Exchange tips and tricks for the Akai MPC4000
By So Phia Pros Thu Apr 25, 2013 5:41 am
after starting with a 1k then 2kxl...1k...2500.... and now 4000, wont sleep tonight.

Image

it even matches the c8x, it was meant to be. I'll be joining the battles for practice too :twisted:
By rogue scrunt Thu Apr 25, 2013 5:44 am
bang!
By MaZe Thu Apr 25, 2013 12:40 pm
Best sampling/sequencer MUSIC Production Center ever created.
User avatar
By Mike Boogie Thu Apr 25, 2013 2:49 pm
Congrats! (internet high-five)
By So Phia Pros Thu Apr 25, 2013 5:30 pm
Cleaned all the buttons, pads, knobs.

Image

Looking brand new again. Only had 3 broken buttons (still fucntional), not bad for 1 owner that bought it a year after it came out.

Image

Screen is working great. One pad wasnt responding but now it is :-D Buying the replacement buttons and the corks. I wanted it blacked out like the hitman4k but I think I'm keeping it like this for a while. I'm going to be looking thru this section for the next couple of weeks but any heads up will help.

Got aksys working on win7 32 bit, its ok for small operations, it does crash but I'm not dwelling on that.
User avatar
By AleksKlax Thu Apr 25, 2013 10:24 pm
I bought a used one several months ago. I was using it for a few weeks when two of the pads stopped responding. After installing brand new sensors I was really excited by how much more responsive ALL the pads now where. Definitely a happy accident, I'd recommend replacing the pads if you can.
User avatar
By Coz Fri Apr 26, 2013 5:43 am
So Phia Pros wrote:Got aksys working on win7 32 bit, its ok for small operations, it does crash but I'm not dwelling on that.



The most stable way of getting it to work is with XP, either directly or through a virtual machine. Windows 7 XP mode notoriously doesn't work well.

I dismissed it at first, but it's become integral to the way I've been working recently. If I can figure out how to get Sound Forge tied to it (a few failed attempts so far), then it'll become even more indispensable.
User avatar
By roecker Fri Apr 26, 2013 1:28 pm
Congrats. I just recently picked one up as well. Still havent had time to jump off in it hardcore. I love it so far. :nod:

I already replaced my pad sensors as well as installing 512mb of ram. What a beast of a machine!!!
Last edited by roecker on Fri Apr 26, 2013 2:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
By MaZe Fri Apr 26, 2013 1:57 pm
Coz wrote:
So Phia Pros wrote:Got aksys working on win7 32 bit, its ok for small operations, it does crash but I'm not dwelling on that.



The most stable way of getting it to work is with XP, either directly or through a virtual machine. Windows 7 XP mode notoriously doesn't work well.

I dismissed it at first, but it's become integral to the way I've been working recently. If I can figure out how to get Sound Forge tied to it (a few failed attempts so far), then it'll become even more indispensable.


Running ak.sys in a VM on my Mac. Flawless so far. Indispensable. Opens up the TRUE power,, sound customization, and workflow options on the 4K. The unit was truly ahead of its time there has been and most likely never will be anything like it again.
By So Phia Pros Fri Apr 26, 2013 7:46 pm
thanks for all the advice, it will be taken into consideration. Might do a vm with mac, sucks that I dropped my macbook pro at the studio (still have to fix it). I was even thinking about having a little netbook with xp for it, I just sold two I had.
I'm definitely replacing the pad sensors, it feels like I have to hit a little harder. I tried cleaning them again and didnt get the response I wanted.
To the people that have cleaned the sensors... Did you remove it off of the metal and clean both sides? Its something I was thinking about and didnt want to rip it/break it.
I fixed the usb port also. Soldered three points that were loose and now it works on demand. My hand was very shaky, I was even scared I might have messed it up. The guy said it didnt work but I knew it was something I can fix.
The CDR drive was opening and closing right away, thats fixed also. (I knew about this also)
I'm spending under $100 to fix it up, thought it would be more like $200 because I knew about the issues before I bought it. Pad sensors and 3 buttons is all I will need.
I took the hard drive out and put it in my pc and put the old samples in a folder and put my orgazined library in it, 25 gbs :-) 14 of that is drums I've collected over the last 10 years.
Been making beats since last night just trying things out and things I used to do on my other mpcs. Figured out the mono/poly from a 2005 post on here lol. Getting more and more into this beast and I keep saying to myself "damn, now I see why (its a beast)"
the time correct+window is my fav shortcut right now, the swing is and always will be my favorite feature on any mpc.

Have a session tonight and tomorrow morning, taking it to the studio tonight :smoker:
thanks again fellas
User avatar
By Coz Fri Apr 26, 2013 10:02 pm
So Phia Pros wrote:I'm definitely replacing the pad sensors, it feels like I have to hit a little harder. I tried cleaning them again and didnt get the response I wanted.



Ramp up the pad sensitivity on each pad to 200% (PAD ASSIGN - SENS) and see if that's any better.

The figure of 200% will be remembered on power down, but presumably there's a bug where the setting isn't actually remembered. It's a case of backing it off slightly and back up to 200 each time you switch it on unfortunately. You should be able to hit a velocity of 127 without smashing the pads to smithereens!

Me and Labcoats have commented on this before but others don't have the same issue. I'm sure the corks and other mods improve the situation, but I just prefer the feel of the original pads. 8)
By Clint Fri Apr 26, 2013 10:27 pm
So Phia Pros wrote:To the people that have cleaned the sensors... Did you remove it off of the metal and clean both sides? Its something I was thinking about and didnt want to rip it/break it.


I wouldn't recommend cleaning the sensor undersides or plate unless you were actually installing new pad sensors. Just clean the top of the pad sensor sheet carefully and see how things go. Always good to go with new pad sensors on a used machine unless you know they were installed 'recently'.

My 2 cents...
By e9000k Thu May 02, 2013 6:35 am
Coz wrote:
So Phia Pros wrote:I'm definitely replacing the pad sensors, it feels like I have to hit a little harder. I tried cleaning them again and didnt get the response I wanted.



Ramp up the pad sensitivity on each pad to 200% (PAD ASSIGN - SENS) and see if that's any better.

The figure of 200% will be remembered on power down, but presumably there's a bug where the setting isn't actually remembered. It's a case of backing it off slightly and back up to 200 each time you switch it on unfortunately. You should be able to hit a velocity of 127 without smashing the pads to smithereens!

Me and Labcoats have commented on this before but others don't have the same issue. I'm sure the corks and other mods improve the situation, but I just prefer the feel of the original pads. 8)


Its a bug, posted a thread about this last year people that say it works because they don't understand what we are trying to do. I tried this on three different mpc's white and blue, all same issue.