Support and discussion for all of Akai’s modern standalone MPCs including the MPC X / X SE, MPC Live 1, 2 & 3, MPC One / One+, MPC Key 37/61.
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By D3V1L15H Sat Mar 23, 2019 1:17 pm
Im pulling my hair out trying to troubleshoot this. If anyone can give me some ideas of what may be causing this...

So I got a new HP laptop with Windows 10, and it has 12gb ram. My MPC firmware and software are all up to date with 2.4, and I have a 500gb Sandisk external SSD Sata 3 inside the MPC drive bay.

I have the MPC connected to the laptop USB port. The other USB port on the laptop has a USB 3.0 hub plugged into it that is self powered. The USB hub itself has just a mouse and keyboard plugged in.

Problem:

When in controller mode, if I load any sound settings menu in MPC software or even in Windows, or nearly any settings related menu in Windows, the MPC along with my mouse and keyboard disconnect from the laptop, then reconnects. I know this because my keyboard is lighted and it flashes offf during this process and my mouse doesnt work for several seconds. I also used to have autoplay on for the external drive and so when it would reconnect Windows would display the contents of my MPCs external drive. I turned this feature off to no avail. Also, if not doing the reconnect issue, I often get the sound output completely turning off and the 2.4 software either being unresponsive whatsoever, or it is responsive yet no sound output. And other times I get a crash where a horrible noise signal occurs until I end the MPC software through task manager.

All this occurs whether Im using ASIO or ASIO4ALL. In Windows sound settings Ive disabled one by one the MPC audio devices inputs/outputs ( input 1/2, 3/4, etc) whilst leaving the speaker outputs as the default audio output to try and rule any of these out, to no avail.

Ive checked Windows and it shows all drivers for the mouse, keyboard, and USB hardware (internal and external) and my audio sound card (realtek HD) are up to date. Ive combed through the Windows event logger for errors that have a timestamp for the last reconnect and found nothing.

What in the world?

My next steps will be unmounting the external SSD from inside the MPC software. If that doesnt cut it, then Im going to physically remove it. If that doesnt work, Im going to disconnect the USB hub. But these things I cant understand why they would be causing the issue to begin with.

Any advice or ideas are greatly appreciated.

Edit: I took out the SSD, and it made no difference. I also have the laptop using a Samsung TV as an external monitor, tho I have disabled that as a sound device and that didnt do anything either.
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By Wormhelmet Sat Mar 23, 2019 4:38 pm
What does the device manager look like? Anything in the device manager showing a yellow exclamation warning?

Even though you aren’t using any Korg stuff, the Korg USB Midi uninstaller utility has an option to look for other manufacturers devices and uninstall ghost devices.

Maybe a safe mode startup and device manager look for ghost devices also might help.
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By zangetsu01 Sat Mar 23, 2019 11:09 pm
Try the following 2 solutions:

1) Go to control panel > Power options > change plan setting (of your current power plan) > change advanced power settings > scroll down to usb settings and unfold > unfold USB selective suspend and change from enabled to disabled and hit apply.


2) go to control panel > device manager > Universal Serial Bus Controllers > right click on your usb devices and choose properties > choose power management tab and uncheck: allow computer to turn of this device to save power and click okay. (do this for all your USB devices but not all have this setting)
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By D3V1L15H Sun Mar 24, 2019 10:48 am
thank you for your help.

so... i tried that, and the issue still occurred. I didnt even have MPC 2.4 open. Just had the MPC in controller mode to later test it with the software. Opening up a video file prompted it this time around. Seems anything I do related to a settings menu of any sort or any file or software that is audio related sparks the issue. Not every time, but too often for comfort. And of course this is only happening with MPC in controller mode. Doesnt happen when its not.

Also, yesterday when I was last using the 2.4 software, I had sound output no problem for a few minutes. I stop playback, walk away for 5 minutes, come back and and yet again the sound output in 2.4 was dead. The MPC still controlled screen software functions, but playback wouldnt work, and no sound output. I had to go back to standalone then controller mode again and reload the 2.4 to get the sound back. But this works temporarily.

So, with the USB ports going on/off and the sound output dying out of nowhere (and this doesnt seems to occur directly after when the USB flashes on/off, so it might be a separate issue), im going crazy now.
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By zangetsu01 Mon Mar 25, 2019 6:55 am
The only problem I have is that the drive keeps disconnecting and reconnecting when I boot the MPC after I boot windows. So I can't resume my work after sleep mode and I can't jam on the MPC after hours of normal work on the PC if don't do a fresh reboot of the PC.

But your problem seems far worse..

I'll come back when I have more suggestions..
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By Wormhelmet Mon Mar 25, 2019 7:13 am
The MPC comes,with its own ASIO drivers? If so, get rid of ASIO 4 All drivers. Get rid of the hub and try it also.

What other sound/midi devices have you installed? Has this ever worked without a disconnect? You said it is a new laptop, but windows patches can affect USB i/o sometimes. If you have installed other devices, remove or disable them (Korg utility I mentioned is good for this but better is uninstall in safe mode).

Safe mode - if you’ve installed any other sound devices, remove all in safe mode including the MPC and only install the MPC (if it has built-in Realtek then leave the Realtek stuff installed) Do not use any other hubs or USB devices with exception of your keyboard and mouse.

Go through windows sound settings and choose the MPC for all i/o (I assume it can work as a full blown audio/midi computer interface)

Test.
By Cockdiesel Tue Mar 26, 2019 8:30 pm
Have you tried it without the usb hub? And using the blue cord that came with it? I seem to remember issues with that before, also mine would connect and reconnect on me if it was uneven and I was hitting pads. Meaning it was the movement from it not being level, rocking a bit when i hit it, the blue cord would lose connection.
Drove me nutes but I havent had an issue since I figured it out.
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By zangetsu01 Wed Mar 27, 2019 6:42 pm
It seems that I've fixed mine connecting/disconnecting issue.

What I did is, I went to Device manager and uninstalled the driver for the hard drive. After that I clicked at the top of the screen on: Actions > Scan for hardware changes.
And it reinstalled the driver.

Running 2 days without any issues.

Maybe you can try to do the same for your hardware.. Try to do this with your hardrive in your MPC and the MPC that shows up as USB device.

Good luck..
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By D3V1L15H Wed Mar 27, 2019 7:52 pm
yea. I think the blue cord is fine. Before i tested with the old laptop, i tried the new laptop without the usb hub, nor was it connected to a mouse or keyboard or even the tv. Still shorted out. But when i tested with the old laptop, no prob.

Id use the old laptop just for the MPC but, it has only 4 gigs of ram and 75gb of hd space. Its slow as shit.