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tvent · 30th November 2009

If I had to buy out of the current product offerings, the 5000 would be my choice.
Just the extra connectivity would be worth it, and besides, the savings between that and the 2500 isn't THAT much.

One thing I don't like about it, is that the 8 analog outs and the 8 optical outs are married together (I thought we would be able to send 16, well actually 20 if you count 8 analog, 2 analog stereo, 8 optical, plus 2 spidif all out at the same time) and I couldn't find any way to easily send a specific track out to a specific output (it's real easy on my 3k and 60) - you had to assign the individual sounds to the individual outs on the 5k - is this normal for newer mpcs?. Not sure if this is changed in an OS upgrade or not, but it was cumbersome.

FWIW, I do own both a 60 and a 3k, and I've spent a lot of time wining and dining them BOTH this year. They are starting to get expensive to own. I've just given up on floppies and zips, and now the card readers (even the cheap ones) are getting costly. I need backlights now. It just never seems to end - I guess it's like an old car or house that you love.

I do think Akai could have made it better, with maybe an optical input (or multiple analog inputs) that would allow 8-track analog recording to disk, more RAM capacity, and a USB port like the 4k has that allows you to copy/load to/from usb thumb drives, but out of the current lineup it is by far the best thing they have going. They did add keygroups, so that is something... something my 3k doesn't have. As for the sound, we had a hard time deciphering sound quality between the 5k, 2.5k, 3k, and the 60 (you'd be amazed how clean the 60's sound, given their "gritty" reputation on forums.) We sent the same samples into the SP-1200 though and it just fell apart (had to do some MAJOR pitch shifting to fit all the samples into 10 secs, so it REALLY wasn't an apples/apples comparison.) Groove wise? I can't say for certain. All we used when we had them all together were chopped up loops, no drum programming with swing. Anywho, if you want something new with a warranty, go grab a 5k.
If you don't care about new/warranty, then there seems to be some deals to be had on 2.5k's and 3k's alike. If you want a 60, get one with the upgrades already done - they are getting hard to come by too.

30th November 2009	#12
tvent Gear nut Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Helena, AR Posts: 77	If I had to buy out of the current product offerings, the 5000 would be my choice. Just the extra connectivity would be worth it, and besides, the savings between that and the 2500 isn't THAT much. One thing I don't like about it, is that the 8 analog outs and the 8 optical outs are married together (I thought we would be able to send 16, well actually 20 if you count 8 analog, 2 analog stereo, 8 optical, plus 2 spidif all out at the same time) and I couldn't find any way to easily send a specific track out to a specific output (it's real easy on my 3k and 60) - you had to assign the individual sounds to the individual outs on the 5k - is this normal for newer mpcs?. Not sure if this is changed in an OS upgrade or not, but it was cumbersome. FWIW, I do own both a 60 and a 3k, and I've spent a lot of time wining and dining them BOTH this year. They are starting to get expensive to own. I've just given up on floppies and zips, and now the card readers (even the cheap ones) are getting costly. I need backlights now. It just never seems to end - I guess it's like an old car or house that you love. I do think Akai could have made it better, with maybe an optical input (or multiple analog inputs) that would allow 8-track analog recording to disk, more RAM capacity, and a USB port like the 4k has that allows you to copy/load to/from usb thumb drives, but out of the current lineup it is by far the best thing they have going. They did add keygroups, so that is something... something my 3k doesn't have. As for the sound, we had a hard time deciphering sound quality between the 5k, 2.5k, 3k, and the 60 (you'd be amazed how clean the 60's sound, given their "gritty" reputation on forums.) We sent the same samples into the SP-1200 though and it just fell apart (had to do some MAJOR pitch shifting to fit all the samples into 10 secs, so it REALLY wasn't an apples/apples comparison.) Groove wise? I can't say for certain. All we used when we had them all together were chopped up loops, no drum programming with swing. Anywho, if you want something new with a warranty, go grab a 5k. If you don't care about new/warranty, then there seems to be some deals to be had on 2.5k's and 3k's alike. If you want a 60, get one with the upgrades already done - they are getting hard to come by too.