Is my MPC messed up? Stressed out!

What's up everyone. I've been posting recently about my newly arrived MPC 1k, and the problems it has been giving me. I bought it used off ebay, and though it looks pretty f***in' fresh, its been doing strange things. Now, I'm a new user of MPC machines, and I don't know if what is happening to me is unusual, or if I should be worrying. As of right now, I'm on the verge of contacting the guy I bought it from, and getting a refund. Here is a list of unusual occurances:

1) No matter how much I adjust the pad sensitivities, many of the pads quickly trigger samples more then once, creating a "flam" effect (drummers in the house?). This gets REALLY annoying; when I'm sequencing 32 bars live, I don't want this **** happening. I don't want to hear a jumble of flams, I only want to hear ONE sound. ONE tap, ONE sound. I don't mean to sound hostile, but this has really been pissing me off.

2) Sometimes when I'm banging out beats, the sound of the samples cuts out on certain pads. It doesn't go completly out, but it is reduced a great deal, and sounds distant and grainy. This has happened a few times, but usually goes away after a minute or so.

3) When I sequence the pre-set hi-hats, weird stuff happens. If I program 2 bars of open hi-hat 1/8 notes, and then overdub interwined closed hi-hats, the open hi-hats disapear whenever the closed hats come in. Is this normal? It could be, as this is the nature of a real drummer playing.

4) Sometimes, the preset pad and guitar sounds come through my headphones distorted. It could be my headphones, and I haven't A/B'd it on other speakers (I don't really have any yet), but this is a bit worrysome.

5) Sometimes, the pads just don't feel all that responsive. I'll be playing a stream of 1/8 notes or 1/16 notes, and like 75% of them will actually trigger and make a sound. Could I be tapping too fast? Even at full pad sensitivity, this is happening. Should the pads be THAT sensitive? Or am I expecting too much of them?

At this point, the unit is usable, but I was expecting a bit more, especially because the seller said the unit was in perfect working shape. Are these problems typical? Did I buy a dud of a machine? I'm really bummed out about this...I'd really appriciate any input. I've already gotten so much help on this board, thanks everyone for the words. Hook a broke-ass college student up with some advice Thanks again guys.

-D

It doesn't sound like anything is actually wrong with it to me.

1) I had trouble with double-triggereing samples in the beginning, but not anymore. It's all about getting used to the pads. Be careful of the finger bounce.

2) Sounds like maybe it was the same prob as #1, just with the second hit at a lower velocity.

3) That is because they are set to the same mute group. Read about mute groups in the manual. Actually, it would be a good idea to read the whole manual too.

4) Turn em down. Also, could be your headphones do you hear it when using the Main Outs? Check your Master Gain.

5) Adjust your pad sensitivity to your preferance. Again, you probably have to just get used to the pads.


They all sound like typical problems people experience at first. Give it a few days, crack that manual, and then see what you think.

There is a built-in cool little pad diagnostic utility. I think you hold SHIFT and press BANK A, then BANK B, then BANK C, then BANK D. I think that's it, I can't remember... not in front of my MPC at the moment. Anyway, that might help you figure out if you have some bad pads or not.

you may also have broken pads. that could have been why the seller was putting it out there.

but don't send it back yet because it's very easy to fix it. read the above thread and you end up with really good pads. i just fixed mine up with contact cement and it worked wonderfully, i'm back to 100%

another option for pads is getting an mpd16 - it's a midi controller of drumpads. they're as good as higher model mpc pads.

between fixing your pads and using the above, you have one hell of a great sampler with lots of control surfaces.