MPC vs All softwares mega stellar battle intergalactica!!

ryansupak · Post by **ryansupak** » Tue May 30, 2006 5:17 pm

With software, I always hear the advantages as "possibilities" and "flexibility" (I've said these things myself, too.)

However, there's a difference, sometimes, between what you "can do" and what you "will do". I think an MPC covers all the "will do" bases, for a lot of people, and it does so with an exceptionally tight workflow.

Another example -- I found two YouTube movies -- one in which a guy is making a beat with an MPC, and another where a guy is making a beat with FruityLoops (search for "Just Blaze MPC4000" and "Fuck MPC" and I think you'll get them.)

The bottom line was that, to me, using the MPC looked and sounded like a flowing, musical experience. What was coming out sounded like music almost 100% of the time while the beat was being made.

Using the computer sounded clunky a lot of the time, almost up until the beat was finished. Ableton improves on this somewhat, but there's still way more mousing around than with an MPC.

$0.01,
rs

quandry · Post by **quandry** » Tue May 30, 2006 5:55 pm

ryansupak wrote:With software, I always hear the advantages as "possibilities" and "flexibility" (I've said these things myself, too.)

However, there's a difference, sometimes, between what you "can do" and what you "will do". I think an MPC covers all the "will do" bases, for a lot of people, and it does so with an exceptionally tight workflow.

Another example -- I found two YouTube movies -- one in which a guy is making a beat with an MPC, and another where a guy is making a beat with FruityLoops (search for "Just Blaze MPC4000" and "Fuck MPC" and I think you'll get them.)

The bottom line was that, to me, using the MPC looked and sounded like a flowing, musical experience. What was coming out sounded like music almost 100% of the time while the beat was being made.

Using the computer sounded clunky a lot of the time, almost up until the beat was finished. Ableton improves on this somewhat, but there's still way more mousing around than with an MPC.

$0.01,
rs

Not sure I agree 100%. I watched the just blaze thing in full, couldn't find the "fuck mpc" fruityloops one, but I use FL Studio rewired to Live all the time so I kindof know what its like. I guess my comments would be that, yes, the mpc does have everything sort of set up for you to record in a sample, trim it, and stretch it to fit something else, and blaze definitely looks like he knows what he's doin' and moves pretty quickly. That said, all of his beats were already loaded on his mpc, and they are all samples off recordings of someone playing a full drum kit. i.e. he didn't make those drum parts himself from individual drum hit samples, he just sampled a whole drum part and is trying different ones out before settling on something. this is fine, but much of whats in the video is samples already loaded on the mpc and he's just triggering passages of music he's sampled.

Granted, you can obviously also build up your own parts by playing individual drum hit samples on the mpc, no doubt. For me though, I think if you have FL (and/Live) and a decent controller, be it an mpc-16 whatever, the trigger finger, or my favorite a drumkat that you can play with real drumsticks (or a vdrum set if you have $$$$), I feel like FL and/or Live can do the job of the mpc and more. Recording samples into Live is easy, trimming them in Live is more precise, and I imagine beat matching and warping in Live is better/deeper (I haven't ever used an mpc much). I guess all I'm trying to say is that if you set up Live or FL well and have some decent controllers set up, I think you can pretty closely match the general workflow of an mpc if you wanted to.

my $0.005

ryansupak · Post by **ryansupak** » Tue May 30, 2006 6:21 pm

Agreed -- I think at the end of the day they're both great tools.

$0.00025,
rs

Sales Dude McBoob · Post by **Sales Dude McBoob** » Tue May 30, 2006 6:50 pm

forge wrote:
Sales Dude McBoob wrote:The thing about the MPC is its sequencer. One of my co-workers talks about this all the time. He has every software sampler under the sun, but to him nothing sounds and feels and sequences quite like his MPCs. I think of MPCs as instruments. There is Gibson's Les Paul, Fender's Stratocaster, and Akai's MPC 2000.

I could sell you a plug-in called Virtual Guitarist, but there is no way I would ever tell you it's as good as the real thing.
wow has this thread been planted by akai? whatever, it's making me salivate...

You have rung a pavlovs bell in me and I'm dying to get one now. Never even tried one, but damn they're sounding good to me right now.

well if anyone wants to sell me one cheap I'm highly suggestible...I have no money, but I trust galactic credits will suffice.

By the way sales dude, what's your job like? I imagine you to be one of those dudes off the 40 year old virgin

Yeah... not too far off.

Mr. Bossman took me aside yesterday and told me they are seriously considering moving me to the pro audio catalog writing dept! Glad I could make ya salivate! Looks like all this Ableton forum jibber-jabber I've been doing might pay off.

snowtires · Post by **snowtires** » Tue May 30, 2006 7:05 pm

i think it's all in your head. i had an mpc for two years and, while it was cool to only take the mpc to gigs, i never really saw why it was such a big deal. everything i did on the mpc i was able to reproduce exactly on a computer.

