By
rydan
Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:56 pm
OK, just received this reply from AKAI (italics is AKAI, the rest is my original mail to AKAI):
From our test dept……
Hello!
A small list of found bugs...
1: Replacing/overwriting files when saving corrupts files/folders.
If you, when you save, overwrite files, quite often the folder and/or some files in it becomes corrupt, so that you can't copy them to/from PC or delete them. Sometimes, the mpc can still read them, sometimes not.
Simplest way to reproduce this is to take a few kits and some sequences, save entire memory to a new folder, and then save entire memory a few times more to the same folder, using "replace files". For a professional piece of gear, this is definitely not OK.
We're unable to reproduce this here. Perhaps trying another CF card, or reinstalling the OS and reformatting may help.
2: Change length of an unused sequence.
If you have default sequence length 2 bars, but want to record a four bar sequence, then you have to record two bars to an unused sequence before you can hit the params button and change the length to 4 bars.
Currently , you cant change the length because the sequence is unused. This is a good idea, however and will be added to our Bugtracker as a feature request.
3: When loading/assigning samples, the mpc doesn't remember the last loaded sample position.
Say that i load samples from a folder with 100-something samples (or assign samples to a program, after loading the entire folder). Then, for each sample I want to load/assign, I have to scroll from the beginning of the list, instead of the mpc just remembering the last sample loaded and starting from there.
This was debated hotly as to how it should work when the system was in development. It was felt that given the size of the screen, access from the beginning of the list was preferable.
4: Sorting.
When loading stuff from the CF card (or assigning samples) everything show up in a pretty random order. Would be good if the folders/files/samples were sorted alphabetically or something like that, would make it easier to find your way around on the small display...
This isn't a bug per se, but rather a way the mpc500 works. It reads the actual content of the disk, not the file allocation table, so the files are displayed in the order they were written to the disk. This was explored early on to change, but currently there's no plans to change this. I can add this as a feature request, however. Sorting alphabetically would be pretty cool.
5: Recording and then changing sequence without pressing stop merges the last recording with the one you change to.
If you record to sequence 1, then hit stop, then record to sequence 2, press rec to leave rec/overdub and then switch to sequence 1 without hitting stop in between, the stuff you recorded to sequence 2 will be merged with sequence 1. I have sent a more thorough reproduction sequence of this one earlier.
This is confirmed, Good catch!
Feature requests...
While I'm at it, I thought I could throw in a few feature requests.
Mostly features available on other MPC:s, so I guess they shouldn't be that much work to implement... =)
1: Recordable track mutes.
Without it, song mode is pretty much useless, since you have to make like a gazillion copies of a sequence to get different variations, something much easier accomplished with track mutes, with the variations recorded on different tracks in the same sequence.
This is a feature on the 2500 and 4000 only. It’s the first since the MPC4000 to be able to do this. The MPC1000, 2000xl, 2000, 3000 and MPC60 do not record track mutes. It is a nice feature, but I'm not sure I agree with the statement that song mode is 'pretty much useless' without it. I can put it as a feature request, but it's probably not likely to be added.
2: Multiple mute groups.
Guess that one wouldn't be hard to implement, and the manual actually makes you believe there are more than one as well...
It's a good one.
3: Using the Q-link slider to control sample start/stop/loop point in trim mode.
Just a quicker way to roughly adjust the positions, and then fine control the same way it's done today.
This was considered, and decided against, because you can use the shift button to move to the 10's, 100's, 1000's place etc and scroll with the data wheel to get the same effect. You'll most likely get better resolution with the data wheel even set to one of the higher number places. I'm not sure how fine a resolution you could get with a 30mm fader, and without visual feedback, it's not as useful as you might think.
(Actually, now, when I think about it, they are probably right...)
4: Additional Q-link assignment: pan.
Being able to pan a pad in realtime (and record those pan changes) would be great.
Good suggestion. I'll add this.
5: Multimode filter.
HP/BP/LP instead of just LP
Not sure if the processor could handle it, but I can suggest it.
6: Filter env and LFO.
Again, not sure if the processor can handle this, but I'll suggest it.
