Akai Review: MPC 2000XL Studio Plus

History:

Purchase: Mars music 2000-2001. I Wanted to make hip hop, Drum & bass, Ambient, Trip hop. I paid $2199.00 Plus 2 16mb simms memory chips($75 for both i think?). Also an external 100MB ZIP drive $100 plus $20 for the cord. So about $2394.00

What I Like About This Akai MPC 2000XL Studio Plus: It is quite straight forward. The manual is pretty short and to the point. The features i like are the BPM feature. It allows you to change the tempo of a sample with out affecting the pitch. So, its magic. As if it is actually being played slower/faster. It also lets you know the bmp of the sample by calculating the length. You can create and save programs, which means all the parameter, mixer and effects settings also the sounds and the pads they are assigned to are saved. Note ( you would have to have a zip/cdrom or harddrive to save to. The MPC itself cant save). The MPC allows you to see the waveform of the sample you are working with, i mean you have to listen to it to make sure it is right, but seeing it helps. In the trim screen it has "before to" and "after to" option. Before to plays the sound before the set start point of the sample or after to would play the sound specified after the end point of the sample. This helps to make seamless loops. It has 4 pad banks A,B,C,D with a button right above the pads so you actually have 64 pads. You can specify mono or poly for each pad. With mono when you hit a pad twice in a row the first sound is cut off and starts over again. With poly the sounds overlap. You can also set simulatnious so when you hit pad A1 it wil also play up to two other pads at the same time. The MPC has a very tight sequencer. As apposed to using a computer as a sequencer especially for drums the MPC is much better. With the "Resample" function you can change the sample rate (the samples quality) and also lower the bit. The MPC 60 is 12 bit. With the 2000xl all you would have to do is change the bit of a sample from 16 to 12. So basically you can do anything the 60 or the 3000 would do or sound like. With the 2000xl you can combine bit rates for example you could lower the bit on your snare and kick to 12 bit. This will give it a rattle sound that will make it sound better, more like real drums. Then your high hats could stay at 16 bit. With the 60 or 3000 you cant adjust the bit or the sample rate.

What I Do NOT Like About The Akai MPC 2000XL Studio Plus: You cant use the indvidual 8 outputs and the effects together its one or the other. You can only use the effects through the main outputs. If you hook up just a controller keyboard via midi to the mpc you cant use the modulation wheel or pitch wheel it will make no affect on the sound. For example i have a sound module that does not have a sequencer. Plus a controller keyboard. I cant use the MPC's sequencer to make a piano, bass, or guitar sequence loop. The MPC might be able to do it? You would have to have a keyboard with the sounds and a sequencer in it and then you would just sync it up through midi to the MPC. Say you had 12 different drum sounds and made a sequence then you wanted to play that sequence from a pad. This is what i call "resample" the Asr 10 and Asr x have it. The MPC does not. For instance you could set the pad to mono and then just keep pushing it over at the right times to make a new different sequence. Basicallly it has some limitations. You should check into purchasing other equipment that you want to use in conjuntion with the MPC for compatibility. They could add more funtions for making seamless loops like a function that would normalise volume or make it louder in the middle of the loop and more quiet where the start and end meet, so it would sound more smooth.

Akai MPC 2000XL Studio Plus Quality Rating: The unit is sturdy enough. You shouldnt be abusing the pads hitting them as hard as you can. I mean there is a computer inside and its a $2000 machine be careful. It is made out of good durable materials. The cover plate is metal. Just be careful for the knobs sticking up, you would want to hit them into somthing while moving it. If you plan to play live with it or move it alot you would need to buy a hard case or a padded bag. Just use common sense.

Review Summary: The MPC is fun because it is very easy to use and is really not all that complicated. However, it can be used to make some very complicated and dense music if you take the time. Also be aware of every detail in parameters, effects, bit rates etc. Just remember its the user not the equipment. This is a professional sampler it has alot of cool functions that can be taken advantage of, but you have to have some idea of what your doing. Like you can't just buy a guitar and expect to be good right away, same goes with the MPC. The MPC comes with 1 cd with drum sounds that is all. You have to load them yourself it has no internal sounds. It will only play what you sample into it. Be aware you will need to buy 2 16mb or 1 32mb simms memory chips plus a zip drive or cd rom or flash rom or have a computer that has SCSI so you can save samples. All this does not come with the MPC but is necessary for you to be able to use the MPC, otherwise it will be a pain to use you will have to start over every time you turn off the MPC. I highly recommend the Studio Plus version which adds the 8 individual outputs and the EB 16 effects. You can always upgrade the lower ones though. The only other sampler i would get would be by EMU or ROLAND.

Rating of this Akai product: 4

This Akai MPC 2000XL Studio Plus Keyboard MIDI Review Submitted By: The Knowledgable producer.

Review Date: 2002-01-29