I could imagine but not being able to monitor is crippling if wanting to over dub.
I absolutely adore my 303. But I have that luxury as I don’t have to deal with it as my main sampler.
I bet.
if you’re talking about the mpc I agree. Pads were horrible as well. And sample chopping a PITA
I was, wanted to love it but sent me into a whirlwind of gear chaos that hopefully has subsided with the OT.
It seems to come down to DT vs MPC 1000.
No love for the electribe I assume.
Good thing is he can test my DT and his friend has a MPC1000
Another question. With the stock single cycle waves, I can get really nice synth sounds with the DT.
Is this also possible on the MPC?
And a drawback of the DT. Hard to record/sample longer passages
nope…not really…clean single cycle waveform looping, which makes every elektron sampling engine a pretty suitable wave table synth per definition, too is out of precision reach for a mpc…u can loop that fast of course, but even with envelope ramps u still get lot’s of clicking…also the filters are only half that smooth as in the elektrons…
good to know. Thanks
just to take back a little my roland rant…when it comes to filters…they always had a better hand compared to akai…but nothing compares to elektron filters these days, no matter if they’re digital or analog…better filters can be only found in some modular gear…and good old moogs of course…
sounds like a good plan 
It just depends on what workflow he would like. The workflow is different on all those boxes. Personally I love the MPC workflow, I also love my sp404sx, but they are not for everyone.
If I had to pick out of what you listed I would go MPC 1000…but I have 3 MPC’s so of course I would go with that. My brother prefers Maschine, he sold me back an MPC 1000 that I sold him because he didn’t use it (I only sold it because I got a 2500).
If you go MPC, you can start with the free JJOS (JJOS 3.16) & can even test out the paid versions of JJOS prior to buying to see if you like it (can’t save your work until you buy a password)…the amount of features that gets added with JJOS is crazy (see below for JJOS comparison chart)
http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~mpc1000/chart.htm
I had the Electribe synth version, which was pretty cool, but gave it to my brother. Only reason I don’t recommend the Electribe is I hear a lot of bad about the workflow of the Sampler as well. I’ve been watching the Digitakt, might get 1 some day.
Maybe let him play with the Digitakt & see if he likes it. If he doesn’t, you can cross it off the list & he would also get an idea of what he is looking for…what he liked & disliked about it will say a lot.
fame suckers? huh?
Not sure what that means, but I went with the sx as battery power & memory are important to me. I’ve had it 3 years & still use it everyday, I love it. My sx doesn’t seem to want any fame tho, it just wants to have fun & make dope beats.
I have to try a mpc again one day. I wonder what people love about the workflow. I only had the 500, and only used it for hip hop. Chopping samples. But i sold it as soon as i discovered drumracks and slice to midi in ableton. I’m so used to elektron now that i have problems to imagine why a mpc should be more fun. The pads of course, I’m missing good pads. But those on the 500 were horrible and the pads of the 1000 don’t get praised either
I personally like the MPC 500, but I love limited gear & find chopping by ear to be meditative. Most people don’t like the 500 tho, it’s understandable.
I will say the 500 has nothing on the 1000. Major upgrade with respects to features. Especially with JJOS. I guess what I love about MPC’s is the ease of use, everything feels fluid to me, I love building songs by muting tracks, I like finger drumming & playing everything out live, I think the 1000 with JJOS is an amazing value for the price.
Really it’s hard for me to explain, it’s just a feeling. When I first started making music I would buy what looks good on paper “oh, it has this feature & that feature” of course features are important but I realized quickly workflow is just as important, actually more so for me. For example the sp404sx is very limited but it is 1 of my favorites. & again it’s hard for me to explain why. It’s just fun to use, like MPC’s. Different kind of fun. MPC’s & sp’s are a great combo as well, they go amazing together, both have different strengths.
Edit, the pads on my 1000 are perfect… you can upgrade them. I have fat pads on my 2500 & 500, regular pads on my 1000 & I like the pads on my 1000 better. I have a black 1000 tho, I heard the blue 1000 is the one with the pad issues, not ALL blue 1000’s, but some had a gap between the pad & sensor, but you can buy cork squares to put inbetween for like $12.00 at MPC stuff.
my vote is for mpc1000, ideally with jjos2xl. it has polyphonic sample playback (without specialty cable workarounds), and higher resolution MIDI sequencer that will record pitch bend, modulation, aftertouch, etc, as it is played.
Vote DT is the best. Maschine - way too much stuff to get lost in. Hated the new electribes. Wouldn’t call push a groove box at all, it’s a control surface. I have no experience with MPCs.
…me again…more mpc love to come, i’m afraid…
yup, forget about the 500…way other deal…only advantage battery powered instrument of it’s own…
but pads are really different…and the first 1000 was a new generation of mpc’s after a long break and relaunch of the whole akai brand…those were blue…and for some reason they thought it might be a good idea to give it single pads working with a way different construction underneath…and hell yeah, those were crap big time…bit like those new butterfly keys on the new macbooks…
the next gen in black came with the old style of pads again, which is one plate of trigger contacts underneath one single mat of 16 gum pads…that’s undestroyable again and has that old feel that everybody loved so much back in the 90ies…when there was the good old 3000 and 2000/xl…which started the whole thing of one shot drum samplers…
and if we’re talking real instruments on their own here, maschine is out anyway…was just the first mpc concept rip off in a long list to come of more and more tabledisco controlers for computers by native instruments…but that this whole pad concept got copied 'til up to day so many times, by so many others got it’s good reasons…even elektron gave it a try with rytm…
and as mentioned here by many others, too…no bigger bang for the buck out there when it comes to a real stand alone music machine that can do it all, without any help from a computer…
an old mpc 1000 with jjos…
the 2500 is studio use only for me…bigger is only better there…
while the 1000 is fixed in my live rig and with me on tour all the time…and even tells my octatrack what to do next…
and always keep in mind…that thing is also a midi sequencer full on…and these pads can talk midi with velocity to anything else out there that talks midi…provides a whole midi harbour with it’s multiple and separate midi in’s and out’s…gives and takes midi clock rock solid and once was famous for it’s groove only…
Interesting. Thanks for all the infos