MPC X, MPC Live, MPC One & MPC Key 61 Forum: Support and discussion for the MPC X, MPC Live, MPC Live II, MPC One & MPC Key 61; Akai's current generation of standalone MPCs.
By BeatWilson Thu Apr 04, 2019 9:59 pm
just curious if anyone has this. its regarding the 1/8 headphone jack. if the knob on the left of it is set to main(as for as it goes) and I turn up the headphone volume knob up I get slight pops and cracks just before the 12 o clock. if I go up higher (which in real like why would i?) it gets very obvious. I have audio technica studio headphones. I've tried other ear buds and it's less on them. if I turn the knob on the left from main half way to inst 2 then it seems to to away. just curious if anyone has this happening with there mpc x. I had a live before and didn't have this issue.

the only reason I'm asking is because it's expensive gear. otherwise I love it. speeds up my workflow hella.

thanks.
By Transmisser Fri Apr 05, 2019 1:41 am
It could be a dirty potentiometer. Sometimes you will get cracks and pops when turning if there’s dust inside.

I’d report it to akai and see what they can do. Unfortunately, I’m on my FIFTH, yes, fifth, MPC X in less than 8 months. I’m glad they’ve replaced them, but I’ve never had these kinds of issues with a music product before, and I take really good care of my stuff.
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By saltmcgault Fri Apr 05, 2019 4:47 am
Transmisser wrote:It could be a dirty potentiometer. Sometimes you will get cracks and pops when turning if there’s dust inside.

I’d report it to akai and see what they can do. Unfortunately, I’m on my FIFTH, yes, fifth, MPC X in less than 8 months. I’m glad they’ve replaced them, but I’ve never had these kinds of issues with a music product before, and I take really good care of my stuff.


5th mpcx? :shock: wtf was wrong with the other ones? i “was” considering getting one in the near future.
By Transmisser Fri Apr 05, 2019 6:44 pm
saltmcgault wrote:
5th mpcx? :shock: wtf was wrong with the other ones? i “was” considering getting one in the near future.


First one wouldn’t pan anything and after going through everything with tech support, they said I should swap at guitar center. I find out the first one I was sold as new was actually a previous return.

Second replacement had a bunch of QC issues - loose knobs, plastic screen covers above Q links were coming off, etc. contacted akai again and they started handling the replacements.

3rd replacement had dead pixels on the screen out of the box.

4th had a dead internal SATA cable, so I couldn’t install my SSD.

No problems with the 5th one so far, but I don’t have high hopes for the long term. It seems like people aren’t having these kinds of issues for the most part. I would test everything if you get one though and stay on top of it. Akai have been good about sending replacements, but they have been a bit short with me over the whole thing and I don’t imagine that will be any better once I’m out of warranty.

In between replacements I got a good deal on ableton suite 10 and a push 2, so I’m working on moving over to that. I really would like a solid standalone unit though.
By BeatWilson Sun Apr 07, 2019 10:48 pm
damn eh... that sucks. I see above the second row of q kinis the plastic screen seems to be higher than the rest... I haven't checked panning but will do thanks for the heads up. it doesn't seem to be as well put together as my old mpc 2500, but that thing did have alot less screens and such involved.

the one thing I noticed is I tried to convert a song to sequence that had a higher number like about 30 and it wouldn't convert to it but when I went over my first sequence it would overwrite that which is fine since I didnt need that sequence.

the actual headphone problem seems to be slowly going away is just not as present as before. it now kicks in at around 3-4 o'clock on the headphone volume dial instead at 10-11 o'clock. that once again with the dial on the left of set to ad far I can to main.

i haven't had hard drive issues but i am on a regular HD and am wondering if an SSD is a better way to go to drain less power. I have had the unit for 5 days.

I have 25 days to return it and get a direct replacement from like local store so I'm gonna keep an eye on all the parts. cant be spending 3 gs canadian on something that could flop.

if that's the case I'll get a better audio interface and a mpc 2500 or 4000. I just really like the exploding tracks, and converting song to sequence. so convenient for me. :nod:
By Transmisser Wed Apr 10, 2019 7:56 pm
BeatWilson wrote:damn eh... that sucks. I see above the second row of q kinis the plastic screen seems to be higher than the rest... I haven't checked panning but will do thanks for the heads up. it doesn't seem to be as well put together as my old mpc 2500, but that thing did have alot less screens and such involved.

the one thing I noticed is I tried to convert a song to sequence that had a higher number like about 30 and it wouldn't convert to it but when I went over my first sequence it would overwrite that which is fine since I didnt need that sequence.

the actual headphone problem seems to be slowly going away is just not as present as before. it now kicks in at around 3-4 o'clock on the headphone volume dial instead at 10-11 o'clock. that once again with the dial on the left of set to ad far I can to main.

i haven't had hard drive issues but i am on a regular HD and am wondering if an SSD is a better way to go to drain less power. I have had the unit for 5 days.

I have 25 days to return it and get a direct replacement from like local store so I'm gonna keep an eye on all the parts. cant be spending 3 gs canadian on something that could flop.

if that's the case I'll get a better audio interface and a mpc 2500 or 4000. I just really like the exploding tracks, and converting song to sequence. so convenient for me. :nod:


In regards to the headphone crackling - yeah, since you're saying it's improving over time I'm 99% you just had dust inside the potentiometer chamber. It looks like if you wanted to spray contact cleaner in there to completely eliminate it, you would have to disassemble the X, bleh. Sometimes you can remove it by just turning the knob a few dozen times, so I'd start there.

As far as whether or not you should keep the X, I would try and get to know it in standalone as best you can and decide if you like the workflow. The main reason I didn't just return the 2nd replacement (still had the GC return policy then) was because all things considered, I really dig the workflow. I came from maschine and that thing was just god awful for me. I know plenty of people get along with maschine just fine, but it wasn't for me.

You'll probably see people mention what I'm about to say when responding to users upset over MPC Live / X's current functionality - buy it for what it can do now, not what you hope it will do. Akai doesn't take care of bugs quick, so if somethings wrong with the software then you're going to have to wait a few months. Even then, you might get an update that doesn't address the fix at all, but hey, at least you have Splice integration now, right?

I'm hoping things get better over time, but I can make music with the way it is now. My biggest gripe with the X / Live OS is you can't change time signatures easily, at all. It's especially irritating because they obviously put some thought into the ass backwards, convoluted way of it doing it currently. I'm not holding my breath, but who knows. There are a few other gripes, but I can't recall off the top of my head.

Either way, I wish you luck. I'm going to keep the X for now, but I just invested in Ableton Live 10 Suite and a Push 2. Ableton gets the win for me over all, but I'll use both since I don't want to be tethered to my computer all the time.
By BeatWilson Fri Apr 12, 2019 2:44 am
since the feedback/static/crackle/popping has continued on and off I've got the store to order me another unit to replace this one. hopefully the next doesn't have this issue. too expensive to have that sorta stuff happen.