AKAI MPC3000 Complete Frustration!

(SIGH lol)..... OK, before someone goes off about how this has been talked about before/etc., i've searched & nothing directly matched my issue, so i'm posting a new thread (& please bear with me as i'm quite frustrated at this point): Does ANYONE know of a workaround for exchanging sounds between an Akai MPC3000 & a Desktop Computer (Windows 7 Ultiimate 64-bit PC)??? While the MPC3000 is new to me, i'm far from a novice when it comes to PC's (i've built every one I have owned with the exception of the 1st)... But i'm really at the end of my rope with this. I format the zip disk in the MPC (as suggested on numerous online forums/which takes TEN MINUTES), then I insert that MPC3000-formatted disc in my PC's zip drive & it won't open... Tells me I need to format it... But if I format it on the PC then drag my .snd/.au (MPC3000 format audio) files to it, the MPC3000 doesn't see the files... Then I start over at the beginning & experience the same outcome. So its like i'm running in circles & after trying everything I could find online (including A. the instructions at http://www.mpc3000.com/NoVolTrack.htm which describe how to modify your Windows system registry so it doesn't make the disks unreadable AND B. "MPC Editor" [which was completely useless]), I still cannot get my PC to read the MPC3000-formatted zip disk or vice versa.

I'm running O.S. 3.11 & would LOVEEE to grab the Vailixi 3.50 O.S., but I realized from several comments online that it can no longer be had due to the fact that the guy is M.I.A. (even though his website is still up/running & taking people's money)... So whatever related benefits the Vailixi 3.50 O.S would add is irrelevant in my case because I don't have it. I'm currently using an external scsi zip drive with the MPC3000 & I was over here looking at installing an internal scsi zip drive or possibly even an internal flash card reader, so that I can have everything setup right inside the unit without all this external stuff... But if I can't even get the disk to open on my pc (which is where ALLL of my thousands of drum sounds are located), going through all that+spending the extra money is quite pointless. I'm like 2 seconds from taking this thing back to the store or selling it & i'd hate to do that because i've always wanted one, I love the swing/timing of the sequencer, I love the color/punch it adds to drums (when it's actually in operation, doing what it's meant to do) & it's in mint condition.

I know I could just go the "sample" route & manually record every single drum sound in one by one every tme I cut a record... But while that might be an option/last resort, I really don't want to be stuck having to "sample" everything in (due to the fact that my computer won't read the MPC3000-formatted zip disks & vice versa). I know some people may do it that way & probably couldn't care less about the time it adds to the process of getting tracks done, but I was aiming at throwing as many of my drum sounds as I can (or at least my favs) on zip disks, putting them in the MPC3000, sequencing in that (or sometimes using ProTools/Other DAWS to trigger it), & having the MPC3000 hold down the drum duties in my studio. This is a total workflow killer to me & I really didn't want to go for a Maschine/Renaissance or other similar "non-standalone" controller unit, but now I may reconsider if I can't resolve this. Hope someone can help, thanks

-GJ602


PS-I just attempted a SDS Sample Dump Transfer with the C6 SYSEX Utility Software Program (as another means of possibly getting samples into my MPC).... I made sure all the correct MIDI channels were selected, prepared the MPC exactly as described in the manual & the software window just hung & never completed the sample transfer once I began the "send" process... What makes it worse is that I just tried to send ONE sound (a snare) & the filesize was like 41kb.... RUNNING OUT OF OPTIONS HERE!

I had the same zip disk frustations, except mine were the disks failing after I had sampled/chopped everything up and then saved it to a zip disk. CLICK. Game over. Get yourself a multicard reader and never look back is my advice. Also, a tip on the card readers (and maybe the zip?).....I've found on 3.11 (with my card reader,at least), that after I finish a beat and copy the card contents over to my mpc 3000 folder, if I delete files on my computer from the card the MPC won't recognize the card. But if I just leave the files on it after I have copied to my PC and then delete the files in the MPC disk menu, that it works just fine. Don't know if anyone else has that issue or not.

sirparksalot wrote:I had the same zip disk frustations, except mine were the disks failing after I had sampled/chopped everything up and then saved it to a zip disk. CLICK. Game over. Get yourself a multicard reader and never look back is my advice. Also, a tip on the card readers (and maybe the zip?).....I've found on 3.11 (with my card reader,at least), that after I finish a beat and copy the card contents over to my mpc 3000 folder, if I delete files on my computer from the card the MPC won't recognize the card. But if I just leave the files on it after I have copied to my PC and then delete the files in the MPC disk menu, that it works just fine. Don't know if anyone else has that issue or not.

