MPC vs Digital Audio Workstation
By Hezekiah
When producing music especially for the hip hop genre there are two common ways to go about it. One is to use the traditional MPC, and another is to use DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). An MPC (Music Production Centre) is what producers have been using before the days of modern DAWs. An MPC consists of a board with velocity sensitive pads which are assigned to samples, these reads are read into the MPC from an input soruce, record, CD, Tape etc.. The company that makes most knows MPC's is Akai.
A DAW is software running either on the Windows or Mac platform, sound output is normally through an Audio Interface with can also be connected to MIDI instruments such as a keyboard. Sounds can be imported or played through software synthesizers. The work screen is normally divided into tracks so you can visualize what's going on in your project.
I will explain what the positives and negatives for both methods are and hopefully it can help one decide which production method suits them.
The MPC
Positive points
- Very quick to sample, sounds can be uploaded and assigned to pads for immediate testing/playing.
- Connects easily through an input source without any setup/configuration needed.
- A/D conversion gives a nice warm feel to the sound without any effects needed. Good for Hip hop production
- Portable. Use an MP3 player for input and you can create beats on the go.
Negative points
- Editing can be difficult as you are not able to view the whole project at a single glance.
- Sounds are limited to what you sample only.
- Not easy to edit/tweak sounds to perfection which may leave you with a raw sounding project at times.
- Takes time to get used to at first since operation involves menus and button sequences.
- Can be pricey for the upper range models.
- Not useful for any kind of music composition.
Digital Audio Workstation
Positive points
- Full music composition can be achieved using a variety of software
- External devices such as keyboards can be connected for compositions
- Real life instrument sound plug-gins can be utilized (VSTs)
- Editing is easier due to a graphical user interface
- Lower end DAWs are extremely cheap
- DAW music formats can be used in many professional music studios, therefore very portable.
Negative points
- Due to the multiple functions DAWs can take time to learn.
- VST sample pluggins can be very expensive
- Difficult to create instant tracks on the fly.
- GUI have multiple windows and can have a messy appearance.
- A lot of configuration is needed for MIDI instruments.
Comments
J Dilla Drums, well thanks for your input, appreciated.
Not a problem
I enjoy your hubs I feel they are very useful to the community especially those who are and or even have a little interest in music production.
Keep writing my friend :)
Great hub man. You pretty much hit everything on the head minus the things Dilla drums pointed out.
Do you produce music on a regular?
@Ghost Producer, yes I play the piano/keyboard for more Neo Soul stuff nowadays tho.
J Dilla Drums 9 months ago
Nice write up there are a few things that I'd like to address that I feel are just user error.
Digital area
1. It's not difficult to create tracks on the fly. It all depends on the user and how he or she decides to work
2.The user chooses how many windows he/she has open. No application requires you to have 10 windows open at a time.
3. Mini configuration is done to a simple usb plugin that is automatically detected. Midi can be hooked up in seconds vs with an mpc or any other hardware unit.
Hardware (Mpc)
1. It's not easy to sample on these things. Well I take that back its darn easy to sample but sample editing takes time depending on which model you have. Samples being uploaded? No samples are not "uploaded" they are sampled into the machine and you have to assign the samples to pads so it's not immediately ready as it would be on something liek NI's Maschine etc
2. A/D conversion giving warm sound. This depends again on which Mpc you are using. I use an Mpc 3000 and i like the sound it has but as with anything you get out what you put into the unit. Tracks that come out of my 3000 sound no different than the tracks coming out of Reason 5. Again it's al about what you put into it. So if you put a cheesy sound into an mpc 3000 it's still going to sound cheesy.
3.Also you do have to tweak the sound to get it sounding right. Too many people think you can just run sounds or tracks through an older unit and it magically sounds good. You have to have the ear for the sounds and an ear for the levels and and great ear for laying to make things sound good. The machine doesn't do this for you
4. Mpcs are useful for any type of music composition. They are acutally made originally for country music artist. It just so happens it was adopted by hiphop producers. There are plenty of Hiphop/jungle/DNB/techno/electronic/pop/rnb/country/rock musicians/bands that have an mpc in their arsenal
and I'm talking mpc 2000s/2000xls/mpc 60's and 3000s
Sorry but had to set the facts straight as I am a Music producer (bet/mtv/ea games) that uses both hardware and software