MPC 2500 or MPC 4000? Help!!!

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tm1011

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I'm in the market right now for an MPC and I am having a tough time making a decision here between a 4000 and a 2500 so i'm looking for some advice from users who have experience with either of these machines and help me into making the best decision possible. My setup consists of Logic 8 on my Mac Pro and a 61-key Yamaha Midi controller and a lot of software instruments. Now what I am trying to do to my setup is purchase an MPC and make it my master sequencer and sync it with Logic 8 so I can do my drums on the MPC and then use Logic to host all my Plugins and pretty much use it as a sound module and then sequence my song in song mode and once im done with my track bounce it into separate audio tracks into Pro Tools or Logic for the mix. The reason why I want to do this is i'm trying to get that fresh MPC sound of drums into my beats. Im not sampling vinyl nor am I playing live or any of that other good stuff, im just trying to get my drum game right. Now im thinking that because the 4000 has a higher sample rate than the 2500 it might have better converters inside the machine for audio and my drums might hit harder or feel way different. As far as the learning curve im not really to worried about that cause I pick things up quick. I've played around for 5 or 10 minutes on both watched many tutorials on how to use them seen charts read specs and reviews but I still cant decide which one might be the right one for my setup. Im sorry I had to make this post so long I just really want other users to see what I am trying to do so I can get some good responses but thanks for reading this much and any advice on which way to go is much appreciated.

Can anyone help me on which way to go on this one?
 
I own a 2500, but I don't think either of them are going to be the midas touch you think they are going to be. It doesn't magically make drums sound better, it's just a sampler and a sequencer. I think if you buy either, you'll be disappointed.
 
Kojak said:
I own a 2500, but I don't think either of them are going to be the midas touch you think they are going to be. It doesn't magically make drums sound better, it's just a sampler and a sequencer. I think if you buy either, you'll be disappointed.
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Well at the end of the day it most definitely is just sampler and a sequencer. I do believe strongly that the clock inside the machine and the swing it provides is unique and does bring a different looser feel to your drums. Thanks for your input though I appreciate it.
 
I do believe strongly that the clock inside the machine and the swing it provides is unique and does bring a different looser feel to your drums.
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What makes you believe that? I've owned a 2000xl and 2500 and used a 4000 on a regular basis, never found anything spectacular about the swing. I mean get one if your heart is set on it, maybe you'll like it. I think it's main advantage is the ease it provides for with dealing with external synthesizers, sequencing them, bouncing them down and such.
 
I own a 4000 and I'll tell you it is pure heaven. Everything about it is on point most important is the workflow, 2nd is the space I can make an entire album and all I need is a pair of headphones and a wall outlet to plug it in. The 2500 us dope however it's is by no way comparable to the mighty 4000. I can tell some CPU users hating. The mpc series does have swing that is UNMATCHED!!!! The pads are so responsive, and nothing is better than tapping a pad and hearing and feeling the thud of a drum or the chopping of samples. Nuff said!!!
 
Using a MPC is not going to give you drums some magical sound,it will give it a good feel and swing.
But you can load high quality dope drums (like say the ones from www.soundsforsamplers.com ) into a MPC or LOGIC and they will both sound dope and they will basically sound the same.
If you want your drum sounds to sound better then use better drum sounds end or story..

If you want great workflow and the awesome mpc swing then you get a mpc.


How as far as MPC2500 vs MPC4000
I would def pick theh mpc2500 ,it just has more features (like dirrect recording) and othehr things the 4k don`t have.
Also the 4k is almost impossible to find replacement parts for.
 
That's like saying if you got a 808 kit on logic it sounds the same as an orginal TR-808. Yea right nice sounding imitation. It's the mechanics in the machine. You can play wii sports with a golf and a bat but it's not the same in real life. Beat machines to me are better at producing that more realistic sound, pc's have a lot more components filtering, altering, and enhancing the sound while the mpc4000 does none of that. Just 24 & 16 bit and with older units 8,12,16.
 
A tr 808 is different, parts of it are analog, a sampler just keeps 1 and 0 representations of digital audio.
 
justeyecee said:
That's like saying if you got a 808 kit on logic it sounds the same as an orginal TR-808. Yea right nice sounding imitation. It's the mechanics in the machine. You can play wii sports with a golf and a bat but it's not the same in real life. Beat machines to me are better at producing that more realistic sound, pc's have a lot more components filtering, altering, and enhancing the sound while the mpc4000 does none of that. Just 24 & 16 bit and with older units 8,12,16.
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Beat machines are actually pc's with a specific purpose. They have a designated OS, just as a pc runs Windows, and Macs run OSX. If what I've have been reading is true, then there are a lot of MPC 5000 users desperately awaiting a new OS for the 5000.