If you don't mind me asking, what OS are you using on your computer & how are you getting your computer to access the MPC3000-formatted discs??? How did you set it up to read the disks??? Because I was starting to get the impression that the only way I can get ANY type of disk (zip, CF card or anything else) to open on my PC is if I have the "VAILIXI 3.5" O.S. installed... I'll be super-pissed if so because the creator has been M.I.A. for a minute now (which I of course didn't realize until after I had already bought it) & truth be told I probably would've never bought this thing had I known (& for a couple hundred more dollars I could have had a Renaissance LOL).... But I really didn't want the Renaissance because I want a standalone unit that adds some punch & the MPC3000 seems to be at the top of that bill.... Anyhow wow, please let me know the secret because i'm really stumped here & I swear I do NOT want to take this thing back to the store if I can figure this out!

gearjunkie602 wrote:PS-I just attempted a SDS Sample Dump Transfer with the C6 SYSEX Utility Software Program (as another means of possibly getting samples into my MPC).... I made sure all the correct MIDI channels were selected, prepared the MPC exactly as described in the manual & the software window just hung & never completed the sample transfer once I began the "send" process... What makes it worse is that I just tried to send ONE sound (a snare) & the filesize was like 41kb.... RUNNING OUT OF OPTIONS HERE!

Did you connect both the MIDI IN and the MIDI OUT of the MPC to the computer?

Maybe the MPC uses closed loop SDS, where it uses handshaking between the MPC and the computer while transferring the data, which needs communication in both directions?

If so, then the MPC sends an acknowledgment message back to the computer after each data packet is received, before the next data packet is sent. If the loop is not closed, if the MIDI OUT of the MPC is not connected to the MIDI IN of the computer, then the computer never gets the message to send the next packet (well it really will not start sending any data packets, as the computer will not get the acknowledgement from the MPC that it is ready to start/receive the transfer in the first place) . I have no idea if the MPC uses closed or open loop SDS transfers, just checking if maybe that is what is going on.

If the MPC uses open loop SDS, where only the MIDI OUT of the computer has to be connected to the MIDI IN of the MPC, then is the sample transfer software set to open loop instead of closed loop, so that it doesn't wait for the ackowledgment back from the MPC before sending the next data packet, if that is an available setting in the software? If so, there might also be some sort of timing setting, that can slow down the rate that the data packets are sent, to give older/slower MIDI gear time to process each data packet before the next packet is sent, which might get it to work by adding in more delay.

Also, no idea if this is the case, but does there need to be a sample in the MPC memory already, and possibly named a certain way, for the SDS transferred sample to be placed into once transferred into the MPC? Or does it have to be a particular sample number in the transfer program, to be accepted by the MPC?

I have not used SDS on the MPC myself, just wondering if these things are preventing it from working, but they might have nothing to do with it at all.

I didn't see SDS in the MPC3000 ver 3.0 manual, was it added to the OS after 3.0, and is there a later manual that includes it?

You absolutely need to have a windows xp 32 bit partition for transfering data from / to a pc platform. You can't go anywhere with a 3000 and zips without it.

SimonInAustralia wrote:

gearjunkie602 wrote:PS-I just attempted a SDS Sample Dump Transfer with the C6 SYSEX Utility Software Program (as another means of possibly getting samples into my MPC).... I made sure all the correct MIDI channels were selected, prepared the MPC exactly as described in the manual & the software window just hung & never completed the sample transfer once I began the "send" process... What makes it worse is that I just tried to send ONE sound (a snare) & the filesize was like 41kb.... RUNNING OUT OF OPTIONS HERE!

Did you connect both the MIDI IN and the MIDI OUT of the MPC to the computer?

Maybe the MPC uses closed loop SDS, where it uses handshaking between the MPC and the computer while transferring the data, which needs communication in both directions?

If so, then the MPC sends an acknowledgment message back to the computer after each data packet is received, before the next data packet is sent. If the loop is not closed, if the MIDI OUT of the MPC is not connected to the MIDI IN of the computer, then the computer never gets the message to send the next packet (well it really will not start sending any data packets, as the computer will not get the acknowledgement from the MPC that it is ready to start/receive the transfer in the first place) . I have no idea if the MPC uses closed or open loop SDS transfers, just checking if maybe that is what is going on.

If the MPC uses open loop SDS, where only the MIDI OUT of the computer has to be connected to the MIDI IN of the MPC, then is the sample transfer software set to open loop instead of closed loop, so that it doesn't wait for the ackowledgment back from the MPC before sending the next data packet, if that is an available setting in the software? If so, there might also be some sort of timing setting, that can slow down the rate that the data packets are sent, to give older/slower MIDI gear time to process each data packet before the next packet is sent, which might get it to work by adding in more delay.

Also, no idea if this is the case, but does there need to be a sample in the MPC memory already, and possibly named a certain way, for the SDS transferred sample to be placed into once transferred into the MPC? Or does it have to be a particular sample number in the transfer program, to be accepted by the MPC?

I have not used SDS on the MPC myself, just wondering if these things are preventing it from working, but they might have nothing to do with it at all.

I didn't see SDS in the MPC3000 ver 3.0 manual, was it added to the OS after 3.0, and is there a later manual that includes it?

I selected "closed loop" in the program & as of right now I have midi cables going to the respective ins/outs of my MPC3000 & DIGI003. Also tried with SendSX & that froze as well lol. Even tried with just an OUT>IN cable from my DIGI003 to the MPC & same thing... Just not having any luck with this! At this point, the only way I can see myself getting my drum sounds into this thing is to manually sample EVERY drum sound every single time I do a track... Totally not my type of workflow & it somewhat invalidates the pros of having the fat tone that this thing is known for.... If I can't figure out how ppl are getting their sounds off their computer, onto a zip/flash drive then into the MPC3000, it's going back! SOON

olivr wrote:You absolutely need to have a windows xp 32 bit partition for transfering data from / to a pc platform. You can't go anywhere with a 3000 and zips without it.

So if I understand correctly... If I load up Windows Xp 32 & go through the registry steps indicated at the url I mentioned in my original post, I should be able to access the MPC3000 formatted disk on my PC, save my drum sounds to that disk from the PC & then access that disk on my MPC3000???? A pain, but the real deal closer would be that I absolutely cannot find my Windows XP Disk as i've been on Windows 7 64 for like a year & counting lol... Would it work on Windows 7 32-bit or do I absolutely have to have XP??? & does this also apply to CF/Flash Cards??? Thanks for the reply, i'm leaning more & more towards taking this back & getting a 2500 or 4000 lol

gearjunkie602 wrote:
If you don't mind me asking, what OS are you using on your computer & how are you getting your computer to access the MPC3000-formatted discs??? How did you set it up to read the disks???

I'm running Mac OS 10.6.....I just have a card reader, and put my CF card in, then it can read the FIRST partition. It has to make 26 partitions of 27mb(I think), but I can only read partition A on my computer. I believe 3.5 allows all partitions to be readable on the computer......but you should still be able always read that first partition on your card.

*****If you do decide to take it back.......is it an LE? If it is....I'll buy it

sirparksalot wrote:

gearjunkie602 wrote:
If you don't mind me asking, what OS are you using on your computer & how are you getting your computer to access the MPC3000-formatted discs??? How did you set it up to read the disks???

I'm running Mac OS 10.6.....I just have a card reader, and put my CF card in, then it can read the FIRST partition. It has to make 26 partitions of 27mb(I think), but I can only read partition A on my computer. I believe 3.5 allows all partitions to be readable on the computer......but you should still be able always read that first partition on your card.

*****If you do decide to take it back.......is it an LE? If it is....I'll buy it

Hahahaha, nah, its not an LE. Just a standard that came in the original box w/ orig manual, zip, sounds, etc & it looks brand new.... I think that's part of the reason i'm so sick over this. Oh well!!!! Checkin on a 4000 come Wednesday as that was next on my list lolol. From all i've read, I should have NO problems loading sounds on that one. Hopefully I can pull it off

gearjunkie602 wrote:Hahahaha, nah, its not an LE. Just a standard that came in the original box w/ orig manual, zip, sounds, etc & it looks brand new.... I think that's part of the reason i'm so sick over this. Oh well!!!! Checkin on a 4000 come Wednesday as that was next on my list lolol. From all i've read, I should have NO problems loading sounds on that one. Hopefully I can pull it off

