Share your knowledge on these two classic MPCs
By gilles Tue Feb 18, 2014 7:09 pm
MisterWhite wrote:For MPC60 and MPC60II users - the inverter circuit from an S3000XL / S1100 / S1000 can be very useful. You can replace the existing inverter circuit in your 60/60II with this board, just screw it into place (the screw-holes are in the right place) and plug in the two connecting cables. Be careful not to get the cables mixed up or you will blow a fuse in your 60. Get in touch with me if you need a photo of which cable goes where.

Matt


Hi Matt,

Thank you very much ! I had a sleepy S3000XL that was useless for me in a dirty box and I never thought they had the same inverter... My 60 is now perfectly quiet !

:worthy:
By Roots Renegade Thu Jun 12, 2014 1:02 am
AKAI S1100 INVERTER MOD: SUCCESS

My S1100 inverter was very loud (hight pitch buzzing noise) so here's what i did to solve the problem. Perhaps it could help or inspire someone else so i took pictures during the whole project. As safety precautions, don't forget to unplug the machine BEFORE you work in/on it.

1) Troubleshoot: I made sure there was no noise coming out of the audio (this would indicate a problem coming from the capacitor on the inverter circuit). Tested with headphones, zero noise.

2) I bought from MisterWhite: a brand new backlight for my S1100 (can sometimes help with the inverter noise but in my case, it didn't) and i also bought a brand new display for my S950. With those displays, you don't need the inverter anymore so once installed, i was left with a spare S950 inverter (wich was 110% quiet).

3) Here's the S1100 inverter on its circuit board:
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Here's the S950 inverter on its circuit board:
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4) Here's what you'll need to make this mod a success:

a) Soldering station/iron
b) S950 inverter
c) S1100 circuit board
d) 3 x 3'' wires (i used solid core)
e) Heatshrink material
f) Solder
g) Desoldering pump
e) Love and respect for old samplers

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5) I started by soldering the 3 wires to the 3 feets of the S950 inverter.
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6) I then heated the heatshink material in place.
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7) Then i soldered the other end of the 3 wires to the S1100 circuit board.
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8 ) To help me out, MisterWhite provided me with this nice drawing:
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9) Now all that was left to do was to put the circuit board + inverter back into my S1100 using sticky velcro (so it can be removed if needed). I added electrical tape on the inverter connectors for extra safety.
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10) Close the chassis, put the screws back on, plug the sampler and your all done, success ! Zero noise.
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Special thanks to you Matt for your top quality products and your top-notch after market service.
Last edited by Roots Renegade on Thu Jun 12, 2014 1:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
By jimmie Thu Jun 12, 2014 1:25 am
?

I've always been told that the 950 inverter doesn't supply enough umpf for the s1000/s1100/mpc3000 displays.
When did that change?
Is the 950 inverter good enough?
Last edited by jimmie on Thu Jun 12, 2014 1:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
By jimmie Thu Jun 12, 2014 1:31 am
I've had a spare 950 inverter since I installed an led screen last year and a super high pitched squeaker of an s1000 inverter for about the same time.
Had a permanent eBay search for available s1000 inverters for a year or so.

gonna do this then.

I just don't understand how everybody thought this was a non viable solution till today.

Matt told me it wasn't possible too.
By Roots Renegade Thu Jun 12, 2014 1:39 am
Maybe what he meant was that you cannot switch the whole circuit board, i don't know. What you change is the inverter but you keep the original circuit board (that's why i used the 3'' legs, the S950 inverter doesn't fit on the S1100 circuit board). I know that this mod is suppose to work with many other Akai machines, especially the MPC3000.
By Roots Renegade Thu Jun 12, 2014 5:14 am
jimmie wrote:I just don't understand how everybody thought this was a non viable solution till today.

Matt told me it wasn't possible too.


Check out DJ Supreme's posts on page 7 of this thread. He took his S950 inverter, put it into his MPC60mk1 and it worked. MPC60 and S1100 inverters are similar. The 950 inverter works at a lower voltage than the 60 one but i can tell you that the display is really very bright in my S1100. Look at the pictures i posted here:

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=165807&start=90
By Roots Renegade Thu Jun 12, 2014 7:58 pm
This also means that everybody that bought a display for their quiet S950 now have a spare quiet inverter available for modifications or for sale. There are people out there who desperately need a quiet inverter for their S1000/S1100/MPC60/MPC3000.
By Roots Renegade Thu Jun 26, 2014 8:47 pm
Awesome !

Is it a lot dimmer and was the light very dim before the mod ?

I ask because mine is super bright as you can see in the pictures i posted. The display contrast knob is set to halfway (twelve o'clock) here. Yours ?
By jimmie Thu Jun 26, 2014 9:23 pm
Comparison with S950 screen:
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The S1000 screen wasn't particularly bright before.
I fitted a new EL foil in it last year.
It's never been very bright but was a bit brighter than this.
By MisterWhite Thu Jul 03, 2014 7:58 pm
RootsRenegade, hey man, sorry I am late getting back to you on this, thank you for the very detailed photos and the description of the work you did. That looks excellent and I'm glad it solved the inverter noise problem.

Jimmie, yes I remember telling you that it wasn't worth doing this mod. This was based upon my measurements of the inverter in my S950. It measured less than 80 volts, which in itself is not great (S1100 inverter outputs 150V). On top of that, it didn't have the driving force needed to power a backlight of the size on the S1100, which is about 8 square inches. The S900/950 inverter is designed to drive a backlight of approximately 4 square inches. It seems that my S950 had a weak inverter and so does yours.

It's definitely worth trying this mod.
By ArpSolina Sun Dec 14, 2014 3:06 pm
Hey Matt,

I'm another victim of the display inverter noise problem :wink:

MisterWhite wrote:Be careful not to mix up the 2 connections to the inverter. Connect the backlight to P2. Connect the cable from the power supply to P1. Don't get those connections the wrong way round or you will blow a fuse...

Matt


I decided to completely bypass the original MPC-60 inverter and replace it with a new one, like this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/331368071288

This inverter needs 9-12V DC at the input. So, what is the voltage of the MPC power supply applied to the P1 connector?

Thanks,
Bernard
By MisterWhite Sun Dec 14, 2014 10:51 pm
Hey Bernard,

The connection from the MPC60's power supply gives you 5 volts DC. An inverter rated for 9-12VDC can still operate but its output voltage will be halved, or worse. It seems that this inverter is designed to power up to 100cm2 of backlight so it might illuminate everything just fine.

One other thing I should mention, is this: When you bypass the inverter board completely, you are also bypassing a noise filter capacitor. So if the inverter happens to be a bit noisy, it is possible for the noise to leak back into the MPC's power supply and make it into the audio signal.

If you don't get the results you wanted, let me know, I have a few quiet inverters just in, I can provide one already soldered to an Akai circuit board that can be screwed in place of the old one.
By ArpSolina Mon Dec 15, 2014 8:32 pm
Matt,

MisterWhite wrote:If you don't get the results you wanted, let me know, I have a few quiet inverters just in, I can provide one already soldered to an Akai circuit board that can be screwed in place of the old one.


Many thanks for your reply!

I would be very grateful if you could provide me with one of those already soldered Akai circuit board for my MPC60.

On another subject: I just linked to your illuminator808 facebook page and found you have this wonderful green yellowish Kurzweil K2000 display upgrade kit... You know, the K2000 was my first synth back in 1991, and now it really needs a new display backlight. Matt, you'll be my hero, if you could provide me with one of these K2000 kit :-)

So, please just pm me the price for both the items, including delivery fee to Luxembourg, and your preferred payment method.

Many thanks.
Yours,
Bernard