Chicago Vibe Alive

Posts Tagged ‘MPC 2500’

I have been producing house tracks here and there for just about a decade now, focusing entirely on software.  Learning the different applications and sequencers but I always felt there was something that was lacking in my production.  I couldn’t quite figure out what it was.  It all sounded too blah, didn’t have that snap and bounce that i wanted.  I didn’t know what to do…until now.  As loyal music aficionados all know the original MPC that came out in 1988 revolutionized electronic music.  Its easy to use interface and 16 touch sensitive pads make this thing incredibly easy to work with and you can quickly navigate to where you want to make changes and it doesn’t take forever to figure it out before you lose your thought of what you want to change.  When I initially was considering a hardware sampler, i kept asking myself, does anyone even use an MPC to make house or is it just a hip hop machine?  Once I loaded up some old 909 samples and pulled a couple disco samples off of vinyl, i quickly realized that EVERYONE was using MPCs for EVERYTHING back in the day and I was quickly on my way to reproducing that wicked filtered down disco house stomper sound of the mid to late 90′s.  gorgeous…the baselines…  Now I am on my third project using the sampler and loving it.   Akai has made several advancements from the original model but the look and feel is the same.  There are 8 analog outputs that allow you to route single channels from the MPC, into an analog mixer, and back into your DAW so you are able to use effects in Cubase etc…  I got this working once with the help of a more experienced DJ friend but I’d rather master the basics of the sampler before I move onto more perverted setups like that.

All in all I am really enjoying the feel of the hardware as opposed to mouse clicking all over the place, sure there are some drawbacks and some processes require a little more work and time to set up but its worth it when you hear what comes out.  One of the nicest features is being able to sample directly into the machine straight from the vinyl or audio source.   You can rip these samples in so fast and be trimming it up and working with the sample wihin seconds.  The ease of availibility of music in digital form has led me to get overwhelmed.  It used to be much harder to find music and that was the fun part, the hunt for the unused sample.  But now with youtube and digital downloads, you can get your hands on anything, and fast, all you need to do is think of it.  So i have a simple rule for myself that has let me keep the vibe alive and that is to only sample from what I find on vinyl.  It keeps it fun and challenging.  I literally may have an mp3 of  a tune i want to sample but I won’t do it until i find it on vinyl… those are the rules, I’m sticking to it.  It sounds kind of primitive but it feels like I am staying true.

I upgraded the memory and put a huge hard drive replacement in the sampler and it is running like a dream right now.  I think the only real drawback is that it is kind of limited with effects and you can only use two at a time.  If you are growing frustrated with your current software setup I would highly recomend picking up an MPC, it has sparked new creativity and is a hell of a lot of fun.

Couple other handy features include a USB out on the back, this will allow you to transfer samples that are stored on your PC hard drive to the MPC for sequencing, its a slow transfer but it still does the trick.  There is also an open cd drive bay if you want to add one but I don’t see the point since like I mentioned above I am not sampling off that medium… maybe for burning would be nice.  There is also a third party OS that can be used called JJ OS, its pretty slick and has some nice shortcuts that the default OS doesn’t have.  You can quickly switch between the two by powering off and loading the new OS onto the sampler and then turning back on.  So its not a HUGE commitment and you can quickly revert to the factory OS if you would like.