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I am having trouble deciding which machine to purchase. Many hours have been spent researching Electribe and Akai MPC 500/1000


Here is some background info.

I am a musician and I play for a living. I play keys (microKorg and Previa) and sing with an excellent guitarist at resorts and for corporate events. We use an RC-50 to loop the bass line, and structure of the song. We then play over the loops/phrases to give a full sound. We use the beats that are built into the machine.

I have to go solo some of the time and was considering buying another RC-50 since the guitarist will use the first one.

EXCEPT that I prefer electronica, dance, trance and house music. I am sooooo sick of playing "Sweet Home Alabama" and other American resort style music. If I have to play that music I want to spice it up and do dance/electronica versions.

Also, I am a songwriter and I want to produce the type of music I love, not tired old rock. I want to take the 40 or so, songs I have written on the piano and turn them into dance type music with trance and techno undertones.

So, I need a machine that will have beats, cool beats in it or be able to upload cool beats (not the EMX, I figured that one out), I would like it to be able to loop on the fly and have FX that are trippy.

I want to record music that sounds the same being produced on stage live.


RECAP:

1. must loop on the fly

2. have electronica type sounds

3. have beats

If the ESX can't loop on the fly, I am considering getting the ESX and looping that with my microKorg and full size keyboard with the Boomerang we already have. Not sure how well, the Boomerang will handle looping beats.

Is there a machine comparable to the ESX? I don't want to spend more than $500.

I gathered over the last few days that what I want is considered a hybrid machine. Roland coined the term "groovebox", a sampler/drum machnine. I don't think the SP 404 or 606 would be what I am looking for.

So far, the closest thing I can find to what I am looking for is the ESX, Except I am not sure it can loop on the fly.

Any suggestions?


One more thing, I heard the Akai is mainly used for hip hop. Does the Akai come with presets or preloaded beats?


PS I love my microKorg and would prefer to stick with Korg products.

given your situation, I say go for the ESX.

with your budget, and the fact that the ESX is already preloaded with nice kits and sounds, you can get by with it.

I'm not sure exactly how on the fly you need something to loop but the ESX can loop on the fly without having to stop the machine. anything you program on the fly can automatically loop.

akai can be used for anything but most hiphop heads just use it. it comes with a number of kits but not as much as what you get with an ESX. it takes a bit of work with the MPC's plus the fact that you'd spend more with it.

the esx loops the internal parts on the fly, but you can't use it to capture external audio and loop it without stopping playback. if that's what you're after, the esx won't cut it, but for your other criteria, it's the one to get for sure

as far as real time modulation and twisting the sh*t out of samples which is perfect for electronic kinds of music, the ESX wins out over the mpc's easily.
And on top of that, all the real time automation that can be performed on the ESX takes things to a whole other realm of creative expression.
Not quite sure i understand what your wanting to do with the loops?
But their are several ways to loop samples on the ESX, so looping is posible and quite easy.

As far as the MPC, ive heard quite a bit of bad things about the 500 and 1000.
Lots of people accidentally break the internal circuitry on the 500 when they try to install more RAM....from what ive heard this procedure is very tedious and risky.
And of course on the 1000....the pads even on the black newer models run the chance of dying out on the user, although the possibilitys of that happenining arent as likely as the first blue one.

The ESX is built like a tank!

Just my personal opinions though, go with your gut.

Thanks. Your input is greatly appreciated.

How much looping time does the ESX have? I heard it has 6 hours on mono and 3 hours stereo. I may be thinking of a different machine. As far as looping music for my job, I may have to preprogram the root structure of the song prior to the show. Around here, most musicians loop the basic structure of the song and play leads over what was just recorded live. I want to take it to the next level and play it with fresh new sounds. Everyone is tired of the same ol s***, but it is a requirement to play "Brown Eyed Girl" and other songs that are favorites of the tourists. It would be so much more fun to do techno versions of the standards regionally played.

And as far as taking the originals I write and turning them ito some bad *ss trance/techno, I know that the ESX is the way to go. Thanks, again.

Another machine you might want to consider is the Yamaha RS7000. Not sure about looping on the fly, though.

According to reviews, the RS7000 is large and heavy, the pads wear out easy, the RAM has to upgraded, it is difficult to learn, no good customer support, a hard case is available only in Europe and it costs at least twice as much as I am willing to spend at this time. In spite of all this, the RS7000 gets good reviews. I won't be getting the RS7000 because I am not sure I really need it, but thank you for the suggestion. I had a good time reading the reviews and learned alot about the SP909, MPC2000xl and what's best for traveling light and playing live.

By the way, tription, the ESX has nowhere near 3/6 hours of sampling time. It's 285 seconds! With 256 mono slots and 128 stereo slots, where the stereo samples take twice the space as mono of the same length of time. Sasmpling frequency is 44.1KHz, bit length is 16. I don't think it's what you're looking for...

How long are your loops? How many loops do you need going at a time?

The KP3 might be perfect for you. It's great for live sampling, effects, and rhythm patterns.

what you need is the roland sp-555 or ableton live

Maybe the Roland MC-808? This has sampling as well as x0x style sequencing. However, you will need a phD in understanding obfuscated interfaces to operate it to its fullest extent. For this reason, mc-808's can be found for a very decent price. This is a powerful groovebox that gives brain cramps to most people!

Yatmandu wrote:Maybe the Roland MC-808? This has sampling as well as x0x style sequencing. However, you will need a phD in understanding obfuscated interfaces to operate it to its fullest extent. For this reason, mc-808's can be found for a very decent price. This is a powerful groovebox that gives brain cramps to most people!

it's not THAT bad It's mighty powerful, and can be found for around $150-$100 more than an ESX. I never bothered to use the sampling part of the machine, so it's more a 9 part poly synth with an MPC-style sequencer + 8 drum parts (meaning you can have 8 different beats going on at the same time)

but like I said, I never bothered to use the sampling option, as the ESX wins hands down for easy sampling... but it's good no doubt