Word. I have a 4000 too....yeah, super easy. Drag and drop using Aksys, or you can use a flash drive on the front. With the 4000, you'll be more frustrated more with finding where stuff is compared to the 3000....but just stick with it. It gets easy and stuff starts to make sense after a while. Word of advice that Lampdog said a couple years ago: Hit window as much as possible and you will find new menu's for stuff all the time. Peace!

gearjunkie602 wrote:I selected "closed loop" in the program & as of right now I have midi cables going to the respective ins/outs of my MPC3000 & DIGI003. Also tried with SendSX & that froze as well lol. Even tried with just an OUT>IN cable from my DIGI003 to the MPC & same thing... Just not having any luck with this!

OK, I downloaded Elektron C6 and hooked up my MPC3000 to my Windows 7/64 bit PC with 2 MIDI cables, MPC out to PC in, and PC out to MPC in, and I selected Use SDS Handshake in the C6 Configure window.

It didn't work, MPC said it was receiving, but C6 just stopped after the first packet transfer attempt, and they both sat there doing nothing, each probably waiting for a response from the other.

So, I found the C6 manual...

FUNCTIONS OF THE CONFIGURE WINDOW

MIDI IN
Lists available MIDI ports ready for selection. Select one.

MIDI OUT
Lists available MIDI ports ready for selection. Select one.

• [Ok] Accept and save changes
• [Cancel] Exit window without saving changes.
• Reload Files. When this option is chosen C6 will reload the files open in the data browser when the program is started next time.
• Delay
XP
Time in milliseconds between each package when sending MIDI out. Increase this
number if you have problems with transfers not making it over to the other side. Typical amounts should be in the 5 to 50 region.

Then I tried 50 ms delay, as recommend above, and it worked.

I tried 5ms, and it didn't work, the same as it didn't work with the default 0ms delay.

I couldn't be bothered finding out exactly what the minimum delay is before it stops working.

So, you might be able to get MIDI SDS happening, with a 50ms delay in C6.

But, MIDI Sample Dump only allows the transfer of mono files, so you can choose in C6 whether it will send the left channel, or the right channel, or a mix of left and right channels, from a stereo file in C6 to a mono sample in the MPC.

There doesn't seem to be any way to combine two mono files into a stereo file, within the MPC, so you would probably be limited to mono files with MIDI Sample Dump and the MPC3000.

I did find the MIDI Sample Dump section in the MPC3000 manual, it is in the OS version 3.1 addendum, which is at the end of the OS version 3.0 operating manual that can be found to download online.

gearjunkie602 wrote:At this point, the only way I can see myself getting my drum sounds into this thing is to manually sample EVERY drum sound every single time I do a track... Totally not my type of workflow & it somewhat invalidates the pros of having the fat tone that this thing is known for.... If I can't figure out how ppl are getting their sounds off their computer, onto a zip/flash drive then into the MPC3000, it's going back! SOON

There is probably some sort of issue with Windows 7, or the 64 bit Windows version, that prevents Windows 7/64 bit from recognising the first MPC partition on the MPC formatted Zip.

That is how it seems other people report to be using it, by accessing the first MPC partition on the MPC formatted disk, from the computer, and it seems to be working for them, on earlier Windows versions and Mac OS X.

I have no way of testing it at the moment, as I only have a Windows 7/64 bit PC without SCSI, and only have SCSI Zip drives.

I think the computer Zip drive really needs to be swapped over to an XP PC, or maybe even 32 bit Windows 7 PC, to see if the first MPC partition can be accessed on the different Windows versions, as a starting point, to ensure it is going to work as reported by others, before trying to work out if it can be done on Windows 7/64 bit.

I don't think that the registry modifications are required for access to the first MPC partition, that is more to do with preventing the PC from corrupting the additional MPC partitions, or something like that.

SimonInAustralia wrote:

gearjunkie602 wrote:I selected "closed loop" in the program & as of right now I have midi cables going to the respective ins/outs of my MPC3000 & DIGI003. Also tried with SendSX & that froze as well lol. Even tried with just an OUT>IN cable from my DIGI003 to the MPC & same thing... Just not having any luck with this!

OK, I downloaded Elektron C6 and hooked up my MPC3000 to my Windows 7/64 bit PC with 2 MIDI cables, MPC out to PC in, and PC out to MPC in, and I selected Use SDS Handshake in the C6 Configure window.

