MPC5000 reviews, bug reports and fellow user support on the most recent standalone, hardware MPC from Akai
By ghosty Mon Feb 07, 2011 10:29 pm
konc3pt wrote:seems like a lot of mpc 5000 users are newbs at least to this forum, not necessarly mpcs, but most likely that too so they dont know any better or have anything to compare to...there is also a lot of dick sucking going on around these parts of the forum (5000) to justify their hard worked for money spent on piece of crap...i had chance to swoop up second hand 5000 for as low as 1100-1200 couple of times and almost pulled the trigger, but there seems to be too many problems with it at least at this stage of the OS.



So your giving an "honest" take on something you have never owned or used?

To the O.P .. I have not had any problems that prevented me from working. I wil point out what I don't like.
The lag in the chop shop window when using sliders. You have to physically remove the cable to take it out of "mount" mode.
The preview of time-stretching and pitch shifting could be more simplified with less steps.

That is really all I have to complain about.

I don't use the effects busses. If your tracking into a DAW it should be dry anyways. And if you put it into the MPC it should tuned and be ready to use.
The synth is actually very nice. It was made for the true enthusiast , someone who understands how synths work and what the functions do , Not for an amateur at all. If you need "pre-sets" it comes with enough from the factory that you can tweek here and there to get you close to what your looking for. And lets face it , If you need hundreds of "pre-sets" to make music is it really going to be unique? TRAIL AND ERROR in this department.
Chop shop , epic... Load sample , get it to loop , play drum pattern , pitch sample till it locks , then chop.. easy easy.
Q-Links , to be honest I don't use them. But According to the manual you can get creative with them. I just don't see the need in my work-flow.

In a nut shell , the MPC5000 is the best Master Controller in the business.. If you want something that can build and entire song on one unit and be mobile with it.. MPC5000. Synth , arpeggiator , Hdrecording. Dont need a midi controller or monitors or interface. Just an Ipod , headphones and a power supply. No MIDI controller or computer.
Had it been marketed as a "mobile music production center" MMPC it would have been received better.

If you want to use it as a master controller VIA your DAW , then the Pads midi sync , chop shop and import-export functions will help you keep a organized lab. Sample chops in the MPC , build skeleton in MPC , then track into the DAW for the Business end of things. The people complaining 1. Dont own one. 2. Use it in a manner not intended or 3. just have bad luck and got the 1 in however many products of ANY kind that have errors. Nothing is perfect.
By Mistamixx Tue Feb 08, 2011 4:01 pm
Got mine used, and i love it so far. I had one crash, called support, and i found out that if you have any files/sounds in your root folder, thats not in folders, could cause crashing. I had a couple of wav files not in folders, so i put them in folders and i haven't had a crash since.
By Triez Sat Feb 12, 2011 6:05 pm
The 5000 is a fantastic machine, yes there are some letdowns in the OS, every machine has them. Is it "perfect"? No. Is any other MPC "perfect"? No. Unfortunately for this forum there seems to be a lot of infantile people who love to trash talk the machine, usually because of their own inability to use it, and a few people who post incessantly to the point of trolling about their own bad experiences. Because of this most of the adults don't come here any more.

I have used the MPC5000 in mission-critical situations with no back-up machine. Does it have things that I would like changed? Yes. Does it do things that no other MPC could not possibly do? Yes.

Petition Akai for an OS update for sure. Not because the machine desperately needs one, but because it would make an excellent machine even better. So many people use the MPC5000 daily and love it and get the job done with it. I don't bother coming to this forum any more except to occasionally check in to see if anything has changed, I am tired of reading tirades by losers who would complain no matter how good their equipment was because the main OS problem is the operating system between their ears.
By daveyP Sat Feb 12, 2011 8:23 pm
Oneday2one,

I presume the person you were reffering to as an idiot was me. For the record the are many other posts on here from people with various reports of problems. I already said that i posted the problems a number of times as i didnt expect the forums to be so active and wanted a response, ie sum help to resolve the problems.
Machine number 3 is working fine, for the record. All my probs were genuine, so your coment about a mole is, well, idiotic to say the least.

