Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
Bychurchrd Thu Dec 09, 2004 10:52 am
Hey guys.
I just started using the mpc editor and I'm assuming that you can export the .pgm's to cd. Is that correct? I'm getting an error message when I try to export to cd.

If it's not possible to export them to cd, will it be possible to connect the zip drive I have for my 2000 to my computer to save .pgm's there? Or do I need a different type of zip drive to connect to my pc?

I've tried exporting to 3.5 floppy but 1 .pgm took over 4 disks. I cancelled it when it said the 4th disk was full I was hoping it would work to export to cd.

Can anyone help me out. It would be appreciated.
thanks
Jason
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By Lampdog Thu Dec 09, 2004 5:49 pm
"I just started using the mpc editor and I'm assuming that you can export the .pgm's to cd. Is that correct? I'm getting an error message when I try to export to cd."

Save to a folder first then burn the contents of that folder to CD.

"If it's not possible to export them to cd, will it be possible to connect the zip drive I have for my 2000 to my computer to save .pgm's there? Or do I need a different type of zip drive to connect to my pc?"

What gear do you have, you didn't give a complete description of what you are working with, every little peice that is involved with what you are trying to do here.

"I've tried exporting to 3.5 floppy but 1 .pgm took over 4 disks. I cancelled it when it said the 4th disk was full"

That's because the samples you used were BIG as h e l l, you should have known that already.

And how are you going to get this PGM from CD to MPC? Again, you gotta help us help you by giving us a complete description of your setup ya dig?

Bychurchrd Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:15 am
lampdog,
appreciate the help man.
Save to a folder first then burn the contents of that folder to CD

Do you mean save to a folder on my cpu first? Or is there a way to save to cd as a folder? This could be my problem. I just tried to export right to cd w/o saving the .pgm. I'll try again.

What gear do you have, you didn't give a complete description of what you are working with, every little peice that is involved with what you are trying to do here.

My pc runs windows Xp, and my mpc 2000 is ver1.7. I have a iomega zip drive 100 and a cd rom drive i also connect to my mpc to load sounds off of. I'm looking into buying a used usb zip drive for my cpu at home unless I can get the .pgm and .snd's to save to cd.

Thanks for your help, I think i'm close. Hopefully I can get the editor to burn to cd, so I don't have to buy a zip for my home pc.
Jason
User avatar

By Lampdog Fri Dec 10, 2004 3:21 am
churchrd wrote:Save to a folder first then burn the contents of that folder to CD

Dammit man, (ala Pitbull) Nope.

1. Create an empty folder on your desktop or wherever.
2. Create your pgms/samples and save them to that empty directory.
Remeber here to use ONLY 8 character filenames for your files..
3. Not the folder itself but burn the CONTENTS of that folder to the CD (use iso9660 level 1).

churchrd wrote:I just tried to export right to cd w/o saving the .pgm.

Can't happen.

My pc runs windows Xp, and my mpc 2000 is ver1.7. I have a iomega zip drive 100 and a cd rom drive i also connect to my mpc to load sounds off of. I'm looking into buying a used usb zip drive for my cpu at home unless I can get the .pgm and .snd's to save to cd.

I use Nero to burn CD's cause I like the control it gives me. I've never used the native burning inside XP.

Bychurchrd Fri Dec 10, 2004 3:29 am
hey lampdog,
I tried it again. I think it worked. I first saved the program to my cpu and then wrote the .pgm folder to a cd. Is this how it should've went?
I won't be able to check the cd 'till tomorrow at the studio. When I put the cd back into my cpu, a file folder opens up and the icon inside is the .pgm file with the name I gave it. Does this mean its going to work!? Are the sounds on there as well? I never actually exported any sounds. I just saved the program after I edited it. Are the sounds there then? Should it be a .aps file? If I knew this process was going too work tomorrow I'd be burning discs all night. The mpc editor seems like it's going to be an awesome way create .pgm's.
Does my procedure seem right to you?

Thanks,
Jason

Bychurchrd Fri Dec 10, 2004 4:45 am
Ok
I think I got it. I exported the .pgm and sounds to a file on my desktop. I then burned a data disc containing all the sounds in the folder and the .pgm file. That should be it right? Now when I load the .pgm from cd to the mpc2000 everything(all sounds) will come up to their respective pad, correct? I hope so. That seems right though when I burned the data disc. I used sonic to record the disc. It didn't give me an option for ISO9660, they just had "write data disc" I hope its the same. We'll see tomorrow.

Bychurchrd Sat Dec 11, 2004 1:47 am
So my Cd didn't work today.
I loaded it and I got a bunch of question marks where it usually sais "mpc2000" when files are loaded correctly. I checked the cd in my Tascam SX1 and the first program I made came up all the sounds and everything. I couldn't import them because my machine doesn't import those types of files, but it could atleast read the disc. It also said that there were 3 partitions on the cd. Is this my problem? I created and saved 3 .pgm's with the "editor" and put them on the same disc. Is that wrong? I think I remember reading that the 2000 can not read folders or open folders or something. Any suggestions on what I should do? Please help me.
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By Beat_Bangaz Sat Dec 11, 2004 1:52 am
LOL!!!! WOW!!!!

