Post your views and questions about the Akai MPC2500
By Alphasatori Thu Jul 26, 2007 3:18 pm
When i am using my q-link sliders for effects like tune in real time, i am starting to get random pitch's. say i am hitting a sample on one of the pads and i have Q1 slider set to TUNE in real-time. when i drop the slider down to -120 and tap it, i get thses crazy jumps in pitch. even if i tap the side of the fader to the right it the stereo image starts messing up. I think the fader is screwed. anyone have the same issues ?

By _Stilo_ Thu Jul 26, 2007 5:27 pm
Are you using the latest OS?
By Master Yoda Thu Jul 26, 2007 7:38 pm
I had the same issue when I purchased a used MPC-2500 I ordered the whole PCB from akai. when I opened the machine I noticed it was something so simple the solder was loose from the q-link slider went to radio shack bought a cheap soldering iron and resolder the slider and it worked! kept the new pcb for a back up...might want to check if the solde is sllightly loose mine too gave me a wierd effect...now it works like it should the parts are dirt cheap on the MPC-2500 but damn I love the mpc! just a superb unit!

peace

YODA USA
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By synthburn Fri Jul 27, 2007 4:22 am
yeah i got my 2500 used on ebay and it came with the q1 qlink like that.
what mine was doing was, let say i had the slider near the bottom and the pitch wqs real low, i could just barely touch the slider (like rock it just a bit to the side) and the pitch would jump to somewhere near the top of the range of the qlink, and it even recorded this way in the sequencer.

i called vst and ordered a new potentiometer (slider) and unsoldered the bad one off and popped the new one on, making sure to out a good well done glob of sauter err..sauder?? on the two middle anchor pins and everything was good to go after.

but two interesting things happened after;
1- i opened the bad slider and found out that it works by use of a loop (more like a U shape) of conductive wire that, as you move the slider down, the connecting point moves further away from the top of the "U" of wire, and this increases the resistance on the voltage moving through the U. (imagine a U wire with a dash though it...the dash being the bottom of the slider. the dash moves up and down the U)
what was causing it to jump values was simply, that the casing was loose and when i nudged the slider, it actually lifted the connector on the bottom of the slider off the U and it opened up the circuit, dropping the values assigned to the slider back to somewhere around 0-3

2- i found that the new slider i put on was of much better build quality and should not be as susceptible to the same issuse. BUT it has a horrible "feel" it was all scratchy and had no resistance, unlike the original slider that had a smooth feel and a bit of resistance when you move it.
so what i did was blast some wd40 in the new pot and after a few days when it set it a bit, i now have the choise of a traditionial 2500 slider (Q2) and a real quick moving flick back and forth dj style slider (the new Q1)

By Alphasatori Fri Jul 27, 2007 10:42 am
_Stilo_ wrote:Are you using the latest OS?


No i am not, i must upgrade to the latest, but judging from the other comments it must be a hardware issue. You can get some nice effects with it, but its crap if it happens when you dont want it to.

By Alphasatori Fri Jul 27, 2007 10:45 am
synthburn wrote: i now have the choise of a traditionial 2500 slider (Q2) and a real quick moving flick back and forth dj style slider (the new Q1)


thats pretty cool..so if you are using the Tune effect, how well does the MPC keep up with the real quick fader ?
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By synthburn Fri Jul 27, 2007 2:54 pm
theres definatly a noticable lag, but its still a whole diffrent feel to the way you work it, but i try not to get too abusive with it like one would a dj crossfader, just becuase everytime i hit the case/edge with the fader under any force, i get a little uneasy...i try to treat my 2500 with a smooth hand

By _Stilo_ Fri Jul 27, 2007 6:19 pm
Alphasatori wrote:
_Stilo_ wrote:Are you using the latest OS?


No i am not, i must upgrade to the latest, but judging from the other comments it must be a hardware issue.

Well, before soldering anything in your $2000 machine, I would make sure it is really not a software issue. There were some problems with the Q-Links in earlier OS.

By Alphasatori Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:45 am
ok thanx, i am thinking of trying out the latest JJ Os