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Whats up. I currently use Fruity Loops for making hip hop, and basically I am tired of it having to do tons of tweaking and stuff like that in order to get CLOSE to the sound that I want. I want to get a drum machine. Which would you recommend? I am looking at the AKAI MPC series, 1000 or 2000 ..

Thank for any help,

Zeff

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anonymous Fri, 12/03/2004 - 13:51

zeff, glad to see a fellow hip hop head on these boards.

first off, what kind of sound card are you using? if it's not studio quality and it's a soundblaster of some form, that's a problem in itself. If you get a decent studio quality soundcard, you'll notice a difference right away. A good starter might be audiophile 2496 or echo mia, both have 2 channel inserts.

if you really want to get into a sampling drum machine, the mpc series is a great choice. I have both the 60 and 2000xl. the 1000 might be a bit more flexible when it comes to working between the sampler and computer. working the 2000 with the computer is a little qwerky and takes getting used to, but is also possible.

http:// check that link for info on both... essentially the same, but if you like sample editing on the pc, the 1000's probably the way to go.

anonymous Sun, 12/05/2004 - 12:48

you must have the dirt

if you want to make hip hop you must have an old school machine. for sequencer, the mpcs are excellent but for sampler, you gotta have s900/s950 or mpc60/60II, sp1200 or ensoniq eps. all of these are 12bit or lower giving you that punchy dirty gritty drum sound which is the basis of all good hip hop, unless you want to sound like lil jon in which case just get any sampler and some sample cds but that will get you a very manufactured sound. my suggestion if you have the dough: get a mpc 1000 and an akai s900/s950. use the mpc for sequencing and s950 is your sampkler. plus s950s are cheap. while there are those who say "it doesn't matter what tools you have its how u use it" thats true to a certain extent but some tools are just better sounding than others and more appropriate for cerrtain applications. gritty samplers are a must for hiphop IMO. that's the science... and don't think that you're going to sound ol school using an ol school machine... you will sound fresh, if your sequences are nice.

anonymous Mon, 12/06/2004 - 19:04

Re: you must have the dirt

dubwon wrote: and don't think that you're going to sound ol school using an ol school machine... you will sound fresh, if your sequences are nice.

you said it right there homey, it's not the s950 or sp1200.. it's the man using it. even if it's software based (ie 9th wonder) or a crappy little 303 (ie madlib)

since you're using a quality soundcard, you shouldn't really lose sound quality, whether you sample directly into the mpc1000 or transfer samples recorded by the pc.

just noticed that you said you didn't want extra processing to get the "sound you want"? what sound is that? cuz if it's that 12bit warmth/punch/grittiness, you'll need to get either a mpc60, sp1200 or eps.. they sample at less than 16 and usually gives a grittier feel..