[about to purchase a used mpc 1000] - opinions appreciated

whats up everyone,

i've been thinking about getting into production stuff for a long time and i'm considering buying a used mpc 1000 for $500 off craigslist.

anyway, i'm wondering what your opinions are as far as what to look for when i go to check the machine out, how can you tell if an mpc is up to par?

the description on craigslist has no photos and says that the mpc comes with a usb cord and a power cord, is anything missing? what other purchases have to be made in addition to the machine?

sorry to sound so noob, but i'd like to hear your input.

Assign a sound to every pad and make sure the pads aren't dead or dying.

you can do this by playing each pad at varying intensities, hard, soft, middle. if you need to bash the pad to even get a sound its probably dying.


Make sure the CF card slot doesn't have any bent pins. Lift up the mpc and look inside the slot.


Check all the buttons and make sure that they all work, test the q-link sliders, REC, STOP, PLAY, etc. Check to see if they are mashed in or loose.


Make sure the recoding in, midi out/ins, record out and 1234 outs all work, headphone out works as well.

move around in the software a bit and make sure there are no major glitches, this would indicate that the OS is working properly (as properly as the Akai OS can work that is)

You need a Compact Flash card if you wanna save dude! Or a hard drive installed? Its cool gotta start somewhere. Just a tip, try to read the manual before asking questions because you will get burnt on the forum for it. The manual is very informative for answers to "newb/noob" questions.

some good advice there, one other little point around the main dial if the plastic is really worn on the casing as fingers have slid round thousands of time then beware cos u know its had some hammer! defo double check pins in card slot arent bent though, my mate shorted his memory board out forcing a bent pin and its been faulty since . but he is a tool lol