The Last Straw - Please Help

Ok, here is another thing that may just be the last straw for me on this unit.

When I record in lets say a hi hat. Ill do basic 16th notes with 16th note time correction on with 100 prcent for everything and 50 percent swing (lowest). Once it loops back to the beginning of my 8 bars of straight 16th note hat hits, to my surprise, various notes are completely missing. This started happening when I first got the unit, but kept convincing myself that I must be not hitting the pad hard enough, so I just put this on full level. Now its happening more frequently, and sometimes an entire half measure is missing. What is going on here? Any suggestions?

Yea, its not that easy though. I purchased this unit online from a Guitar Center on the other side of the country. And if I want another one, I have to send this one back (takes a week), then they send me another one (takes another week). The whole reason I got the MPC5000 is because they were fixing another unit under a $125 dollar warranty I purchased (means a fix should only be a week or so). They wound up having my unit for 2 months, and after two months come to find out that they were trouble shooting the wrong problems lol. What a joke! Anyhow, they wanted to make me happy and gave me a 5k for 1400 bucks. I was without anyhardware for TWO months because of that. So to be without another unit for 2-3 more weeks is just crazy. All the other things I found work arounds for. So I am just asking this final straw question so hopefully someone says oh thats because of this... or that.. and I can just KEEP this thing. I really dont wna go through being musicless for another long period of time. Having to use reason or FL Studio is like Chinese Water Torchure.

Any thoughts on the question aside from the fact I should return it?

I am fully aware of what I should do, but the situation is not completely ordinary. I tried calling 4 guitar centers in a 60 mile radius and they either have none in stock, or a floor model, or one "out of box".

For sure Lamp. Even with a busy schedule from start to finish daily, I wake up at 330am just so I have time to fit music into my day. Kills me to be without gear this long.

One more thing I wanted to ask. The screen of the 5k in the bottom right hand corner is much more of a purple as compared to the rest of the screen which is more of a blue. As I roll the contrast knob to the left, everything on the screen goes dim, except that bottom right corner of the screen. That area seems to be on its on steez. Does your entire 5k screen change contrast all together at once? Or is it like mine and the bottom right corner is significant deal behind and is a slightly different color?

The reason I did not notice this sooner is because I kept assuming this was just from my lamp which is off to the right of the machine. Though it was just an effect happening from the light source. But with the lights off, this is still happening =(.

The screen is either blue(with a light purplish glow which is more obvious when the screen is warmer) or white when full contrast - or +.

You clearly have a melon with screen flickering etc. etc. Try it without memory and or HD and see what is does before you send it back.







"This text is send from my MPC 5000".

Yea it seems that the lower right hand corner is a different color than the rest of the screen at all times.

And EVERY time I record in a 16th note or 8th note hi hat progression with 16th note time correction (8 bars), every time it pulls random notes out, and at times a whole bar. Its starting to happen more and more now. It happens 95% of the time now, which is making recording anything pretty annoying. If I turn off time control completely, then it leaves it alone. Nobody has seen this occur before?

Well I got my 5k new for $1199 back in January 2010 so I'm not sure how much of a deal they actually gave you.
At any rate it is easy and makes no sense to look at it any other way than to return it.
Here's what people don't seem to understand about 5k's theer are 2 types.
One works flawlessly and gives you no problems day end and day out.
The other one is buggy as hell and you will constantly find new issues.
Somewhere in production Akai let some flawed hardware come down the assembly line and those units are very problematic.

While it appears there weren't that many of them if you end up with one it's a nightmare.

Get another 5k, a 4k or a 2500 with JJ, but the real point is you can't go with the perspective of this being how a 5k performs you just got a lemon.

In your case they never resolved your initial problem since they swapped your 2500 for a broke 5k.

Just go ahead and get them to resolve this, especially considering you purchased the extended protection.

jigzelmnt wrote:Yea, its not that easy though. I purchased this unit online from a Guitar Center on the other side of the country. And if I want another one, I have to send this one back (takes a week), then they send me another one (takes another week). The whole reason I got the MPC5000 is because they were fixing another unit under a $125 dollar warranty I purchased (means a fix should only be a week or so). They wound up having my unit for 2 months, and after two months come to find out that they were trouble shooting the wrong problems lol. What a joke! Anyhow, they wanted to make me happy and gave me a 5k for 1400 bucks. I was without anyhardware for TWO months because of that. So to be without another unit for 2-3 more weeks is just crazy. All the other things I found work arounds for. So I am just asking this final straw question so hopefully someone says oh thats because of this... or that.. and I can just KEEP this thing. I really dont wna go through being musicless for another long period of time. Having to use reason or FL Studio is like Chinese Water Torchure.