One other thing, most of the music you hear today is recorded and edited in a computer. With the right "know how", one can make a pc sound like anything from a SP 12 to a MPC 4000. It's all bit depth and sample rate.
 
The MPC-4000 is the last real MPC.

4000 > 5000
4000 > 2500x3

Kojak said:
What makes you believe that? I've owned a 2000xl and 2500 and used a 4000 on a regular basis, never found anything spectacular about the swing.
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You're probably use the MPC too much to feel it. Use something else for a while then come back to the MPC. Trust me...

It's not just the swing... The MPC dose something with timing that makes the sound groove better...
 
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dirtymike said:
The MPC-4000 is the last real MPC.

4000 > 5000
4000 > 2500x3
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I think I have to agree. The 4000 was 24/96 with up to 512 MB of ram. It seems like Akai took a step back with the 5000, and I really can't figure out why.
 
Akai took a big step back in general. JJ saved their asses with the mpc 1000 and 2500
 
Why did they drop the 4000 for the 5000? Why did they cut the features?

Did it have something to do with Alesis?


What's the story?
 
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Numark, akai and alesis all got bought out and are under the same conglomerate. the newer mpc's the alesis fusions both were rushed before they were ready. This company is horrible. The fusions sucked when they were first released just like the 1000.
 
Most users of the MPC 4K had no legitimate use for 512MB RAM nor for the extended sampler capability, What does one really need with a full blown sampler like that when there is only 64 voice polyphony. Load a nice piano Multi sample and do a sustained run..your MPC is toast. 512 is not enough to run the better sample libraries that exist today. The 2500 with JJOS does everything you need plus some. Show me an mpc 4k user that actually does synthesis/ uses multisample libraries....you wont find many just based off the polyphony issue. Running your drums + a multi eats your polyphony up.
 
Focused said:
Most users of the MPC 4K had no legitimate use for 512MB RAM nor for the extended sampler capability, What does one really need with a full blown sampler like that when there is only 64 voice polyphony. Load a nice piano Multi sample and do a sustained run..your MPC is toast. 512 is not enough to run the better sample libraries that exist today. The 2500 with JJOS does everything you need plus some. Show me an mpc 4k user that actually does synthesis/ uses multisample libraries....you wont find many just based off the polyphony issue. Running your drums + a multi eats your polyphony up.
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You make some good points, but to me, that's even more reason for Akai to step up the specs for the 5000. They could have given it a capacity for 2 or even 4 gigs of memory and streaming from disc sample playback, and even more polyphony, like say 128 voices. They could have also given it groove extraction too, which a lot of software apps have making it just as powerful as any software program, but with the MPC workflow and feel. They should have kept the 24/96 sampling, if one were to want that, and just made it so that you could change the sample rate. I also think they should have kept the larger screen that the 4000 had. A firewire output and the ability to use the MPC as a soundcard would have also been a nice touch so that you could track out your beats to your favorite DAW (except Pro Tools) without needing an additional audio interface. To me, these features would have been the logical progression for the MPC 4000 to 5000 upgrade.

For those that don't need all of that, they could still offer the lower models.


I own a MPC 3000, and was considering buying a 5000, but the more I read about the 4000, the more I feel that the 5000 is a let down. I think I'll wait a while and see what happens with the new 5000 OS and see what future models Akai Professional comes up with.
 
I just dont understand why the 4000 has a true effect on whether the 5000 will work for you and provide the functionality you require. I think one of the BEST features on the 5000 that no other MPC has is quantize percentage, that alone is a great step in the right direction. Anyhow, I would rather base my decision based on the product itself instead of worrying about whether akai continued building off the 4K idea, at the end of the day Akai is a business and they had to look at the numbers and make a decision.
 
Focused said:
Show me an mpc 4k user that actually does synthesis/ uses multisample libraries....
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I'm not even gona lie. I've been say'n I'll get there one day while still using mostly drum programs. I've got a full synth suit of sounds loaded but ever really use them to produce anything...

The 4000's still my favorite...
 
Focused said:
I just dont understand why the 4000 has a true effect on whether the 5000 will work for you and provide the functionality you require. I think one of the BEST features on the 5000 that no other MPC has is quantize percentage, that alone is a great step in the right direction. Anyhow, I would rather base my decision based on the product itself instead of worrying about whether akai continued building off the 4K idea, at the end of the day Akai is a business and they had to look at the numbers and make a decision.
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Good point. It just seems as if they didn't do a lot of research in the development of the 5000. From what I have read of people who have owned both the 5000 and the 4000, they seem to like the 4000 better, and even though the 4000's are discontinued, you can still buy them brand new.

It seems as if the 4000 didn't sell as much as they would have wanted. I wonder how the sales are on the 5000 now.
 
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