Looking for MPC1000, few questions before buying.

First off I would like to start with I'm new to the forum & I look forward to getting some advice from you all in the near future, this is my first post on the forum so please bare with me if I seem a bit confused with some of the questions. I'm on a bit of a budget at the moment so I'm looking to buy a used MPC1000 in the black color off of eBay, I'm setting my max at $450 with the shipping price included.

I've read about 80 pages of the "Beat Maing On MPC1000" ebook for the Akai 2.10 OS just to get a idea of what I'm buying, I know the OS has been updated several times so some of my questions may be a bit outdated. Enough with the small talk, lets get down to the questions:

1. I've noticed on eBay that people are selling MPC1000's with CF cards bigger then 2GB. I've read that 2GB is the biggest cards supported, is this still true or does the new update support bigger CF cards? Do I need another peice of hardware to support bigger cards?

2. I plan on buying a MPC with a harddrive installed if I can find one for cheap enough, if I can find one I plan to install one later. I've read that an 80GB is the biggest drive supported, this may not be true because of the oudated ebook. What is the biggest drive supported for the MPC1000 running the most up to date OS(Akai or JJOS)? If I have to install my harddrive what exactly would I need to complete the install?

3. All this talk about Akai OS & JJOS versions has me a bit confused, I'm new to the MPC but want to keep my OS up to date. Which OS is the best for the MPC1000, Akai or JJOS? If JJOS which version is the best for the the MPC1000?

4. I have seen plenty of MPC's on eBay with messed up drum pads, how often do these things go out? Is it worth buying one on ebay & fixing the pads if I can buy the device for cheap?

5. What are some things I should look for or ask when getting ready to make a purchase? I don't want to get screwed with a broken MPC that can't be fixed or is too expensive to repair.

6. What is the differences in the thick pads & orignal pads, what are the advantages of the thick pads versus the original?

Thanks for all you guys help & I can't wait too get my MPC!
Peace!

1. I'm on 8gb card, works nicely out of the box. Dunno about the stock AkaiOS, but at least on JJOS.

2. You can have larger, but mpc only sees 80gb of it. HDM-10 install kit is what you need if your mpc is brand new or doesn't come with HD. If it comes with HD preinstalled it already has that kit.

3. JJOS, latest. But your milage may vary on if you actually need it. Read comparison charts on JJ's page and figure out what you want to do.

4. Nope, get one with the pad upgrade out of the box. Chances are that a machine so old has other defects too.

5. Working Q-links and that all buttons work. See how is the lcd screen.

6. Thick pads are thicker... tbh I didn't find them comfortable to use so I'm using regular pads which are closer to the ones found on 2500 (love them). It might be that I should've worked them a bit before they would've felt really good..... dunno. Others have other opinions on them. Try for yourself if you have the chance.

Hi m:t:c, thanks for clearing up a few of my questions. I really do appreciate all the help. I forgot to mention that I also own a M-Audio 25 Key Midi Keyboard, I know the MPC1000 supports midi hookup but will the M-Audio Midi Keyboard work with it? Also can you please direct me to the offical JJOS website you were speaking of? Thanks again for all your help!

The M-Audio will work using the MIDI 5 pin plug on it. MIDI out from keyboard to MIDI in on the MPC. You'll need to get a DC plug for the keyboard though as it usually gets power over USB.

JJOS - http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~mpc1000/

Thank you Metatron72! I was hoping my M-Audio keyboard would work, I googled it & only found one person saying they couldn't hook it up. I thought that was the offical JJOS page, just wasn't sure because of how bad the layout is on their webpage. Looks like most of my questions are answered so I'm ready to make a purchase tomorrow when I deposit my check! Getting excited, see y'all around on the forums. Thanks!

DataBass you didn't say which M-Audio 25 key model you have. Make sure it has that 5 pin old school MIDI plug. To use it with the USB hookup and the MPC you would need a DAW application to route the MIDI. An easy solution if you plan on having a computer turned on during your MPC sessions, but you'll want the MIDI cable and DC power if you plan to work with no computer mainly. (Although I assume you'd be tracking out the MPC tracks to a computer at some point. And you still need MIDI I/O somewhere, on an audio interface or a separate USB to MIDI box or cable)

Yeah the JJ page is straight web 1.0, but they handle their business thoroughly and support is great even through a huge language barrier. Try to check local time in Japan before you order. If you get them during normal business hours you often get the unlock in minutes.