It didn't work, MPC said it was receiving, but C6 just stopped after the first packet transfer attempt, and they both sat there doing nothing, each probably waiting for a response from the other.

So, I found the C6 manual...

FUNCTIONS OF THE CONFIGURE WINDOW

MIDI IN
Lists available MIDI ports ready for selection. Select one.

MIDI OUT
Lists available MIDI ports ready for selection. Select one.

• [Ok] Accept and save changes
• [Cancel] Exit window without saving changes.
• Reload Files. When this option is chosen C6 will reload the files open in the data browser when the program is started next time.
• Delay
XP
Time in milliseconds between each package when sending MIDI out. Increase this
number if you have problems with transfers not making it over to the other side. Typical amounts should be in the 5 to 50 region.

Then I tried 50 ms delay, as recommend above, and it worked.

I tried 5ms, and it didn't work, the same as it didn't work with the default 0ms delay.

I couldn't be bothered finding out exactly what the minimum delay is before it stops working.

So, you might be able to get MIDI SDS happening, with a 50ms delay in C6.

But, MIDI Sample Dump only allows the transfer of mono files, so you can choose in C6 whether it will send the left channel, or the right channel, or a mix of left and right channels, from a stereo file in C6 to a mono sample in the MPC.

There doesn't seem to be any way to combine two mono files into a stereo file, within the MPC, so you would probably be limited to mono files with MIDI Sample Dump and the MPC3000.

I did find the MIDI Sample Dump section in the MPC3000 manual, it is in the OS version 3.1 addendum, which is at the end of the OS version 3.0 operating manual that can be found to download online.

gearjunkie602 wrote:At this point, the only way I can see myself getting my drum sounds into this thing is to manually sample EVERY drum sound every single time I do a track... Totally not my type of workflow & it somewhat invalidates the pros of having the fat tone that this thing is known for.... If I can't figure out how ppl are getting their sounds off their computer, onto a zip/flash drive then into the MPC3000, it's going back! SOON

There is probably some sort of issue with Windows 7, or the 64 bit Windows version, that prevents Windows 7/64 bit from recognising the first MPC partition on the MPC formatted Zip.

That is how it seems other people report to be using it, by accessing the first MPC partition on the MPC formatted disk, from the computer, and it seems to be working for them, on earlier Windows versions and Mac OS X.

I have no way of testing it at the moment, as I only have a Windows 7/64 bit PC without SCSI, and only have SCSI Zip drives.

I think the computer Zip drive really needs to be swapped over to an XP PC, or maybe even 32 bit Windows 7 PC, to see if the first MPC partition can be accessed on the different Windows versions, as a starting point, to ensure it is going to work as reported by others, before trying to work out if it can be done on Windows 7/64 bit.

I don't think that the registry modifications are required for access to the first MPC partition, that is more to do with preventing the PC from corrupting the additional MPC partitions, or something like that.

AWESOME man!!! You are so helpful, thanks so much!!! And you know what, I actually have an extra hard drive as well as a 32-bit version of windows 7 over here... I tend to be stubbourn (Taurus) so I was not really trying to go through the hassle of installing windows 7 32 on that drive... Don't even know what partition size to make it lol. But I just might give that a shot just to see, & i'll re-investigate C6 beforehand. I have no clue where my XP disks are, so I unfortunately can't go that route. We'll see if I can pull this together & i'll report back. However it turns out, I TRULY appreciate the help man. From the heart. Merry Christmas!

gearjunkie602 wrote:AWESOME man!!! You are so helpful, thanks so much!!! And you know what, I actually have an extra hard drive as well as a 32-bit version of windows 7 over here... I tend to be stubbourn (Taurus) so I was not really trying to go through the hassle of installing windows 7 32 on that drive... Don't even know what partition size to make it lol. But I just might give that a shot just to see, & i'll re-investigate C6 beforehand. I have no clue where my XP disks are, so I unfortunately can't go that route. We'll see if I can pull this together & i'll report back. However it turns out, I TRULY appreciate the help man. From the heart. Merry Christmas!

No problem at all, it would be good to sort out exactly what is causing the problem, and come up with a working solution, for others to reference in the future when they are having similar problems, or for myself when I run into expected similar problems with Zips and CFs in the near future.

