MPC4000 loading time

I'm thinking of getting a MPC4000 but I was wondering how fast it loads to RAM, because speed is very important to me. Nobody talks about this so I'm guessing it must be fast enough but I want to make sure. I heard the Z8 takes about 7 minutes to load 128 MB to RAM. Is this true? That's not really fast and since the MPC4000 has almost the same sampler.

well...the more you're trying to load, the slower it is ...period..

There is a gorgeous Piano sample that the 4K comes loaded with, and when I use it in a track (in a multi) this sample 'alone' takes a good 3 minutes to fully load.

Of course sequence info is blazing fast...but to simply answer your question, the 4k can take a while to load large,high quality samples...

All of us here would probably suggest that no matter what your particular situation is, there is probably a work around on the 4K to make this machine do what you need it to do.

Bop

there was another thread that mentioned this recently, i too am thinking of buying a 4k and loading speed is important, part of the attraction of the mpc is getting away from computers, now you thought windows took a while to start, check this out ...

somebody timed a 272mb project, took 5mins 30secs to load

i don't get it, fast hdd, fast ram, it doesn't make sense, it's almost as if the data is being decompressed on it's way in?

... it's worth noting too that if you were considering rolands little take on sampler, sequencer, 4x4 pads ... the mv8000 ... it's just as slow to load by all accounts!

so sod those two, now where have i put that laptop price list ...



jim

there was another thread that mentioned this recently, i too am thinking of buying a 4k and loading speed is important, part of the attraction of the mpc is getting away from computers, now you thought windows took a while to start, check this out ...

somebody timed a 272mb project, took 5mins 30secs to load

i don't get it, fast hdd, fast ram, it doesn't make sense, it's almost as if the data is being decompressed on it's way in?

... it's worth noting too that if you were considering rolands little take on sampler, sequencer, 4x4 pads ... the mv8000 ... it's just as slow to load by all accounts!

so sod those two, now where have i put that laptop price list ...



jim

oops, sorry for the double post folks, don't know how that happened, weird!

x

I've been thinking about those slow load speeds. Maybe the main processor is highly involved in the loading of sample data (instead of using DMA technology), and maybe that processor is just too busy with all the other tasks. I don't know if loading can be done during playback, but if that's the case indeed, the busy processor could explain it. A possible fix then could be to introduce a mode where the processor is fully dedicated to loading the data, for increased bandwidth.

On the other hand, the 0.7 MB of bandwidth we measured allows for 4 stereo 16-bit samples at 44k to be streamed off HD. It's still early for me so I may be wrong. 44100 samples/sec x 4 bytes = 0.17MB/sec right? I'm sure the mpc4k hardware was designed to handle sample streaming, since that feature was mentioned at its introduction. So maybe this is simply what we will get: 4 stereo streams at 44k/16bit, or less at higher qualities. I'd prefer to have 8 of these though.

My interest is piqued as to why you guys need a fast(er) load on the 4K...of course we all want faster/better but...

Typically I use load time as time to:

Arrange my mix desk/patch bay for the upcoming project
Gaze out the window
brew some tea
adjust my synapses
etc

exactly what are you guys doing with the 4K that you need a faster load?

i'm not a 4k owner yet, doing the research, iirc i don't think rob is either

so i'm coming from the perspective of it just 'sounds like' a really long time, but if you're saying it doesn't seem so in reality then that's cool

similiarly i guess it's hard to say how large my projects may be but i know i'll be doing a fair few big samples for any given song as a like to work with audio 'phrases' (vocal, guitar part etc) and not just one shots or multisamples, but thinking about it sure 272mb is pretty large!

the other thing is i'm often challenged for time and am forced to snatch as little as 15 or 20 mins here or there for my music, if 5 mins of that is loading that sucks a little

but if you're saying you never find it an issue then that's good to know

jim

No 4k owner either, the machine should arrive coming week. Like Jim I plan to use the 4k partly as a DAW to record my modular, bass and guitar parts. At 96k/24bit that 512 MB is filled quite easily that way, and it's going to take a good 11 minutes to load that stuff!!!

ELEVEN minutes!

That's so long that will try to work around it, I'm afraid, by NOT recording stuff into the 4k. And hey, that's why a bought it!

Rob wrote: I don't know if loading can be done during playback, but if that's the case indeed, the busy processor could explain it. A possible fix then could be to introduce a mode where the processor is fully dedicated to loading the data, for increased bandwidth.

Hi Rob,
It is NOT possible to load while playing. I had submitted an RFE to Akai on this,
as I am using the MPC 4000 in live situations and my sets are more like a dj
set and I don't like to stop inbetween songs, to keep the flow moving (isnt' that
why Akai invented the Next Seq. ability!). Which works fairly well, (Flo Zombie
has detailed the slight delay in changing Multi's when changing squenueces).

But to be honest, when using hight quality samples, the 512M of RAM can
be used fairly quickly. So I put in a request to be able to load "Samples, Programs,
sequences" during play back. Here is the official response from them.

As you can see it sounds like it will NOT be implemented, due to needing to maintain
the tight timing of the sequencer. My current work around is to buy a Z4/Z8
which DOES load samples while playing (as it does not have a sequencer).


** Here's their response:

The current specs regarding loading while playing a Sequence are as follows:
* Sequences and Samples cannot be loaded while playing: a "Item in use / CANCEL" message is displayed.
* Multis and Programs (without Samples) can be loaded while playing (although the screen refresh in LOAD page will be slow due to the priority to playback)

Loading Samples can be a very intensive process (depending on the number and size of samples) and again, Sequence playback has the highest priority. We do not want to risk interupting the sequence (nor introducing MIDI dropouts) by allowing Samples to be loaded while playing a Sequence. Furthermore, as a low priority task, loading samples would be very very slow.
As you note, the Z4/Z8 are only samplers, not sequencers. Therefore, they do not have this restriction.

Regarding loading a Sequence in an empty slot, this might be do-able, but we would need to make sure that it doesn't interfere with the current sequence playback. For this reason, it is highly unlikely that this could make it in the next OS update. Maybe in the future.

** End of Response

Thanks for the info! So I understand the processor is already fully devoted to the loading process during the job. Hmm. Well I really hope they can speed it up. One minute for the full 512 MB would be acceptable I guess, but if they can boost it by a factor of 10? Maybe we get it fixed when the sample streaming feature is introduced. Maybe we just have to live with it.