Have fun man

DataBass wrote:Thank you Metatron72! I was hoping my M-Audio keyboard would work, I googled it & only found one person saying they couldn't hook it up. I thought that was the offical JJOS page, just wasn't sure because of how bad the layout is on their webpage. Looks like most of my questions are answered so I'm ready to make a purchase tomorrow when I deposit my check! Getting excited, see y'all around on the forums. Thanks!

good luck. let us know what you get.

Sorry about that Metatron72, it's an Axiom 25 Key. I checked the back of it & it has a midi in and midi out that appear to have the 5 pin hookups for both outlets. Here is a picture of the back of it with all the hook ups:



I never really used it to be honest. Would I have to hook it up to a program like reason or something?

I was more apologizing for just assuming you had the necessary jacks.

But yeah man those are to hook it to any piece of MIDI enabled gear. But like I said you need a DC plug to do it without a computer involved.

Actually Reason is the one program that couldn't do what I described. It doesn't send MIDI out. But with the DC plug+some MIDI cables you could have the keyboard attached to the MPC and control Reason as well as the internal MPC sounds. You just can't have Reason trigger the internal sounds in the MPC. With just about any other recording app you can send MIDI in both directions (hardware to software or vice versa).

m:t:c wrote:6. Thick pads are thicker... tbh I didn't find them comfortable to use so I'm using regular pads which are closer to the ones found on 2500 (love them). It might be that I should've worked them a bit before they would've felt really good..... dunno. Others have other opinions on them. Try for yourself if you have the chance.

Have to revert this statement now that I've extensively used stock pads and decided to try fat pads again just for laughs... tho the feel of the pad is different (not as good as stock imo), but the improvement on sensitivity is HUGE! So in terms of usability this matters more.

Don't mean to bring up old post but I've been quite busy te past few months, sorry for not keeping you guy's informed on what my purchase was. I ended up getting a blue mpc-1000 (wanted black but deal was too good to pass up) with updated ram & a built in 250gb harddrive with few sample packs on it already for $260 with shipping if I'm not mistaken (few months ago) but the casing is scratched up a bit. I plan on replacing the casing with a black one once I have a better understanding on how to use it.

Since I've purchased it I haven't really played with it as much as I'd liked too but I plan on purchasing a few of the ebooks to get to know it better. I've recently installed ableton live on windows vista (plan on updating to Win7 64bit) & I'd like too hook up my mpc to live, I still haven't got a midi interface yet (mainly the reason I haven't played with it much yet). What are some good interfaces for fairly cheap, in the $100-150 range? I was looking at the Tascam US-600, could I hook my mpc up to ableton & possibly my axiom 25 keyboard using this midi? I dot want to buy the wrong interface, a little help would be greatly appreciative. I've also been looking to buy (2) KRK ROKIT RP5 G2 Studio Monitors, kinda stoked about those!

If you're going to have Ableton running anyway you could plug in the Axiom over USB to the computer. Live can send the MIDI from the Axiom to the MPC if you have an audio/MIDI interface like the Tascam you mentioned. (Enable "view MIDI I/O" in Live and it's like a virtual MIDI patchbay. You can route between Live's channels but also to external MIDI devices like the MPC) Use the standard MIDI I/O on it for the MPC.

That Tascam interface looks decent for the price. Most interfaces at $149 only have 2 inputs, that one has four analog ins if you want to use the four assignable outs on the 1000. So for your keyboard+MPC+Live, that would do the trick.

I have the 8" KRK's, definitely good for the price.

Thanks again Metatron72, don't know why I didn't think about hooking the axiom keyboard up to the laptop. It would be pretty pointless to hook up to the mpc anyway. In your opinion do umyou think that interface is over doing it? Could you suggest something a little cheaper that would do the trick for that setup?

You could buy an interface that is the MIDI input/output only I suppose. Cables and small boxes that do that start at around $30.

An interface with audio as well as MIDI is not going to go much lower than $149 that the Tascam is listed for at it cheapest. And again $149 usually only gets you 2 inputs where that Tascam has the 4.

An audio interface is a nice thing to have as it will give a far superior recording than recording to a computers built in 1/8" audio input. An interface will also make your software like Live sound better, render/playback audio at better dynamic ranges and allow for lower latency with software instruments making them more enjoyable if not easier to play and record in real time.