I am not really convinced that we will be able to get it working with Windows 7/32 bit, I think that it is more likely that we will need to use Windows XP instead.


Iomega has the IomegaWare software available to download from their website, this contains the drivers, and some utility programs, that will work with Windows XP, if we have to give that a try...
https://iomega-na-en.custhelp.com/app/a ... /related/1

This IomegaWare software is not compatible with Windows 7.

Windows 7 has built-in native drivers for the Iomega drives, so should work as plug and play without needing any additional drivers to be installed.

We can assume, from other user reports, that access to the first MPC partition on the Zip works correctly under Windows XP, which would mean that it works with the XP drivers, and possibly the XP IomegaWare utility software, but might not necessarily work with the native Windows 7 drivers, if they are different enough from the XP drivers to break compatibility, or if access to the first MPC partition relies on any of the additional IomegaWare utilities as well as the driver.


There is a Windows 7 compatibility list for the Iomega drives on their website, it is a little unclear, but it only seems to lists the Zip drives as being compatible with Windows 7/32 bit, as they are not listed in the Windows 7/64 bit compatibility list. This seems to suggest that they are only compatible with Windows 7/32 bit, and not with Windows 7/64 bit.

What is unclear and a little confusing is this statement at the top of the Windows 7/32 bit compatibility list...

NOTE: Products listed below have been tested with 32-bit editions of Windows 7 but not with 64-bit editions. They might or might not work correctly with 64-bit editions of Windows 7.

...which seems to suggest that they might actually work with Windows 7/64 bit.

But then it says this under the Zip Drives heading in the Windows 7/32 bit section of the compatibility list...

Zip® Drives:

Zip® 100MB, 250MB or 750MB USB, ATAPI, FireWire or SCSI drives should work with native Windows 7 drivers. IomegaWare software does NOT work with Windows 7, so features supplied by IomegaWare will not be available.

Parallel Port Zip drives are NOT supported in Windows 7.

Which suggests that they "should" work with Windows 7, and also seems to suggest that they have not actually been tested, which seems to contradict the point above which states they have been actually tested with Windows 7.


I am really not sure, I think it needs to be properly tested on Windows 7/64 bit first to see if it will actually work correctly or not, before giving Windows 7/32 bit a try, and then settling on (after testing) Windows XP if neither of the Windows 7 versions work.


Before trying a different OS version, I would try a couple of things to see if it will work in Windows 7/64 bit first...

You said that it is giving you an error message when you try to access the Zip disk, saying that it needs to be formatted.

Is this maybe a Windows AutoPlay message, as the AutoPlay utility tries to read the multiple MPC3000 partitions when the Zip disk is connected/accessed, but it is giving an error message because it can not read the multiple MPC partitions?

If it is just AutoPlay throwing up the message, try ignoring it, and then see if the first MPC partition actually does show up in Windows Explorer. If it does show up there, are you able to access it to copy files onto/off-of the Zip disk?

If it does not show up as an available drive in Windows Explorer, maybe check to see if the first partition has actually been recognised by Windows 7, but possibly does not have a drive letter assigned to it, which would prevent it showing up in Windows Explorer. If so, see if you can assign a drive letter to it, and then access it through Windows Explorer...

To try to assign a drive letter to the first partition, if the first partition is actually recognised by Windows 7, right click on Computer in the left hand column of the Windows Explorer window, and select Manage from the drop down menu. This will open the Computer Management window, and then select Storage-Disk Management from the left hand column.

If the Zip first partition shows up in the list of Volumes within Disk Management, but does not have an assigned drive letter listed next to it in brackets (as the other internal PC drives should), right click on the Zip volume name and select Change Drive Letter and Paths. Then select the first option, "Assign the following drive letter", and choose a drive letter to use from the drop down list. If you manage to do this, does the first MPC partition now show up in Windows Explorer, and can you copy to/from the Zip from within Windows Explorer?


I am going to try to find/buy a USB Zip drive, for my PC, so I can have a good OCD attempt at it as well.


If you do give Elektron C6 another go, try setting the 50ms delay time that worked for me, and if you still can't get the MIDI Sample Dump to work, maybe try a different MIDI interface, if you have one. I do not trust the Digidesign MIDI drivers, so if it doesn't work with similar settings to what I had, maybe try swapping over to test through a different MIDI interface.

If you need a full/exact list of all C6 settings as they worked for me, if you are still having trouble getting it to work, just let me know and I will forward them through to you.

