Give me your opinions on some new gear I just purchased.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nathan1984
  • Start date Start date
N

Nathan1984

New member
So I am adding to my studio a few new pieces of gear. I just purchased an Akai MPK49 midi controller, Sennheiser HD280 headphones, and an ART MP V3 mic pre. If you guys have used any of this gear chime in on this. I wanna know what you all think.
 
The Akai is all right as a midi controller, fairly reasonable if a bit small for the price.
I'm a huge fan of Sennheiser headphones, but I haven't used the 280's - I tend to stick to open backed (650's in particular!)
Do you have a specific mic you are planning to use with the mic pre?

btw... isn't it a bit late though, now you've bought it all?
 
I just wanted to know what everybody thought of this gear, don't have it yet, and can always send it back lol. I heard that the akai is an excellent controller, but really needs the pads upgraded. As for the mic pre, I plan on using a MXL 990 condensor with it for vocals until I get a Shure sm7b. And I will use a sennheiser e609 and sm57 for recording guitars, as well as probably use it as a di for guitars and bass. It is my first mic pre so I didn't really wanna drop a grand on a good one quite yet till I get a good understanding of how much of a difference a outboard mic pre can make. I plan on getting a Focusrite ISA one and a GAP pre-73 eventually, and probably a focusrite octopre for adat into my pci interface.
 
I have a MXL990, and have no complaints about it..have`nt used it as much as I`d like to have, as life seams to be getting in the way, but the times i have broke it out, it seamed to perform well..

even picked up the fan in my computor from far away..LOL
 
I've got the HD-280's. They are definitely not for casual music listening as they are very flat and un-glamorous. But i think for studio cans, these are the traits you want. Most feedback on this site about them are that they are honest. They are closed back so no leakage during tracking; which is good.

I'm not crazy about the coiled cord, though.
 
The action on the MPK49 is a bit stiff compared to my Voyager EB. It's easy to program MIDI CC functions to the controllers. I had problems trying to use the USB connection at the same time with a MIDIsport 8x8. Sonar didn't want to recognize both MIDI connections at the same time. I wound up getting a power supply at Radio Shack and patching the Akai through the MIDIsport.

If you are a keyboard player you might want to swing the extra dough and get the 61-key version because it will do keyboard splits and the 49 won't.

I have a pair of Senn 280's and don't really like them. They have too much clunkiness from the cord yanking on them every time you move. It's like a constant "thud" sound that gets distracting when you're trying to dub.
 
Interesting, I am not really a keyboard player, yet lol. I just picked it up to make life alittle easier in sonar. I wanted it for vsti control more than anything. I haven't had a drum pad controller or midi keyboard before, so I figured that the Akai would be a good start. I have heard that the sennheiser hd280 cans are pretty good sounding, I want them mostly for the iso factor. I have a set of akg k44 cans now, and I can't hear my tone going in when I am playing guitar mic'd, to loud. So I was hoping if these can cut some of the amp out so that I can tell how well I have my mic placement they would be very worth the 100 bucks. If not, at least they may help cut out some of the bleed I get using the MXL 990 on vocals. The K44's bleed like a stuck hog, if a stuck hog bleeds alot lol. I am really curious as to how well that ART MP V3 improves my quality. I do alot of vst amp modeling DI, and the tascam us800 I have sucks for that purpose, and the ART can also be used for a DI box so I am hoping it will simmer down the levels alittle and make life easier for amp modeling and bass DI. I will give you guys an update soon, my new gear should be here tomorrow, I will probably check it out, but this weekend I will be putting the gear to work. Hopefully I invested wisely, you never know, reviews are normally very biased, either people hate something or absolutely love it. Not to often is it said, "It works for me, does it's job good."
 
All I can comment on is the HD280's... I love mine. If you were looking for a great pair of isolation studio headphones, you made a great decision.
 
I love them, just got them today, played with all my new gear for about two hours. Unfortunately didn't get to play with the Akai because it arrived defective. But as for the ART pre, it is awesome and the hd280 cans are awesome, much more detailed than my akg's. They have alot of definition, I can actually hear the difference in panning in these things, things sound so much different in them, which I am sure is probably a good thing. I bet they will help my mixing alot.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top