Post your views and questions about the Akai MPC2500
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By Jody Ejaz Sun Jun 30, 2013 4:09 pm
Hello,

I just recently purchased an second hand MPC 2500, and Ive came across this bug or problem:

Sometimes the MPC 2500 soundcard or some chip makes every noice on the MPC 2500 sound bitty and crunchy. This sometimes appears when I turn on the unit, or in the middle of my work.

First I thought it was only in the sampling screen (and I thought something was wrong with my record inputs), but I tested playing with samples already in the RAM and the same thing continues.

This is usually resolved by rebooting the machine, but Its getting bit annoying. Have you had similiar problems?

Oh, and I use OS 3 at the moment.
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By Metatron72 Sun Jun 30, 2013 4:20 pm
I have not had that, but yeah an MPC is just a computer on the inside with PCB boards and ribbon connectors and ATX/Molex style plugs and things.

First thing to do might be to get a screwdriver, open it up. (use an ice cube tray or cups to keep the screws separated and maybe use paper or post it notes to label them so it's easier to re-assemble).

An MPCStuff.com LCD or pad install vid can show you the opening process in a matter of minutes.

Make sure it's unplugged and touch something metal near you with the tips of of all ten of your fingers to discharge any static electricity that may be stored in your hands. (Don't have socks on a carpet when you do this for the same reason, shoes soles will help there).

Then carefully check that all the cable connectors are seated properly, blow out any dust with an air can if you have one.

It may not solve the issue, but all connections properly seated and checking for any component burn or damage is the first step to check off the list when you don't really know what is wrong.

You can also hope that's an OS/software issue and hopefully nothing is physically wrong, so maybe re-flash the OS. With OS3 being so new I would install OS2XL and see if it happens on that OS too. The JJ unlock lets you use OS1, OS2 ,OSXL, and OS3 and switch between them freely.
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By Jody Ejaz Sun Jun 30, 2013 4:26 pm
I tried installing OS-XL, and after that booting the unit 10 times. I didn´t have the problem once.

I installed OS3 again after this and got the problem back during 3th or 4th boot up.

I now use OS-XL and If I don´t come across this problem ever again, I bet it is OS 3 bug.

EDIT: I bet it has something to do with OS3 and how it loads the sound-drivers. I dont honestly have no Idea at all how MPC and its drivers work, but Ive had similiar problems in my PC (like after my PC wakes up from sleep mode, the sounds are also bitty, very similiar to this problem.)

And can someone explain to me what this means: "When you change OS, please switch on a power supply, pressing the ERASE button first.
Please press the ERASE button until a main screen is displayed.
If this operation is not performed, MPC may freeze or it may crash."

Does this mean you have to press ERASE every time you turn on the machine? Could this affect issues like this?
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By Metatron72 Sun Jun 30, 2013 4:31 pm
The lesser of two evils compared to a mechanical/physical issue.

JJ will be updating/fixing OS 3 like every week or two for a while going forward so I hope your problem goes away with the updates. At least XL is a mature OS to fall back on.

No the ERASE thing is just for that first time after an OS Flash. It's a precautionary measure to make sure the OS flashes and writes it's data correctly. But it only would need to done that for that first boot up not every time after.
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By Jody Ejaz Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:30 am
Guess what todays morning brings with it:

The chippy sound problem is now constant on JJ-OS XL too! I bet it its hardware failure.

I dont mind sending the unit to the warranty (it still has one.), But If they replace the unit to a new one, I lose the pay version of JJ right, since they go with the unit? :( Can´t JJ give another code to the users who already paid for it?
:(

EDIT: LOL! Guess what. I was wrong!I only checked the Analog inputs of my MPC. After I checked the internal sounds, they were all fine. I connected the headphones to my PC:s soundcard and chippy we wen´t again x)

So today my PC had the same problem as OS3 yesterday. JJ OS-XL is still good! :lol:
Last edited by Jody Ejaz on Tue Jul 02, 2013 12:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By Lampdog Mon Jul 01, 2013 8:47 am
Try unseat, clean contacts and reseat the ram.
Loose ram or dying ram causes that sometimes. While your
in there dust everything off with a dry paint brush and blow
out the rest with canned air. Don't shake the can like so many
people do. Also make sure everything else is connected and not loose.
User avatar
By Jody Ejaz Tue Jul 02, 2013 12:07 pm
Lampdog wrote:Try unseat, clean contacts and reseat the ram.
Loose ram or dying ram causes that sometimes. While your
in there dust everything off with a dry paint brush and blow
out the rest with canned air. Don't shake the can like so many
people do. Also make sure everything else is connected and not loose.


Thanks lamp, the problem still seems to be (thankfully) only in OS3. Ill try that If it appears in OSXL
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By Jody Ejaz Thu Jul 04, 2013 12:45 pm
Ok guys,

Ive now confirmed 100% it is a bug:

I installed the latest OS 3 1.05 in the hopes of this problem disappearing. This is what happened.

1. I installed the OS 3 1.05

2. I turned on the machine and went to the Sampling screen. The chippy sound was here again. I also tested the internal sounds and they were chippy again.

3. I went back to the sampling screen and changed the Input selection from "ANALOG" to "DIGITAL". The chippy sound went gone (well ovbiously, because I have nothing in my digital inputs.). Then I switched back to the ANALOG inputs and the chippines was gone! Also the internal sounds were fine! So switching the analog input to digital and back to analog fixed the problem.

This is how I got the bug in my MPC, you can try it yourself.:

- Set the inputs to analog and make sure you got something hooked up to analog ins thats on. (I got a PC Soundcard sending stereo out to my MPC) EDIT: Doesn´t even matter if theres anything hooked to the ANALOG ins, still get the problem in OS 3

- Turn off and on the machine. when the main screen loads press Mode + PAD 5. Now you should hear the crackling noise. If not, keep switching the input from Digital to Analog and it should appear at some point. (With Monitor: ON)

Let me remind you that this problem never occured in OS XL and I tested switching ANALOG from DIGITAL in OS XL roughly 100 times and it never appeared. In OS 3 it appeared always in 2 to 5th try.

I Made a bug report to JJ, lets see what he thinks.
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By Metatron72 Thu Jul 04, 2013 2:00 pm
Thanks for the info, Jody Ejaz. Sorry you've had all the troubles, but great that you narrowed it down and shared your findings with everyone. :-D
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By tsutek Thu Oct 24, 2013 11:08 am
Yeah, this is a known issue in OS3 and is already covered in the JJOS threads.. Switching input source fixes the bug (momentarily). Let's hope JJ finds the bug soon!