SimonInAustralia wrote:

gearjunkie602 wrote:AWESOME man!!! You are so helpful, thanks so much!!! And you know what, I actually have an extra hard drive as well as a 32-bit version of windows 7 over here... I tend to be stubbourn (Taurus) so I was not really trying to go through the hassle of installing windows 7 32 on that drive... Don't even know what partition size to make it lol. But I just might give that a shot just to see, & i'll re-investigate C6 beforehand. I have no clue where my XP disks are, so I unfortunately can't go that route. We'll see if I can pull this together & i'll report back. However it turns out, I TRULY appreciate the help man. From the heart. Merry Christmas!

No problem at all, it would be good to sort out exactly what is causing the problem, and come up with a working solution, for others to reference in the future when they are having similar problems, or for myself when I run into expected similar problems with Zips and CFs in the near future.

I am not really convinced that we will be able to get it working with Windows 7/32 bit, I think that it is more likely that we will need to use Windows XP instead.


Iomega has the IomegaWare software available to download from their website, this contains the drivers, and some utility programs, that will work with Windows XP, if we have to give that a try...
https://iomega-na-en.custhelp.com/app/a ... /related/1

This IomegaWare software is not compatible with Windows 7.

Windows 7 has built-in native drivers for the Iomega drives, so should work as plug and play without needing any additional drivers to be installed.

We can assume, from other user reports, that access to the first MPC partition on the Zip works correctly under Windows XP, which would mean that it works with the XP drivers, and possibly the XP IomegaWare utility software, but might not necessarily work with the native Windows 7 drivers, if they are different enough from the XP drivers to break compatibility, or if access to the first MPC partition relies on any of the additional IomegaWare utilities as well as the driver.


There is a Windows 7 compatibility list for the Iomega drives on their website, it is a little unclear, but it only seems to lists the Zip drives as being compatible with Windows 7/32 bit, as they are not listed in the Windows 7/64 bit compatibility list. This seems to suggest that they are only compatible with Windows 7/32 bit, and not with Windows 7/64 bit.

What is unclear and a little confusing is this statement at the top of the Windows 7/32 bit compatibility list...

NOTE: Products listed below have been tested with 32-bit editions of Windows 7 but not with 64-bit editions. They might or might not work correctly with 64-bit editions of Windows 7.

...which seems to suggest that they might actually work with Windows 7/64 bit.

But then it says this under the Zip Drives heading in the Windows 7/32 bit section of the compatibility list...

Zip® Drives:

Zip® 100MB, 250MB or 750MB USB, ATAPI, FireWire or SCSI drives should work with native Windows 7 drivers. IomegaWare software does NOT work with Windows 7, so features supplied by IomegaWare will not be available.

Parallel Port Zip drives are NOT supported in Windows 7.

Which suggests that they "should" work with Windows 7, and also seems to suggest that they have not actually been tested, which seems to contradict the point above which states they have been actually tested with Windows 7.


I am really not sure, I think it needs to be properly tested on Windows 7/64 bit first to see if it will actually work correctly or not, before giving Windows 7/32 bit a try, and then settling on (after testing) Windows XP if neither of the Windows 7 versions work.


Before trying a different OS version, I would try a couple of things to see if it will work in Windows 7/64 bit first...

You said that it is giving you an error message when you try to access the Zip disk, saying that it needs to be formatted.

Is this maybe a Windows AutoPlay message, as the AutoPlay utility tries to read the multiple MPC3000 partitions when the Zip disk is connected/accessed, but it is giving an error message because it can not read the multiple MPC partitions?

If it is just AutoPlay throwing up the message, try ignoring it, and then see if the first MPC partition actually does show up in Windows Explorer. If it does show up there, are you able to access it to copy files onto/off-of the Zip disk?

If it does not show up as an available drive in Windows Explorer, maybe check to see if the first partition has actually been recognised by Windows 7, but possibly does not have a drive letter assigned to it, which would prevent it showing up in Windows Explorer. If so, see if you can assign a drive letter to it, and then access it through Windows Explorer...

To try to assign a drive letter to the first partition, if the first partition is actually recognised by Windows 7, right click on Computer in the left hand column of the Windows Explorer window, and select Manage from the drop down menu. This will open the Computer Management window, and then select Storage-Disk Management from the left hand column.

