Share your knowledge on these two classic MPCs

By mpc3000 Sat Jul 12, 2003 2:03 pm
No need to use headphones. Alll you have to do is connect a balanced cable from the MPC outputs to a balanced input on another and make note of the 6db drop in level.

I have the schematics here and they are unbalanced. I will scan this section and post later today.

If jahrome had the schematics he would have seen this already, along with the evidence that the MPC's share a lot of the same electronic parts. Frankly, I am still not sure how jahrome `builds` MPC's without schematics and service manual. And I am still waiting on my answer on "does a PCM69AP go in the MPC2000 or MPC3000?"
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By jahrome Sun Jul 13, 2003 6:06 am
schematics..schematics....schematics.....schematics. You can talk about this all day. Mr MPC 3000 says that the outputs of the MPC 3000 are unbalanced beacuse his tech manual says so and that ALL the MPC 3000 owners manual are wrong. Curious??? When the MPC 3000 was released in 94 it had balanced outputs and when it was re-released in 97 as the Limited Edition, it still had balanced outputs. Clearly stated in every manual. Akai has just changed their website and removed the MPC 3000. When they did have the MPC 3000 on the site, the specs clearly state that the outputs are balanced and if they decide to put it back up, it will still state that the outputs are balanced. I dunno though...Maybe the MPC 3000s here in Japan are balanced and they used cheaper parts for you folks abroad :cry:

Mr MPC 3000 isn't being very helpful. Not one of the tests he talking about to prove HIStory can be duplicated by the average person looking at these posts. He is talking way over the head of average potential MPCs buyers.

True or False?? Does the manual state that the MPC 3000 has balanced outputs? I can read English and Japanese and it is clear what eyes are seeing. If all the manuals in the world have misprints (I seriously doubt that) has it ever occured to you that your tech manual could have a misprint also. They were all produced by the same company. I am sure that the ink and paper they used for the owners manual are at least the same quality as the tech manual :D
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By jahrome Sun Jul 13, 2003 6:32 am
elmacaco

Thanks. You are completely correct. If the outputs are balanced, just plug stereo headpones into the output and you will receive a signal in both ears. If it is unbalanced, the signal would only be audible in one ear.

I am curious to hear Mr MPC 3000's results or further comments.
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By jahrome Sun Jul 13, 2003 6:44 am
Another addition. The MPC 60, MPC 60 II, MPC 3000, MPC 3000 LE, and the MPC 4000 all have balanced ouputs. Only the MPC 2000 and the 2000 XL have unbalanced ouputs.

By elmacaco Sun Jul 13, 2003 6:10 pm
I think I'm going to have to side with 3000 on this one.

My 60 has 2 outputs for the stereo pair, and each of these is mono, not stereo outputs. The 8 outs are also mono. Manuals have all sorts of misprints.

Jah, why don't you do the test and tell us the results? plug headphones into the main outs and one of the 8 outs and see what sound you get. Headphone outs will always be balanced, but the others????

By mpc3000 Sun Jul 13, 2003 8:34 pm
Here's the proof:

<img src=http://www.mpc3000.com/images/ad_da.jpg>

For those of you that actually `build` MPC's, you will recognize the above pic of the ad/da board of the MPC3000. On the left are the main outs and on the right are the record inputs. You will note that on the REC INPUT uses the required 3 connection balance as noted by the 1, 2, 3. We all know that balancing requires 3 connections. On the left you will note that even though there are 3 connections on the jack as noted by the large circle, but one of the three is not connected as shown in the small circle. You cannot run a balanced line using only 2 connections.

These particular jacks are very common and Akai has used them on everything since the S900.
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By keepintouch2004 Mon Jul 14, 2003 8:58 pm
WHAT IF IT IS CONNECTED, BUT YOU JUST CANT SEE IT????
I MEAN WHAT'S UNDER THAT GREEN BOARD, YOU DONT KNOW.....LOL
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By keepintouch2004 Mon Jul 14, 2003 9:01 pm
WHY YOU DONT YOU GUYS E-MAIL ROGER AT HIS SITE, AND ASK HIM, I'M SURE HE'LL ANSWER, HE PESONALLY ANSWERED ALOT OF MY QUESTIONS!
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By Dr.Foo Mon Jul 14, 2003 9:30 pm
hahahah dude, mpc 3000 is mike from midicase (I think it is anyway, not 100% sure, but I'd bet on it), a guy who knows alot more about MPC's then all of us.

simply put if he says the 3000 outs are not balanced, I'd be inclined to believe him even over some telephone monkey that works at akai. Please, the LAST thing you want to do is call the manufaturer and ask them.
why? the guy you are talking too:
#1 most likely is not an electrical engineer, knows little to nothing about it.
#2 doesnt own a MPC of any kind
#3 Only knows what he has in front of him, (usually just the manuals)
#4 has no experience repairing or modifying the gear in anyway
#5 is basically just there to parrot stuff from the manual, if you ask them to go deeper, and explain it, they cannot. wanna check? call akai and tell them that you are having trouble using the swing function, it will take them 5 minutes to figure out what you are talking about, then ask them how to do swing @ 1/32 and wait another 5 minuted for him to read you a passage right out of the manual.

I'm gonna go W/ MPC3000
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By Dr.Foo Mon Jul 14, 2003 9:31 pm
keepintouch2004 wrote:WHAT IF IT IS CONNECTED, BUT YOU JUST CANT SEE IT????
I MEAN WHAT'S UNDER THAT GREEN BOARD, YOU DONT KNOW.....LOL


LMAO :shock: :shock: :shock: :wink:
By UNSYSTEMATIC Mon Jul 21, 2003 4:11 pm
A bit off subject, but I own two units; Akai MPC 60 and Akai S900. They both use virtually the same sampling engine, but I read in an article somewhere, that Roger Linn modified the input and out put of a sampled signal through some programmed algorithm, giving it it's signature sound. I know they don't sound the same. I'll hunt down the article and get back to ya'll.

By elmacaco Tue Jul 22, 2003 12:21 am
Yeah, I remember that keyboard mag had a feature on it and Rog said that he slightly highpass filtered the input and the boosted it ans summed it back to the main signal. that's non-linear for ya.

By mpc3000 Tue Jul 22, 2003 3:07 am
I think that would be Nov 88 issue.

However what he states does not seem strange for a sampler, especially since the MPC60 uses a fixed bandwidth as opposed to the variable bandwith of the S900.
Byxl_tracks Mon Aug 11, 2003 8:33 am
I own a 2000xl, but i'm sick of people saying that the 60 and 3000 sounds better, so how about someone that has both of the machines record like some kicks on the 3000 and 2000xl and put them on the web so we can here them.So we can really see if there is a difference.
Its wierd but try it i wanna hear, so i can jude for myself cause alot of people don't know wat the heck they talkin bout. :x
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By bboutit Mon Aug 11, 2003 7:21 pm
That sounds fair, lets hear samples of them both and the ears will tell us!
:twisted: