MarkN said:
yea i don't expect to become good with it overnight but i've had it for months and months now and still havent found a reason too use it yet, its always been easier for me to use my software stuff ! like for example editing samples on an MPC is a pig whereas i use cool edit when i use software and its so much better and easier to use ?
most of my beats are totally sample based well until recently and i don't use a midi keyboard i always use softsynths controlled by my m-audio ozone !
Its an expensive piece of equipment but and imo i find that working with my software setup allows me to work in more detail ? plus it gives me much more control over wot im doing and a greater number of possibilities !
I mean i don't want to totally write it off people like just blaze, kanye west, dre dre, premo all use MPCs tho not the 1000 ! so the mpc must be a good piece of kit is it the fact that the 1000 is crap ?
obviously at the moment i sequence my stuff in reason i don't see how the MPC sequencer is any better infact i think its a nightmare to work with compared to the reason sequencer ?
am i completely missing something here or is the MPC1000 overhyped ?
PS thanks for those replying in here
It's overhyped but that doesnt mean anything. But let me try to put you up to some basic points/assets of a mpc, any mpc for that matter since I wont take the quality of the sampler into notice(I might add some stuff later on).
1. Sampler embedded workstation; there is a sampler in your hardware sequencer meaning that there's no latency(well hardly, we're almost talking lightspeed for what midi connections are concerned). That's the reason why you select a drum part for your samples and not midi a miditrack, the midi data goes directly into the cpu of mpc and not out the I/O's. You'll have some latency over midi depending on the amount of midi messages going through the midichain. I.e., if you set a drummachine in the end of a chain you might a few milliseconds delay opposed from the first machine in the chain. So you set the sampler or drummachine first in the midi chain. You might be thinking small issue but those milliseconds in miditiming make up for swing etc, which becomes messy when out of sync, sometimes on the slightest midi note (like a hat section). That's why its nice that the mpc has dual I/O's in case of mucho hardware. It's one of the reason why you can say that the timing of the sequencer on a mpc is rock solid.
2. It's a sequencer with a dual midi I/O and full sync options, it basicaly fits in any setup unless there's no midi device in there or can easily be fitted into a current setup (modular setup). There nothing special which means any data can be transfered to any other midi reading device, whether that be realtime or via storagemedia and in both directions (play/rec - a midi recorder). It also features a midi thru mode meaning when you sequence various channel to gear from your daw, the mpc will record all those individual channels when assigned. This mean you work from either the mpc or pc, but always keep the same setup. So in case you work with a daw but perform on stage with hardware you only need to record the data going from the daw, through the mpc, to the midigear...after recording detach the midi cables going to and from the pc and you're live set is done. The other way around is work notepad style on the mpc untill you feel that the layout of a track is done (and I mean really done), you then save you're work to a file type-1 midifile and open it up in your fav. platform to work out the details in the track( but you have work out a template midifile or daw file formaat that has the same midi assignment you used on the mpc, or else you just have midi data, but no chnls assigned, no prgms, nothing. You can manualy assign like this but then noobs start complaining because they never thought of this).
3. Forget beats, lets talk scoring key actions. I'm all in favour of getting away form the pc screens, so at times it's nice to take the mpc and place it on top of the midi piano (in my case, a yamaha clavinova). All I do is hit record and start playing and let it record all my key actions. I find something I like I replay the key action untill satisfied and fit it into a loop. After that I work out another part of the score, I might have started with basic chords so step 2 is basslines....on the piano. Then stringparts etc, whatever needs to be in the track Im working on. This process of writing a score goes much faster than writing on a daw because you dont have to many options you're fucking with and too much potentials. It's me and the piano, the mpc just records or does undo. Like this, if the whole score sounds dope on the clavinova, playback by mpc, I detach it again and hook it up in the controlroom again and start assigning proper sounds.
4. Timing issue, besides from latency over midichain There is timing by 2 factors, cpu of the mpc which totaly dedicated to the OS opposed to multitasking on a DAW which always shares its resources and second ppq (pulses per quarter note). AND (It might shock you guys) but the mpc is merely 96ppq(960ppq on the 4K), it still a lot if you consider that you can shuve a note 96 steps within a 1/4th note (besides percentages shifted by swingfactor, which is still in range of 96ppq) but FL as I remember does 786ppq and logic is also 960 ppq. So, if you're hooking up an mpc to a daw, than you might wanna switch the platforms ppq to match the mpc's ppq to keep the mpc's famous timing (or as in noob terms "the feel of the mpc"). I can also imagine that 4k users with experience of older mpc models might remark upon the feel not being the same since the ppq resolution wennt up a tenfold, now I dont know much about the 4k, but it would be funny to set it back to 96ppq lol.
me 2 eurocents
