Yeah, MPC IS A BEAST
Until you actually use it, I don't think you really understand what's it's capable of or how good it does with things.
Equipment Spec:
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Hardware
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Fw1884:
8 analog ins + 8 inserts + 8 XLRS
8 analog outs
S/Pdif in and out(2 digital channels)
Adat in and outs(8 digital channels)
4 sets of DIN 5 midi ins and outs
2 firewire connectors
MPC2000XL:
2 analog in and outs
2 sets of DIN 5 midi ins and outs
Motif:
2 analog ins and outs
1 set of DIN 5 midi in and out
S/Pdif in and out
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Software
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Samplitude 7.1
it's more of a recording program
it has midi sequencing and recording but it's not heavy on midi...so it's better to have an sequencer if you don't play instruments live.......alot of times i'll sequence the "meat and potatoes" of the beat, and then later i'll record live parts in and there through out the beat to change up each verse or hook or outro.
Gigastudio24
i don't really see giga as a sampler, i would play a record or song, record a piece out of it and use it as an instrument or sound. I see it more as a library but instead of books its for samples or sound files. It basically indexes your hard drive or cd-rom drive or any drive you have sound files on and makes them available for playing. Instead of uploading on the mpc, you can drag and drop a sample on to this virtual keyboard and control it's play with motif or mpc(like you would wit Fruity Loops)
Now the Setup
1. I go from the FW1884 to the pc by firewire connection........Now the FW1884 becomes my sound card, my midi interface, my DAW Controller(faders of the DAW Controller(DC) control the faders in the program, eq can be controlled by the DC, basically the whole program can be controlled with the DC so u don't have to use the mouse as much...for the folks that don't know what a DAW Controller/Mixer is......don't get it twisted, A "true" Daw Controller is not a mixer, meaning you can't plug your musical equipment to it and have your sounds run through it...it stictly controls the software program(s) you use, but the FW1884 is also a standalone mixer....so I can use it to connect my equipment and run my sounds through it or hits button on it called "Computer" and then it changes from standalone mixer to DAW Controller mode where it controls the program.
2. now Windows XP sees my soundcard as 8 analog ins and outs, 8 adat and 2 s/pdif ins and outs, and 5 midi devices(4 DIN 5 sets, plus the protocol for using it as a DAW is anoter midi device), Samplitude sees all the inputs, including the ADAT and S/Pdif inputs and outs and so does Gigastudio. Within gigastudio it sees your outputs and allows you to assign the sound to go out of multiple outputs if your sound card has multiples.
3. Routing of Sounds:
Motif to Fw1884 thru S/Pdif
Mpc to FW1884 thru analog cables(input 1 & 2)
Giga routes out of the computer thru outputs 7&8 and back thru inputs 5&6 of the FW1884, I haven't figured a way to keep the samples inside the computer and route them straight to Samplitude when Im recording a beat off the motif and mpc.
Routing of Midi:
Motif to MPC thru midi 1(in) & A(out)of the mpc
MPC to FW1884 thru midi 2(in) and B(out) of he MPC. <--- this is my midi connection for controlling software with the MPC or the Motif and syncing Samplitude with the MPC, so when I hit record in Samplitude the MPC starts up, so my beats are recorded in-sync when I record track by track.......which can get tedious ....I wish I could record multiple tracks into Samplitude. I'm hoping the MLAN technology will fix this.
So you can see all my sounds from the Motif and MPC route to the FW1884, plus the sounds of Giga route out of the computer to
the FW1884 so everything hits my monitor speakers.
The Mpc is my sequencer .....for the Timing of course. With setup I could basically go without loading another sound into the MPC.....which I'm thinking about doing.....but sometimes things sound better coming out of the MPC than the computers.....seems like the MPC puts a little more "umph" into kick drums and snares, etc.... The touch sensitivity of the MPC works with giga also, i'm sure your keyboard touch sensitivity does too, so i can turn on "Full Level" of the mpc and it will play the sample off Giga with max velocity, or i can turn it off and hit the pads soft and it will play the sounds soft.
Another thing to look at is latency. You can use Fruity Loops controlling it with the Oxygen and use all kinds of other softsynths, but I think it would overload a pc, even if you do have a monster, but that depends on how much is going on........alot of midi traffic can get pretty hectic. It's like I usse the MPC for drums, Motif for melodies/basslines/strings/etc, and Giga for samples here and there, sound effects here and there., sometimes basslines .............Giga is the sh*t, coupled with the MPC for timing, cutting, and sequencing. I would say the MPC is more important than the Motif because you can always find sounds, double up or triple up to make them sound good, than to go spend $1600 on a keyboard that you will only use for the sounds in it, which are made of up to 4 different wav's, but then u gotta look at that this way.......would you spend all day listening to all kinds of sounds tweaking this and that just to build yourself a library of sounds?????? probably not so it's much easier and quicker to buy the Motif with sounds already sounding hella good. Not saying I'm lazy...well maybe....but I can always get my $1600 back, but you can neva get back TIME!!
I appreciate all the people that took their time to listen to all those wavs and build up these nice sounding libraries so I can platinum for making hellafied arrangements
That Texas Fella
sugaty@aol.com
If you feel I still didn't answer your question hit me back. I still feel i left something out hahahahha
