Reviews and questions about the entry-level MPC500
By Jayo Fri Apr 18, 2014 11:08 pm
I internally grounded my Technics 1210s, no noise is coming from the turntables or mixer (HAK 380)

I'm guessing since the MPC is 16bit digital that you cannot get rid of a small digital distortion, the only way to deal with is is to record as soft as possible while the mixer is as loud as possible..then the sound will be less distorted...if i turn the mixer down and switch the record knob up on the MPC then the digital noise is more noticeable

Maybe the best thing for me is to first record the sounds on a multitrack, then export those WAV files to my MPC, then the sound will be as good as my multitrack recorder
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By Ill-Green Sat Apr 19, 2014 10:15 pm
Quiet as a mouse here. I get no signal from the DAW when its not playing. Could be the cables touching the AC cable or the faulty AC adapter itself. I dread it myself and wonder why Akai would use a third party to manufacture them. Anyhow, I bought a universal adapter with better coiling.
By Jayo Sun Apr 20, 2014 12:42 am
its not the cables, nor the adapter, i found out what it is and i quote from another website:

"unfortunately it is a fault with the Analogue to Digital Converters"

its a very small distortion barely noticeable when playing a sample, but when the sample is finished you can hear it on the empty part

im thinking about selling it (with the thick pads) unfortunately i liked working with it..now im waiting for AKAI to release their new "stand alone" MPC wich should come out later this year, no DAW needed with that as it will have a windows operating system and a big screen so im gonna save up my money for that

Jeff
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By SimonInAustralia Sun Apr 20, 2014 12:48 am
Jayo wrote:now im waiting for AKAI to release their new "stand alone" MPC wich should come out later this year, no DAW needed with that as it will have a windows operating system and a big screen so im gonna save up my money for that

I think you will probably be waiting until at least mid next year, or later, for that to be available to buy, if it happens at all.
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By godxbOmb Sun Apr 20, 2014 2:20 am
Have you checked the battery posts for corrosion. That was one of the problems with my old unit. I ended up taking it back. It didn't record the ringing noise along with the sample... I could only here it though while sampling.
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By Ill-Green Sun Apr 20, 2014 5:56 pm
If you hear noise then its a faulty unit. Quotes on the net are just quotes. My unit is silent and I sample with headphones. Only time I hear noise is when sampling in Mono, but that is easily fixed when I adjust the panning of the incoming source.
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By inflict3 Sun Apr 20, 2014 6:12 pm
i hear noise outta my headphone jack when the volume is at full, its kinda like a computer thinking type noise, like when i save and load i can hear the mpc thinking and doing shit, the noise isn't too loud, kinda like a few high pitched whines and shit, barely noticeable, haven't noticed it out of the audio outs and it doesn't seem to transfer when i track out…its like i can hear the mpc think..
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By Ill-Green Sun Apr 20, 2014 11:47 pm
inflict3 wrote:i hear noise outta my headphone jack when the volume is at full, its kinda like a computer thinking type noise, like when i save and load i can hear the mpc thinking and doing shit, the noise isn't too loud, kinda like a few high pitched whines and shit, barely noticeable, haven't noticed it out of the audio outs and it doesn't seem to transfer when i track out…its like i can hear the mpc think..

Yeah, that I can hear. Like some faint R2D2 sounds going on in the back when it loads and save samples. I hear that in all samplers and digital DAWs though. Its natural, some quieter than others and some noisy. My old SP-505 use to shed alot of white noise and I hated it but the SP-606 is silent.

I do remember one dude saying that when he turns off the backlight, the white noise disappears, but I have yet to try it since I didn't detect white noise yet on my unit.

Gotta remember, the 500 was made in 3 different countries throughout its heyday. China, Malaysia and Taiwan. So each assembly was different.
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By inflict3 Mon Apr 21, 2014 3:42 am
wow!! i didn't know they made the 500 in different places!! crazy!!