SubFunk · Post by **SubFunk** » Tue May 30, 2006 7:20 pm

i sold my mpc 2000 a long, long time ago, actually when i got my first mac and logic, they are great and definetely super stable, but they still can crash. whatever, i never looked back, they are good, but do nothing for ME which logic can't. that said logic is the only sequencer (FOR ME) that can replace a mpc, because of it's beautiful timing and swing, which really is a swing, just like the mpcs have.

however, if i would be into hip hop, i would go for an mpc rather then a computer driven sequencer, cause i only would need beats and pads. nothing fancy and an mpc is idiot prove to use.

snowtires wrote:

i think it's all in your head. i had an mpc for two years and, while it was cool to only take the mpc to gigs, i never really saw why it was such a big deal. everything i did on the mpc i was able to reproduce exactly on a computer.

in fact i think so, too.

djadonis206 · Post by **djadonis206** » Tue May 30, 2006 7:33 pm

We should all stop and ask ourselves what does Marco Bailey use an MPC or not - if he says not then we have our answer because he's the world best producer

easy

quandry · Post by **quandry** » Tue May 30, 2006 7:44 pm

djadonis206 wrote:We should all stop and ask ourselves what does Marco Bailey use an MPC or not - if he says not then we have our answer because he's the world best producer

easy

I think good producers can produce good tracks on whatever system they want, most of the time it just depends on what they learned on and what they are comfortable with. I think its less the hardware/software and more the creativity and compositional skills of the producer that makes great music great...

djadonis206 · Post by **djadonis206** » Tue May 30, 2006 8:17 pm

quandry wrote:
djadonis206 wrote:We should all stop and ask ourselves what does Marco Bailey use an MPC or not - if he says not then we have our answer because he's the world best producer

easy
I think good producers can produce good tracks on whatever system they want, most of the time it just depends on what they learned on and what they are comfortable with. I think its less the hardware/software and more the creativity and compositional skills of the producer that makes great music great...

I second that emotion!

It's interesting some of the more talented producers who just use whatever it takes to get the job done - they can walk into a Pro-Tools only studio, or a Reason studio or an MPC studio and bang out the jams regardless - and all their tracks have a similar theme (sound etc) that points to them

that's talent

quandry · Post by **quandry** » Tue May 30, 2006 8:20 pm

exactly. I just found out while looking into all of this that one of my favorite hip hop producers, 9th Wonder, does most of his stuff in FL Studio, which some people slam, but I think is a great companion to Live.

djadonis206 · Post by **djadonis206** » Tue May 30, 2006 8:27 pm

See I came up on a MPC - I didn't know anything about making music and friend who I respect said get an MPC - easy

I should have never sold it until Ableton 5 came out - Ableton 5 for me was able to take all the cool shit about the MPC and put it in a context my brain can understand

but I'll roll to my buddies crib and bang out a couple beats on his PT set-up (he's got some dope hardware)

or help a friend get up and running with Acid Pro

I asked my other friend who I respect why Ableton blew up so hard for me and he simply stated

It's all how your brain works - how you see shit etc etc

forge · Post by **forge** » Wed May 31, 2006 12:48 am

Sales Dude McBoob wrote:..........
By the way sales dude, what's your job like? I imagine you to be one of those dudes off the 40 year old virgin

Yeah... not too far off.

Mr. Bossman took me aside yesterday and told me they are seriously considering moving me to the pro audio catalog writing dept! Glad I could make ya salivate! Looks like all this Ableton forum jibber-jabber I've been doing might pay off.

good for you!

yeah, it's one of the reasons I got a myspace page for the blog!

Ifigured I spend so much time writing here I obviously enjoy doing it so I might start actually keeping it to myself and filling out a blog!

also thought about doing a journalism course or something....

ryansupak · Post by **ryansupak** » Wed May 31, 2006 3:08 am

I dropped by GuitarCenter today and played around on an MPC for old times sake. To me there's still something about the feel of the whole process that's musical...makes me wonder if anybody will still care about Ableton 23 years after it comes out in the same way.

I see that DJ Krush uses Abe, but it looks like he still uses an SP-1200 in part. Are there any other "famous" hiphop artists who use Ableton to make beats?

Like somebody else said, if somebody can make beats with the same intangible "knock" to them in Ableton as on an MPC, I'd like to hear them.

rs

wildstyle7272 · Post by **wildstyle7272** » Wed May 31, 2006 11:55 am

i make deephouse,hip-hop, and started to mess with broken beat

when i make beat on the ableton they come pretty good,i have some track you cant tell if i use the mpc or live5,

deckme(N)tal · Post by **deckme(N)tal** » Wed May 31, 2006 3:17 pm

wildstyle7272 wrote:i when i make beat on the ableton they come pretty good,i have some track you cant tell if i use the mpc or live5,

yes, it is possible...but the most important thing (for me) is how you get to the same result...perhaps with software you have spent 1 hour (example) to get that result you want...with MPC you spent 10 min (example)...i mean, i am shure that with good work you can get where you want with everything...but i want to make things quick and good...because i get bored preatty easily