but before going any further, please read my Brief
explanation of the machine to
get a rough idea of what it is.
Okay, now you've heard about MPC2000, important thing to remember first
is that
it's the machine's sequencer that really counts. And to be honest,
it really sucks as a
general purpose sampler. If you are already a hardcore user of a PC/Mac
sequencing
system, there isn't much point in buying one of these to add to your
system compared to other samplers
on the market. (Akai S-series samplers are indeed what you should be
looking at)
Although MPC2000's sampling engine is identical (so I heard) to S2000,
its use is limited
preliminary to that for rhythm programing only. This is probably due
to the lack of software
support of its operating system, so there is still a hope of Akai releasing
a better OS
for MPC2000 to enable these things. (but this is quite unlikely considering
the amount of work
Akai's got on the new S-5000/6000 samplers. then there is nothing wrong
with keeping a hope in your mind. :)
However, it is excellent as a 'live' sequencer to use on stage. As its
name 'MIDI Production Centre'
speaks itself, it is capable of handling most Sound modules you need
on stage.
Technically, it's got 2 individual MIDI outs and 2 MIDI ins, and what
this means is that you can
plug any 2 sound modules to the machine with no tricks to kick sounds
out of them, and
have a keyboard ( or any MIDI controllers ) and a MIDI sync input from
other sequencers
if you have one. And if you are familiar with clever tricks of
MIDI, there isn't anything wrong
to have more than 2 modules connected. ( I have 3 modules on mine)
If you are intending to use it for classic 4 to the floor style Acid
Techno (or house, whatever
you call it). I suggest you to get a fake 303 such as Bass station
or deep bass 9,
(they are now dead cheap for lucky british gits) and a
simple Mixer. As long as you quantise all the notes to 16th and keep
them slightly
distorted (!) on the mixer, they can sound quite like the originals.
( Who cares if its sound
doesn't change every time or lacks the 'warmth' of analogue synth?
Most audients cann't tell
the difference anyway. )
TR-909 set for MPC2000 is on my sound library, and can be used freely
as long as
you let me know that you appreciate it. If you haven't gotta clue what
these numbers
are about, you really aren't ready to write your own songs. ( controversial
comment I know )
I suggest you to go and have a listen to any classic techno tunes and
see if you can spot the same
kind of drum sounds present in most of them. See what I mean? The bass
drum, the Hats?
MPC2000 can sound better than other clones like MC-303 or any presets
on GS/XG modules.
They have really thin sounds as they are designed to accompany other
instruments.
In Techno, Drums are the main instrument that's gotta stand out. Good
thing Akai samplers sound
really crisp and punchy. (in my humble opinion. By the way I
hate describing sounds in terms like these)
But if this is all you wanna do, Quasimidi staff like Sirius/Rave-O-lution
309 or Roland MC-303/505
are good alternatives, and they are much cheaper too. Although things
you can do are quite limited
on these, you can always add MPC2000 to use with them. (I have MC-303
running in sync with the MPC)
However, if you wanna do Drum'n'Bass, or Big beat, or Hip-Hop, or whatever
that use
Samples of real (acoustic) drum kit, usually refereed to as Break beats,
there is no
other machines than a MPC that can handle these things better. (Forget
PCs and Macs)
Basically you've got everything you need to make your Original tunes
in a MPC.
You can sample any sound you like, do as much mess around as you like,
and
stack 'em in order with its 64 track sequencer.
Sample editing is one of MPC2000's underrated features in my opinion.
Okay, it lacks time stretching or any other DSP based effects,
(Even with EB-16 effector expansion board, you can't do these things
nor internally resample sounds)
but you don't need them unless you are a real experimentalist of some
sort.
If you want any good special effect on your sounds, only realistic choice
these days is to
use a computer. If you can afford the machine and the software like
ReCycle (doesn't work well
with MPC2000, No SCSI support!), Sound forge or shareware Wave surgeon,
Cool edit, etc.
