pol
Wiki Editors
Posts: 1,308
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Post by pol on Jul 22, 2024 15:17:52 GMT
I've been using this machine for just over 18 months now and am just so pleased with what it brought to my studio. The 2 main reasons for purchasing were the gate/CV outs (fully AE compatible) and the sampling/sample edit with the touchscreen. These 2 items have been excellent but I'm also loving the ease of sound allocation/choice, (especially with the expansions & plug in programs), and the ability to mix down audio within the machine to complete a song, including vocals or other sounds brought in through the audio inputs. Song mode is a bit odd, (i.e. not ideal for how I work) but similar to my other, older MPCs and generally easier to use due to the larger screen. I'm sure I am also a long way from plumbing all the depths of this machine but I love it. Highly recommended to work with the AE, although a noise gate may be needed (not one available on the MPC1 inputs), and great to take on holidays/ trips etc. as a notepad machine. I have loved the experience so much, (and made so much music), I'm currently saving for the MPC X SE......
Pol.
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Post by leethargo on Jul 22, 2024 18:43:20 GMT
I was recently at a synth meet where we wanted to jam together. For some reason I could not receive the MIDI clock signal, but my "neighbor" also had a MPC 1 and saved me by providing my some CV gates for 16th notes :-)
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Post by pt3r on Jul 23, 2024 8:28:05 GMT
I’m an OG mpc2000xl user myself but from what I’ve seen this new range of MPCS has nothing in common anymore with those old boxes appart from the 16 pads. Gone are the days of peeking through the slot of a letterbox to edit midi notes and crop waveforms.  No doubt that a big touchscreen adds lots of flexibility and power but I feel its more like an laptop with a daw in a different form factor. The reason I moved away from Ableton and other DAWs is the abundance of plugins and instruments the abundance of possibilities is too overwhelming and stifling for my creative process. I am a believer of limitations triggering creativity. That’s probably why I prefer to use my polyend tracker instead of a Renoise copy running on a laptop, I would waste so much time trying out different vsts and other plugins and make less music. I could also run a noiseless vcv rack instead of my AE modular but again those little ‘boring’ grey modules do something for me that I simply dont get from tapping away on keyboards and clicking around with a mouse. Clearly a case of different strokes for different folks or something. On a more serious note, how is the user support from those people at Akai? Back in the days it was notoriously bad. Up to the point were people were cooking their own mcp3000 os, and build their own replacemant pads for the mpc1000 since the original pad broke due to bad construction and Akai would do nothing about it. |
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pol
Wiki Editors
Posts: 1,308
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Akai MPC1
Jul 23, 2024 10:29:36 GMT
via mobile
Post by pol on Jul 23, 2024 10:29:36 GMT
I’m an OG mpc2000xl user myself but from what I’ve seen this new range of MPCS has nothing in common anymore with those old boxes appart from the 16 pads. Gone are the days of peeking through the slot of a letterbox to edit midi notes and crop waveforms. No doubt that a big touchscreen adds lots of flexibility and power but I feel its more like an laptop with a daw in a different form factor. The reason I moved away from Ableton and other DAWs is the abundance of plugins and instruments the abundance of possibilities is too overwhelming and stifling for my creative process. I am a believer of limitations triggering creativity. That’s probably why I prefer to use my polyend tracker instead of a Renoise copy running on a laptop, I would waste so much time trying out different vsts and other plugins and make less music. I could also run a noiseless vcv rack instead of my AE modular but again those little ‘boring’ grey modules do something for me that I simply dont get from tapping away on keyboards and clicking around with a mouse. Clearly a case of different strokes for different folks or something. On a more serious note, how is the user support from those people at Akai? Back in the days it was notoriously bad. Up to the point were people were cooking their own mcp3000 os, and build their own replacemant pads for the mpc1000 since the original pad broke due to bad construction and Akai would do nothing about it. I couldn't agree more about too many options being a distraction to actually getting music made. I also dislike computers for music as it tends to get visual rather than audio, even if you try hard not to! I wouldn't say Akai support is great, but it is a lot better than it used to be (partly as it is a actually a different company to the MP2000-3000 days). My main issue is, like a lot of companies these days, you get web based support or bugger all. It's fine if the web support answers your question but amazing how often they don't for me. There are 2 excellent MPC user forums and, of course, YouTube which tend to be my go to now. 2 of my gripes with the MPC1 they fixed with the MPC1+, so doesn't help me but shows they do listen. I too started my MPC journey with the 2000XL, which I still have. I upgraded to the MPC2500 which cured a lot of my limitations with the 2000XL but, as you say, introduced the editing through a keyhole of a screen 🥴. Was fine for most things but not chromatic sampling which the MPC1 makes a doodle 😁. |
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No doubt that a big touchscreen adds lots of flexibility and power but I feel its more like an laptop with a daw in a different form factor. The reason I moved away from Ableton and other DAWs is the abundance of plugins and instruments the abundance of possibilities is too overwhelming and stifling for my creative process. I am a believer of limitations triggering creativity. That’s probably why I prefer to use my polyend tracker instead of a Renoise copy running on a laptop, I would waste so much time trying out different vsts and other plugins and make less music. I could also run a noiseless vcv rack instead of my AE modular but again those little ‘boring’ grey modules do something for me that I simply dont get from tapping away on keyboards and clicking around with a mouse. Clearly a case of different strokes for different folks or something.