Reviews and questions about the entry-level MPC500
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By Ill-Green Tue Sep 15, 2020 10:09 am
Yeah, the 500 pads are goblin manufactured. They don't know how to make ergonomical pads at Akai. The pads actually don't reach further enough onto the sensor sheet due to shit engineering.

Fat pads from mpcstuff.com are a great solution for they were engineered correctly and the smallest taps are registered fine. Cheaper solution would be just to cop their corking pads. Dirt poor solution would be to cut some double sided tape and fit them under the stock pads. Plenty threads on this but thought I get you started.
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By MPC-Tutor Tue Sep 15, 2020 11:46 am
I found my MPC500 pads became very unresponsive with age - not from 'use' either, as I barely used the thing. I literally had it stored in a cupboard for 5 years and one day booted it up and the pad sensitivity was non-existent. IMO, new pad sensors are the best option when the sensitivity starts failing.
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By Menco Wed Sep 16, 2020 7:00 am
Ill-Green wrote:Yeah, the 500 pads are goblin manufactured. They don't know how to make ergonomical pads at Akai. The pads actually don't reach further enough onto the sensor sheet due to shit engineering.

Fat pads from mpcstuff.com are a great solution for they were engineered correctly and the smallest taps are registered fine. Cheaper solution would be just to cop their corking pads. Dirt poor solution would be to cut some double sided tape and fit them under the stock pads. Plenty threads on this but thought I get you started.


This helps a little bit, but it’s also a software issue. It’s nearly impossible to hit full level of velocity when not in Full Level mode. My 500 pads have a smaller gap than my 2500. Stil my 2500 is way, way more responsive than my 500.
By JohnnyXJG Thu Sep 17, 2020 2:42 pm
Hi!

I put some electrical tape in the inner side of the pads, like 4 layers of it and it is far way better now. Just make sure that the size of the cutted tape is similar to the size of the rectangle from the inner side of the pads, cause if you cut them smaller, then you will only have good response if you hit the pads in the center.


no need for the tape to be double sided adhesive, use regular tape with 1 side adhesive.
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By Ill-Green Tue Sep 22, 2020 5:36 pm
Yeah NYM was on some garage-nerd type ish. He actually made a mold to get it corrected, for silicone is messy. Even he will agree to cutting thick pieces of tape instead of the silicone route.

I had the the corx under my pads and it was precise to playing a piano, it was that good and noticeable.
By drycement Sun Oct 25, 2020 6:31 pm
Does your new 500 happen to have blue pads + slider? I sold a busted 500 a while back (almost no pad sensitivity, among other major issues) on ebay for parts (and I described all of these issues in detail). I was looking at recently sold 500 prices yesterday and I see that the buyer re-sold it for 3x the price saying it "works perfect". Some unlucky buyer out there just got ripped off :( .
By perfidious_ba Mon Dec 21, 2020 6:22 am
drycement wrote:Does your new 500 happen to have blue pads + slider? I sold a busted 500 a while back (almost no pad sensitivity, among other major issues) on ebay for parts (and I described all of these issues in detail). I was looking at recently sold 500 prices yesterday and I see that the buyer re-sold it for 3x the price saying it "works perfect". Some unlucky buyer out there just got ripped off :( .


Sorry this reply took so long. No, not blue pads, the regular gray.