First un-impression

This machine is a 1600 dollar paperweight as far
as I'm concerned...


The OS is garbage (and as I have read, number 2 is worse.

What does a machine that you can't even tap the button while navigating thru the menus and have the sound play accurate do for you... The 960 quant doesn't mean ish if the OS can't process it on time!

The screen looks much brighter in the lower right than everywhere else....

The sound is tinny and boomy at the same time.

The only thing they got right is the ergonomics.

I've had like 6 glitches in the last 30 minutes.


Should I even try os2?



Holy Christ akai is wack now. At least the 1000 and 2500 are stable!



Anyone else see past the beauty of the exterior and feel my pain?


DISSAPOINTED.

Chill out.

First, don't judge it by OS 1 because it was horrible. All those glitches are probably the many bugs in OS 1. Although OS 2 has a couple glitches and sluggish response when changing parameters but still is better overall. The screen being slightly brighter in the corner is no big deal really.

The sound was not thin to me if you use some good samples. Maybe not as warm as the 3k but not bad. Use the latest OS and try some new dope samples. You may still not like it but give it a chance first. You may also want to wait and see if Akai has a new OS at NAMM or a new MPC that has more of what you want. If you purchased from an authorized dealer you probably have time to return it.

have to say, the pre amps for the phono in work nicely with a tec 1200... Sounds good!

I made a hot beat... But I'm gunna update the os and check back in

Isn't the 4000 still a better machine than the 5000? I can not understand why they would go backwards in technology. The engine of the 4000 is way better than smal embedded processor in the 5000. What do you say?

eimer wrote:Isn't the 4000 still a better machine than the 5000? I can not understand why they would go backwards in technology. The engine of the 4000 is way better than smal embedded processor in the 5000. What do you say?

They were made by two different companies with different views on "better". Maybe the small embedded processor was put there on purpose. Maybe they were trying to emulate the 3000 swing. I once read that the 3000 sequencer would not always hit at the same time everytime. Therefore giving it a more human feel. I dont know if Roger Linn and them planned that. Maybe it was because of the small imbedded processor in the 3000?

PS I dont like the way the 4000 sounds. I do like that touchscreen somebody made for it. SYSEX?

OK. OS 2 Installed.

This thing does not do patched phrases correctly at all.


it splits them, but it sounds like garbage, put it on 16 splits, and it wont even playback the pattern you record in.


anyone else have this?

I think I re initialized everything properly.


the screens are definitely slower.


hmmm... If namm doesnt show a sign of life, im going to SUE AKAI for wasting my damn time.

eimer wrote:Isn't the 4000 still a better machine than the 5000? I can not understand why they would go backwards in technology. The engine of the 4000 is way better than smal embedded processor in the 5000. What do you say?

thats the only one Ive never owned... but I might just get it after I sell this thing... we'll see..

You should really give it a minute and properly learn the 5000. Besides the GUI being slow everything else works.

Grublet,

Check out some of my past threads and you will see that I am on my third 5000.
Luckily I had the warranty through Guitar Center, b/c the first two broke in a matter of weeks!

this one however is a win...

So
In response to some of the things you said...

I dont f--k with the patched phrase feature at all...maybe i just cannot figure it out.
I dont understand how to set the original tempo.

the built in synth is huge. There's so many built in presets in the ROM flash...I havent had time to go through em all.
the keynote feature can create some serious sounds if you know how to use it right.
The effects all sound surprisingly good.
the TRIM/EDIT feature has several updates, that are well needed.

I think overall the sound quality is pretty damn good.
If it sounds weak, how are you running it out? Through a mixer? Headphones? Monitors? All that makes a huge difference obviously.
See if you can find a copy of TRax or some other mastering program, and that will beef it up tremendously.

being able to sample while playing a sequence is HUGE!!!
That way you can sample someone playing an instrument in correct time.

But bottom line, if you dont like it, use something else.
the only major thing I dont like is how long it takes to save.

I'll admit, coming from the 3000 there is a bit of a learning curve but it's fun learning the new features.
As for the patched phrase...it definitely works you just need to understand measure. The best way I find to set the tempo for patched phrases is to take the sample into TRIM MODE, press and hold down [PAD 13] so it loops continuously. As it does this tap the tempo (for this to work you need to be sure you know how to use the tap tempo button meaning that you're counting in measure and not along with the kick any part of the drum...its seems obvious but you'd be surprised to see how many people don't realize this) once you feel you've accurately tapped the tempo go to the main screen and the BPM will read the tempo for you to input into the patched phrase. It's a wrap after that. I recommend doing 64 chops for a 4 or 8 bar loop. Really cool feature. Fun to double up the patches and have one tuned higher and another tuned lower (both in tune with each other, of course.)

sorry but even if I use loops of which I know the Tempo exactly (because I made them myself in Ableton), there is a very huge sound difference between
-playing this loop as it is
-playing the Patched Phrase version of the loop

both in the tempo the loop is made . I mean : I'm not even altering the tempo. I tried both rhytmic loops as well as synth loops and the difference is huge with both kinds?
Needless to say the Patched Phrase version sounds like sh*t compared to the orginial

For me Patched Phrase on MPC5000 is not useable.
I have to say I keep the Defaults when converting to Patched Phrase, normally 'defaults' are values that 'usually work the best' allthough in this Akai these defaults might be completely useless...at least they are not doing it for me at all.
I guess altering these Parameters should give a better result, but I was not able to figure out -with Manual besides me- how they should be to give a decent result, tried by trial-and-error but still no luck.

...an original loop played back in ableton does'nt sound the same...
...a recycle loop does'nt sound the same...
...a rex file does'nt sound the same.....

indeed, but MPC is by far the worst !
Sorry but ableton and recycle sound almost exactly the same unless you start altering the Tempo
I am talking about playing the loop at the same tempo it was created

just do this test :

make a loop of x measures on any BPM
load it in MPC
make a patched phrase of it (you do know the BPM !)
assign the 'normal' loop to a pad
assign the Patched Phrased version on another pad

OR

Make a loop in MPC
resample the output and Patch Phrase it, assign to pad
play everything together (should sound exactly the same)


listen to the difference !!!

.....you never know the bpm...and you should know that....

120 bpm in logic is NOT 120 bpm in ableton....

120 bpm on a g4 is NOT 120 bpm a g5....

...it's NEVER AND NOWHERE....EXACTLY the SAME tempo....

bounces got mirco latencies...processors never count the SAME WAY...

you allways need to fix loops again, once you changed their home.....