What’s up everybody. It’s been a minute, but I’m back. Since you last heard from me I purchased a SWEET, used MPC 2000xl. I’ve wanted one for around 10 years and had been trolling my local Craigslist for the past 6 months or so religiously.
For those of you that might not know what an MPC is it’s a sampling drum machine and midi sequencer and it totally rocks.
It’s beige, so I might paint it. I know it might sound like this purchase is a step in the wrong direction, a move back in time, if you will. However, let me be potentially another voice to confirm that there really is something special about these boxes. I’ve had a chance to use the sequencer and it is, in fact, rock solid. Additionally, and for me this is the biggest selling point, it just sounds incredible.
Ok…for those of you engineers that might be turning your nose up at this idea, saying to yourself, “you can do the same thing with software” or “just add effects, limiters, eq, etc” I concede that any sound can be achieved by any modern DAW. However, as a producer (not an engineer) other things are more important. For me, the MPC makes achieving the drum sound I’m after a LOT easier than trying to achieve the same sound using software. This is probably telling of a lack of engineering skills on my part, but at the end of the day, my drums bang harder and sound better than they’ve ever sounded.
Plus, the MPC is just a lot of fun to use. I’m totally a geek and a software guy, but there is definitely something exciting about a rad piece of gear, knowing that your favorite producers might use that same piece of gear, the feel of that physical piece of gear, etc. (Oh, and I had a Korg Pad Kontrol that the MPC replaced, by the way.)
So…you might be asking yourself, what’s the point? Use WHATEVER helps you make better music. There are a lot of people that swear by software strictly, and that’s cool. But, I would encourage musicians to use whatever tools help them make better music, despite what other people might think.
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