Ableton Forum

just thought i would bitch about it and give the advice that anyone that is going to sell their MPC or any other piece of hardware, think twice, think long and hard before you regret it. i am having to go buy another one now next week.

fact: computers play samples like shit. dedicated samplers like an MPC have a much crisper punchier sound.

i thought i would sell my mpc and just use kontakt and impulse for drums and stuff, but man the drums sound shit coming out of the computer. same samples, no effects just the samples do not sound as good. that sucks. i have done side by side comparrisons. the dedicated audio engine in hardware must be the factor.

reason for the rant? just spent an hour and half making a track at the music shop on their mpc told em i owuld be back in three days to get one again.

so think twice b4 you sell.

d~

hmm.. i dont miss mine yet, and its been 3+ years..

to each is own......
i dont regret selling the mpc, i regret buying it! lol

but you learned a very good lesson. so now the student becomes the master.

I learned to make beats on a computer and have used Battery, Impulse, Stylus RMX, and was always pretty pleased.

then I heard what the same samples, ripped from the same vinyl, sounded like on an MPC. I was upset I had spent so much time using anything else. Not a small difference... a damn obvious difference.

experienced use of great compression and EQ plugins don't make up the difference either.

I love my mpc 2500 :-))))))))))))))

I love my mpc 2500 :-))))))))))))))

Sorry for the double post; that is a nice bug in the new Safari for Windows ;-)

dango wrote: fact: computers play samples like shit. dedicated samplers like an MPC have a much crisper punchier sound.

fact: It's all in your head!

I love my 1000 as well
wanted to get the 2500 but for live portability went for the 1000 such a sweet piece of gear
I am happy I haven't sold my hardware, all my babies are still with me

3dot... wrote:

dango wrote: fact: computers play samples like shit. dedicated samplers like an MPC have a much crisper punchier sound.

fact: It's all in your head!

no it is not. i noticed this when i had my mpc and still can hear it now with all the tracks i recorded from my mpc. the tracks hit loud.

bd sample x played from the mpc is louder and clearer than bd sample x played from kontakt or impulse.

i think it is because the audio engine in an mpc or other hard samplers is dedicated to playing that sample and doing that only. where as your computer is processing everything else plus playing that sample. it is not in my head. i have perfect hearing and can tell you they do not sound the same.



if it were in my head i would not be dropping another G on another mpc. believe me, i like the control i have over each sound when using kontakt, i can nmot get that control with an mpc. that is why i sold it, i thought kontakt gives me more of what i need. after a few months of muddy sounding drums i am over it, i want the punch back.

I stand by my opinion... I'm not sayin' you have bad ears..
I think it's because mpcs have a built in limiter or something before the outputs......
...a sample is a sample...the way it was recorded is the way it will play... it's a bunch of O/1s ... unless you're changing something (gain,upsample,downsample,compression,eq...which can make it sound 'better')
I would not say anything if you said it's filters are very good...bcuz that's a matter of opinion...but you say it plays Samples better than a computer as a FACT...
I'm not saying that mpcs are not a fun and handy tool... but ...
I Don't believe the hype having used it in various studios
...and don't need it as I'm using live with a multifaceII...can do so much more and with excellent sound...In terms of tweakability I prefer Roland's mv-8000 but again...Do not need it...

If it sounds more 'punchy' then something is being done to it...is all I'm sayin' basically...

Wow...Sorry for the long post...

ad/da

You are both right. MPC sounds good, better- which is very relative- for some stuff but computer is better with other, mainly because of higher resolutions, for anything with rich overtone content I use Live, MPC for drums, some, not all percussion. For example Conga sounds mostly better from MPC but Tabla from Live.
The other side is the tightness and actual live playing the beats, and here MPC wins all the way.

b0unce wrote:ad/da

+1

What sound card are you using on your computer?

The MPC actually has a lower quality DAC than pretty much any modern audio interface that you can get, but the distortion is musically useful and will sound "better" for certain sounds, drums obviously being one.