So many people are getting confused what a MPC2000 can do, or indeed what it is, hopefully my page will help you understand what the white beast is capable of, and if you are already an user, will help you to get the most out of it! 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. This is probably due to the lack of software support in 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. )

License free TR-909 set for MPC2000 is on my sound library, and for techno or house you don't need anything else to start writing tunes. 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 any kind of music that use Samples of real (acoustic) drum kit, commonly refereed to as Break beats, (OT: fuck musique criticiques trying to make us call'em 'critical beats'. they are the ones branded and slanted drum'n'bass to no-where land) 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 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 synth/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 synthesizer, I'm only critisizing the way some people use otherwise brillant technology in the most boring way.

To help produce the kinds of music listed above, you can find whole a lot of Sample CDs that gives you the samples that will instantly make you sound like someone.
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.