If the Zip first partition shows up in the list of Volumes within Disk Management, but does not have an assigned drive letter listed next to it in brackets (as the other internal PC drives should), right click on the Zip volume name and select Change Drive Letter and Paths. Then select the first option, "Assign the following drive letter", and choose a drive letter to use from the drop down list. If you manage to do this, does the first MPC partition now show up in Windows Explorer, and can you copy to/from the Zip from within Windows Explorer?


I am going to try to find/buy a USB Zip drive, for my PC, so I can have a good OCD attempt at it as well.


If you do give Elektron C6 another go, try setting the 50ms delay time that worked for me, and if you still can't get the MIDI Sample Dump to work, maybe try a different MIDI interface, if you have one. I do not trust the Digidesign MIDI drivers, so if it doesn't work with similar settings to what I had, maybe try swapping over to test through a different MIDI interface.

If you need a full/exact list of all C6 settings as they worked for me, if you are still having trouble getting it to work, just let me know and I will forward them through to you.

Hey just checking in.... Was at mom & dads house with my sons (aka- my 2 cats lol)... I should really be asleep right now w/ work in the AM, but I really wanna get to the bottom of this. I'll update more as I go, but I just re-formatted the zip disk in windows using the computer management>disk management utility. I kept trying to format it under "my computer" & it was not allowing me to do so going that route because I guess I did something weird with the partition... Anyhow, I did a full format as opposed to "quick" so now i'm gonna read back over your post & see what to try next... Might start with the SDS first then re-visit the zip thing... Wondering if maybe I should create 4 25MB partitions in disk management instead of 1 94MB partition... This is soo not my forte, but when duty calls I dive in lol. I'll report back with my findings shortly

I think that you are supposed to partition and format the Zip disc in the MPC3000, you don't do any partitioning and formatting to the Zip disc in the computer, if it is to be used with the MPC3000.

The reason is that the MPC3000 divides the SCSI disk into a number of equally sized partitions (up to 26, labelled A-Z), of a maximum of 30MB per partition (which gives you the maximum MPC3000 disc size...26 x 30MB = 780MB), and the MPC3000 SCSI drives are partitioned and formatted as some sort of FAT12 format, a very early PC disk format, which is still used for floppy discs today, and with it's 12 bit addressing only allows 32MB per disk, which must be why the MPC3000 partitions are a maximum of 30MB each.

These multiple MPC3000 FAT12 partitions might not be a standard PC type of partitioning scheme, which I am guessing is why the computer can only see the first partition (Partition A) on an MPC3000 partitioned/formatted Zip disc, and why you can not format a MPC3000 Zip disc in the computer.

So, with a 100MB Zip disc, you might create four 25MB partitions (A-D) when you partition and format the Zip disc in the MPC3000, but the computer will only see the first of those four partitions, partition A, and the computer will not be able to see or access partitions B/C/D at all.

I don't think that the computer will let you create these multiple MPC3000 compatible partitions, so you partition and format the Zip disc in the MPC3000, and only use partition A on that MPC3000 formatted Zip disc when it is in the computer.

It is also usually recommended to keep this disk(s) only for transfers from computer to MPC and back, maybe label the Zip disc clearly as MPC3000-PC TRANSFER ONLY. It is best to keep any MPC3000 Zip discs, with your MPC3000 programs/sounds/sequences/etc., away from the computer, so you do not risk the computer corrupting the MPC3000 Zip disc and losing all your beats (which I think is what the registry modifications that you mentioned early is supposed to avoid).

The samples will have to be converted to the Akai .SND format in the computer, with some sort of utility software, before they will load into the MPC3000.

Also remember that you have to use the 8.3 file name convention, with a filename of up to 8 characters and a 3 character extension, to avoid longer filenames from the computer being truncated, which can make it hard to work out which file is which.


So, the first step might be to create the MPC3000 partitioned/formatted Zip disc, then see if you can get Windows 7/64 bit to recognise it, which is where you might need to ignore the initial unformatted disk warning, if that is only due to AutoPlay seeing non-PC compatible partitions on the disc. Then see if it shows up in Windows Explorer as a disk drive, or if it doesn't, if you can assign a drive letter to the MPC3000 Zip disc partition A, if it shows up in the Disk Management section of the Windows 7 Computer Management program (Microsoft Management Console) without an assigned drive letter, so that it hopefully does then show up in Windows 7 Explorer.