Reviews and questions about the entry-level MPC500
By nooneuseful Thu Aug 12, 2010 10:35 am
Hi!

I have the mpc since a couple of days and already 2 wierd problems (and they may be related), i did a little research and couldnt find any topics so far, hopefully i have not created a thread to a topic that already exists.

(version 1.31)

Problem 1:
I have some clean small samples: 44,1khz, *.wav, stereo

The first the time i load a sample on a pad everything works fine. Then sometimes when i load the same sample additionally on another pad i get a glitchy noise on one channel at either the begin or the end of the sample.
When i reload this sample on the same pad again and rename it, its fine again.

Problem 2:
When i rendered my samples i put em into seperate folders on the mpcs memory card.
They are all *.wav, 44.1khz and really small and short
I can load like only 20% of the samples, the rest always shows me "wrong file format"when i try to load em on the pads. But they are totally the same format and everything, i rendered all in a row from the same loop in one session.

This is the memory card i use:
http://www.ditech.at/artikel/CF2GE8/Com ... MANCE.html

This Problems seem really glitchy to me and i cant use this device properly in its current state.
By nooneuseful Thu Aug 12, 2010 11:55 am
yes sure, they all play fine on my pc
they also play properly the first time i load em on the mpc, if i load em again onto another pad, thats the typical situation when both pads start to sound glitchy

if i copy those files from the top folder on my memory card onto my pc again (i saved the whole program with samples) i can hear the gltichy sounds as well on my pc
(the originals sound fine)

so the problem seems to appear inside of the mpc

and yes they are 16 bit :-)
User avatar
By DPM Fri Aug 13, 2010 10:56 pm
make sure you have the files backed up on the PC , and format your CF card.

make sure their 44.1/16-bit .wav, and try again.

if the problem still exists, idk what the problem would be, unless you either have a faulty 500 or a faulty Cf Card
User avatar
By NearTao Mon Aug 16, 2010 11:05 am
If you still have the problem you are possibly experiencing digital clipping. You might want to go to other and see what your master db output is set to (most people here go for -6db/-12db). 0db is just asking for trouble.

You may also want to check your programs... if you have a lot set to 100 amplitude this may also be contributing to clipping.

Good luck.
By nooneuseful Tue Aug 17, 2010 12:29 pm
"format your CF card make sure their 44.1/16-bit .wav"

i did already, and also tried anther card and did it again :-)


"0db is just asking for trouble."

yeah, that was the first value i changed when i got the mpc :-)


anyway: i have some kind of development to report:

so far i experienced both problems (unknown file format // and // the glitchy sound on one channel when i assign a sample to two different pads) only with the samples i rendered with ableton live 8

i cant say this for sure since i did not had the time to give it alot of testing but so far it seems the akai samples from the cd, and my little pre prepared drum libery works fine

maybe it something ableton does, but its definatly not the settings - its all as it should be ...and the problem with the sound glitches is just so wierd! why do the samples change from fine to glitchy, once i load, save, reassign them?
By nooneuseful Thu Sep 16, 2010 6:52 am
i fixed / worked around both problems as it seems.

Problem 2: "wrong file format"
i needed to reinstall windows anyways and afterwards i installed and updated my audio programs again.
i cut some samples with cubase from drumloops and i did not get that error, i also made some loops with ableton live and didnt encouter it as well.
maybe there was something that my old ableton live did that the mpc didnt like - i dunno what it was...rather strange since the samples all played fine on my pc but not on my mpc


Problem 1: "glitchy noise on one channel"
well if there is a glitchy noise at the end of the sound you can easily use the trim function to get rid of them. bug or not
By nooneuseful Wed Oct 06, 2010 11:36 pm
i can definetly work and have fun with the 500 now, but i discovered again something close to what i refered as "problem 1 / gltichy noises" before:

the glitchy noise sound exactly like the problem i had described - but in a different scenario:
when i let the mpc run for a longer time, lets say ~ 5 hours or more, mostly if i went to sleep and forgot to turn it off, or if i played for a very long session - one or two of the samples will develop a glitchy noise, mostly close to the end of the sample again. everytime i press the pad at the exact same point with the exact same sounding noise, as if the sample was rendered like that.

i have to point out once more that my cables are alright, there is no wonky connection or anything, its a clear and reproduceable szenario.

if i turn the mpc 500 off and on again and reload the program the samples are clean - if i use it a longer period / let it run, a noise will appear again until i restart

its a minor problem, i know how it happens and how to get rid of it, it just gives me the feeling that the quality of the mpc 500, at least my unit - is dubious (in combination with some of the already know bugs)

didnt anyone else discover strage behavior like this?