Any thoughts on the question aside from the fact I should return it?

I am fully aware of what I should do, but the situation is not completely ordinary. I tried calling 4 guitar centers in a 60 mile radius and they either have none in stock, or a floor model, or one "out of box".

Wow, thats a great price. Where did you get that kind of deal? Guitar Center charges 2grand new for the 5k, so they gave to me for cost (seemed reasonable at the time). But what are the chances of me getting another "lemon" to replace this one. I am very afraid of this, because as of now, I look like the crazy customer. When I called GC, the manager I was dealing with was not in. The first question the new manager asked me when I told him that this one was now having an issue was "Hmm, so it shows here that this is a unit that replaced an MPC 2500 that you were also having probems with?" I knew I would get looked at in this way, and they obviously don't know nothing about MPCs because he said "Wow, the 5000 huh? I never heard of the 5000 having any type of issues before." LOL

i ordered a piece of gear from GC online, and it was shipped to my house. it was a piece of shit and i was able to return it to the store closest to me, no problem.

why the hell do you have to wait and ship it back? you should just be able to take it to the closest store. if they give you shit, just raise hell - they are going to keep pulling out managers to kiss your ass until you are happy - and you are definitely in the right here so you shouldn't even need to worry about it.

but GC's policy is, order online, return wherever you want.

Thanks for the info buddy. Yea I kind of took your advice just a little while ago without first reading your post. I called saying listen, this is bull, because I was already without gear for almost 2 months, and the idiots in the end, were troubleshooting the wrong issues (you wouldn't believe it if I told you). Now I am being asked to go without gear for ANOTHER TWO to THREE WEEKS! This music thing contributes to putting food in my families mouth, so basically you guys are really screwing me right now.

With that said, they ordered one from another store to go to my local store for a swap out. It just makes me nervous because many times when trying to find a rare item like this (called all GCs in a 50 mile radius and they were all floor models, or "out of box") ill call a GC, they say yea we have it in stock, sealed in the box. Ill travel to the end of the world to go to this distant GC in hopes of getting the rare item, and I get there and is loose in a box thats not sealed, has no manual, nor has any packing to keep it from sliding and banging around the box. Its a scary thing, but I will test this damn thing before I leave there lol.

The good thing is you are now more familiar with the unit so you can check it out easier and faster.

Even when you pick it up you can turn it on and check some of the obvious problems you have had.

If it's any type of comfort we have had some people who have purchased a lemon in all MPC models but the majority have had a good run.

the same thing has happened to me with GC before - 'oh yea it's brand new' - and its actually a beat up model that wont even power on, in a box from another piece of equipment.

i avoided them for 10 years and then just recently found a good 'used' deal that i figured id try - since i could return it closer to me.

well...some things never change.

the solution here is to quit f0cking with GC - seriously. there are a lot more options. you said it yourself - you have no idea if they are giving you the runaround or not. i think the smart thing to do would be to say 'sorry, not playing that game'...get your money back, and be SURE you know what you are getting (your cash wont be defective)....i mean seriously dude you are setting yourself up for another let down here.

'vote with your dollars' - these shitty stores will cease to exist if people quit feeling like they HAVE to shop there.

good riddance GC and good riddance best buy.

Where do you guys suggest I go? V said he got his for almost 1000 bucks. Thats an insane deal for a 5k thats not a refurb.

The thing about GC is you have to look at a store based on where it's located.
As ugly as it may sound that tells you a lot about who the manager will be, type of employees and who their customers are.

If you really want to deal with GC on any level you really need to get a working association with your local manager.
It gets you good deals on new stuff and can get used stuff shipped in for you to check out.

tapedeck wrote:the same thing has happened to me with GC before - 'oh yea it's brand new' - and its actually a beat up model that wont even power on, in a box from another piece of equipment.

i avoided them for 10 years and then just recently found a good 'used' deal that i figured id try - since i could return it closer to me.

well...some things never change.

the solution here is to quit f0cking with GC - seriously. there are a lot more options. you said it yourself - you have no idea if they are giving you the runaround or not. i think the smart thing to do would be to say 'sorry, not playing that game'...get your money back, and be SURE you know what you are getting (your cash wont be defective)....i mean seriously dude you are setting yourself up for another let down here.

'vote with your dollars' - these **** stores will cease to exist if people quit feeling like they HAVE to shop there.

good riddance GC and good riddance best buy.