MPC2000xl static when sampling

yo i copped a 2xl the other day, has a cf card in it and was recently restored which adds to my confusion. whenever i try sample from my turntable (some pretty bog standard usb one with RCA's) i just get intense crackling and probably like 20% sample and 80% static, ive tried the wires, seeing if adding a pre amp works to no avail. ive only got 1 cf card at the moment so i tried using just the 2mb stock memory but it still crackles. my only conclusion is that maybe my turntable or needle is bust? it doesnt look particularly worn but i suppose it is old? anybody got a suggestion or idea if its a problem with the MPC i should be looknig for or just go straight to replacing needle/turntable? safee

Try connecting your turntable to a mixer or stereo unit (without the MPC) and see how it sounds before replacing the needle. That should eliminate one problem, and hopefully it's just that.

Yeah, it sounds like you need a new needle. The only way that it's your MPC is if your rec. gain/ volume is all the way up - in which case you'll need that pre-amp to boost the sound.

If the turntable has a normal phono output, then you need a preamp with a phono input inbetween the turntable and the MPC, to provide gain, and to apply the RIAA de-emphasis EQ curve to make it sound the way it should.

If the turntable has a line level output, then it has a builtin phono preamp, and you can connect it directly to the MPC, just set it to line output if there is a phono/line selector switch.


As suggested, testing the output of the turntable into an existing hifi system, or similar, to make sure the turntable is outputting correctly into something else, can help narrow it down. As can feeding a different signal, from a different source that you know is good, into the MPC inputs, to make sure the MPC is recording correctly from something else.