shoulda coulda woulda

saved my work. i just lost a bunch of songwriting on my 500. fvcking SYSTEM ERROR, and i could not play or save or anything. the system memory was full i think. and i didn't even have that much in there, like maybe 16 sequences or so..

that makes me think the 500 sucks and i need to go back to my good old 2000XL. but i wanted a smaller more portable MPC!!! i'll probably keep the 500 but it is not reliable for me, and i need rock-solid performance at all times. the 2000XL has never let me down. ever.

I think the same thing. everything works very well on the 500, except the sequencer. it seems that the 500 can not handle everything I bought the 500 for. I'm previous 2kxl owner too, and bought the 500 for the same reason, but this system errors makes me think...

I like to believe the the only purpose for the 500 is for brainstorming and some live playing. I find it hard to think of it is any other way, if i do, i may see the shotcoming you speak of as well.

the MPC500 is a great addition to a stabilized music system, it cannot be the music system ... the 2000xl is a great all in one system ...

DHGonzalez wrote:I like to believe the the only purpose for the 500 is for brainstorming and some live playing. I find it hard to think of it is any other way, if i do, i may see the shotcoming you speak of as well.

the MPC500 is a great addition to a stabilized music system, it cannot be the music system ... the 2000xl is a great all in one system ...

i agree

peyote wrote:i'll probably keep the 500 but it is not reliable for me, and i need rock-solid performance at all times. the 2000XL has never let me down. ever.

The early MPC OS versions always have bugs like this.

If you used a similar early version of the MPC2000XL OS, you would probably have similar problems.

You just have to wait for Akai to hopefully make the OS more stable.

SimonInAustralia wrote:

peyote wrote:i'll probably keep the 500 but it is not reliable for me, and i need rock-solid performance at all times. the 2000XL has never let me down. ever.

The early MPC OS versions always have bugs like this.

If you used a similar early version of the MPC2000XL OS, you would probably have similar problems.

You just have to wait for Akai to hopefully make the OS more stable.

I'm sure your right about this Simon, once the OS is stable the 500 should be alot more useful than it is now.

what made you think the 500 can replace the xl?

I finally took some time and played on an MPC500. I'm not sure about the OS, because I didn't spend an incredible amount of time with it to notice bugs.

I liked that it was quite easy to get parts down on it. I never did find the Solo button, once I laid down some tracks! However, the thing that really got me to rethink the purchase was the very small rec, stop buttons. Also, I don't know if it was the model I was playing on, but a few times I had to hit the stop button several times for it to stop. I'm not exagerating here. This really troubled me.

Right next to it was a Black MPC1000. I enjoyed that much better. However, I think the data knob on that thing was very flimsy. Again, could have been that particular one, but man, I just couldn't believe how poorly out of wack it was.

Feature wise (and size) both of the above are very appealing, but I'll stick with the 2kXL and 3000.

ones i tried were all like that. store demo or out the box.

switch18 wrote:I However, I think the data knob on that thing was very flimsy. Again, could have been that particular one, but man, I just couldn't believe how poorly out of wack it was.

I've been lurking about on this forum a fair bit recently as i'm very interested in getting a 500, but some of these comments are a bit worrying.

I agree with DHGonzalez that the 500 will never be a stand alone music system and I have always intended to use it alongside other bits of kit, both in the studio and on stage. However, if there are definite problems with the OS then I am gonna think twice before parting with the cash. Although an OS update may solve some of these saving issues i'm a bit dubious about shelling out £400 for a bit of kit that isn't working to its full capacity.

The portability REALLY appeals to me, as does the chance to get away from the computer screen when making music. In some of the other threads there are users who don't seem to be having any problems at all, but then there's also one poor guy that had to return his about 4 or 5 times. Maybe I should sacrifice the portability, using my Macbook for portable creativity, and look for a 2nd hand 2kxl...

Bong Sau wrote:I've been lurking about on this forum a fair bit recently as i'm very interested in getting a 500, but some of these comments are a bit worrying.

I agree with DHGonzalez that the 500 will never be a stand alone music system and I have always intended to use it alongside other bits of kit, both in the studio and on stage. However, if there are definite problems with the OS then I am gonna think twice before parting with the cash. Although an OS update may solve some of these saving issues i'm a bit dubious about shelling out £400 for a bit of kit that isn't working to its full capacity.

The portability REALLY appeals to me, as does the chance to get away from the computer screen when making music. In some of the other threads there are users who don't seem to be having any problems at all, but then there's also one poor guy that had to return his about 4 or 5 times. Maybe I should sacrifice the portability, using my Macbook for portable creativity, and look for a 2nd hand 2kxl...

Well to be honest the 500 is pretty solid as is, but it does need some inprovements within the OS. I can honestly see these improvements coming pretty soon, and more than likely we can expect an update from both JJ and akai. I doubt highly that with the 500 being the most affordable mpc on the market that akai would just let it sit around in the state it's in now. The portability is awesome.I really don't have much to complain about except for the fact that it could use some sort of chop shop and that there are some rough edges that need smoothing out, like the unused tracks saying unused when there is no data present and a few other things along these lines. ..my 2 cents

I doubt highly that with the 500 being the most affordable mpc on the market that akai would just let it sit around in the state it's in now

Good point. Although it is surprising that certain problems weren't ironed before it was released. But I guess if one OS update can solve these problems then it'll be a steal at £400.

switch18 wrote: Also, I don't know if it was the model I was playing on, but a few times I had to hit the stop button several times for it to stop. I'm not exagerating here. This really troubled me.

you can't hit stop right after hitting play in the 500. there is a delay. if you hit stop during the first 1/4 second or something, the button just does not work.
just another workflow tweak of the 500 that is minor, but matters to some people some of the time. like me, sometimes.

also i don't really like the step edit mode of the 500. i had a snare pattern on one track and a kick pattern on the other. i wanted to go through and make sure the kicks and snares did no overlap and delete any that did. this would be a piece of cake on the 2000XL, but hard as hell on the 500. i worked it out but it took much longer than i wanted it to

switch18 wrote:
I don't know if it was the model I was playing on, but a few times I had to hit the stop button several times for it to stop. I'm not exagerating here. This really troubled me.

Are you talking about the fact that on long samples you have to press stop three times to stop it?? Because this was explained in the manual of my 2500. When you press stop if a sample is long it will continue to play although the rest of the track will stop i.e. drums and other short samples. To stop it you have to press stop 3 times.

Upright wrote:

switch18 wrote:
I don't know if it was the model I was playing on, but a few times I had to hit the stop button several times for it to stop. I'm not exagerating here. This really troubled me.

Are you talking about the fact that on long samples you have to press stop three times to stop it?? Because this was explained in the manual of my 2500. When you press stop if a sample is long it will continue to play although the rest of the track will stop i.e. drums and other short samples. To stop it you have to press stop 3 times.

Nope, I know about that. I made a pattern & just wanted to stop the sequence. A trailing sample happens & sometimes I like that effect, but I'm talking straight stopping the sequencer. I litterally had to hit the stop button several times to get it to stop. The response on a stop button should be instant. I shouldn't have to hit that more than once to get it to stop. I don't why, but I thought that was odd given the short amount of time that machine has been out.

Cheers.