How, by the way, would one member posting various problems make a product appear like it is no good? That would clearly just appear like ONE person was having MANY issues with it. looks i got two bad machine out of a batch.

And they were bad.

The new one however is good. Thanks god.


Dave

It is what it is.
By daveyP Sat Feb 12, 2011 8:51 pm
Triez,

Your post made me laugh. Such hostility towards people who have posted their mpc problems and done so with some frutration. Jesus man, deal with it if youve no help to offer dont read the posts.
I had two machines that fried up on me through no fualt of my own so yes, i think i was justified in posting negative comments about it. Fingers crossed that this new machine keeps on rolling along in working order.
If youve not experienced such major crashes or **** ups then youve maybe not felt the disappointment that goes with that.
Luckily i had other equipment to fall back on in the meantime, but that would have been a shitty few months without anything to make music on, and surely everyone here has that passion for making music every hour that they can. Thats all it is with anyone posting negative comments. Im sure each and every one of those people complaining would sooner have good machine as youve luciky got first time.

Dont always look at everything from the same angle. Perspective mate.

D
By daveyP Sat Feb 12, 2011 8:55 pm
Mistamixx,

Thats interesting what you said there about the folder layouts as the very first problem 5000 i had i received it with random samples saved in the root folder. A whole list of them. I thought that was strange and always wondered if somehow the unit had been used before.

What was saved in your root by the way, something you put there?

Dave
By Triez Sun Feb 13, 2011 3:18 pm
daveyP wrote:Triez,

Your post made me laugh. Such hostility towards people who have posted their mpc problems and done so with some frutration. Jesus man, deal with it if youve no help to offer dont read the posts.
I had two machines that fried up on me through no fualt of my own so yes, i think i was justified in posting negative comments about it. Fingers crossed that this new machine keeps on rolling along in working order.
If youve not experienced such major crashes or **** ups then youve maybe not felt the disappointment that goes with that.
Luckily i had other equipment to fall back on in the meantime, but that would have been a **** few months without anything to make music on, and surely everyone here has that passion for making music every hour that they can. Thats all it is with anyone posting negative comments. Im sure each and every one of those people complaining would sooner have good machine as youve luciky got first time.

Dont always look at everything from the same angle. Perspective mate.

D


Do you ever do anything else with your time apart from incessantly posting on this forum about how unlucky you are? Everyone gets it. Your inane crusade is tiresome. Try and resist the urge to spatter every post on the forum with your tiresome repetition of the story of your two faulty machines. We heard it the first 60 times. Why not just start your own thread and post the same story there every day?
By daveyP Sun Feb 13, 2011 11:22 pm
Haha, good idea.

Want to here the story again?

It started when i watched the rza on his MV. I was torn between the MV and the MPC, i when for it and ordered an MPC. And here's how the story goes..............




Thing is, youre reading every word stil. Hahaha.


Dp
By donlimpio Mon Feb 14, 2011 3:11 pm
Honestly, the things some of you people write. This forum is no different from all other forums about gear or software: a bunch of people posting their own experiences. Some people have good experiences, some have bad experiences. Why is it so hard for the satisfied users that someone posts his or her bad experience? Should we / these people (I used to be one of these people until my unit came back from repair) shut up because we have a bad experience with the machine? It seems like it. When I wrote about my problems I got a good taste of the hospitality of some of the forum members (read: open fire and some accusations that I was a) lying about my problems or b) some other poster subscribing under another name). Quite frustrating when you have genuine problems.

Is it so hard for some people to understand that yes, there ARE some faulty machines and yes, sometimes you need to voice your frustration.

For a forum where soooo little people actually put creative work on display there's a lot of blablabla.

p.s. I've had a nice sunday session with the MPC, and I'm really glad I've got a stable unit now, but before that my unit was every cent as crappy as I said it here. Experiences vary widely. Live with it.
By daveyP Mon Feb 14, 2011 10:12 pm
Well said. And yeah, im wondering about the creativity of the folk here too. Ive changed subject and im talking creative stuff now, the excitment that music continues to provide me with.
Fully agree with you about the faults, sounding off, and the hostile people. I personally log on to read the response ive got from a previous post whenever my email alerts me. So i log on, write my response back and log off. I dont go reading ever post that appeared since the last time. I have a quick look over some to see if theres anything that strikes an interest and if not i do nothing about it. I certainly dont cry about the other people with troubles, or who are asking advice on functions that may be obvious etc.
It just goes to show the people love the drama.

