How Bad Are The Pads

through my research ive read that the mpc 1000 has some shotty pads. some say that they are garunteed to go out eventually, and others say its just poor manufacturing, and some say that the pads keep working after years of use. and in one place i read that akai had fixed the problem. is any of this true and if it is, is it a big enough issue to not buy the mpc? if i get the mpc 1000, what are the chances that my pads will go out?

Bottom line, if you buy a Blue 1000 they WILL fail. Most of the Black 1000's have the new design so it is highly unlikely that a black one will have the old design. There is a sure fire test to determine which pads you have. With the upgraded design, the pads are all on one sheet so if you move one pad you will see the adjacent pad move. On the old (poor) design, they are individual so moving one will not affect another.

I wouldn't base the buying decision on color. There are plenty of blue units that received the pad upgrade, and plenty of black units that have the old style pads. Just make sure that, if you buy a used 1000, you get one where the seller has specifically stated that it has the new style pads or pad upgrade. Oh, and keep a can of deoxit, its useful to keep the buttons and sliders operating smoothly.

If you do those two things you should get years of reliable service out of it

I purchased a blue 1k via ebay and the pads were completely faulty (the seller gave me apartial refund) so I ordered the pad upgrade kit and now it's great to use

The only issue i am having now is with the jog wheel encoder....

Like I said...the Blues WILL fail.