Other ways of increasing MPC500 pad sensitivity?

Pad sensitivity issues...

I raised the volume and sensitivity for each pad, but I still find that I have to hit pretty hard to get a decent sound, as a many here gripe about. When I press "Play" to preview sounds in the kits, I find it louder and better than actually pressing the pad to trigger the sound.

How would you recommend making the pads much, much, much more sensitive?

Here's what I've tried thus far and it actually worked, but it's kinda janky 'cause now the pad isn't under the casing anymore and just kinda laying on top of the unit. It's much more sensitive this way though, just janky:

http://jamon.name/akai+mpc500+padless+stiff+pad+fix

Another solution someone mentioned on these forums is taking a swim cap and cutting it into several small pieces to be used as pads. This seems like a really good idea, and pretty creative, but I'm sketched about adding Silicon in efforts of getting the pad to stay in place. Scurrrred I'll jack it up.

Any other ideas?

Thanks.

Just what were those photos doing so handy in your collection?

Hold my hand.

JHouse wrote:Just what were those photos doing so handy in your collection?

Hold my hand.

JEEZZZUS LMFAO hold my hand wtf...

The OTHER option not mentioned here is.... WORK IN THE DANG PADS BY USING THE MACHINE.

I have never altered anything and I can just place my finger on the pads and I get a response. All I ever did was use the machine.

If your machine is fairly new, yeah pads gonna be stiff. But it does not take much to get them worked in... Kind of like a tight..... never mind.

They were waiting for you all this time.

Spend a little less time holding some guys hands and hold onto that MPC a little more IMO.

return it............sounds broken to me

It's working like a champ now. Damn, I love this thing just the way it is, the pads are just right now. I got it used, but the guy barely messed with it, so it's still pretty new and yeah, the pads are kinda stiff.

If I could only turn it on, this thing would be that much more enjoyable.

The used 500 I picked up was pretty much not used either... but the guy did manage to super glue cables to the chassis for who knows what reason. Was quite a mess to pretty that up, but it doesn't look half bad now.

JHouse wrote:If I could only turn it on, this thing would be that much more enjoyable.

Well at least perving out on your 500 wont get your ass kicked or thrown in jail. Good luck with that, I you you two happiness together.

BTW: You can try the black 1000 pads if your really looking for a more exotic sensitive experience.



@ Tao, he did what?!!!

The previous owner listed the 500 as nearly brand new on the ebay ad... when I got it, it looked like somebody ate a cheeseburger or something off of the top, and the bad side had some really badly melted plastic. I decided to take it apart and knock the crumbs out and to sand it down to make it look better where the plastic had melted from super glue.

NearTao wrote:The previous owner listed the 500 as nearly brand new on the ebay ad... when I got it, it looked like somebody ate a cheeseburger or something off of the top, and the bad side had some really badly melted plastic. I decided to take it apart and knock the crumbs out and to sand it down to make it look better where the plastic had melted from super glue.

Oh my gosh!

I've been tempted to throw the little booger a few times but thats just cruel.

I'm assuming that you got at least some of your money back.

Hi,

Can anybody please tell me what the link on the first post showed and the images on the second post?

This is an old thread and I am having the exact same issue - want to raise the velocity sensitivity of my recently acquired MPC 500 much much higher...

Would the new Fat Pads on MPCstuff.com (with the corx upgrade on the bottom now) do the trick? Any users?

Thanks!

Jamon had just removed the pads completely, allowing him to touch the sensors underneath the pads directly.

Alternative pads with the corx upgrade will do the trick. You can also place a few layers of tape on the bottom of the pads. This will also do the trick.

Thank you. Will try with electrical insulating tape today. I have the idea that the sensors are very sensitive: won't the contact with the tape damage/scratch them?

How did Jamon do that? Playing through the holes of the case without the pads or removing the outter casing all together? Well, touching the sensors directly is a radical way of increasing the sensitivity! Is there a velocity response still or would it be max velocity all the time?

BTW, the song in your forum signature is very cool. I am in love with odd time signatures, can you please tell me what is it in that song? Can't really put my finger on it!

Audiophillic wrote:Playing through the holes of the case without the pads or removing the outter casing all together? Well, touching the sensors directly is a radical way of increasing the sensitivity! Is there a velocity response still or would it be max velocity all the time?

My MPC1000 is currently set up like this, with no pads and the casing put back on, so I'm just playing the sensors directly - the only reason for this set up is that I was originally cleaning it up and misplaced the pads so I just temporarily put the casing back on while I was testing a samplepack - I actually quite like it!

It's the only way you'll probably get 'perfect' velocity sensitivity, at least as perfect as the sensors will allow for. It's obviously not as comfortable to play, as the pads ultimately provide a nice, soft playing surface for your fingers.

As for the 500, I wrote about my experience with this before - I didn't use my 500 for a couple of years (only used it for a few months while writing the book) and when I powered it on the sensors had lost all sensitivity. It wasn't the pads, something had happened to the sensors, playing them direct still required a mallet to produce anything near full velocity. Still unsure what this could be, didn't use the thing for two years and was working fine before it went in storage. Never got round to fixing it.