Comment by mrcolinjohnson | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mrcolinjohnson | Hacker News Reader

Ive been using the MPC1000 since around 2004, and owned and used an MPC60 for about 5 years. I recently had my 1000 serviced by a guy who does nothing but MPC refurbishments/customizations and he asked me how I felt about the whole "MPC Swing Magic" and what not.

My feeling is that the MPC60 really DOES feel better, but mostly because of its velocity sensitivity. You can really easily get a ton of dynamics without much effort at all. Much much more easily than with a 1000, or a midi keyboard, or any number of pads devices that I've tried. and yeah that for me includes machines which allow for variable velocity curves.

The thing that blew me away was that he told me most of the guys he's selling MPCs use them on FULL VELOCITY at all times. that making sure the pad sensitivity was in perfect condition was not a priority for them. I was shocked... but he was equally shocked I felt it was the velocity which makes the difference lol. Keep in mind these are pretty hardcore old school Chicago producers buying the best of the best vintage machines.

Im not trying to make a point. Just an anecdote. You can check out Kanamit and the work I got done here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CeXOIE0LuvX/

That's equally shocking to me but I guess it makes sense considering what the industry seems to prioritize. I got an Elektron Model:Cycles on which the only way the pads are even really usable is to set the velocity on them to full (or turn the velocity modulation depth so far down as to be mostly nonresponsive). Or, I guess, bash them so hard they'd probably crack the circuit board within a few months.

I have a Korg PadKontrol (now, disappointingly, discontinued) which has really nice velocity response and even lets you set different response curves to each pad. Not sure why they pulled them when there are very few alternatives.

I picked up my first MPC (the 2000) around 1999. Since then I've had the 2000XL twice, an MPC60 and I current have the MPC2500. I'm one of those guys that always had it on full velocity. Whenever I wanted a kick or different sound at a different velocity, I would just assign it to a different pad and add adjust the volume and maybe add some additional filtering to it.

For me, I found the 2000XL gave me the best workflow. It took a while to adjust to the 2500's way of doing things. Everything is hidden behind a menu, but it's easier to move stuff to and from the computer.

FULL VELOCITY at all times

If you want to make bangers the priority is to get your groove down as fast as possible and add nuance at the mix stage. If you want to craft stuff with velocity sensitivity, layering etc, you're now more into composing than recording and the speed of your workflow is gonna be significantly slower, more half-written abandoned tracks etc.

I am in the latter class btw, because that's the kind of tweaking I enjoy. But the best way to finish tracks is to have a timer running and just bang shit out without thinking too much, pure instinct.

>But the best way to finish tracks is to have a timer running and just bang shit out without thinking too much, pure instinct.

This ^^

Especially in the jamming or "feeling" phase, it's about having your tools (in this case, a few pre-made sounds, or kits) available as quickly as you need them, so you can get into the flow of the track and not lose it. It's also why when I make beats or tracks, I oftentimes find myself composing the peak of the track almost by default and work backwards from there.

Also, USE TEMPLATES!!! Templates are considered a form of cheating by some, but I don't ascribe to that, and I love using templates because it can help me progress so much faster in each phase of production. My default Ableton setup for 4/4 house music literally has every section of the track already set, the default sounds (drums, samples, synths) I need to use to get a groove going, levels pre-adjusted, and everything is color-coded for ease of viewing....and I just go from there.

I saw a video put out by Ableton maybe 2 or 3 years ago that had some artist saying "just get something down in the DAW, and don't worry about what that something actually is - because you'll replace everything later when you're not in the ideation phase of production". The other thing is that if you mix the ideation and production phases, you'll get bored of your track very quickly because you aren't taking breaks, just hearing over and over what you've made so far. It's happened to me literally hundreds of times. I have probably 1k+ ideas (could be a track that's 90% done, or a few loops put together, or just a MIDI sequence that i was goofing around with) sitting on a variety of old computers and hard drives. None will ever be finished, partially due to my inability to set a goal, accomplish it, and close the DAW.

Some of the best production content I've seen has been "Against The Clock" videos where the artist (or artists) have 10 minutes to make something. They just flow for a bit, and then revisit it later if need be.

I forgot to include it in the original and the edit window has closed, but I meant to add that one of my favorite things I've made got done because an unfriendly roommate went out for a few hours - finally giving me the time to be in the comfy room and hear what I was doing on speakers instead of headphones. I had a not-terrible hardware sequencing idea, it kinda worked, did 2 or 3 passes until I got something interesting, added a couple of knob-tweaking synth overdubs, some very light effects, and got it onto tape and then back into a computer.

I only use the MPC 4000 for sequencing I need to talk to this shop you are using these things are getting harder to get parts for. I wish someone would make a replica with a copy cat OS

mpc4000 is so cool. I've always wanted to try one. such a beastly machine.

unless I'm turning the pads on full velocity, every single sampler, sequencer, midi controller, etc is going to destroy my hands with pain within a few minutes of tapping around.

I find its much easier to just edit velocity manually after the fact.

yeah thats part of what the mpc60 felt good to me about, you could get a ton of dynamics with a very light touch.

Ah, I really wish someone would make a new set of pads that are easy on the hands.

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