yo yo yo,
i think ive had all i can take with the sp 555. its a good machine, dont get me wrong but i need more sequence tracks. its ridiculious. i tried to change my whole workflow to fit this machine but i cant do it anymore. im watchin all these videos of mpc users and they use em like how i rock fruityloops and a midi controller with pads. and they chop samples as fast as i chop in that edison editor. i feel like im too fast for a dam sp machine. ive had it for about a year and still chop in the computer, add some decay, normalize and all that shit. then send it back only to have to use gate and not be able to bump the sounds into each other, so the new sound ill play and the old will stop. its insane. but dont get me wrong it a good machine but its like "fat guy in little coat" trying to fit into this sp machine. i probably shoulda put this in the freedom of speech category cause im just ranting but im tryin to see if anyone can feel my pain here! is the mpc time stretch really good, like computer good ( cause cubase time stretches perfect as shit, maybe a little digital tho) and does the 2000xl have any effects or just filters and eq? and if not, whats a good workaround to effect the samples and get em back in to the machine, any software editors for mpc's. well, let me know
peece sp people. i feel like a traitor here but fuck it, havent made any beats since i got a sp, i keep gravitating back to fruityloops makin beats in seconds instead of takin an hour to lay a melody on the sp and gettin bored with it.

It sometimes is like that: Some gear doesn't suit your workflow at all. If you keep getting annoyed at the 555 and tend to use something else anyways, either get rid of it now or think about using it another way than you do now.
I've had that with a Roland JX-305 (MC-505 keyboard) some years ago, it had good usable sounds for my tasks and even a nice keyboard action, but using it annoyed the hell out of me so sold it few months after.

And yeah the MPC2kXL timestretch IS computer-good, but keep in mind it's 1995 computer-good. It's worlds better than the SP stretch but still not quite up par with modern pc software. And yes, it pretty much only has filters and EQ (and volume envelopes, and LFOs, and keyzones, and...)
It's missing effects. Maybe you should keep the 555 for the FX and use the MPC for general handling and sequencing? The sequencer is much better anyways.

i feel you with the speed thing, but there must be some stuff you can do really or fairly fast with the sp right? some stuff you get real good action with ,,, keep the sp for those things and combine it with your computer stuff, i dont know how you do that with fruity loops tho, with logic or ableton theres alot of ways to incorporate an sp , esp 555 you can use as a pad controller right? but maybe you want like an all in one box you can zone out with and make a whole beat inside, i think we all want that haha, but i never used an mpc so i cnt help you with those questions, but my advice would be combine more with the computer programs

you can use the sp as a pad controller in fruityloops easily. so i was wondering why i had one anyways cause id chop everying up with fruityloops, put the chops in the fpc pad player and rock the sp as a pad controller. and im not all about the sp effects either. im a standard effects guy, reverb, filter, eq, and that vinyl compressor was nice too but no big deal when you know how to run software like a champ, im a computer head, in front of one all day cause im an animator, ill be making beats at work in fruityloops n shit or choppin samples for when i get home. but i think an mpc would take me away from the computer being able to see the wave visually and chop quickly. i got pretty fast with the sp as well in a short period of time but i dont like not being able to add decay to my samples, thats a big thing for me, i dont like the clicking and in fruityloops you can have the samples "cut itself" which meand when you hit a sample, if its long when you hit another pad it will stop the previous sample from playing. sp has the gate and i cant stand gate. i like banging pads out, not like those crappy youtube vids of dudes makin beats in the same way every time with mpc's, but not having to hold and release cause i like to "tap tap tap" and with gate you get those gaps in the tap instead of the sample just stoppin when it bumps into another pad hit. if you understand what im saying. some of these things i got so used to. but the sp's are cool too!

I bought the SP555 last summer of eBay out of gear lust. (already owned FL Studio and several vsti.)

Unbeknownst to me I only had a 7 day window to return it to get a full refund.

Now it just sits around with what I am pretty sure is less than 2 full hours of usage.

I thought all samplers were the same. I was VERY WRONG.

