Post your views and questions about the Akai MPC2500
By Thirdlip Sun Mar 07, 2010 7:39 pm
Hey y'all,
I've done many searches and not been able to find anyone with exactly these same problems, but if this has been addressed please forgive me. I had an MPC1000 with the 128MB RAM expansion on it for years and, besides the pads blowing out, never had too many problems with it. Then I got the JJ OS and loved the way it helped my work, but it also brought up some problems with freezing and crashing that I didn't have before. It also would frequently spit out this full-volume white noise from the main outputs only, and it wouldn't stop until I reset the power, losing any unsaved work.
I finally got an MPC2500, added the same RAM stick, got OS2XL, and was psyched to get back to work. Everything was smooth enough, but then the problems started in; that horrible constant full-volume white noise that won't turn off, drastic tempo changes with even the simplest patterns (a hat playing 16ths causes it to drag and then speed up to try to catch itself), notes freezing, notes being delayed, crashes during performance and attempts to save, and other smaller glitches. I'm doing no MIDI, made sure none of my sounds are using filters or anything too demanding; I can make a new sequence, put a kick on each measure, and a hat on each 16th (just to test it, not to write a hit), and then play it back and it starts messing up.
Like I said, I did use the same RAM from the MPC1000, but smarter people than myself have said that that shouldn't cause these problems and that it must be the OS. I'm happy to buy more RAM if that will fix this, but I wanted to check with your collected experience to see if there may be some other solution.
It's crazy, I've found one other post about the white noise thing here, and no one else had much to say to him about it, and the slowing down / speeding up thing seems to usually be cause by to much congestion / MIDI / filters, but I'm not doing any of that (of course, I will be once I solve this). I don't want to have to leave JJ, but some people have written that it's maybe just too packed and causes too many glitches. What do you think?
By jimmie Tue Mar 09, 2010 10:06 am
I've used JJOS, JJOS1, JJOS2 and now use JJOS2XL on my mpc2500 and have never, ever had any of those problems, ever!

The only constant here is your RAM. Therefore I suggest that you have dodgy RAM and remove it immediately. Try running JJOS without the extra RAM for a few days to see if all your problems are gone.

and ALWAYS make sure you hold ERASE when you switch the mpc on for the first time after you've installed JJOS, to do a reset. Not doing this will cause problems.

p.s. shouldn't this be in the JJOS forum?
By Thirdlip Tue Mar 09, 2010 11:30 pm
Thanks.
I did do the reset, but not the first time. That wouldn't mess things up, would it? Should I reinstall the OS and do the reset to be safe? Like I said, I'm not a computer guy at all, but my computer-wise friends have told me that it was probably not the memory, but if you think it is I'm happy to go against their advise and just get new RAM and hope that does the trick.
P.S. If you think it's not JJ but a problem with the RAM, why would I put this under JJOS? Sounds like you think it's a tech problem, right?
By jimmie Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:56 am
Your RAM is the only constant here.. You said you had the same problems on an mpc1000 and an mpc2500. Therefore that's my guess. Either that or you're the unluckiest guy on the planet to have found two broken machines with exactly the same problems.

Aren't all the samples read from the RAM on the fly? If so, then I can see it being a possible candidate.
You can run the mpc without having the RAM expansion installed. Remove the RAM expansion, re-install the OS, do a reset and see if any of those problems happen again. If problems do occur without the RAM expansion installed then you know it isn't the RAM.

Ahh... one other thing; projects done on the AkaiOS will mainly not sound/work correctly on the JJOS. So start a new project from scratch on JJOS and see how you go on.
By jimmie Sat Mar 13, 2010 12:32 am
Thirdlip wrote:Thanks again. I've got new RAM on it's way in the mail. If this doesn't do it I'm just going to get rid of all my gear and take up the harmonica.


hehe.. yeah, but my point is that you can check if it's ur RAM without ordering any new RAM by just taking out your existing RAM expansion and running ur machine without it..

anywayz... gl
By Thirdlip Mon Mar 15, 2010 8:03 pm
The RAM I had in was Infineon 256MB, Sync, 133MHz, CL3, 32Mx64 SDRAM PC133.

I just got this in the mail:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Akai-MPC-EXM-1000-2 ... 020wt_1167

...and have the same problems right away! I loaded a sequence and hit play and the tempo immediately start pulling and pushing drastically, notes freeze for a long time or for some reason until I hit the note again, etc. Seriously, do I just have the most busted luck or is there something I'm missing?

And I have a gig tonight!
By jimmie Mon Mar 15, 2010 11:09 pm
I dunno what to suggest if you say it happens on ur 1000 and ur 2500.
I've never heard of this b4.
Maybe try re-downloading JJOS and be sure to start a fresh project, not one from the Akai OS.
By Thirdlip Sat May 29, 2010 8:58 am
The new JJ OSXL Ver. 1.36 is out and has fixed this bug:

"The second bug fix is to fix a bug I found last night. I was making a sequence then got a blast of white/pink noise in bar 8 when 4 samples overlapped slightly. The noise could only be stopped by turning the mpc off. The problem went away when I set the samples to the same mute group. Never had this b4. I sent JJ my project and he fixed it."

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=130671

I knew I wasn't crazy.