Thinking about an Akai MPC, lusted after them for years but have never bitten the bullet…any thoughts on them?
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They are beasts, very versatile, sample wise and midi wise and people make great music with them.
I used one for a short time, kept it for ages thinking it would get use but I had to admit that I hated it. It felt cumbersome, the file system felt clunky but I also couldn’t see a better way them to do it with the amount of options it has so I just gave it the “it’s me not you” speech and sold it.
Jimvo uses one pretty succesfully i’m sure.
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Just get one, they’re great. I’ve got a 2000 and a One. The older ones have the crunchy lofi (slightly not too much) thing with the best groove and swing, the new ones are basically hardware and software together, which allows a lot more of a finished product. Bargain of the series is currently the 1000, they still go for around £300. A new One is about £600.
Any questions just ask. What kind of tunes do you fancy making?
Which one did you have? I found the 2000 very intuitive and learned it super quick but the new ones are less so just due to how much you can do with them, takes longer to get acquainted
A couple of videos to help persuade you
The music I tend to gravitate towards is more the lofi hip-hop sound, DJ Shadow, MF Doom, Prefuse 73, that sort of thing
Watched a few vids yesterday and I think the One probably fits the bill, while I’d love a 2000XL,i think the drawn out workflow might annoy me. I’ll maybe go for a One and work back to a 2000 if it captures my interest enough
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MPC1000 new in black. Tried the JJOS as well which improved it a bit.
The older ones seemed way more intuitive I admit so that’s why I say it’s personal rather than MPC’s are shit. They obviously are incredible. If I happened upon an older one for cheap i’d give it a crack but that’s nigh on impossible nowadays.
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The older ones esp the 2000 and 2000xl do have a bit of magic about them which kind of beefs up whatever you put in and makes it sound like a solid, weighty thing, which the new ones can’t copy, but overall they have so much else available with all your effects and ease of exporting, saving etc
Barf off here was selling a mint Live 2 recently, dunno if it’s still going. Haven’t used a Live so can"t review
The magic of 12 bit. It’s great for anything but it’s the perfect rate for drums/beats.
It’s why my Octatrack cannot ever replace my Machinedrum.
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2000 is 16 bit, I do like the 12 bit sound though. There was a rumour behringer were going to remake the SP1200 which would be ace
First time in 18 months plugging bits in, 99bpm slightly aggy plodder
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This has a reputation as the worst analogue drum machine of all time, but they go for about £100 now. I kind of want one, I like the hats especially. Or am I mad? Should I get one or forget it?
A mate just got a used One for £370, pretty good price I reckon
Haha
Poor guy, left with the task of selling these terrible machines.
However, if you know their weakness you could find some uses, maybe.
I don’t think I’ll bother, I really wouldn’t use it much I just fancy having a go. Thing is it could have been great. Build looks quality
Drum machine might be ok, Not seen it in real life. I really want to play with the synth, just to see how bad it is by typical standards and if there are any secret niche positives.
I don’t think it has separate outs for the drum sounds which might have helped it. Bass sounds permanently out of tune but yeah I am curious as to what could be done with it. Maybe we should chip in and timeshare it, ha
haha, maybe.
I actually don’t like to use separate outs anyway, unless it’s really needed. I prefer to get something interesting going and affect as one, you get a much more glued sound and it makes you commit.
I don’t like too many options on the way in to the computer as it makes more work there and the computer is not enjoyable. I like stuff to sound good on the way in so it’s less work editing in the box.
And the out of tune bass could be an interesting variable tuned percussion, making tunes feel less static and looped.
I mean I know these things are just bought by middle aged male nerds but they could really choose someone who gets good stuff out of them and makes it look good, though probably not for those akai devices.
Wow I want to be like this guy
He must be wearing that as a joke… nope
