MPC500 - samples cutting off, not mono/poly, please help!

Hey guys, so, as you can see, I'm having an issue with my MPC500 where samples are cutting off. I did extensive searching on the site, and saw that many users were reporting what seemed to be a similar problem. Most users kept finding a solution by changing their samples to mono/poly in Program, depending on what their issue was. Allow me to elaborate a little and hopefully someone can help:

So I recorded a little bit of a sample and chopped what I needed, that worked great. Now, when I play this sample (which is like 6 seconds, just some trumpets going) and start trying to play some drums over it, just trying to get a feel for what might sound good with the sample, the sample will randomly cut out sometimes. Even if it's not a sample I recorded; a couple of the longer samples/loops that are on the MPC by default do the same thing. Whether I just hit the pad once to play the sample or try to play over my sequence after recording the sample, it will just randomly cut out sometimes after I start hitting other pads. I noticed that if I hit the pad quickly, (like, drum-roll quick), I can usually interrupt the sample pretty quickly, intentionally (in an effort to try to figure out WTF is causing this).

I saw in many of the threads that seemed to be of the same issue as me that users were suggesting to go into the Program settings and change voice overlay from poly to mono. So I tried this, still no success. Also, some people suggested maybe the Poly's are maxed out (32?). I know for certain this isn't the issue, because I'm only using one sample! (and, at most, hitting like a kick and a snare to get a beat to my sample)

Just so you guys are clear on what I'm saying, my samples aren't cutting out as soon as I hit another pad (like it seems most people are describing for this issue). Rather, I play a somewhat long sample first and, in the duration of while the sample is playing, and at some point while I'm hitting other pads to play drums over it, it will (seemingly randomly) cut out. Someone PLEASE point me in the right direction if you know what I'm talking about because, aside from this very big problem holding me back, I'm learning everything on my MPC super quick through trial and error. Without being able to properly hear my samples playing / layer over them though.... my learning progress has ground to a total halt

Bump. 4 hours and only 3 page views?

I'm starting to think that I have some kinda software/hardware issue with my MPC the more I use it. Even if I'm not tapping notes out, I have a sample laid out that I like playing on one track, and if I try to add even just a **** snare, whether I tap it out myself or use note repeat, my first sample (which is playing on a separate track) will cut out randomly. And I mean totally randomly. It will play fine on one loop, then on the second cut out at one point, not cut out at all a couple of times, then cut out randomly again at a different time.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?

Sorry to triple post, but for what it's worth, this is exactly the problem that I'm having: (this guy had the same issue)

http://www.kriswillis.com/index.php/200 ... 0-problem/

Unfortunately, none of the suggestions there seem to be working (and they didn't seem to for the author either).

it does sound like a polyphony issue, trim your drum samples to make sure there isn't silence at the end which would use up polyphony even though there's nothing to hear. or a quicker way to rule that out would be to set the drum samples to mono (the samples not the program - you seem to have grasped that difference unlike many people! )

Pastor-of-Muppets wrote:it does sound like a polyphony issue, trim your drum samples to make sure there isn't silence at the end which would use up polyphony even though there's nothing to hear. or a quicker way to rule that out would be to set the drum samples to mono (the samples not the program - you seem to have grasped that difference unlike many people! )

Since it seems like this particular board doesn't get much activity, I spent just about all of last night trying out different things and looking online for some solutions. Happy to say I'm the kinda person who was even more encouraged to learn by a limitation like this. After several hours of tinkering last night (and finding certain things that worked and didn't with different samples), I'm definitely more inclined to say it's a polyphony issue. It seems like I was able to get more of the simple samples working, but the one from my first post just won't stay playing as soon as I add a hi-hat. It's an orchestral hit, like five or six different woodwinds/brass/whatever playing one note for a few seconds (from a jazz song, for what it's worth). Would something like this eat up a ton of voices? Or is that not possible? Like, does one sample = one voice (or two if it's stereo!), no matter what; or, as I saw some people posting on the MPC1000 forums with JJOS, do more complicated sounds use more voices?

