MPC XL Output LR Imbalance

I have a guitar plugged into Inst 1 on the front panel, gain set, audio track set to Input 1, Output 1,2 , monitor off, no plugins, just straight in and getting a good signal. Main/Dir knob all the way to Main, Input meters show level, but Output meters on the track and the unit showed levels skewed slightly to the left, and also noticeable in headphones.

What am I doing wrong? Any suggestions for correcting this situation?

(Version 3.9 but also did this with 3.7)

Thanks!

I have MPC X and Akai Force that have dodgy level knobs that someotkmws need to be rocked back and forth a couple times to settle down even. Bought rhem used assumed this was just old dirty potentiometers, but that ain’t cool on such a new device like yours. Are they using cheap pots? I had a new K37 that didn’t do this but I traded it after a couple months.

I don't think its the analog pots. The signal shows levels are equal LR on the input software meter, but the outputs 1,2 software meter show a weaker R channel. The physical main out meters also show the weaker R channel.

Oh internal crap. Have you checked all the way through the chain? Maybe send it to a sub mix and meter there before main outs also. It’s got to be somewhere, a forgotten insert with slight panning maybe.

Sounds sort of like my "Reset Channel Strip" issue although that showed imbalance on the track meter as well as the outputs.

Digital Larry wrote:Sounds sort of like my "Reset Channel Strip" issue although that showed imbalance on the track meter as well as the outputs.

Yes, that is the issue: on the main mode mixer strips, the input strip LR is level, the output strip is not, and the physical output meter is not level.

I will double-check the chain again and setup a submix/send to see what happens.

My Force I got used does that since I got it in 2021. Others got the same issue on the MPCs. I wonder if replacing the output jacks would solve or is more of an internal glitch?
Luckily, we can adjust the panning on the master outs.

I wonder if maybe the metering is at a tap point before the analog channel goes through the pot, but that wouldn’t make any sense. All I know is sometimes I have to twist knobs back and forth to get levels to even out. Deems to happen more on my Force can’t recall if it happens on my X.

Also it’s known that on some models the analog circuitry isn’t very robust because hot swapping jacks with phantom power on can fry rhem. Happened to me, replaced under warranty. Never checked if the USB digital out was unaffected on that one before it went back to the mothership.

Would be interesting to see if people with Black Lion Mod have the same issues.

I figured it out. Being new to MPC's in general led me to user error.

The issue was that I had another audio track set to Input 1,2 with Monitor set to In. This track was taking a stereo input signal, for which I was only using Inst 1, thus only the left channel of that stereo track. Thus my guitar was incoming into two tracks at the same.

fstrat76 wrote:I figured it out. Being new to MPC's in general led me to user error.

The issue was that I had another audio track set to Input 1,2 with Monitor set to In. This track was taking a stereo input signal, for which I was only using Inst 1, thus only the left channel of that stereo track. Thus my guitar was incoming into two tracks at the same.

Good to know. In my project template I have all 8 audio tracks pre-loaded, ill check if this is the case for me too. Thanks for reporting

Generally, I can't think of a reason why the software would not shut off other track Monitors when using the same Input. Not sure if this might be considered a bug.