MPC1000 BK owners, are the pads better now?

I'm considering copping an MPC1k in the future but all these defective pad stories and short pad lifespan stories are mad scary! U see, I'm from farway Malaysia and if my MPC gets screwed its freakin hard to get it fixed here..heck even getting one is a hard process, mad ordering couple months shipping and shiet. And don't mention the exchange rate..we copin it here for like 4k plus..imagine payin 4K USD for a 1000..so u know my concerns.

So I was wondering does the new black version has better pads? I'm sure AKAI would have heard the complains and made it better for a revision and rerelease of the 1k rite? or not....

Neways the forums are great and all the MPC cats here rock.
pz

nope, they did not improve the pads.

Antonym wrote:nope, they did not improve the pads.

i was told something different...
atleast for the replacement pads. not sure about the pads in the bk, though. i'm still waiting for more info *coughcoughsparqcoughcough*

Even if they did address the issue, 1k is not worth it for that price.

pointaboi wrote:we copin it here for like 4k plus..imagine payin 4K USD for a 1000

i was told something different...

nick at vst told me that they didn't fix anything...who'd you hear otherwise from?

Antonym wrote:

i was told something different...

nick at vst told me that they didn't fix anything...who'd you hear otherwise from?

Last week, I asked Sparq about the pads. He called his contacts at Akai, who said they're aware that the pads on the 1k were sh!tty, but the replacements are better. Then I asked Sparq if he could find out any more info about what's been done to improve the design. I havent heard anything from Sparq yet. Maybe he's been busy, couldnt get any info... I dunno.

btw... i'm not mad at sparq. i'm thankful that he called, if anything. i just wanna know what's up before i decide what i'm gonna do. $105 for a complete set of pads is good, considering the price drop... but if nothing's changed with them, it might not be such a good idea to spend the money there.

pointaboi wrote:And don't mention the exchange rate..we copin it here for like 4k plus..imagine payin 4K USD for a 1000..so u know my concerns.

WHAT? Why don't you just order it from any us or uk store, or buy one off ebay?

Having the BK and BL side by side I can confirm one thing: no difference in build and exactly identical pads/feel.
So apparently Akai did NOT improve the pads for the BK.

freezerman wrote:Having the BK and BL side by side I can confirm one thing: no difference in build and exactly identical pads/feel.
So apparently Akai did NOT improve the pads for the BK.

I'm still waiting on more info with the replacement pads. Hopefully Sparq can shed more light on the subject, since he made a call to one of his contacts at Akai.

As for the 1000BK, i think it's too early to tell if the quality of the pads have been corrected yet.

I'm just gonna wait it out a while longer before I decide what to do. I'd like to see how well Nym's repair holds up as well. Either way, reapiring or replacing pads is gonna be a bit time consuming, but I'm hoping that whatever I decide to do that I get more of a lifespan so that i don't have to deal with this problem more often than I'd like to.

As for the 1000BK, i think it's too early to tell if the quality of the pads have been corrected yet.

why do you ask then?

flat out - the pads are the same. it's not 'too early to tell', they're already out there. hell, i just returned my new MPC-1000BK (no major reason, just not for me at the moment). noticed lots of double/triple/quad triggering when hitting the pads. expected this a bit from owning a 2000xl before, but this was worse. it also happened when using note-repeat and, worst of all, in step edit mode.

what concerned me more than the pads almost is the quality of the buttons as well. not all of the buttons had the same 'click' to them, and most didn't line up evenly with the casing (not centered in the hole).

l[ ] l - they looked a bit like this...

l [ ] l - should be like this (hope that looks right).

not a huge deal, but i wasn't exactly impressed. the buttons are also prone to 'dropping' when used often. they don't totally break, but the switch cracks and the button drops a bit into the case and requires more pressure. had this happen to a few frequently used buttons on my 2000xl.

other than that it's a pretty solid machine. alot of fun to use and some great features in the new OS (a few bugs, but nothing major).

i might pick up another, but i'd rather not spend ~$1000 for a new one. i'll wait til there's some used BKs out there or just get the BK case kit for a used blue one.

lol i get no double trigger response thats a user issue not a mpc1000 issue/

also all mpc's or any workstation peroid has buttons or nobs that can break ,not work,get stuck,

its up to the user.press ur keys all hard they will brake,u gotta be gentle.

pads too bro.

if u smash and bang ur pads all hard they get warn out .looking all abused and smashed.

turn on ur full level and just tap ur drums the pads will last and look alot better.

anyway i paid 900 for a new mpc1000bk and it was well worth getting it compaired to buying another used mpc2000xl for about the same price

double-triggering didn't happen alot, but when it did it was worse than on the 2000xl. also, the way it did it was a bit different due to how the pads feel. never had it happen with note-repeat or step edit on the 2000xl. either way, it shouldn't happen. it shouldn't allow itself to happen. it's been a slight design flaw for years. how many other machines have pads.buttons that double trigger at all? sure never happened on my old Roland R-8 drum machine.

good point about full level though.

the buttons - they're just a bad design, there's not alot of other machines out there with buttons that are prone to break down with normal use (no, i was never 'hard' on my 2000xl but frequently used buttons still had issues). the clip inside that holds the button 'up' snaps which requires even more pressure on the button to work. shouldn't have to buy parts from VST, etc all the time to maintain your machine. these things should last on their own, and they don't. the quality isn't horrible at all, but not so great either...

orjanbeats wrote::WHAT? Why don't you just order it from any us or uk store, or buy one off ebay?

I just meant to explain the feeling of having to pay 4k of whatever currency you have for a MPC1K. It's priced at around USD 1K but the exchange rate over here to the US dollar is about 3.8 which makes us pay around 4 K. So to me it's 4000 hard earned cash for the MPC1K you know what i mean? Imagine if you had to pay 4 k for a MPC1K?Wouldnt u ask a million questions too? Thats what u guys(Americans) sometimes take for granted..u cats lucky man! We dudes out in this part of the world pay few times more than u guys do for shit like that especially pro audio equipment.

Thx for all the info guys...hmm just only makes me more hesitant on splashing my hard earned cash on an mpc...sigh....and thats the only piece i could really realisticly afford