Remember that MPC2000 still can import .wav files and standard MIDI
files to
benefit from these new techy staff on computers, and take it on stage
easily
unlike heavy computers. (lap-tops? I can't afford them so let's forget.)
See also my MPC&ZIP page for more
info on using MPC with computers.
Back to the point, You can easily adjust speed of a break with MPC's
BPM calculation feature. and finding good loop point is easy with its
large
screen and zoom in/out function. Then you can use 'zone edit' function
to
mess around with beats which really is a great fun. (reversing BDs,
etc.)
Some preset samplers have break beats on board (JV-1080 and dance card
etc.)
which you can't edit. Avoid them unless you don't need to be original.
They are for
producers working for TV ads or any sort of music for the people who
don't listen to music as closely as we do. (another controversial comment)
Of course, 1080 is a great as a synthesizer, I'm only critisizing the
way its
breakbeats samples are distributed.
For the kind of music listed above, you can find a lot of Sample CDs
that gives you the samples that can sound like someone instantly.
There is nothing wrong with using them but why not use these features
of MPC
to create your own materials? First thing I tried was to sample a break
from old DJ tools vinyl
and speed it up to 160 BPM, then cut and edit to make a Drum'n'Bass.
Some extreme pitching can mutate your sounds into something nice and
unexpected.
and the resonant filter can also be used for extreme effect or fine
tuning the character
of the sample. Although you can't sweep sounds with it, there are some
good uses
when you assign cut-off frequency to note variation slider. try it
and see how it sounds.
For the deep bass sound in Drum'n'Bass, try using boomy 808 kick or
any sine wave
with long decay, and assign pitch to note variation slider. Then use
the slider or use
16 level function to play as you feel. You don't need a keyboard for
that kind of bass lines.
Something I don't recommend to do is to assign bass sound to 16 different
pads and
pitch them differently. While the operating system doesn't allow multi-timbral
operation,
this is a complete waste of pads. Remember only 64 sounds can be used
in a program.
The kind of sound with heavy bottom can be made easily (and joyfully,)
with
'Stomper' by Zap ( only for Windows at the moment)
The bass drum sounds it makes totally kicks ass. (ass Zap claims)
Visit Zap's home page for the
latest version of the tool.
For Big Beats, or Chemical beats (again, whatever you call'em) MPC indeed
is an ideal machine.
I've actually heard that the Chemical Brothers use MPC3000 (not 2000)
on stage.
There isn't much I can say how to make them, except obvious things
like a collection of old vinyls
would be useful ( if you haven't, then just go for the sample CDs.
They are just as good
except that there's a risk of every body using the same loops).
For both d'n'b and BB, what I wanna remind you is that they are kind
of sounds you can
never make on rhythm machines without samplers. So don't go for any
other rhythm machines
if you want to make these kinda music. Also, MPC2000 OS ver. 1.31 and
later has real-time
muting of all the tracks via 16 pads, which is Extremely useful and
essential for live performance.
I had considered Ensoniq ASR-X as well before buying my MPC2000.
Although it has
rather nice synth. section and a sampler that lets you resample internally
with
a good effector, I thought its sequencer totally sucks. And considering
it came without
SCSI port, (I heard that now it does, but not at the time) it was just
not for me.
Also its 'When Ensoniq went out and asked top DJs and Producers blah
blah blah...'
ads pissed me right off. Who cares if Mr. Top DJ uses this and that?
And most of these 'easy-to-use-even-for-the-worlds-worst-spaks' machines
compensate
ease of use to sometimes the most important features.
MPC2000 isn't much so except its sampling engine, which I think was
simplified from S2000
for ease of use. But for other bits, it's quite straight forward and
intuitive.
I hope one day manufacturers understand the difference between being
'easy to learn, uneasy to use'
and 'easy to use, uneasy to learn'. MPC2000 is more of the later
but learning how to use it
isn't as bad as it could have been and intuitively straight forward.