With one of the other samples that comes stock, just two simple guitar riffs, I was able to get these playing with drums over them, without interruption, by layering everything as mono, in separate tracks (which has led me to believe that it was indeed the polyphony problem). This leaves me with three things left to figure out from here, if anyone can kindly help: 1) do i have to worry about trimming drum samples that are loaded onto the MPC by default? like, are these samples bogus and do they require editing to work properly? 2) is there any way to check how much polyphony I'm using on the 500 (like on the 1000)? Couldn't find much info on this one in my manual/search, and 3) is it possibly just this one sample that I'm using that's messing me up, and I'm not realizing the limitations of the MPC?

For what it's worth, the sample is this exact orchestral hit at the beginning of this song (Tang, by Duke Ellington):
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://popu ... W5-TIpmEqA

phase_one wrote:Since it seems like this particular board doesn't get much activity, I spent just about all of last night trying out different things and looking online for some solutions. Happy to say I'm the kinda person who was even more encouraged to learn by a limitation like this.

so you're not going to get annoyed and insult people for not replying to you? how refreshing!

phase_one wrote: After several hours of tinkering last night (and finding certain things that worked and didn't with different samples), I'm definitely more inclined to say it's a polyphony issue. It seems like I was able to get more of the simple samples working, but the one from my first post just won't stay playing as soon as I add a hi-hat. It's an orchestral hit, like five or six different woodwinds/brass/whatever playing one note for a few seconds (from a jazz song, for what it's worth). Would something like this eat up a ton of voices? Or is that not possible? Like, does one sample = one voice (or two if it's stereo!), no matter what; or, as I saw some people posting on the MPC1000 forums with JJOS, do more complicated sounds use more voices?

A sample is a sample, it doesn't matter if it's a recording of a whole orchestra or a sparrow farting. But as you say, a mono sample uses one voice, a stereo uses two. If your samples don't need to be stereo you could convert them to mono, or they'll be eating up two voices unnecessarily and you'll reach the polyphony limit sooner

This makes perfect sense; however, I have one big problem apparently.

I make a simple sequence, just 2 bars, 4/4, one kick. boom, boom, boom, boom. loop. If I have the metronome on, sometimes the freaking metronome will interrupt my samples! How is this possible?

I'd just like to say you guys are freaking geniuses!! i was having the same problem with my 500 but i tried the method of making all my drums mono and now everything works FINE thanks alot!!

^ hahaha once they are on mono the samples wont overlap, causing the cutouts of samples

ive had this problem too, and still, sometimes it doesnt matter that the samples, drums etc everything, are on mono, the samples will cut out if theres too much bass(mainly, even when on mono)

i think its literally just the 500..

since i got it ive fell in love with it more and more, but it started to glitch more and more, now buttons stick and i have to hold MODE, samples cut out, sometimes itl say no samples!!!" when trying to trim one... its wack. but whatever, save your money for something bigger and better, the mpc 500 is a great machine, but theres better, way better out there, aka mv88100, mpc 2500s blah blah

yo, did you end up finding a solution for this? I just got my 500 and i'm having similar problems.

I'm having the same problem, and I've noticed its actually gotten worse. Last year I had my 500 loaded with samples of different lengths, ranging from a minute long to some drum samples that were a second or so. No problems, everything played as it should.

Lately I've encountered this problem where some of the longer samples, seemingly arbitrarily, will cut off during play in a sequence. Doesn't occur simultaneous with another sample hit or even on a beat. Totally random cutoff, but the same spot in each play. If I play the sample on its own by hitting a pad this problem doesn't occur, the sample will play to the end; only happens when triggered during a sequence..

Needless to say this is infuriating. I've tried many different solutions; moving the sample to a different spot in the sequence (same thing happens, cuts off at the same spot in the sample..), playing with velocity and duration in step edit, mono/poly, every conceivable thing. I even deleted the affected samples, reloaded them into the mpc and manually placed them back into the sequence and THE SAME EXACT THING HAPPENS. What's crazy is these are old samples that used to work fine. Same sequence, no changes, just some of the samps cut off at weird places.

