Best grooveboxes for live and studio hip hop and dance

Forum for MC, SP, TR series and other groove and drum machines
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ZachThaRippa
Posts: 5
Joined: 09:07, 15 March 2013

Best grooveboxes for live and studio hip hop and dance

Post by ZachThaRippa »

Hey guys, I've been producing hip-hop/rap beats and various genres of EDM for about 7 years using FL studio. I've decided it would be a wise choice to add some hardware the mix for improved sound and for ability for live performance. After some research I've concluded a combination of 2 grooveboxes would be a good place to start. I've narrowed down my choices between the following four units: Roland MC-909, E-MU XL7 or MP7 (would upgrade to both with rom), Korg Electribe EMX1 or Akai MPC 500 (possibly 1000, depending on the other hardware). My budget is just under $1000 (including cables and a small mixer) and can do pretty much any combination of the 4 within my budget. My question is which combination is going to work best for synth oriented hip hop and dance music in both live and studio settings. I've read you can edit patterns during playback on the Command Station so I'm kind of leaning towards that with an MPC (due to the command station's lack of sampling). However I'm not ruling out either of the other two. Oh and just to clarify I do not want to perform with a DAW for right now, as I feel using hardware give a little more show than clicking a mouse (and I can't afford a laptop which is up to DAW spec in addition to one of the specified pieces of equipment).

So tell me Roland MC-909/ E-MU Command Station/ Korg Electribe/ Akai MPC 500/1000 users...whats my best bet going to be?

Thanks for the help!


EDIT: I've read some about the 909's live issues which is why I would definitely pair it with something else in order to bypass that issue.
canefire
Posts: 311
Joined: 16:12, 15 November 2004
Location: silver spring, MD

Re: Best grooveboxes for live and studio hip hop and dance

Post by canefire »

Akai MPC 4000...Yamaha AN200, Yamaha DX200 and a moog pedal. (or replace any of the latter three with a DR880). This should just about cover you and be under or at $1000.

Cheers,
Ian
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