So, on that note, whos got any projects, albums, or general creative ideas planned?

Im working on my second ipad album, and bass heavy but atmospheric drum n bass album with the electribes, and a trip hop drum n bass(y) set of tracks with the mpc. And theres more. The damn 9 to 5 tends to prolong the result of all these ideas.

Has anyone got a bandcamp account or other site where they upload their tracks to?

Album-off anyone? We all go away make ten tracks within a couple of months, post them up on bandcamp.com, and post the links here. Hows that for an mpc promotion!?
You can only use a 5000 though. 'The 5000 Albums'. Im calling it that. And im gonna work on my tracks and post them by 19 May, my birthday. If the mpc breaks though a substitute machine is allowed.

DP
By donlimpio Tue Feb 15, 2011 9:11 am
My personal project just got back on the rails, because my MPC works now - fingers crossed!

I'd love to use the 5k for a live set together with my friend who plays bass. I program, play some keys and sing. The idea is to make a live-set for a sort of 'digital funk' (think Dam-Funk, old Flyte Time-Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis style) that is REALLY live, meaning that we create or re-create our tracks right there on stage.

A problem I have with a lot of electronic live sets is that everything is preprogrammed, except for some knob-twiddling and effects, or some very amateuristic keyboard playing. I'm sorry but that shit is just too easy, and there's not much live about that. And don't even get me started on the percussionist or sax player that these so-called live-acts use to bring in a bit more visual entertainment. Boring as hell if you ask me.

So, we tried to build a really good sounding track with the MPC and a digital mixing desk, with a pro-sounding mix, and then break it down into manageable bit so we can start programming live, and play over that with the bass and a loop sampler for vocals. It's quite complicated in preparation, because you have to set up really well, and adapt the songs to what's technically possible.

But alas our efforts failed with the MPC crashing every 5 minutes before the repair - not something you want to happen when you're on stage. Now after the repair everything seems to work smoothly - well, almost everything - so we're going to get started again!

Cheers,
DL
By daveyP Tue Feb 15, 2011 10:02 am
Sounds pretty good. It may be worth having something as a backup though it you are on stage. At least some kind of plan incase the mpc fails you. I suppose the same goes for each peice of equipment used in a live set. Keep an acoustic guitar backstage, and your voice is always with you so you at least have those to fall back on. Spare set of strings too haha.

My plan is to make some backing tracks for the jams i have with my mate who plays an electronic kit. I started to do this before my first unit broke. He wasnt present so i programmed the beat also along with a bassline, and a piano melody. The idea, as simple as it is is to play my acoustic songs with said mate on his kit, and we complete the sound with the mpc. I know thats a bit pre programmed but i work better with less people, get more done rather than having to teach four people all the parts to your song. So long as he knows the tempo i play and he drums, simple as. I'll probebly experiment throwing some other sounds in there, maybe sample the kaoss pads etc, but we'll see how it goes.
Theres just so many different set ups and ideas i want to try out. I cant see how writers block exists. Touch wood.
By donlimpio Wed Feb 16, 2011 3:07 pm
No idea. I haven't heard any of DaveyP's tracks, but given his recent questions I get the impression that he's only starting on the basics of the MPC - which is his prerogative.

I don't think I'll be working on recreating the bug list unfortunately. As much as I applaud the effort, I've got no time to spare (the curse of the thirtysomething), and not enough reason to anymore: my MPC was buggy as hell before repair, but after repair it seems to work well - let's say one crash every four hours of real use, which I can live with.

I was alluding to the fact that legitimate complaints are sometimes met with fairly ridiculous 'ghetto-comments' a la "shut tha **** up **** gay bwoy if ya don't know how the drop da phat beatz with dis shizzle than you'z not a pimp fly *****" and claims about the tightest tightest sequencer on the planet. What do these guys program in? 64th notes? Oh well; I'm just glad I can make music again with the MPC now. 16th notes with some swing are enough for me :-)

DL