Just bought a blue 4k for £195!!!

mr_debauch wrote:yeah, also.. while doing that since you will have it open.. one thing that may be nice to know and it's easy to spot.. check for any popped caps. (capacitors mushroom or pop up sometimes when they get old.. plus they could start leaking a bit.)

look on google images for a popped capacitor if you need to know what one looks like... they will be easy to spot.

another thing is, check for cracked traces on the motherboard. Sure, that might be a bit more tedious to do but you could quickly scan over it just to see if you see any.

the reason I say this, is because if any of those things are there... it may be cheap to have someone quickly fix it if you cant solder yourself.

Thanks for the advice mate, but as above, I'm gonna hold out to get it checked out properly. Swapping out drives or adding upgrade options looks totally straight forward, but fault finding and fixing a potentially complex problem is beyond my capabilities. The 4k looks criminally underused for its age, so it could just be a dud unit with multiple issues that's been passed around from person to person.

We'll see anyway.

Coz wrote:

Moz wrote:Please FFS don't let either of those repair companies be Cimple solutions

I've settled on them but it's sitting here all boxed up and ready to go, so it's not too late to change my mind.

What happened?

I had an old MPC60 that needed a few minor repairs,agreed a price on the phone based on the issues I talked about and parts needed,they told me any more than that once they had traced the actual faults and they would call me to authorise the repairs and extra cost and whether it would be worth it being fixed at all.

Boxed it up bombproof to say the least....When it arrived they claimed it had been smashed in transit,and damaged the casing cracking loads of components.
I asked them for pics of proof of this,and they sent me some pictures of another box which I knew was not the carton I sent it in.looked like it had been used as a football asked them to also show me the damage to my MPC they gave me a load of shit that it was in pieces in the repair shop and they needed my authorisation to repair to put it back together,which even without the repairs would cost me £150 for labour,as it was going to cost quite a bit to bring it back to the state it was in before it "Supposedly" was damaged,I told them to put it back together as much as they could and send it back,they sent it back alright,As it was,which was disassembled in many parts,screws and other bits and pieces everything they had took apart in several bags,even though the guy assured me they would reassmeble it then they tried to charge me £150 for taking it apart to the state it was in and charging me a further £25 to reassemble it to how it was when it arrived which they clearly hadn't even bothered,they only backed down once I threatened them with Trading standards

Cowboys to say the least!!!Still,suppose they don't have AkaiUK to answer to now so they can get away with it,stear clear of them if you value your MPCs

^^^ Cheers for that mate. If it wasn't for DHL not turning up it'd be with them now...

So where did you get it done in the end?

Coz wrote:^^^ Cheers for that mate. If it wasn't for DHL not turning up it'd be with them now...

So where did you get it done in the end?

I resigned it to the MPC graveyard and bought a secondhand 4K instead,as much as I was peed about it,I'm glad I never gave them a penny and look at it as the push I needed to get a better MPC anyway!!!

Well their name is in this thread for posterity now... not that I hadn't read a few negative reviews on here while searching around.

Nice one anyway. You've probably saved me a few quid.

Just a little update...


My 4k was sent off to be looked at last week, so hopefully I will know what the deal is by the end of the week.

Coz,

who did you end up sending the 4k to?

Definitely keep us posted on developments. As you say to many threads like this end up with not final answer due to the posters vanishing.

labcoats wrote:I presumed this information Im about to give here was common knowledge, but perhaps its not.

Just before the MPC 4k was released, the communist dictators at the EU in Brussels decreed a particular substance/material which just happened to be used for making electronic components/boards was to be banned with immediate effect. This meant Akai were hurriedly forced to change bits in the 4ks already manufactured destined for Europe. I was informed by a tech at Cimple Solutions in London it was a bit of hurried job and could be the cause of many problems found on 4ks, and i think he mentioned that the Akai fix makes the mobos prone to easily short out. It just struck me just now that ones destined for the US wouldn't have needed to be changed.

its interesting becasue many posts I have read form people with 4k issues from the states usually just have to fiddle with a cable and it springs in to action.

I just thought I'd bounce this reply into this thread as a point of interest.

What you point out would also explain why the guy in Scotland has encountered many of the exact same problems with the 4k. It's no wonder fully working units are rare in the UK.

They're all in the MPC graveyard if that info is accurate...

labcoats wrote:Coz,

who did you end up sending the 4k to?

Definitely keep us posted on developments. As you say to many threads like this end up with not final answer due to the posters vanishing.

I sent it to a guy who goes by the name Synth Prof. He was recommended to me by forum member Jnorth.

They obviously specialise in synths but they repair most music tech, including drum machines and samplers. I called them up last week and spoke to the dudes wife, and she assured me NOTHING has ever left their workshop unfixed, so we'll see.

http://www.synthprof.com/


I'll follow this thread through to either the point where it's fixed or where I'm reluctantly forced to sell it... That's a Mr Coz promise right there.

yeah, I would like more info on that story Cimple Solutions tech guy told me about the EU communists directive. After all these are the people who have banned incandescent light bulbs across Europe, and forced us to use weird light generating, cancer inducing ones instead. Nothing surprises me about those unelected bureaucrats.

The Synth Prof seems like he knows his stuff.
It will be very interesting to see if its the mobo or something else.

Keep us informed and I do hope you get a fix

labcoats wrote:yeah, I would like more info on that story Cimple Solutions tech guy told me about the EU communists directive. After all these are the people who have banned incandescent light bulbs across Europe, and forced us to use weird light generating, cancer inducing ones instead. Nothing surprises me about those unelected bureaucrats.

The Synth Prof seems like he knows his stuff.
It will be very interesting to see if its the mobo or something else.

Keep us informed and I do hope you get a fix

Labcoats, interesting comment!

Do you have a blue or white 4k? Thinking of picking one up - i doubt there will be difference in timing... I HOPE NOT.

I have a white one. No difference in the timing

Ok, things are looking grim...


Hi Coz

Just a quick note to say that we're onto plan B here. There are no spare CPUs at
Numark and none seemingly anywhere in the world (plenty of everything else,
mind) so we're going to take a step back and just check everything again, and
see if there's a way forward here. Don't start worrying yet as there are
definitely options - our main concern is if we need to go to component level
repair on surface mount technology, which is not something we specialise in (too
new!). I suspect there are people out there who do and if needs be, we can sub
out the repair and ensure it's done to our standard. So hang on in there - could
you drop me a line with your phone number as it might be easier to speak in
future?

Cheers

Sarah

Don't be too disheartened mate, that seems like a very positive reply still! In particular how thorough they're being to make sure that it's all completed to a standard.

Just wondering, does Synth Prof send you an invoice each time he finds an issue? Or will he add it onto a total bill?

No, the diagnosis is free. At this point I owe them £10 for delivery and that's it thankfully.