Share your knowledge on these two classic MPCs
By fobedafied Wed Oct 29, 2003 9:17 am
i have a mpc60II w/OS version 2.12.... im trying to upgrade the OS to the 3.10e upgrade! on the ROGER LINN website they are charging $195- plus shipping fees for them to send you 4 EPROM(Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) chips with the OS upgrade on them.... also on ROGER LINNs website's LINK PAGE, there is contact info for a place called VST, which is like a 30 minute drive from where i live! i called VST and they tell me that they will upgrade my EPROM chips for me to the 3.10e OS... they are only charging $55 to do this!!! they are not giving me a set of chips with the OS on them, they are actually going to erase the old OS off of my original EPROM chips and "burn" the 3.10e OS upgrade onto them and reinstall the EPROM chips back into my MPC! this to me seems like a great deal since the person i spoke with at VST told me that this is the exact same OS as the one on the ROGER LINN website, but that i would not receive a manual(ive already downloaded one from LINNs website!) what i am wondering is: what advantage(if any) does the OS purchased from ROGER LINNs website have over one that is rewritten onto/over EPROM chips that originally contained an older OS? am i missing out on anything by not purchasing this upgrade from LINNs website? if everything works correctly upon installation, will i need any tech support from ROGER LINN at all? how often does someone need tech support for the 3.10e OS? Does anyone know what type of EPROM chips that the MPC60II uses for its OS, and if so do you know a place where i can purchase these EPROM chips???? i would like to use new EPROM chips so that i can keep my old OS intact on the original chips! please let me know any info relating to this topic, and/or your opinion on what choice i should make... anyone that has upgraded already or is thinking about upgrading to the 3.10e OS please respond... i could use all the input i can get at the moment... im trying to save $140 not to mention shipping fees by going to VST instead of the ROGER LINN site... i would never have thought of going somewhere else but since i found VST on the links page at the LINN website i figure that they must be a legit and reputable company.... please tell me what you think...
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By Lampdog Wed Oct 29, 2003 4:55 pm
For you to keep your old os then you could take out your eprom and keep it in the closet and buy a new eprom and have the newer OS burned into it. There should be no difference in you getting the OS from Roger Linn than VST as long as they both come with a guarantee that it works afterward and if not you can go back and have it corrected. Do a search on the net for places you can buy eprom.

By fobedafied Wed Oct 29, 2003 9:00 pm
does anyone know what "type" of EPROM chips the MPC60II uses???? is there a certain chip model or something like that?? also where could i purchase these EPROMs at??

By elmacaco Thu Oct 30, 2003 2:33 am
ust do the deal, it is a hell of a lot cheaper and you won't want the old OS. Ask VST if they can give you new chips.

By mpc3000 Sat Nov 01, 2003 1:04 am
I have a feeling that VST is going to get their a** burned over that, if not outright sued..

By elmacaco Sat Nov 01, 2003 6:58 pm
I almost told Rlinn design, but I figure let people get it while the getting is good.

By fobedafied Sat Nov 01, 2003 11:27 pm
elmacaco wrote:I almost told Rlinn design, but I figure let people get it while the getting is good.

i already inquired with LINNDESIGN about this and the guy i spoke with told me that he was certainly going to look into it, im hoping that i get noone in trouble or anything like that since it seems that VST is kinda endorsed(for lack of a better word) on the LINN website... the guy i talked to was familiar with them and said only "that makes sense" when i told him that it was supposedly the same software but wouldnt come with a manual. also does anyone know where to open the machine to get to these EPROM chips? is it the 4 allen-wrench type bolts on the top of the machine? if so, how do i remove the high hat decay slider to get the top panel off? the dude at VST said not to open the top panel unless i wanted to "open a can of worms"!!! i need to find out which EPROM chips the mpc60II uses so i can try and find new ones to purchase...

By UNSYSTEMATIC Sun Nov 02, 2003 12:20 am
You can open up your 60 II and not hurt a thin. I believe there are six chips? Don't remember, but they are easily accessible. They are located close the floppy drive, you can't miss them. They are on a board that is seat against the bottom of the MPC.

By fobedafied Sun Nov 02, 2003 2:44 am
UNSYSTEMATIC wrote:You can open up your 60 II and not hurt a thin. I believe there are six chips? Don't remember, but they are easily accessible. They are located close the floppy drive, you can't miss them. They are on a board that is seat against the bottom of the MPC.


how do i get into it?? the top panel with all the pads and controls has 4 screws, is this the way to get to the EPROM chips? also, the hihat decay slider is in the way if i unscrew the top panel, will it just pop off and back on easily enough without breaking? i dont wanna mess up my slider!!

By elmacaco Sun Nov 02, 2003 3:39 am
Not those screws,

Remove the three screws on each side panel, then the 5 from the back that are in the plastic casing (in an inverted U shape) then the 4 on the front edge. there are 7 screws on the front edge, counting from the left, remove screws 1,3,5,7 then lift it up the front edge like a car hood. Be careful, there are no hinges on the 60II and there are many connectors, if you have to remove them, you have to remember where they go and which way they go there.

Leave the hex screws alone.

By fobedafied Sun Nov 02, 2003 6:13 am
elmacaco wrote:Not those screws,

Remove the three screws on each side panel, then the 5 from the back that are in the plastic casing (in an inverted U shape) then the 4 on the front edge. there are 7 screws on the front edge, counting from the left, remove screws 1,3,5,7 then lift it up the front edge like a car hood. Be careful, there are no hinges on the 60II and there are many connectors, if you have to remove them, you have to remember where they go and which way they go there.

Leave the hex screws alone.


THANK YOU!!! :)

i got inside and got the part numbers for the chips!! now tracking down a lace to purchase some is my next step...

thanks a million elmacaco, your instructions were very helpful! i opened it up, wrote down the chip numbers, put it back together in about 15-20 minutes or so! i rehooked the MPC up to my system and the first time i tried to load a disk i got an error :cry: !!!! was thinking that i disconnected something when i was in there, but all i did was reboot the MPC and it loaded the disk easily... everything seems to be cool now...

thanks again

By elmacaco Sun Nov 02, 2003 7:47 am
No problem man. I think you better hustle and get them the chips quick, since Rlinn design is aware of it and they won't sell once the jig is up.

By mpc3000 Mon Nov 03, 2003 3:10 am
If this copying by VST is unauthozied by Linn, they has opened themselves up to a major lawsuit from Linn and potentially losing their part distribution business from Akai.

Then the jig is likely up. Everyone knows. At the moment there is no animosity between Akai and Linn and everyone would like to keep it that way. Since VST is the official parts distibutor of Akai US (and thus an agent of Akai), Akai does not need the ebarrassment of VST pirating software.