MPC X, MPC Live, MPC One & MPC Key 61 Forum: Support and discussion for the MPC X, MPC Live, MPC Live II, MPC One & MPC Key 61; Akai's current generation of standalone MPCs.
By blakeAlbion Sun Jul 17, 2022 1:59 pm
Hi, I went onto AKAI Professional's site and followed the links to repair service providers.
Nobody wants to touch repairs for the modern MPC family.
It looks like any local music store who ever put in a PO for some MPKs got added to the list of authorized service providers in New England. But nobody really wants the business.
Is MPCStuff.com the best game in town?
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By Monotremata Sun Jul 17, 2022 3:23 pm
Looking at the inside of the thing and knowing the industry, there isn't much in the way of 'repairs' really. The inside of this thing is like some of the projectors and monitors my work makes, it's just a series of boards interconnected and none of our repair techs replace components on the boards. When an issue is diagnosed, component on the board is bad, the whole board is swapped, fired up, flashed if it needs firmware, tested to make sure its running and its back to work.. We won't even replace display panels if those die or break. Don't have the clean rooms needed to properly do it and the cost always comes out to more than buying a new monitor does so we just replace the whole unit.

Technically all you really need to do is replace the main board (I think you said that's where the audio outputs are right?) and reflash the firmware and you're good to go.
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By jabberwalky Sun Jul 17, 2022 3:30 pm
Monotremata wrote:Looking at the inside of the thing and knowing the industry, there isn't much in the way of 'repairs' really.


Brilliant approach to the future of these things isn't it? Ensoniq did the same shit, and now we just have a ton of dead Ensoniq boards everywhere.

Although, I think any of the buttons,encoders or jacks could be replaced on any MPC.
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By Monotremata Sun Jul 17, 2022 4:36 pm
jabberwalky wrote:
Monotremata wrote:Looking at the inside of the thing and knowing the industry, there isn't much in the way of 'repairs' really.


Brilliant approach to the future of these things isn't it? Ensoniq did the same shit, and now we just have a ton of dead Ensoniq boards everywhere.

Although, I think any of the buttons,encoders or jacks could be replaced on any MPC.


Oh yeah the buttons/encoders/etc that's all 'serviceable' stuff. Technically the boards are too but all of that shit is SMT, and nobody wants to spend the time or money to setup a proper shop to replace that kind of stuff. I can't work on that kind of stuff myself because it's just too small and I don't have the steady hands to work on it. Regular old through-hole components like old synths and Roland rack gear, hell yeah, I'm fixing it! All these newfangled micro components suck hah. I really hate those thin flat ribbon type cables they use for the board interconnects too. I've broken a bunch of those in MacBooks in my time because they're so fragile. If you're not careful, they can snap just bending them when you put the laptop back together!
By CTown Thu Jun 01, 2023 5:50 pm
Check out https://www.mpcstuff.com/mpc-repair/
I think this guy/company repairs almost every akai. Plus the picture on the page shows a newer mpc live 2 being worked on (if I'm not mistaken)
I've gotten in touch with them in the past about an old mpc 1000 I have that has a few non functional buttons. They seem pretty down to earth and knowledgeable
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By MPC-Tutor Thu Jun 01, 2023 10:58 pm
CTown wrote:Check out https://www.mpcstuff.com/mpc-repair/
I think this guy/company repairs almost every akai. Plus the picture on the page shows a newer mpc live 2 being worked on (if I'm not mistaken)
I've gotten in touch with them in the past about an old mpc 1000 I have that has a few non functional buttons. They seem pretty down to earth and knowledgeable

I know Mike (the owner of the company) very well, and yes, he's very knowledgable about all things MPC (and Akai gear in general). Can source OEM parts, makes his own parts when the originals are NLA, and offers a repair service.