Post your questions, opinions and reviews of the MPC1000. This forum is for discussion of the OFFICIAL Akai OS (2.1). If you wish to discuss the JJ OS, please use the dedicated JJ OS forum
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By Mr modnaR Tue May 30, 2006 4:38 pm
nphominoid wrote:so many thanks -- this is exactly what i needed. and it's also an FYI that pad problems don't necessarily involve the carbon sheet breaking up or coming loose.


that's interesting to know!
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By Smoove03 Tue May 30, 2006 7:59 pm
its crazy how different the pad design/layout/structure is from the 2k.....

i wonder why akai designed the pads this way on the 1k......
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By monophonic Wed May 31, 2006 2:30 am
You're welcome guys!
I'm glad this helped you nphominoid

I wonder if I should have posted this in a new thread?!

Smoove03 wrote:its crazy how different the pad design/layout/structure is from the 2k.....

that makes me want to open a 2k.. :)
and I will, as soon as I get my hands on one! hehe.

Smoove03 wrote:i wonder why akai designed the pads this way on the 1k......


I guess it's mainly for cost efficiency.. although the MPC1k is not "cheap"..

IMO the MPC1k is nicely built (inside and out), feels solid.. except for the pads.
That's its Achilles's ankle!
Poor design!
the number of posts in this thread proves it. (10 pages and counting)

.
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By nphominoid Wed May 31, 2006 4:07 am
yeah, thank you again monophonic! i think this definitely deserves to be archived or something -- i was looking around on sunday for reports of how to disassemble the mpc1000, and couldn't find anything online, so this is very very helpful. as long as this thread i stickied, i think people should be able to find it ok, but it definitely needs to be kept around.

as an addendum, i just finished following monophonic's guide and it works beautifully -- only thing i would add is that pulling the little white plastic connectors from behind the mpc pads (pic 9 and 10) was a little finnicky, and i'd recommend using pliers to pull the connectors out, since you run the risk of pulling the whole thing off the board out if you try to use your fingers. maybe this is evident to people who've tried this, but i found it a little tricky. otherwise the guide works perfectly.

as for my experience, i've had problems with pads 1 and 2, but like i said before, when i opened the pads, i saw that the carbon square was actually perfectly intact and the glue was still solid, so that's not the problem. for me, i think the problem was in part that those pads had come a little loose from the board, so i took them off and used pliers to tighten them a little. when i put it all back together, it worked a lot better, but they were both still a little unresponsive.

then i realized that the problem is that those two pads are sunken in a little compared to the others -- i think my whole pad board (pic 14) is attached at a slightly weird angle, so the pads 1 and 2 seem sunken in compared to the rest. so i worked out that if i play those pads at a 45 degree angle, as compared to hitting the others at the direct 90 degree angle (if that makes sense), the pads are totally responsive. so i think my problem was that the board is screwed in at a slightly strange angle -- there's probably a way to correct this but i haven't worked it out yet.

hope this helps someone. and thanks again to monophonic for the very helpful documentation!
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By monophonic Wed May 31, 2006 4:50 am
if Akai releases a newly-designed-reasonably-priced pad-board, it would sell like hot cakes!!
there's so many dead/dying MPC1k pads around.. while the rest of the unit is perfectly ok.
AKAI you reading this? don't give us the finger! (haha, Akai's new slogan)

nphominoid, I have a suggestion for you (if you feel like opening the MPC again)..
why don't you exchange pads 1 and 2 (which are probably the most used ones) with pads 15 and 16!? that should somewhat solve your problem.. also try to clean the sensor, maybe that might help a bit.

PS get a magnetized screwdriver! because the screws inside the holes are tricky to remove.. without it they'll go underneath the board, and then you have to shake the board to get them out.. not really fun! lol

as for the 2 white connectors (pics 9 & 10), you're absolutely right, ppl should be careful with that!
I recommend you press on it with the index finger while slowly pulling out with the other hand.
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By Smoove03 Wed May 31, 2006 3:30 pm
monophonic wrote:You're welcome guys!
I'm glad this helped you nphominoid

I wonder if I should have posted this in a new thread?!

Smoove03 wrote:its crazy how different the pad design/layout/structure is from the 2k.....

that makes me want to open a 2k.. :)
and I will, as soon as I get my hands on one! hehe.

Smoove03 wrote:i wonder why akai designed the pads this way on the 1k......


I guess it's mainly for cost efficiency.. although the MPC1k is not "cheap"..

IMO the MPC1k is nicely built (inside and out), feels solid.. except for the pads.
That's its Achilles's ankle!
Poor design!
the number of posts in this thread proves it. (10 pages and counting)

.


i heard the pads feel cheap...heard they arent fun to bang on lol. true?

thanks for the info man
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By monophonic Sat Jun 03, 2006 7:10 am
Smoove03 wrote:
i heard the pads feel cheap...heard they arent fun to bang on lol. true?

thanks for the info man


I haven't banged a 2K, um, on a.. lol :P

what I dislike about the 1K pads is that when you hit the corners, it feels like there's nothing underneath them.. I had a problem with the notes repeating when I hit the pads, but turns out it's just my way of playing. (cause I'm used to programming beats on keys.. I hit and release the pad real quick, I was told I should give it a push-like hit)

offtopic: do you have that problem on the 2k?
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By Lone Diplomat Sun Jun 04, 2006 4:41 pm
damn monophonic thats some serious tutorial


this thread rocks



a question though : now lets assume im too lazy to do the pad reparation myself like ant did, and i just buy replacement pads instead, i will get what's on picture 15 right?
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By Mr modnaR Sun Jun 04, 2006 4:49 pm
nah unfortunately it's more like 16 without the brown and blue wires and the little white plug. :cry: that's the soldering bit you have to do.
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By Lone Diplomat Sun Jun 04, 2006 8:29 pm
Mr modnaR wrote:nah unfortunately it's more like 16 without the brown and blue wires and the little white plug. :cry: that's the soldering bit you have to do.


now thats pretty fcked up for a system

last time i soldered something was in junior high...


