New to the MPC production world? Got a music production question that's not really specific to any particular MPC? Try your luck here and get help from our experienced members.
By djzero Thu Apr 13, 2006 3:08 pm
I bought a used 2000 classic mpc the other day. It came with an IOMEGA zip drive, with the 5-6 ID # on back and termination switch; a cd drive; and a 50-50 pin SCSI. Initially, I only hooked up the Toshiba CD drive (I didn't have the 50-25 SCSI for the CD to Zip drive connection). This is what happened: ID #5 shows the CD ROM (mpc recognizes drive), but there are no files that it can load. It also shows "type=??" When I tried formatting the disk (with nothing to lose), it shows all the info of the CD drive, but no files on CD. (And there are definitely files on the CD cause I opened them up in my laptop).

About the CD: I had moved a bunch of files (without folders) onto a CD to burn with my Mac Powerbook. I was told later that the MPC doesn't recognize audio files. So I burned again another CD, using I-tunes, to burn data files. Still doesn't work...I thought maybe, for some reason, it had to do with the way I was burning the files...

But, I read the manual...It says something about needing a termination in the chain. So I bought the SCSI to connect the CD drive to the zip drive (which now makes MPC>>CD drive>>IOMEGA zip) so that I can activate the termination switch. This is what happens: The MPC now recognizes all the ID #'s as HD's. Is that supposed to be correct, that the zip drive is called HD? And why are all the ID#'s (1-5) being recognized as HD's, and not just 1 ID#? Also, after connecting the zip drive to the CD Drive, the MPC doesn't seem to recognize the CD drive anymore, so that's more confusing (ID #5 is now recognized as HD, and not CD).

I tried messing around with the 5-6 switches, the termination's on and off. I've reconnected the CD drive in numerous ways. I've experiment with all sorts of shit and haven't gotten shit out of it. I'm assuming that since I bought all this stuff from someone who was using it before, that everything should be compatible. I've had this shit for almost a week now and haven't gotten a single **** sound to load!!!! (And I've diddled with the XL, in the past, so it's not like I haven't been able to do it before). What the **** is going on? I hope I've explained myself enough so that you get an idea as to what's going on. And, yes, I read the @#$^@^ manual and tried search. haha :shock:
User avatar

By Smoove03 Thu Apr 13, 2006 3:20 pm
what OS are you running on your 2000? i thought i read somewhere you have to have the latest OS so your mpc can recognize .wav files? i may be wrong, but try downloading the latest os and pop that in and see if it makes a difference.

i think the zip drive should be set to ID #5. any drive you have should be set to a different ID. I dont think ID # 6 is available. i think that is the ID that the mpc runs on. I may be wrong about it being #6 but one of the ID's are reserved for the mpc.

set each drive to its own ID. on the drive somewhere you should be able to set it. maybe on the back near the plugs.....

thats really all i could tell you. i never was able to get a cd drive working with my 2k, so i stuck with the zip drives.

By djzero Thu Apr 13, 2006 5:20 pm
I'm using OS 1.72, which I dl'd from akai's homepage...

I think you're right about setting the ID# to # 5. I definitely remember the manual saying that #6 is for the MPC and to not use it on external hardware; plus I got an error when I had the zip on #6. However, unfortunately, the CD drive does not have a termination, nor a # switch on it, which sucks... though the MPC recognizes it when the zip isn't connected. I'm suspecing the CD and the zip both use #5 now as their ID #'s (maybe the CD is automatically set to 5), which may mean that I need to get a termination plug for the CD drive...If this doesn't work and I don't find a solution, I may consider the usb zip drive for my laptop, but I'd rather not, since I already have all this extra hard drive crap and it would be a lot more convenient to use CD.

By djzero Fri Apr 14, 2006 8:08 am
Follow up:

So...here are some follow ups and extra questions. The name of my CD-Rom is Toshiba Cd Rom-XM-3791TA, Ver=3205...I got a hold of the classic Mpc 2000 manual and it mentioned about formating CD's. So what's the deal with that then?? Am I supposed to format the CD? before? or after I burn the files onto the cd? It seems I couldn't format before the files were burned, but doing it after made no difference. I still couldn't load, same problem...

Maybe I need to get a termination SCSI since there is no termination switch on the drive?

And, according, to the manual, the 2000 classic can load .wav files. But, somebody told me that they need to be in data files, not audio files, which I made sure to burn as so. (I hope they came out right).

Btw, what is the highest OS system I can use for the 2000 classic? I'm using 1.72...

It's been a week! ****!! I used the floppy tonight to appease myself. How slow... :cry:
User avatar

By Lampdog Fri Apr 14, 2006 9:03 am
1.70 added the ability for the 2k classic to do wav files.

1.72 is the last there will ever be.

You need to burn the sample cd as an akai image in order for the 2k classic to be able to recognize it. I don't remember the image website instructions but someone might come along here and help out with that.

By djzero Fri Apr 14, 2006 3:13 pm
Thanks, Lampdog.

So do I still have to format the CD? And do you think I'll need the termination SCSI?

If anyone knows of this file conversion that Lampdog is talking about, to convert wav files so that they work with the mpc 2000, please send me the info, the link, the whatever.

*Thanks for everyone's help so far. This website and its people are great. And, I must add that the warmth of recording vinyl into the Akai, phew! It's a hell of a change/addition. Stepping outside of digital is nice.
User avatar

By Smoove03 Fri Apr 14, 2006 3:22 pm
i dont think you have to convert the actual wav files. i think you have to burn an akai image cd....but i may be wrong.
User avatar

By Lampdog Fri Apr 14, 2006 3:32 pm
"i dont think you have to convert the actual wav files. i think you have to burn an akai image cd....but i may be wrong. "
Your right.

"And do you think I'll need the termination SCSI?"
Some SCSI drives come with auto-termination already, check your drives specs to see if that's the case.