Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
By Jogge Wed Feb 01, 2023 8:55 am
Hey guys,

recently bought an 2000XL and while everything works fine I noticed that it's really hard for me to get a velocity higher then 70-90. There is a hidden sensetivity test via shift + 5 (TRIM) and then shift + F5 -> memchk -> padchk. The highest I really get was 99 but that required a lot of force. Of course I could go full level, but when recording drums I personally don't want that.

Anyone got an idea how I could fix that, is there something broken? All pads seem to have the same insensitivity and I couldn't make out one pad behaving different.

Glad for any ideas!

EDIT: Opened up the case to look if there are heavy amounts of dust and grease that could be causing this issues. The inside of the MPC looks suprisingly fresh. Little amounts of dust. What I noticed was the fact that most of the 16 little connections seemed to be kinda brown/not completely black as they are coming from the individual pad sensors, but just at the tip of the male connector.
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By Telefunky Wed Feb 01, 2023 11:34 am
The lines inside the pad sensor sheet are conductive ink. At the connector they get exposed to air and may age and possibly change color over time.
Imho it‘s more likely the sensors are simply worn out. I had the same on a MPC4k and ordered a new sheet ($69) from MPC Stuff which solved the issue 110%. Its almost over-sensitive now, but certainly will age with use. :mrgreen:
Akai back then probably knew about wear, because in the 4k you can adjust individual pads to be more sensitive, but never less sensitive.

Replacement wasn’t difficult, but extremely tedious to remove all residue of glue from the metal frame. The sheet must be placed carefully and even, no bubbles allowed and once the thing sticks, it‘s difficult to get off again.
I applied a diagonal strategy: peeled of a small triangle of protection, placed the sheet at it’s corner and slowly rolled off the protection from below while pressing down from the top side with a plastic ruler or similar. However you do it, it only matters the sheet is completely plain, tight to the bottom and without bubbles.
By Jogge Wed Feb 01, 2023 12:06 pm
Jeah I think I won't be getting around buying a new sensor pad. I'm from Germany and shipping is 65 Euros + taxes so I tried avoiding this but I guess I will be investing that money. I can't play the full level of a sound just by hitting the pad hard and it's also really though to get two distinctive volume levels which are reproducible.