YO - BURN ONLY THE CONTENTS OF THE FOLDER --- NOT THE FOLDER IT'S SELF!!!!!

JUST THE .PGM and the SOUNDS -- NOT THE FOLDER!!!

Make sure when you export you export as MPC 2000 -- NOT 2000XL -- NOT 3000 ---- That should convert the files as .snd files...

Make sure that when you are editing (in wave lab - sound forge - logic etc.) you save the files as .wav NOTHING OVER 16 BIT!!!

GOOD LUCK BRO!

Bychurchrd Sat Dec 11, 2004 2:09 am
I did just burn the .pgm and the sounds. And I did export for the 2000.
And I don't think any of the samples were more than 16bit. I don't know why it's not working. Maybe I shouldn't have put more than 1 program on the disc? You would think that wouldn't matter. Maybe the program I used to burn the disc (sonic) isn't writing the correct type of "data disc".
I don't know. I'm going to burn another disc tonight and try again at the studio tomorrow. Thanks Bangaz.
User avatar

By Beat_Bangaz Sat Dec 11, 2004 5:46 pm
maybe that's the problem... you are burning it as a DATA disc... it needs to be burned as a mixed cd... Data and Audio --- if all else fails just go get an external or internal zip.

That's what I would do... I had a flash card reader in mine and it wasn't working with MPC Editor... I installed an internal zip I had laying around and badda bing... I was in business... now I can use the external scsi for a cd drive or I will more than likely get an external hard drive... then I can just store everything in one spot...

good luck again... I know how frustrated you are believe me...

By mpc3000 Sat Dec 11, 2004 10:23 pm
This may be a record for the most number of wrong answers in a single thread. The question isn't the operation of the MPC Editor, but rather the acepted formats that the MPC2000 will read. The MPC2000 will not mount a data or audio disk in any PC burning compatible format.

The only way for an MPC2000 to mount a CD is to use the same instructions that you use to 'burn an Akai formatted CD', which has been posted several times around the web (which happens to require having a HD or other removable drive connected to your PC/Mac).

I really wish that people:
1) Don't try to answer questions for gear they do not own.
2) Don't give instructions for operations they have not done on that same equipment.

Bychurchrd Mon Dec 13, 2004 3:40 am
Hey 3000,
Is this what you're talking about?

You can create your own AKAI CD-ROMs, but you'll need a few things: firstly a correctly installed CD-Recording unit (any kind or brand should work fine), next a 540MB AKAI formatted HD with the stuff you want to master on your CD and a little program called DISK2FILE, but you can do without it if you have a CD-Recording software with the option to create ISO images from RAW SCSI devices: this is what DISK2FILE does, it converts any type of OS formatted SCSI media in a DOS ISO file ready to be written to your CD or be compressed for storage. You can find this software through a link on my AKAI page. Ok, once you have your AKAI formatted HD hooked up to your CD-R SCSI chain to your PC and have installed DISK2FILE, you can launch it and select the ID of your AKAI HD. Now make your ISO image by selecting DISK2FILE mode and clicking on read. One note is to be made here: most CDr softwares want to detect a valid block size when opening the ISO file so you will need to manually check that the total selected sectors in the DISK2FILE window are a multiple of 2048. If the total sectors aren't perfectly dividable by 2048 then trim the end sector amount in order to reach this multiple (don't worry you will not loose data when reducing the end sector by a few bytes - you will never reach the exact end anyway). Once finished making the ISO image of your AKAI HD or any other removable media (ZIP, JAZ etc) you can launch your CD-r software. The options may vary depending on the software you have, but you should find something like "burn CD from ISO image" or "create CD from external image". It will then ask you where the ISO file is located so just select your new file and you're ready to go!. Click on make CD (burn) and you should be creating your first home made AKAI CD! Just one note: if you have a HD or removable media that is larger than 510MBs, the surplus will be wasted space (not indexed by AKAI), if you have one smaller than 510MB, you will only be able to create a CD of that same size, without the possibility of appending other sessions - AKAI CDs are all MODE 1 and not multisession. To be more precise, they are just the "dump" of what you have on your HD or removable media on a CD - the AKAIs (up to the 3200XL) do not know the difference between a CD or HD or ZIP, they just load data in 512b/s blocks and use the standard SCSI-1 commands to access the device(s).


I won't lie to you, I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to computers. I'm not really sure what all this really means :? :D This seems kind of complicated, but please correct me if I'm wrong. I may not know a whole lot about cpu's but I'm willing to learn if someone would be willing to explain. And if it's going to be a helluva lot easier to get a usb zip drive, TELL ME SO. I'm pretty sure I could do that but I need good reason before I put down a little money. If I do the "disk2file" process as described above is it going to eat a lot of HD space on my cpu? I don't have much room to spare. Thanks for all the help so far.

Jason