New gear purchase - suggestions.

[raphsta]

Hey all,
I've been going through a bit of gear lately - most recently an SP-505 and MC-909. I seem to purchase things then get over them in a couple of months - but make me learn a lot more abou what I want as a next purchase..

Anyway, a couple of things I don't like about the MC909: it's too big, and I just can't get into the feel of the pads (I'm a drummer, so this is super important to me when bangin in drum loops). I was thinking a small (possibly portable) sampler/sequencer would be a good choice - maybe the MPC500 even.. Not sure about the smaller SPs, as really like having a bit of an LCD display onboard.

So.. any suggestions?.. I'm looking to have a bit of fun laying tracks down, mainly bass and drum riffs for RnB and house style music.. Also really interested in getting into some remixing - I love pulling my collection of 80s music out and laying down some nice riffs over the top.. Portable would be good, but at least smallish in size..

Any ideas? Maybe I'm better off stickin to the laptop and maybe getting an MPC style pad controller... At least that way I can still mess around while travelling on business which I'm doing a lot these days...

Thanks!

[wax inspektor]

4-0-4

proberbly the best portable remix-machine ever...

Get it & love it! (even without a display)

[HxC]

What does everyone think of this piece of gear:

http://www.crestaudio.com/products/brow ... Series.cfm

[raphsta]

Thanks Wax Inspektor..
The SP-404 does look good, although coming from an MC-909 and SP-505 - maybe I need more of a change.. I know this is the SP forum, but interested to even look at other brands (if though I'm a massive Roland fan boy ) ..

So, I've got the SP-404 on the list as a potential new toy - any other suggestions?

[Euclid Ov Oåklånd]

You could save for a LinnDrum, I'll buy one before I go to college but until then I'm fine with just the 303. I gotta get a 404 too.

[HxC]

He's right- hold out for a Linn 2. I bet Roland will release another SP/MV before then as well- that might be great as well.
As long as the SP line (sans 505) can't pitch samples you have room for improvement... If the Linn2s ever comes out they'll be damn near the King & Queen of sampling drum machines...

[raphsta]

LinnDrum looks good, but I don't think we'll see it out before '09.

I wonder what Roland has planned, but again, I can't see them releasing anything new this year..

Hmm.. Maybe Ableton Live will be enough to keep me happy.. Was really hoping there was a piece of hardware out there I missed that would make me go "oooohh yeahhh!"
haha

[jbl]

hey hxc, what would u do with that mixer? are you a sound engineer? or mixer for live shows?

if i could get a mv-8800 easily, i would. i was excited about the ld2, but lately have become a little sceptical as i wonder if they really can get it in 100% working order anytime soon.

edit; one more thing, if u get a padkontroller you will like it a lot i bet.

[raphsta]

You mean pad controller to use with Ableton?
That might be the best option for me now.

[Hot Sauce]

ive poured over the details of the linndrum and ive said it before and i will say it again.

OVER-HYPE!!!!

people hear the name roger linn and think it's gonna be crazy automatically. seeing as how there isn't even a working prototype out yet and they are behind in the development i don't think anybody should be worshipping a new god so to speak.


things im interested in, the synth engine based on the evolver and prophet (should be dope). other than that the features are what i would call standard. im interested in the "live" element they appear to mention as well.

$1800 for LinnDrum II Analog

that's the quote for the price.

from the features that are we can see there is no info on how the OS will work at all. this could be a giant failure.

i predict that it won't be too complex of a machine but instead will concentrate on robust build quality and work-flow.


but 1800??

id rather build up seperate monophonic synths or possibly do a DIY project and build my own.

don't get me wrong i really think it will be a brilliant machine (but who knows) but i see it more as a unit aimed at more "professional" live-based artists. nowadays you can get software synths bumping like crazy due to the whole recording process. but for a LIVE performance, people still prefer an analog keyboard because nothing aint touching that.

again if i had around 2 grand to spare, this isn't where it would be going.
but if i had 2 grand to burn then id cop this in an INSTANT.

don't believe the hype.

[jbl]

sorry, kontrolpad by korg. it's very nice.

[HxC]

[quote="jbl"]hey hxc, what would u do with that mixer? are you a sound engineer? or mixer for live shows?

I'm always dreaming about having a mixing board & just using the computer as a tape machine.
I'm not that impressed with the compact offerings from Mackie or Allen & Heath. The Crest stuff is made in USA & has the 3 year warranty (like Mackie used to). I know Crest is used more for live applications, but these appear to be great for the studio as well.

Right now I'm mixing 'in the box' and my mixes are coming out fine, but sometimes I get sick of the mousing/monitor glaring computer engineering.

BTW I am skeptical about the Linn2 release, if they haven't even gotten a real one built yet it's possible with the drooping economy in the USA & all that the project would be scrapped completely.
It'll just be the 'Ron Paul' of drum machines (big on the internet- never happening in real life).

[PHeMoX]

if i could get a mv-8800 easily, i would. i was excited about the ld2, but lately have become a little sceptical as i wonder if they really can get it in 100% working order anytime soon.

edit; one more thing, if u get a padkontroller you will like it a lot i bet.

I've looked into the MPC-5000, MV-8800 and even considered waiting for the Linn Drum II, but all in all the MV-8800 currently seems like the best deal.

The MPC-5000 comes with 45 bugs or so and 3 of them are 'show-stoppers', as in the machine doesn't really work 'out of the box' and needs an update before you can even start messing with it. The synth kind of disappointed me too when I messed around with it in the store, I'm sure Linn Drum II's synth is going to be much better.

The MV-8800 has nearly no bugs in it's OS (sure, there have been a big bunch of updates and no software product is totally bug-free) and has really solid features (and tends to be faster than the MPC-5000 and hardware-wise the MV-8800 kicks it's butt). Obviously it's not a perfect machine either, but it's pretty damn close, a real monster. Also, and perhaps it's a Roland thing, but I got the MV-8800 up and running in no-time making a simple beat in under 10 minutes (in a store). It took me somewhere between 15 to 20 minutes on the MPC-5000, basically trying the same beat-thing. (I probably should have filmed it, as it clearly showed some of the bugs).

The Linn Drum II sounds great on paper, but until I get some kind of confirmation that it actually works like they want and has all those features they have listed, I'm not going to hold my breath for it.
I'm sure anything Roger Linn makes will be fine eventually (considering his rep. for support and quality), but I'm skeptical about whether it's this inevitable next successful thing.

(Lol, it doesn't even look like an MPC, but it's way too early to say if it's a good thing or bad thing, right? )

$1800 for LinnDrum II Analog

that's the quote for the price.

If that doesn't translate to 1800€ where I live when the Linn Drum II arrives in stores here, that's a great price in my opinion.

[Hot Sauce]

the thing i was mentioning is that it actually doesn't look that great on paper.
there is almost no info on features or how the software will run.

[jbl]

it could be great (fingers crossed). i hope it's even revolutionary. the hardware development of most machines we would use these days is moving in strange directions. the 555 is getting close to what i feel could be the next thing. integration of computers is cool but to have something that would make that absolutely smoothed into standalone would be best imo.

i wish there was something along the line of an ipod in the sense of pc compabatability but with portability of a 404/555 and the live intstrumentation of something like the handsonic. now that would be a winner.

the mv is just not something i would throw in a bag and do a show at a local bar with. the 404 is not as pc oriented as i would like and the mpc500 doesn't seem stable enough to fit the bill. in all honesty the mpc1k is probably the closest thing but i don't enjoy the workflow and it's still not programmable from a pc.

edit: i7m bad about thread-jacking, rhapsta just holla 'back to topic' if this is getting annoying.