Reviews and questions about the entry-level MPC500
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By SamOwen Wed Feb 07, 2007 1:07 am
Cosmic wrote:hell yeah i heard that noise! was a big problem n turn off for me. ....but here's what i learned from experimenting;

the noise happened for two reasons for me. the first is low battery. seems wen it gets below 6volts it starts making that noise. -solution>> either plug it in the ac adapter, or new/charged batteries.

!!another thing that definitely helps reduce the noise at any time is shutting off the backlight! always remember that!!

the second reason mine was making noise besides the battery, was the "audio ins". after a month of having it, i had it plugged into my main mixer and all my equipment and heard the mpc giving a loud buzz that turned me off so much. i was so close to returning it but it was past the refund date. so i was checking the wires... n wen i pulled out the audio ins, the buzz instantly went away. i dont know if its the mpc, the cables, or my mixer, but all i know now is if i record audio from the mpc to my computer (cubase) to not have the audio ins plugged into the mpc. and probably have the backlight turned off also. and either the batteries new/charged or ac adapter plugged in. i hope that helps anybody :D


Damn turning off the backlight was a lovely idea ! I haven't had any problems.

4000- Have you dealt with blacklionaudio.com before ?--SamOwen
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By Contra Wed Feb 07, 2007 5:27 am
Cosmic wrote:!!another thing that definitely helps reduce the noise at any time is shutting off the backlight! always remember that!!

and probably have the backlight turned off also.


but dood dont you think that sucks, that you as a consumer have to buy a product from them and have to subjugate yourself to that?

they should replace that. akai. dont they have the warranty? or do they keep people's mpcs and never return them?

By Cosmic Wed Feb 07, 2007 5:40 am
hell yeah it sucks. but from i read from other people, battery operated stuff usually has a noise wen the batteries get low. plus i did a warranty thing b4 and it took forever for them to fix it. im not in the mood for that. my bet is everybody elses does the buzz sound also... u only hear it wen its full blast and nothing playing. eventhough the backlight buzz is always there, it is low, but its there and that sucks too. i think its the mpc model itself, not just mine.

By chap Wed Feb 07, 2007 6:03 pm
that noise sounds like a radio frequency and i've heard it before. i think all electrical equipment will generate a buzz like that under certain conditions.

has anyone heard the same sound coming from the 1/4" inch outputs?

By airikr Wed Feb 07, 2007 8:34 pm
Yes, I get the high pitched noise from all outputs. I tried turning of the backlight and the noise got quieter but is still there.

Other than this the MPC500 is a great machine!

By Cosmic Wed Feb 07, 2007 8:44 pm
dont forget it might be the audio ins that u sample from, wen they were plugged into mine it made a buzz noticable wen i had it full blast... wen i took those wires out it made the buzz stop.

By sampie Wed Feb 07, 2007 9:01 pm
i think some mpc500's had a problem. I changed 3 of them b4 i got one that has no noise via AC/or batteries.

By Cosmic Wed Feb 07, 2007 11:16 pm
damn u changed 3? did u do it at the store u bought it at, or through akai itself? how long did it take? u try the new one at full blast to test it?

By sampie Thu Feb 08, 2007 4:43 pm
I changed them at guitar center, cause it was still under warranty. The one i got now has no noise. knock on wood!! I heard the noise with the other ones thru the headphones out. If you buy a mpc500 plug some heaphones into it and just listen. If u hear a whining noise even if it is low, i would return it for another one. The whining noise is a problem. When i would put a cf card in the 500, the whining sound changed pitch but was still there!!! no joke! so i was like i aint havin it!!! I had real bad luck with the first few mpc500's i had. Along with error messages, freezing etc.

By SjorsSchors Thu Feb 08, 2007 10:53 pm
I just bought an MPC500 today. Quite a cool thing indeed!

I am hearing very much noise when i connect it to my pc thru USB. The noise is coming out of the outs of the mpc. Do you all have this too? :roll:

Grts,

Dennis

By Cosmic Fri Feb 09, 2007 7:30 am
wen its connected usb, u dont use it for anything except file shares/transfers... so it doesnt matter if it makes noise while connected usb. only at other times wen ur actually using it.
By DJStylus Tue Feb 13, 2007 10:08 pm
I've had my 500 for a little over a month and had no trace of this noise problem until yesterday when I installed the free RAM upgrade that I got from Akai.

The noise actually got louder when I turned the unit off. I tried different cables but it's the unit. The noise stuck around when I took the RAM out. The noise doesn't respond to the rec level or master output level knobs. It sounds like ungrounded buzz, static and a bit of RF interference.

I'll try experimenting with the backlight and the USB but I've already got a return set up with Akai. They were pretty helpful once I waited on hold long enough. The tech support rep mentioned that they haven't received any calls about this. He said he would check these forums for more clues about the problem.

By Cosmic Wed Feb 14, 2007 12:13 am
stylus, u using an ac adapter or batteries? that noise gets bad with low batteries too.

By DJStylus Wed Feb 14, 2007 5:09 pm
Cosmic wrote:stylus, u using an ac adapter or batteries? that noise gets bad with low batteries too.


I'm using the AC adapter. Haven't yet tried with batteries.

The noise was reduced significantly when I removed the USB cable but there was zero noise before I installed the RAM upgrade. Without the USB cable the staticy/RF stuff is gone and what's left is that high frequency whine that others have noticed.

I should also point out that I have never plugged any cables into the audio ins because I transfer files by USB rather than sampling directly into the unit.
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By PoBoi Wed Feb 14, 2007 6:39 pm
Well... Looks like I'mma hold out for a 2000xl......