Question about MPC's

[gilbert36]

This might seem like a dumb question, but what sounds do MPCs come with? I know that you can load in your own sounds and sound banks, but does the machine itself come with a nice selection? I've been interested in buying one for a while but I thought I should clear this up first. ALso is the MPC 4000 that much better than the 3000 or 2000xl? I've been interested in the 2000xl because from what I've heard it is still a viable machine and is a better value for the price than the 4000.

[mpcpro]

The MPC (60, 2000, 2000xl and 3000) comes with no sounds. You have to enter your own samples into the machine for you to use it. You can also use just about any sample format out there to load sounds into the machine from cd's, zip disk, or scsi harddrive. The 4000 comes with a built in harddrive that has sounds already installed. If you are new to the MPC I would get a used 2000 or 2000xl and start sampling drum hits, noise, static, other drummachines etc. and tweak them into something new, this is what the MPC is designed to do. There are things you can do to sounds with this machine that you could never do on a standard drummachine with sounds you will get tired of in a year. But if all you want is presets than you can still get a MPC, add on a harddrive and cd rom and you'll have a drummachine that is only limited by the sample cd's you choose to load and your programming skills. :smokin:

[myles]

My 2000xl came with a CD of drum samples. But i guess it doesnt do you any good if you dont have a SCSI CD-ROM drive, huh? They arent the most inspiring drums in the world but they include drum/perc samples from the 60,3000 and 2000. It ends up being several hundred samples. A problem i ran into early with different sample CD's is that the MPC can't always read the kits correctly. The samples will still play but you'll have to setup your programs manually. I dont think the MPC 4000 has that problem tho. The MPC was designed to be a sampling drum machine. While it's the best at what it does, it has its limitations. A good alternative is to get a sound module with your MPC. That way you have a decent palate of sounds and basic sampling/sample playback capability. What type of music are you making?

[shibster]

The 4000 is nuts, basically you can load 100s of CDs of samples into the built in hard drive and then with 270+ megs of ram you can load multiple songs at a time.

100Meg acoustic piano is nice.

[Jules@MartiniBlue]

Check out "Kid Nepro" on the net. This is a pretty cool place for anything patch related and Akai, MPC stuff. They have a new MPC Millennium series for the 2000/2000XL/4000 supposed to be hot. (Don't have it yet but I'll sure check it out) You don't have to buy a whole CD, you just get what you like at $10 a disk. They sell drives too. These guys are musicians, started in a garage in New York and attracted the attention of famous producers with their custom sounds. Only pro quality stuff. Their# is: 246-420-4504. And for a friendly, prompt response to any inquire, email@ info@kidnepro.com

Also, nice people, fast delivery and tech support from "Midi Mark" out of Whittier, CA. I had a little problem with a disk and they replaced it for free. Got a free surprise zip with their delivery. They keep and eye on "fat and hard hitting..." which is definitely a plus regardless of what genre you're doing. I do just about everything. 800-301-6434. www.midimark.com

By the way, Im in no way associated with them other than as a customer. I just thought you may find these places convenient. Good Luck.