AKAI MPC info

[Funkopolitan Jaliz]

Hi,

I 'd just like to get feedback form someone who has/have had/knows AKAI MPC 2000XL or any from the MPC serie.
I'd like to know its pros and cons especially anout its efficiency in LIVE use(the way and the capicity of data storage-CD, HD, Floppy??-its reliability, if it is slow to load the samples/sounds, how many RAM memory do i have to work with to be comfortable...), the qulity of the AKAI format samples...
I would program with a PC and a master keyboard sending data to the MPC-can i do it? or do i have to look for an MPC graphic interface ?

For its studio use : does it worth to buy an MPC if i already have a PC ? can they complement 2gether ? It would be great to use it to get other instruments' samples...

Is there a big Price difference between MPC 4000 and MPC 2000XL ?
Bye

[Jussblaze]

Check www.mpc-tutor.com, theres alot of info on the mpc

[ECW]

I got the MPC-2000 and have used it in the studio, but not in a live setting. The floppy goes at the typical floppy drive speed you'd be used to getting from a PC. In fact, the drive is a regular PC floppy drive and can be easily replaced if it breaks down.

Your RAM needs vary depending on the length of samples you use and the number of samples you need loaded at once. RAM is cheap, so it wouldn't hurt to max it out.

One cool thing is that you can load any .wav file from your computer into the MPC-2000 as a sample. The bad thing is that the MPC-2000 mangles .wav files so that they sound noticably different when played on the Akai than they do when played on the PC.

The onboard sequencer is pretty cool and offers good control over each measure of music. The unit will also work fine when controlled by an external MIDI source.

The Akai format samples are decent, but nothing to write home about.

It's pretty easy to load new sample sets and new pad configurations once they're saved properly. The speed depends on the amount of data you're dealing with. If you want to play songs back to back to back when playing live, it would probably be tough to use the floppy drive, but an external SCSI drive would help with that. Otherwise, you can use the floppy and have the frontman talk while someone is loading from floppy.

For what it's worth, I stopped using the MPC-2000 and got a Korg Triton, which sounds quite a lot better (but costs quite a bit more).

Jeremy
Electric Color Wheel www.electriccolorwheel.com