I'm not a noob, I've been using a 500 for years and know the ins and out of this thing very well. BUT maybe someone out there has encountered this problem and found a solution? Even a way to work around it would be nice.. this problem is stubborn and so maddening because its seemingly nonsensical. This is the craziest problem I've ever had with this machine and I've worked through a lot..

HEEEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!! thank you!!

Ok, I figured it out at long last, through a thorough investigation today...

If you are having issues with samples breaking off during play in a sequence, this is most likely the problem: polyphony overload.

I couldn't imagine that this was my issue because I was only playing a sequence that contained a hi hat and a string sample (10 seconds in length) ONLY, so it wouldn't be likely that those two by themselves would max out the "32" voices in the 500. BUT, alas, they did max it. I never had this problem until I "upgraded" my memory to a Kingston 128 chip from my old generic 128 last year. When I switched it back today, the problem went away. But in discovering that, I realized my whole problem was with the polyphony. With a sub-par chip, too many voices (decidedly even under 32 at a time..) will overload the system and cause craziness in your samples. They will cut off or crop at random points, but only during sequence play.

I thought I was losing it this whole year, that the machine was busted or something. Not so, but this polyphony issue really sucks if you are building beats out of samples and layering a lot in your tracks.

The way to work around it is to set as many samples as possible to MONO in your programs, and to make sure there isn't empty spaces at the end of your samps: trim them as closely as possible. That way the polyphony won't build up as much when all of your samples (esp hi hats, drums etc.) are triggering simultaneously or close to each other.

So glad to have figured this nagging issue out, I've lost days of work just on this issue in the past few months. Hopefully this will help those with this problem.

TEST: to test if your issue is indeed polyphony overload, provided that you have multiple tracks containing samples in your sequence (ie DRUM tracks), play your sequence with one of those DRUM tracks muted (on the mpc, not your mixer ) the samples on your other DRUM track(s) will play, or you will see an improvement.

HellWig wrote:I never had this problem until I "upgraded" my memory to a Kingston 128 chip from my old generic 128 last year. When I switched it back today, the problem went away. But in discovering that, I realized my whole problem was with the polyphony. With a sub-par chip, too many voices (decidedly even under 32 at a time..) will overload the system and cause craziness in your samples. They will cut off or crop at random points, but only during sequence play.

this is an interesting observation! it is a software issue caused by a hardware problem, or better a hardware discrepancy. the signal flow times on that kingston memory might be that different from the akai exm128 that is actually causes software problems.

this could affect all the other mpc that use the same memory expansion to react very unexpectedly if third party memory is installed. might check the 1000 and 2500 forums for that issue aswell. maybe the hardware of the other mpc are more tolerable to third party memory so we do not see these problems. might also be your specific memory board.
my third party memory expansion, also kingston has never cause me this kind of problems, but i´m on a 2500 so the issue might not show on my hardware.

you could make a forum poll and ask for experience with different brand third party memory modules.

peace jo

HellWig wrote:I couldn't imagine that this was my issue because I was only playing a sequence that contained a hi hat and a string sample (10 seconds in length) ONLY, so it wouldn't be likely that those two by themselves would max out the "32" voices in the 500.

With bad settings..one can kill whole 32 polyphony striking 1 pad just ONCE..

I wouldn't say RAM matters.. I got a Kingston (1/5 price of EXM) for 8 years and never gave me any problem.

Bugfix wrote:

HellWig wrote:I couldn't imagine that this was my issue because I was only playing a sequence that contained a hi hat and a string sample (10 seconds in length) ONLY, so it wouldn't be likely that those two by themselves would max out the "32" voices in the 500.

With bad settings..one can kill whole 32 polyphony striking 1 pad just ONCE..

I wouldn't say RAM matters.. I got a Kingston (1/5 price of EXM) for 8 years and never gave me any problem.

Wow. Can you give an example of how that would be possible? 32 voices on a single pad event? I believe you, just can't see how.

Like I said, the problem occurred when I changed the chip and got better when I switched it back.

I think, even considering all the above, the problem may occur even under the maximum 32 voices. Recording in mono and setting samples to mono will help considerably, however, as I've found.