am simply indicating the possibilities. But even without a single feature added, there is no MPC I would rather use.

Because Akai has done nothing to advance the 1k or the 2500.
JJ said nothing a former co-worker on the project explained they did the original OS and got screwed.
They stated that Akai had them still working on the OS with no intent to pay them and they never were paid, so they JJ OS was born.

Yet you are trying to make it sound like Akai made improvements in the OS which they never did.
If you believe Akai is going to add some dramamtic features to the 5k then you are in one hell of a pipe dream.
Akai already had the 4k, the MV and the JJ OS as a reference yet look at the feature set they came up with for the 5k.
The feature set the shipped bugs show that Akai had a very short sighted get this to market mentality.
Really hard to expect big change from them on the 5k.

Maybe it's a big conspiracy and AKAI really makes the JJ OS, but sells it under a different alias so producers will say "flowers Akai" and call them mean and hurtful names like "Wakai". This would instill a sense of community between all the disgruntled hardware users and they would band together and spend money on the "bootleg" OS as opposed to Akai releasing it for free. Everyone talking trash would be fine to them, as long as there's a good OS like the one "JJ" makes, people are buying the hardware AND the updates!


OOOOOOH Snap! I just cracked the case! Just call me Magnum P.I.

jbraudio wrote:Maybe it's a big conspiracy and AKAI really makes the JJ OS, but sells it under a different alias so producers will say "flowers Akai" and call them mean and hurtful names like "Wakai". This would instill a sense of community between all the disgruntled hardware users and they would band together and spend money on the "bootleg" OS as opposed to Akai releasing it for free. Everyone talking trash would be fine to them, as long as there's a good OS like the one "JJ" makes, people are buying the hardware AND the updates!


OOOOOOH Snap! I just cracked the case! Just call me Magnum P.I.

It has to do with Akai never owning the OS.
When you out source and have no documentation that states the results are yours and then don't pay the programmers you loose the work.
Thus the work that was done that the original (Pre Numark) Akai didn't pay for never became theirs.
Pretty easy for JJ to take the work and make a complete OS to run on the machine because he helped write the original source code.
One of the reasons the JJ code works better than the Akai code is Akai lacks the improvements and debugging JJ did that Akai wouldn't pay for.
In the truest sense the JJ OS is the real OS and Akai is the hack since JJ did the original OS and was in the process of debugging and adding new features when Aka decided not to pay the programmers for thier work.,
It appears the new Akai programmers lack the skills (or maybe the directive) to make the Akai OS better or for that matter make it work right.
It shows in the 1000, 2500, the buggy release of the 5000 and even the 500 has it's own set of programming problems; Polyphony, Effects, and Track Mutes are just a few.

Sovereign wrote:

jbraudio wrote:Maybe it's a big conspiracy and AKAI really makes the JJ OS, but sells it under a different alias so producers will say "flowers Akai" and call them mean and hurtful names like "Wakai". This would instill a sense of community between all the disgruntled hardware users and they would band together and spend money on the "bootleg" OS as opposed to Akai releasing it for free. Everyone talking trash would be fine to them, as long as there's a good OS like the one "JJ" makes, people are buying the hardware AND the updates!


OOOOOOH Snap! I just cracked the case! Just call me Magnum P.I.

It has to do with Akai never owning the OS.
When you out source and have no documentation that states the results are yours and then don't pay the programmers you loose the work.
Thus the work that was done that the original (Pre Numark) Akai didn't pay for never became theirs.
Pretty easy for JJ to take the work and make a complete OS to run on the machine because he helped write the original source code.
One of the reasons the JJ code works better than the Akai code is Akai lacks the improvements and debugging JJ did that Akai wouldn't pay for.
In the truest sense the JJ OS is the real OS and Akai is the hack since JJ did the original OS and was in the process of debugging and adding new features when Aka decided not to pay the programmers for thier work.,
It appears the new Akai programmers lack the skills (or maybe the directive) to make the Akai OS better or for that matter make it work right.
It shows in the 1000, 2500, the buggy release of the 5000 and even the 500 has it's own set of programming problems; Polyphony, Effects, and Track Mutes are just a few.

This makes sense. Sounds like contracting out the programming of the OS came back to bite them in the a$$ so to speak.

jbraudio wrote:Maybe it's a big conspiracy and AKAI really makes the JJ OS, but sells it under a different alias so producers will say "flowers Akai" and call them mean and hurtful names like "Wakai". This would instill a sense of community between all the disgruntled hardware users and they would band together and spend money on the "bootleg" OS as opposed to Akai releasing it for free. Everyone talking trash would be fine to them, as long as there's a good OS like the one "JJ" makes, people are buying the hardware AND the updates!


OOOOOOH Snap! I just cracked the case! Just call me Magnum P.I.

Nice theory, but if that were true they would be selling O.S.'s for almost all of they're models especially the 5k.

Does it really matter what OS you install in your Akai MPCs? Personally, I don't think so.

Sovereign wrote:If you believe Akai is going to add some dramamtic features to the 5k then you are in one hell of a pipe dream.

The MPC 5000 already has a powerful feature set. But for the record..what would you consider "dramamtic features"?