Financially it was no big deal (Paid $525.00) I didn't want an MPC cause everyone has one.

I know why now they're fantastic machines Full sequencer, sampler deal not just a one track sequencer.

We Live And We Learn.


I

yup, i got a 555 cause i watched those cool ass vids and i knew how fast the sp's were but i was pissed to find out about the one track patterns. like steaming mad, shoulda did more research but some of those things fall beneath the surface when you research and read reviews. maybe i read the shittiest reviews ever, and it was a fairly new device when i got it. mpc's are good for a reason, its like roland doesnt want their machines to be like a mpc, but why not is what im asking. its 2010, so a new sampler hitting the market and lacking so many simple things is beyond me. i dont even understand why it has time stretch with how bad it is. then i looked into a 808 and a 606. you cant slice your own samples in the 606, just auto and the 808 has no sequencer. its like a big joke. lets give em a good machine and take something important out. mpc's seem to keep everything cool and just add more shit. and i didnt wanna fall under the mpc hype but now i see why. its an all in one box if you dont like workarounds. i wanna compose songs, ive done beats for so long its annoying to just come up with a melody, add drums, then maybe a change with slight spirts here and there, i wanna be beyond that.
if no one knows " fat jon the ample soul physician" definitly look him up. his beats are like hip hop sound scapes with alot of filtering, and he is also the producer of "five deez" a cool ass hip hop group from ohio. with a bunch of hot ass albums and groovy ass beats. fat jon uses mpc's, and also check out Modill, hip hop group from chicago, racecar and k-kruz on the beats. uses the mpc as well. i give mad props to madlib for using sp's and making some hot shit but it all aint hot. he'll even say that too. but i dont spend 24-7 making beats and sampling so id like to have a machine that i can be productive with. so hopefully i aint disappointed with mpc's cause i heard you gotta do alot of file naming. ill find out soon enough. check ebay in a few days for a sp555 under odomnuts. hoping to get 400 for it but ill let it go for 300, thats how disappointed i am in it.
peece

you can manually chop on the 606... its niiiiice too... its has visual wav form editing..

maybe i suggest the cheapy sp505, you can better control the chops than the 606 , (you can "mark" the slices manually in the chop mode like a second option)...but, saying that, the 505 got no sensitive pads, no usb, no dbeam, no 2fx simultaneously and no .wav saving...it got instead a sort of unique "pitch mode" (pitch shifter scale mode with 3 -low,hi,music- different algoritmics)...for the rest it got a very similar sequencer as the 606 (8 measures the 505 for 99 patterns, 32 measures the 606 for...x...)...

just an idea guys

enjoy the tediousness of the mpc world my friend you will be back trust me

Im an Animator, tedious is my middle name, but its time for a change.

hey spring - i feel yr frustration mans. i've got a couple of sp's, and an mpc too.

the biggest dif is that on the sp, most shit is like "hit a button, turn a knob". on the mpc, it is usually, "hit a button, scroll over to correct field, click arrow, scroll down, choose option, click arrow, scroll down, hit okay".

just so you know in advance. there's a lot more menu-diving on the mpc. but yr right about the improved functionality.

for me, the right sampler is a combo of the mpc and the sp.

kool beans, man. everyone says those things take forever to do everything. i just made a pretty cool beat a few mins ago and now im like, uh... then i was lookin at those MV's and im like wow. so im all over the place. its prolly just me and my compulsive behavior but "a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do".

different stroked for different folks, i hope you find what your looking for, until then i llok forward to hearing one of your beats

kinda funny, i post my 555 then i finally make a beat in like 5 months that i actually like, ill try and post it tomorrow. maybe cause this is the first good bag of weed ive had in 5 months, been smokin some dirt. how do you post something on here, i always see media fire but id rather post it so its streaming instead of people having to download it.

Hmmm...you like FL and like the workflow of an MPC.

Sounds like an MV is what you need. Its got that FL style when building tracks and the pads are just as smooth as the 2000 and the MV can do what an MPC can do. Plus its by Roland, so starting out on it would be the same language as other Roland products.