CF card or ram..

Got my 500 couple days ago, just figuring everything out lol. It has 128mb ram which has a brownish color board (I didn't take the ram out) which I think the akai is red correct? So it has aftermarket ram without a visible brand. I noticed the OS was version 1.3 so I updated to 1.31. It didn't come with a CF card, so I bought a "verbatim" 2GB card.

Before I updated the OS, I sampled a few things and it would freeze during saving or loading samples that are longer than a few secs. Did a little research and decided to update to 1.31. Haven't had an issue again but I also haven't sampled anything longer than about 15 seconds.

I created an "autoload" folder and noticed when I boot up it hangs/freezes on random wav files. It takes 2 and up to sometimes 4 times to get it turned on. The time it does boot it loads superfast.

I'm just wondering if its the cheap CF card causing issues or the ram? Without the CF card in, it boots 100% of the time. (Probably because it doesn't have to load any wavs) also when I updated to 1.31 it came with 4 songs preloaded and all 4 of those loaded 100% of the time with no hang ups.

Today I decided to sample a George Duke joint and when I play the sample through the mpc it has a weird high pitch noise that I've never heard before. I've sampled a few songs and none of the other had any issues.

Last thing, my pads are insanely quiet. If I don't turn on full level AND turn each sample to 100 then they are barely audible with headphones when master volume is at 3 o clock. I did some reading and saw that the 500 naturally has some quiet pads so I went ahead and ordered the fat pads hoping that'll help. I had an mpd before and I like using velocity for hihats and perc. All the pads work so it can't be the pad sensors right?

I can confirm that it was the headphones causing the quietness. Whether it was the headphones themselves or the headphone jack, I cannot confirm as of yet. I have a dual trs to 1/8 so I can sample from my phone and I used that cable to plug in a different set of headphones to the line out and almost blew out my ear drums lol

Also the "quiet" headphones were the AKGs that came with my galaxy phone. N60s I believe and the ones I plugged into the the line out were some Bluetooth tsunamis or something. But the latter pair had an actual 1/8 socket where the AKGs have a mini port that won't work with the line out i have.

OK a little more info, I can confirm that the headphone jack is stupid quiet. I tried a pair of Samsung earbuds, AKG n60s ( Bluetooth or wired) and a pair of AKG ear buds and all 3 are so quiet that you have to turn the master vol to 100%, change sample vol to 100 and use full level just to hear it. Any thoughts on that??

Line out is good. I actually have to turn it below 50% so it's not insanely loud.

As far as the samples have a high pitch sound, the sample came from reason software and was time stretched at some point. I can confirm that was the cause. I've sampled other songs since and no issues.

I cleared my CF card, ( mostly due to me just putting shit on there unorganized and not knowing how to the saving works. It boots crazy fast with no autoload folder but still hangs on saving samples and loading projects/programs. Not everytime, its pretty random but really flipping annoying.

Well I used mpc maid before so I didn't have to load any samples but now its freezing when I preview samples for loading. The blinking light next to 12 levels goes solid and it becomes unresponsive. Given all that I've said I'm pretty sure its the CF card, it can't be my files as every sample (drumkit,wav, etc) I ran through audacity batch converter to wav 16bit 44 rate. Just to rule out the individual file issues. I doubt it's the ram as it loaded the songs in the new OS during boot like 10 times no problem. ( which those are committed to memory and don't load off the card like the autoload folder does). I did buy ram though as I thought that was the culprit and I found a new stick on Amazon for $20 ( aftermarket but within specs listed on the other thread) but now I believe it is 100% the CF card. I'm going to order a good one and see what happens. I'll report back in a couple days when I get it and let you know what I find.

Also, I tried searching the forum and couldn't find any "fixes" for the headphone output being insanely low, anyone have any ideas?

Are you on main power or batteries?

I remember having far more problems with the 500 such as what you're describing when I was on battery power... which might've just been the batteries coming loose for a split second from rocking out on the pads and messing it up. Not sure though.

No I'm on wall power. Haven't even tried batteries yet. I did try my buddies corsair cs50 gaming headset and they're just as loud as the line out. Which tells me it has something to do with the ohms or impedance of the headphones. They also have a volume control on the headset which made a wold of difference. So I think its safe to say no issues with the headphone jack itself, more an issue with finding a set of headphones that have builtin volume control.

Still getting the freezing when trying to save/load programs or load projects. Ram will be here next weekend and I'm going to order a new CF, according to the thread about compatibility the SanDisk ultra 2GB seems to be the "go-to" so I'm going to grab one of those and see it that makes a difference. It works fine outside of that and based on what I've read it has to be either ram or CF card.

OK, I'm about to drop some serious knowledge here..check the inside of your 1/8 to 1/4 adapter! Hahaha I feel like such a fool!! There was a little piece of rubber or something in there that was causing it to not go in 100%. That's why it was so low. I got 2 adapters in the pack and never even thought to try the other one. Then today I dropped it behind desk and bounced up under it where I would have to move my desk so I grabbed the other one and boom! No issues with any set of headphones I have. They all work. Then I moved the desk, grabbed it, shined a flashlight in there and could see something in it. Got a paper clip and fished out now they both work fine. Man I feel relieved and retarded at the same time lol

I mean... this stuff usually isn't so complicated... but it can be funny when real life... such as dust... gets in there there and causes problems. Sometimes a flashlight is your best friend.

Yes it was! Man I was bugging about the headphones lol. As far the CF card, I found a "new old stock" SanDisk ultra 2 - 2GB CF card on eBay for $20. Originally I made a program with 5 samples that about 20 seconds each that would not load with the other card. Even after leaving for 15 minutes it would not load it. I copied the files from that card to my pc, then to the new SanDisk and it loaded in about 6 seconds.

Verbatim CF cards are no good for the MPC.

I can tell why too, when I copy files to or from the verbatim card it transfers at 10mb/s for large files slowly drops to 0.1kb/s . The transfer window looks like a sine wave lol which (I assume) is why it kept freezing my MPC. It was also freezing when I preview sounds before actually trying to load them and I'm guessing thats why as well.

In comparison the SanDisk never gets below 100kb/s when transferring. But it never goes above about 6mb/s either. Which whatever, it works perfect so far. So I'm happy.

Lesson? Don't be cheap when it comes to the CF card, buy a quality card thats know to work without issues.