Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

I have had a roland sp404 sampler for the last 3 years. i love the effects, its sample looping, and straight work flow, battery operation, etc. But the multiple key approach is a pain to memorize and sample chopping and the sequencer are really difficult to master since there is no graphic clue at all.
Some people do great things with the sp404. For me it has been a bit frustrating.

Recently i have been thinking about the akai mpc1000 for its sequencer, graphical display, sound, and overall flexility. But to be sincere, since i try very hard to keep my gear as few as possible i am somewhat concerned that this will be redundant with the sp404. And somehow in a strange way, i still "like" the sp404 and wonder whether it is my lack of knowledge about the sp404 which makes me seek the mpc 1000 .

So my questions : i guess i have this "gear envy" and curiosity for the mpc 1000, so plse give me good reasons to invest in a mpc1000 when one already has a sp404 .... and then would you keep both ?

ps : i do ambient and beat based "weird" stuff

I have owned both the SP-404SX and MPC1000, currently have an MPC2500 and my bandmate has my old SP. There is surprisingly little overlap between the strengths of the MPCs and the SPs, the MPC is a great sequencer and drum machine whereas the SP is great at easy, fun, on the fly sample playback and has really good effects that are easy to tweak live. When I had my 404SX I was trying to use it like the MPC1000 which I had before that and the sequencer was frustratingly limiting. No quantisation after recording, no roll function, no multiple tracks to mute and unmute, very limited editing after recording etc. The MPC fixes all that.

The MPCs effect aren't very good though, and I don't really bother to use them at all. MPCs do have lots of outputs (6 on the 1000, 10 on the 2500) so you can run things from those outputs to external effects which means you end up with better effects overall. I do really like the SP effects though, if they made a unit that was just the effects from the SPs with a similarly easy to use interface for around $100 I'd buy one for sure.

look at the Maschine, unless you need the sequencer from the MPC to control other synths and you are not using a DAW.