:lol:
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By Mr modnaR Sun Jun 04, 2006 9:53 pm
Lone Diplomat wrote:now thats pretty fcked up for a system

last time i soldered something was in junior high...


:lol:


lol, so in your case, it literally is: 'back to the old school'!! :lol:
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By Smoove03 Mon Jun 05, 2006 1:16 pm
monophonic wrote:
Smoove03 wrote:
i heard the pads feel cheap...heard they arent fun to bang on lol. true?

thanks for the info man


I haven't banged a 2K, um, on a.. lol :P

what I dislike about the 1K pads is that when you hit the corners, it feels like there's nothing underneath them.. I had a problem with the notes repeating when I hit the pads, but turns out it's just my way of playing. (cause I'm used to programming beats on keys.. I hit and release the pad real quick, I was told I should give it a push-like hit)

offtopic: do you have that problem on the 2k?


my fault im just gettin back to this thread...

well on the 2k you have to hit the pad with some authority. if you tap it too lightly sometimes or hit it on the corner, it may double tap. i used to think something was wrong with my pads, but naw. you have to hit them in the center and hit them like you mean it sometimes lol. dont be afraid to abuse your pads

By asan Wed Jun 07, 2006 9:27 am
Wow. I just read *ALL* 10 pages of this sh!t in one sitting. OMG.

Anyhow, here's a straight-up GE manufacturer's link for the sealant distortedtekno copped:
http://www.geadvancedmaterials.com/geam ... dglue.html

Hey yo, money. It's been 2 months and 1 week since you did the silcone hack. Those 3 pads still bangin'? (No pun intended.)
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By distortedtekno Wed Jun 07, 2006 12:20 pm
asan wrote:Wow. I just read *ALL* 10 pages of this sh!t in one sitting. OMG.

Anyhow, here's a straight-up GE manufacturer's link for the sealant distortedtekno copped:
http://www.geadvancedmaterials.com/geam ... dglue.html

Hey yo, money. It's been 2 months and 1 week since you did the silcone hack. Those 3 pads still bangin'? (No pun intended.)

Yo, glad you read the whole thread. Now you know the deal.
That's the exact silicone I used and it's still holding up. 8)
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By bassics Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:05 pm
monophonic wrote:In order to get to know the MPC a little better, I felt like opening it. (maybe that doesn't make sense to you, but it does to me ;). Besides, a little cleanup can't hurt. Now I happen to have my trusty Coolpix990 nearby, so I took pictures of the whole procedure. And added some green circles where something needs to be done. Think of it as an addendum to the original post.

I wanted to inspect the carbon in my pads, so after reading the 1st post, here's what I think: once you remove the grey rubber pad from the base, there is no way to get the pad back under the black-metal-frame that used to hold it [pic 15].. So if you want to restore the pad to their factory-like state, you have to remove the whole pad board [pic 07] and use a knife to loosen the black-frame clips [pic 15] and fit the pad under it. I did just that. When the pad finally was back in place, I used pliers to tighten the frame around the pad. I covered the pliers with some black duck take to avoid damaging the black-metal-frame [last pic]. Notice the contact points of the pliers with the pad.. when you apply pressure that way, the pad will fit nicely and feel solid just like it was.

For those of you who think this is a redundant post, it's cool.. As for the others who have had issues with their MPCs but weren't sure/didn't have the courage to open their box.. here ya go! Now anyone* can do it.

Highlights:
-there's 9 screws to open MPC: 6 external + 1 flat one near Compact Flash [pic 06] + 2 underneath Compact Flash cover [pic 06].
-4 that hold the pad board + 2 cables
-2 that hold each pad + 1 cable

hope this helps at least 1 person out there. peace.
M.J.

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Wow mp, these are great pics...very clear!!, I haven't been on here in a while but this very detailed, nice one...I remebered a while back someone talked about using aluminium foil and he accidentally shorted out his MPC...well I decided to give this a go [not teh shorting out bit haha] the reason I wanted to try this is after a few carbon re-makes I still kept finding the pads would slowley die on me.

OK,what I did was,once the pads were open I fixed a rectangular piece of foil exactly the size of the sensor etch to the underside of the pad, again I used the UHU glue and let dry in the sun for pretty much all day, I put it all back together again that nite and it works better than any other thing I've tried so far, EXTREMELY responsive, kinda feels like you have 0-127 velocity in a faster curve, I found performing "ghost" notes easy to do by resting my finger on the pad and lightly pressing when needed, I also found I didn't need to "pound" the pads as hard...I have only done the 2 faulty pads so far but will remove all pads and discard the carbon in favour of the foil over the weekend...I hope that helps...my next thing is to remove the "Numeric" button and swap it for the "Up" cursor as its starting to play up on me...pce