MPC??

[hseiken]

Naw, ensoniq got bought out by creative (yeah, the soundblaster guys).

[bresk]

Nope....Ensoniq was bought by EMU..that's correct.
And Creative labs ishould be a consumer division of EMU anyway.

[pertiet]

but, again, i'm new to the MPC, so i have no prior complaints or deep-rooted notions about the quality. of course, time will tell how reliable the MPC500 is for me, but barring any massive flaws or constant crashing, i'm very pleased with what i've seen so far. would i pay $599 for one, now that i've had a chance to use it? ask me in 90 days.

Hi,

what about you and the MPC right now?
Have I missed some thread somewhere??
Did you keep it??
What where you experiences??

[LousyFacelift]

There are many different MPC models out there and none of them can be compared to the ESX. The ESX is best to be compared to the Elektron Octatrack as far as functionality, but even this comparison is a bit unfair, because the Octa is way more expensive, but also offers many more features. The MPC 60 (60II), 3000, 2500, 4000 and 5000 offer one very important advantage over all other grooveboxes though: 4 MIDI outs that can be used to control a total of 64 channels of external outboard gear, minus those that you're using for internal sample sequencing. The 2000 (XL) handles up to 32 MIDI channels, the MPC 500 can use up to 16 channels. I have an MPC 2500 and there are so many things I could tell you about it...to sum up: I love this thing about as much as I hate Akai for not putting more effort into providing a better support. The fact that totally independant engineers (JJOS) had to come up with a system that offers everything Akai should have done in the first place really speaks for itself. My unit has (or had Idk) a weird problem producing some kind of clipping noise and many users on their forum had reported the same more than six years before me. When I called up Akai they acted like they had never even heard of this issue. Could be I have solved this problem by upgrading to the free JJOS (yes, it's free!!) that can be downloaded from the net, but maybe it'll show up again, I sure hope it doesn't. Just like the EMX workflow I find working with the MPC absolutely intuitive, you can record multiple samples to just one of the 64 tracks, you don't have to stop the sequencer when changing to another track while recording and most importantly: You can use it to sequence a ton of external gear. It offers a combination of different grids or even no grid (no quantize) for single tracks and you can even use it to record everything you're doing with the KP3, when its MIDI OUT and IN are plugged into the MPC. In my opinion the MPC is still the best hardware sequencer out there, but there are two models with important downsides: The 4000 is the strongest model featurewise BUT(!) has a cooling fan which, as far as I've heard, produces annoying noise. Haven't heard it myself yet but if true that's a real shame. The 500 is nice but difficult to use due to its small display and only offers 16 MIDI channels and 12 pads instead of 16, so if you want to slice a long phrase sample into 16 parts you have to switch to the next set of pads. If you're looking for a cheaper alternative to the MPC for sequencing external gear I suggest you check out the RM1X (16 channels) or the QY-700 (32 ch.). The RM1X has better sounds, but I have never owned it myself, so Idk about the sequencing aspect, the QY-700 is probably the better sequencer but its internal sounds are kind of useless.

[Headphones]

I found a MPC 2500 at a pawn shop, and I'm currently doing it on layaway. I'll be making a payment and I'm still owe $400. The sad news is, I probably won't even be getting it home until October at the soonest. (I'm so behind in bills, and trying to keep other equipment without selling anything). That being said, I'm very curious how I can use my EMX and ER-1 mk2 with this thing. Sometimes your imagination has the ideas before you've got the tools in front of you.

I think it'd be fun to sample the er-1 and try to sample the kick to the point where you get booming notes, then have the mpc modulate/transpose them so you can do some basslines that would be tricky to impossible for the ER-1 to do by itself. I'd love to also have access to the synths from the EMX from the pads of the mpc, and if it can do that, then that'd be wicked fun.

Until then, just trying to keep up with the bills, and the slow progress to paying the MPC 25k off.

[Blue Monster 65]

You can map the pads of the MPC to control the EMX via MIDI. I've seen it done, though I can't say I've done it myself. Remember, though, that you're going to have to have separate setups on the MPC to control your different synths!

Let us know when you get your new toy and how you integrate it with your existing setup.