Akai MPC 60II Noob/seriously concerned long Rec In question

I'm going to preface this with these facts: I have read the newest available manual, and do not have a mixer or an audio interface currently (focusrite saffire pro 24 coming in the mail). If this is the reason why my stuff is borked, please shame me with informative detail.

I just purchased an Akai MPC 60 II (3.15b os, SCSI, maxed memory, etc.) for use with chopping up my soul vinyls, sequencing my hardware, and recording 12-bit samples from my drum machine. After some trouble with having to get a 100MB zip drive from the flea market because the guy on eBay has slightly screwed me with a non functioning 250MB model, I have a blank 100MB zip disk loaded into the 60II via SCSI. I reset to default settings when it arrived. I've watched the entire tutorial video series (outdated for the OS I have), read the 3.10 os manual, and have been through countless google results/forum posts. I started my maneuvering within the machine by trying to sample an 808 kick from my Roland R-8 by plugging a 1/4 inch cable from the mono output of the R-8 to the Rec In of the 60. When I got to the sample new sound screen (sounds, 5), I set it to record ready and played the note from the R-8 while the threshold was low and nothing happened. The meter did not flash, and continued to not flash no matter what drum sounds and sequences I played. I also changed all of the settings within the sample new sound menu (including threshold levels, record levels, etc.), and messed with the output levels of the drum machine. Since that didn't work, I tried sampling some of the cheesy drum presets from my Juno-1, and the same instances occurred. I've been troubleshooting and researching online myself for three days, and the only possible explanations I can conjure are either the Rec In jack is broken, or I am an idiot for some completely external reason (audio interface or mixer required, I have no idea at this point honestly). I'm trying to come across as not being naive with this, but I've been stressing for three days and can't really think of any other solutions than to ask all of you people. I am open to suggestions as I paid $960 total for all this and would rather know if it was broken than blindly try having it repaired/returning it.

whats the gain switch on the rear set to try all 3?

make sure you have a loud signal from whatever your trying to record, test it with say "headphones" then plug it into the rec in on the mpc, to rule out your synth not making any noise etc.

if you input meter dont move on all 3 gain settings then you probably have a problem.

is there any sound coming out of the mpc?
do you hear the metroknome when in record mode?

Is the input monitor set to "on" in the sample screen (sounds + 5)? Turned up the gain knob?

Stupid questions i know but...

Horseclick wrote:whats the gain switch on the rear set to try all 3?

make sure you have a loud signal from whatever your trying to record, test it with say "headphones" then plug it into the rec in on the mpc, to rule out your synth not making any noise etc.

if you input meter dont move on all 3 gain settings then you probably have a problem.

is there any sound coming out of the mpc?
do you hear the metroknome when in record mode?

The metronome plays fine from my speakers. I've only ever tried it with mid gain, I'm gonna run some trials with that. I tested my audio sources (synth, drum machine) on the same monitors I had the metronome running from, they came out fine.

jibber wrote:Is the input monitor set to "on" in the sample screen (sounds + 5)? Turned up the gain knob?

Stupid questions i know but...

Yeah, the input monitor was set to on, tried on off as well. Gonna try the gain settings and will return momentarily, I appreciate all the feedback.

I tried it with each of the three gain settings repeating the procedures above and still nothing. Is it safe to say there's something wrong with the Rec In jack? Also, would anyone know how/who could repair it?

Did you open the unit and check all of the connections? It may be that some cable(s) got loose/unplugged or connected incorrectly.

Happened to me once in the past, no sound on input and meter didn't flash at all. The very same symptoms you are describing.. Opened the unit and found that I accidentally connected only half of a ribbon cable (first row of pins) during a refurb I made on the very same day...

Which might not be your case, but def worth checking out!

I haven't opened the unit, but I'm unsure if someone with my technical background (none) in electronics should be messing with it too much, if only because I might have to return it. I know someone who services synthesizers that I'm going to have look at it though, thank you for the suggestion.

I've only tried with a TS cable, should I try with a TRS?