need some help/info on the akai MPC2000

[The Big Muff]

alright this is gonna be a long one but here it goes.....

My buddy (who runs a studio) and myself just finished recording a really experimental electronic album (i.e keyboards through distortion pedals etc.). We have decided to continue with this project so therefore we need a way to perform this stuff live. We recorded our whole record through a Trident 80B into Steinbergs Nuendo. we would set a basic project tempo and make loops and then basically construct the song. we purchased an AKAI MPC 2000 with the full 32Mg upgrade and a zip drive thinking that this would be the best way to perform live, we plan to load the individual loops for each song onto a zip disk and then load them into the mpc and trigger them live....so in a clearer form here are some of my actual questions

1. The MPC at max can only hold 32MB of samples in it at one time. some of our song loops files are much larger than this (the largest being around 80MG) does anyone know if with the MPC whether or not you are actually able to trigger samples from the ZIP drive or if they actually have to be loaded into the sampler.

2. The MPC has the SCSI interface on the back for connecting the zip drive, I was wondering if it would be more beneficial to buy a CD drive and then just load stereo wavs of the complete song files as wavs

hope someone out there knows whats going on

[housepig]

1. The MPC at max can only hold 32MB of samples in it at one time. ... anyone know if with the MPC whether or not you are actually able to trigger samples from the ZIP drive or if they actually have to be loaded into the sampler.

2. The MPC has the SCSI interface on the back for connecting the zip drive, I was wondering if it would be more beneficial to buy a CD drive and then just load stereo wavs of the complete song files as wavs

1. yes, the samples have to be loaded in / triggered from RAM.

2. that's your call - it could be good (although you're still limited to 32Mb files), but burning Akai format cd's is a royal bitch - it won't read regular cd's full of wav data. I can get you some links to the process, but you need a SCSI hard drive and a SCSI cd burner IIRC to do Akai sample discs.

you might want to check into using the MPC as a controller / sequencer, and using another sampler with more RAM as your sampler. I picked up an EMU ESI-2000, 6 outputs, for $130, and loaded it with 128Mbs of RAM (the max) for another $14....

[wardshorsehead]

the esi-2000 is currently available new, direct from e-mu for $199.

another option, if your editing needs aren't as intense on the sampler (i.e. you edit the loops for time stretch and pitch on a computer), you might want to consider an mpc-1000.

it can be upgraded to 128mb ram and uses cards up to 2gb which load a lot faster than zips. it is a lot smaller and lighter, with a much bigger screen. it comes stock w/ 4 outs i believe, and can connect to the computer via usb for drag and drop sample loading to the cards.

you could probably sell the 2000 and get a new 1000 with the 128mb upgrade for about even.

good luck!

frank

[thebeard]

Funny that you should post this, I've been playing with samplers for four years now with just my little boss sp202's and sp303's. Thinking it was finally time to upgrade, my bandmate was thinking about getting an MPC2000. I looked at it online and was shocked with how little internal memory it had especially when I saw the price.

After much research, I bought an Akai s5000 with 72MB for $350 on ebay. It can hold 256MB (buy it now priced at $89 on e-bay last I checked) in internal memory when it's maxed out, and you can also trigger samples via midi to stream off of an optional hard drive (which I saw for $50) although I think you can only play one sample at a time this way depending on the speed of the drive haven't gotten one to try it out yet. 8 outputs standard, upgradeable to 16.

This brings to mind the question, Why is the internal memory on the mpc2000 so low? What is it supposed to be used for? I would think you should be able to upgrade it more just like the mpc4000. What are you thinking Akai?

Jesse

[object88]

This brings to mind the question, Why is the internal memory on the mpc2000 so low? What is it supposed to be used for? I would think you should be able to upgrade it more just like the mpc4000. What are you thinking Akai?

Back in the day, when the 2000 was a new gizmo, 32 megs was a good amount of memory for a sampler... The 2000 was released in 97, and the 200XL in 1999. It's only within the last 2-3 years that samplers have gone over 64 megs. When the 2000 was released, it was very common to release sample libraries on floppy disks, if that gives you an idea of common library / sample sizes.

Why can't you upgrade it? Because that was state-of-the-art back in those days... kinda like asking why you can't have 32 gigs of RAM in your laptop today.

Wasn't even that long ago...

[pscottm]

i toured w an mpc2000 for quite a few years, 96-'01 or something like that. i managed just fine but we had to design all our setlists around reloading time which could sometimes take up to 2-3 minutes, an eternity during a show. ..waiting for the last sample to play out then blip the power to empty ram, load the OS, then load the programs w samples for the next chunk of songs. pretty nerve racking. other than that i loved it. w the long sample lengths you mention i'd maybe look into the mpc1000, that is, if the mpc concept is working for you. whatever you use live, just make sure you know it inside-out enough to relax and enjoy playing rather than worrying about some sort of gear thing. i find that less is more when it comes to playing live. the less you need the right side of your brain the better.

[rfbutter]

I think the mpc was intened to either make one beat at a time, or to use a midi control center. If you are using it to trigger each layer of a song could you chop the layer into a loop, then just sequence the loops for any breaks or builds you may have? This would cutdown on how much data needs to be saved, and allow you to store multiple songs on one zip disk. Plus you could remix on the fly since each pad has bits and pieces of the song instead of the whole piece being on one pad.

This may be a little off topic but if anyone has the chance to check out DJ Shadows new dvd, there is a part w/ Shadow, Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark beat juggling and "scratching" w/ mpc's and dj mixers. Some of the coolest and most insane shit I've seen in a while. Makes me wish I never sold mine.

[thebeard]

Back in the day, when the 2000 was a new gizmo, 32 megs was a good amount of memory for a sampler... The 2000 was released in 97, and the 200XL in 1999. It's only within the last 2-3 years that samplers have gone over 64 megs. When the 2000 was released, it was very common to release sample libraries on floppy disks, if that gives you an idea of common library / sample sizes.

Why can't you upgrade it? Because that was state-of-the-art back in those days... kinda like asking why you can't have 32 gigs of RAM in your laptop today.

Wasn't even that long ago...

Ah, I see, I missed the fact that it came out in 97. I just assumed since I could still buy it new that it was more recent. The s5/6000 came out in 98 and is no longer in production.

It still seems like the jump from 32 to 256 is huge in just a year.

Muff: Best of luck on the search. If you have to you can always use tape players or the like for loading times. It worked for us, you just have to plan everything out before hand.

Jesse

[housepig]

the MPC was also not meant as a full-featured sampler - it's a sampling drum machine & sequencer, in a compact box.

for that application (small drum-hit samples, short loops) it's great - but it was never intended for 5-minute-long samples.

[Isolation]

i'm glad this thread was started about the Akai as i was looking at getting the very same model, and knowing that it came out in the 90's i wasn't too shocked to see the memory being the size it can only be at...i'm definitely not gonna go with the akai, i've been hunting one down on ebay and they can easily range from $500-$1000+...and in an issue of MTM magazine Korg makes one for cheaper, how it ranks up to the Akai i have no idea though...oh, and the Korg model is the Electribe-S mkII in case anyone was wondering...does anyone know anything about it?