For starters the VA onboard the MPC5000 was a joint venture between Waldorf and Alesis and it absolutely smokes. How do i know? I played it at NAMM, but the reason i know its better than the Nord Lead and Access Virus is cause i own both of them...
Interesting. I played it at NAMM as well. For about ten minutes. Not enough to write an in-depth review, but certainly enough to get an overview of its strengths and weaknesses, especially considering I've owned more Akai gear than anyone I know. Including an MPC.
I'll have to talk to my old Waldorf rep to confirm, but a quick Google search for "Waldorf" + "Akai MPC5000" garners not a
single mention of them having
anything to do with the synth engine. When I asked the Akai guy at NAMM if Alesis had anything to do with the synth engine (what with the two companies sharing a booth and all), he gave me a shrugging look, as if to say "yeah, possibly". I'd like to see a source, please.
I've owned all sorts of VA synths over the years, and there was nothing remarkable about the MPC in this regard, other than the fact it was there and it sounded good. It absolutely, positively wasn't Virus or Nord level. It just wasn't. I currently own a Virus B, Virus Indigo TDM, Roland JP-8080, and V-Synth. In the past, I've owned a Waldorf MicroQ, Nord Lead 2 Rack, Nord Modular, Korg MS2000R, Roland JP-8000, and SH-32. The Akai's synth is pretty damn decent, but it's nothing to freak out about. It's better than the MV's analog bass synth for sure. The filters still sound Akai-ish, which is cool (personally, I like them), and they're better than in previous incarnations, but they're hardly warm or full-sounding. You're gonna regret selling those other synths. Don't do it.
The effects are all brand new and i heard them, and again they are by far better than the sh_t on the fantom X, how do i know, i own a fantom X!
Obviously this is subjective, and I admittedly can't speak for the new MPC, but man, Akai must've done something magical, because every single sampler and disk recorder they've ever made has the worst effects ever. And I mean WORST. If they've really improved their FX engine that much, cool.
the master compressor and 4 band master eq was also a joint venture specifically designed by the Sony Oxford and waves team and the results prove it.
A Google search for "Oxford" + "Akai MPC5000" results in, you guessed it, no mention of Sony having anything to do with Akai. Source, please.
Small monochrome screen? LOL my Roland JX305 had a small monochrome screen, two lines times sixteen characters and i worked miracles with it. The one on the MPC is huge by comparison, and who gives a rats arse if it ain't color, thats not gonna make it sound any better is it!
No, but the workflow of the sequencer is still gonna suck. Face it, the holy grail of MIDI sequencing is Logic or Cubase. The holy grail of hardware sequencing is the MV. Period. Until you can copy 37 noncontiguous regions across 29 tracks to any location in five seconds on the MPC, this conversation's over.
i said this MPC5000 has 680mb's of PREMIUM QUALITY UNCOMPRESSED sounds for gods sake. That blows the fantom G into the lake you silly boy.
Meh. What I heard (at least the samples loaded into the floor model at NAMM) wasn't all that impressive. No better than your average circa-2002 hip hop sample library produced by 40-year-old white dudes (okay, maybe 2004). Yes, better hip hop drums than what's included on the Fantom, but what about pianos? Or rhodes? Or oboes? Or sitars? Or all other instruments? And if you're comparing samples that load into RAM to 1750 immediately available stock ROMpler patches, perhaps a bit of product fundamentals is in order.
First of all, the MPC isn't a workstation. You can't layer patches for performance, you can't easily split patches, you can't select any sound or group of sounds from a single button press. You can't sequence more than one destination at once. Mind you, that's not a bad thing—it's just a different way of doing things. The MV can't do that stuff either.
If you want to gush about the MPC, feel free, but you
really should visit MV Nation instead. Your comments don't really apply here, because workstations and hip hop production centers aren't the same product. At all. Anyone who's spent any amount of time in the trenches would know that. You're perfectly welcome here, but understand you're trying to convince a bunch of meat eaters that the new Vegetarian all-you-can-eat buffet is AMAZING! In short, the vast majority of us don't really care.
It's certainly amusing, though.