ASR-X Pro vs. MPC2000

["Douglas Lawrence" <douglas-lawrence@home.com>]

Well, I was just about to buy an Akai MPC2000 (v1.7 OS has seemed to fix
most of the stability issues), then Ensoniq announced the ASR-X Pro (the 
red
box). It seems like they've addressed almost everybody's major complaints
except the small screen issue and real-time sample stretch. Can anyone 
point
out any compelling reason to go with one over the other. To me, it seems
like the ASR-X Pro is a winner ... (has anybody heard anything about
Yamaha's up-and-coming competitor to these units, I think it's called the
RU700?? It's due to be released this Fall.)

Feature                         MPC2000                 ASR-X Pro
=====================================================
Flash OS                        yes                     yes(finally)
Polyphony                       32                      32
# channels Rx 1                 32                      16
# channels Tx           32                      16
Sequencer Tracks                64                      16
MIDI outs                       2                       1
Max audio outs          2                       2
RAM                             2mb (32 max)    2mb (66 max)
Total sample time               ???                     13 minutes @ 44.1 
kHz mono
                                                        6.5 minutes @ 44.1 
kHz stereo
ROM sounds                      no                      yes (even more 
with EXP expansion board)
Storage                         floppy, SCSI    floppy, SCSI (built-in now)
SMPTE                   yes                     no
# Pads                  16                      13 (plus 10 quick edit 
pads)
Graphic editing                 yes                     no
Step edit                       yes                     no
read PC (fat) disks     yes                     yes
Effects Algoritms               ?? with add-in  40
Effects Busses          4 busses                2 busses
Resonant filter                 12db/Oct LP     Multimode (LP, BP Resonant)
Track muting            yes                     no
Sequencer memory                100,000 notes   140,000 notes (w/ 8Mb RAM)
Save File Formats               .WAV & .AIFF    .AIFF
CC modulation           yes(effects only)       yes(4 per patch)
Time Stretch            yes                     yes
Tempo Resolution                ???                     1/100 BPM
Clock Resolution                96/ppq          384/ppq
Tap Tempo                       yes                     yes
Note Repeat                     yes(easy)               (???) I think so 
with some playing around
Velocity sensitive pads no                      yes

Hmmmm, I wonder how these units compare to a Yamaha A3000 or an Emu 
ESI-4000
... if I could find a great pad based MIDI controller, that may be a better
way to go.

Later-
Doug.