Exchange tips and tricks for the Akai MPC4000
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By Kalou Sun Oct 23, 2022 6:20 pm
hello all — experiencing an issue where i can't control the cd playback anymore via the transport controls on the MPC. this is the way the OS wants the user to do this but play/stop etc do nothing.

i can use the controls on the actual drive, but some don't have those and it's pretty inconvenient. this used to work fine so i'm confused as to what's up! any thoughts?

i've peeped both the manual and the service manual to no avail and done a bunch of testing inside the 4K.
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By Telefunky Mon Oct 24, 2022 10:31 am
Stating the obvious: did you exchange the CD drive to rule out a flaw on the drive itself ?
The MPC sends control packets via the 40 pin cable, while the drive‘s control buttons set the registers directly (I assume).
So it‘s essentially 2 different paths for a command.
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By Kalou Sat Oct 29, 2022 1:53 pm
yes, have tried with a couple cd drives. i have one that was stock that works fine, and another that i was trying to repurpse from an old pc. after much experimentation my conclusion is that the 4000 is only compatible with certain cd-rw's.

appreciate the info. for a while i wasn't sure which cable sent the directions (but it makes sense it being the 40 pin as opposed the audio cables).
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By Telefunky Sat Oct 29, 2022 11:08 pm
Yes, the drive definitely matters. Atm I use an LG GSA 4167B DVD (because it was the only drive with IDE connector laying around).
Works fine, but starts a virtual hurricane when engaged :Sigh:
Yesterday got a Sony CRX 1611 for cheap, but it wasn‘t even recognized in the 4k.
(in my G4 Mac no problem, so the drive is ok)
I then tried the G4‘s former Pioneer DVR-110BK which performed almost totally silent in the 4k, but reliably failed after about 30 minutes. Obviously some part overheated.
(a couple of cycles with identical result: inserted disks weren‘t recognized any more)

I don‘t know if the drive already had this flaw (I rarely used it) or if it was driven wrong by the 4k‘s firmware. :hmmm:
At least these items are totally cheap today. I really liked the low noise Pioneer and will try another (or similar) one.

ps: the MPC controls work on the LG DVD.
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By Telefunky Mon Nov 21, 2022 9:39 pm
Best of luck with the Plextor. A dead one was in my 4k and I‘ve had 2 equally ill-fated before in PCs. :Sigh:
Back in time Plextor SCSI drives had a great reputation, but with IDE it seems to have changed significantly.
Meanwhile the Pioneer performs flawless and I‘ll get another one for PC/Mac if a cheap unit shows up. It‘s the drive with the lowest noise I‘ve ever experienced.
(which doesn‘t mean much because I never really cared about these drives) :mrgreen: