Pad upgrade kit

gunmetal: if akai started selling a 1000xl, they'd probably offer the flippable screen as an upgrade aswell

got my pads today and they definitively feel better than the original ones, but the velocity is plain shit with the jj os. it worked great with the akai os, but i just can't use that anymore after having ring modulation and mtc since i bought the jj os.

the threshhold issue has to be adressed, as i feel i'll break my mpc when i try to reach a decent velocity. i use full level for most of the samples, but i like having a bit wider range of velocity when i'm programming drums.

Don't get me wrong, I'm just as disappointed as everyone else about the problems with the original pads. But everyone has to realize that the crappy 1000 pads are probably one of the main reasons the 1000 was so affordable in the first place. Akai had to cut corners somewhere in order to be able to sell the 1000 at that price point, and unfortunately, the pads suffered. Had they originally sold the 1000 with the new pads, we would have paid an extra couple hunderd dollars when we bought our MPC. It doesn't make sense to me that people think they should get free pad upgrade kits. Maybe free original pad replacements... but that's what the warranty is for.

Sorry, I don't mean to sound like Jahrome, but cats gotta remember that you get what you pay for, and nothin is free.

True, it's shady that the pads seemed to start to go bad right around the time that the warranty expired, but to expect free pad upgrades doesn't really make sense to me.

good post. i've thought about that issue a LOT.

here's what i've learned and figured.

the mpc1000-500 (lineage) are all made using more common (not necessarily less quality) electronic parts and pieces than their older counterparts - i'm not even talking about pads yet. so already, all mpcs after the 4000 have a LARGE production cost cut to begin with.

2 - reused OS. akai has reused large portions of the code for each consecutive machine since the 1000. this saves a lot on coding. also, they appear to do no bug testing on their machines, which saves some money.

finally, the pads. here's something to consider that always bugged me real bad. technically speaking, the 1000's original pads were MORE COMPLICATED in concept and design, AND involved MUCH MUCH MUCH more labor in assembly!!!

in the changeover of old akai to nukai, Franklin Eventoff moved companies, from Interlink Electronics under which he invented the FSR to Sensitronics, where he now creates another FSR with a different name. This is what the 2500, 500 and n1000 use.

what happened in between? akai ordered parts from Inaba, the results of which we all know. monetarily cheaper? maybe. maybe not. all that labor, both in pad assembly and pcb assembly, was intense!!!

http://1226354.estore.networksolutionsd ... bok?no=220

"...The kit includes all the parts necessary to install the new pad design; 1 PCB, 1 Pad Assembly, 1 Pad Holder, 1 Pad Sensor Sheet, and 1 set of rubber pads..."

TBonus76 wrote:Don't get me wrong, I'm just as disappointed as everyone else about the problems with the original pads. But everyone has to realize that the crappy 1000 pads are probably one of the main reasons the 1000 was so affordable in the first place. Akai had to cut corners somewhere in order to be able to sell the 1000 at that price point, and unfortunately, the pads suffered. Had they originally sold the 1000 with the new pads, we would have paid an extra couple hunderd dollars when we bought our MPC. It doesn't make sense to me that people think they should get free pad upgrade kits. Maybe free original pad replacements... but that's what the warranty is for.

Sorry, I don't mean to sound like Jahrome, but cats gotta remember that you get what you pay for, and nothin is free.

True, it's shady that the pads seemed to start to go bad right around the time that the warranty expired, but to expect free pad upgrades doesn't really make sense to me.

well I'm not about to buy a car with bad breaks for a price cut. Especially when I don't know the breaks are bad. So I'm mad. The people @ Microsoft are fixing 360's left and right for their customers and they didn't intentionally sell a bad product. Akai intentionally sold you busted pads and their charging you to get good ones. They're ripping you and you're okay with that? I must take a page outta your book and say that just doesn't make sense to me!
If I had of known about the prob, even though its more money, I would've saved up for a 2500. Or atleast a used 2000XL! Come on dog. You're trying to defend a guilty company who got caught redhanded and there is tens maybe hundreds of thousands of witnesses. You're case is not lookin' good homie.

C'mon now... Akai did not "intentionally sell busted pads". This ain't no conspiracy man. The pads worked fine out of the box. Those that didn't were replaced free of charge under the warranty. Many people have never even had any problems with their pads (me included). Those that have, had the option to have them replaced free under the warranty. Once the warranty is up, you're on your own, just like anything else that you buy. AKAI didn't know the pads were going to go bad. Your car analogy doesn't quite work here, and actually, it's "brakes" not "breaks", but that's a pretty ironic mistake considering the conversation . I understand cats are upset that their pads are going bad, but to say that AKAI intentionally sold us these flawed pads is a stretch. They ain't out to get you man.

I'm not trying to defend them, I'm just being realistic. I think it sucks that the pads are shltty, and it sucks that AKAI didn't realize they were not gonna last very long, but shlt happens. If you want a car analogy... here's one... Let's say your warranty is expired and your horn stops working. Is the car company gonna pay for your new horn? No... the warranty is up so you're on your own. It sucks, but thats the way it goes. It's business. The 360 situation is different. They realized they had an actual defect. The 1000 doesn't have a defect, just pads that aren't that great. That's what warranties are for.

tbonus, have you ever personally looked inside an mpc1000 pad?
there is CLEARLY a defect. the basic principle of design is inherently flawed.

Thanx for the spelling correction. I didn't read your whole post. Like you, I was like, "why are all these people having problems? My pads are fine!" Til 3 weeks ago when my pads started acting funny. They switched their pads from the company that they relied on for years to some cheaper concoction that they developed themselves to save money cause they were going bankrupt. They were cashing in on the fact that they were to make this the last MPC before they went under. So since they switched up the pads for cheaper ones that they HAD TO KNOW WEREN'T GONNA BE AS GOOD, who do you think they were looking out for? You and me or their own pockets? That is business bro, Bad business! I'm still under warranty, but why would I send in my MPC just for them to put on more pads that will go dead again very soon? I haven't even had my MPC for a year yet! So then I send it in and my pads go dead again in 2 months. No warranty anymore sooooo..... what do I do?! Buy more pads that will go dead in another 2 months! I'm cool off that playa. And the pads goin' dead aint even the only problem. They had a winning recipe and they switched it up to save themselves cash @ the expense of their customers. Bad business. And them lets go to the length of time it took to get the fix out. They have known for more than 2 years that the pads had a defect, but we don't get a fix til '07?! Come on! And like I said, how come Microsoft did such a good job of taking care of the defects in the 360? And speedy too! How is the 360 situation different?!
My man, I got nothin' but love for you, but if you think this is the way a business is to be ran, and this behavior towards your customers is fine and dandy, don't start a business. Please!

the 360 situation sucks too. I dont know if you have ever been to the xbox hardware forums but there are alot of pissed off people there too.

TBonus is right. Akai made a cheaper mpc. It's half the price of any other mpc, and a fraction of the price of what mpc's used to be back in the day. They're not gonna spend as much money on a consumer product as they are on a professional product. The problem is that on a drum machine people are actually hitting it repeatedly, so it can break. There was a design flaw and they've redesigned it. They never set out to have this problem but it was a new product and it happened. I think everyone got their money's worth. You want a real mpc buy the 2500 or 2000. Or get the new pads (once the JJ problem is sorted) and you're straight.

I feel you hereo, and I think you got me all wrong. You said you didn't read my whole post, so I'm not sure how much stock I should put in your response, but I'll try to clarify. I agree with the fact that it's shady that the pads suck. Having used other MPCs, I was disappointed at the feel of the pads when I got my 1000. They were obviously inferior pads. I agree that the design of the pads sucks.

What I don't agree with is that people think that AKAI "intentionally" sold a crappy product. Yes, they skimped out on the pad design and cut corners to get the price of the 1000 down, but as a previous business owner, I understand that sometimes you have go for the cheaper parts to keep the price down in order to stay competitive. That said, It would have been nice if they had designed a better "cheap pad" than they did, but that's easy to say in retrospect. I'm sure that if AKAI had it to do over again, they would have either used a better "cheap pad" or they would have gone ahead and upped the price on the 1000 and used the good pads. Their decision didn't work out for them, but that doesn't make them a shady company that's trying to screw everyone over. In fact, it's kinda the opposite. They were trying to make a less expensive MPC so that more people would be able to buy one. It turned out to be a bad call to change the pads, but they didn't know that going into it. I'm not defending them at all, I'm just trying to point that I don't think they are trying to screw anyone over.

I would suggest that anyone who feels like AKAI screwed them over, sell your MPC 1000, and buy something else. Personally, I don't feel screwed, just a little disappointed at the pads, but I love the machine. The problem is that I see a whole lot of people crying about how AKAI is so shady and all that, but then at the same time, they still love their AKAI machine. Love it or leave it.

We are all disappointed in the pads, that's a given. For the price of the 1000, I kinda expected that there would be something that wasn't up to par with the other MPCs, so I wasn't surprised when the pads were lame. Overall, I am very satisfied with the 1000 though. And I think most people here would agree.


NYM: Yeah, I've seen the pads. The design sucks, even more so in retrospect after seeing the failures. But I don't think AKAI could have known the extent of the failures that were to come. That was my point. I don't think it was a malicious design change by any means, just a bad call.

dude, any engineer who knows a DROP of anything about rubber, about silicone, and about moving parts could have seen this train coming. the only way they could miss it is 1, intentionally, or 2, incompetent.

but i bet you're right - it wasn't "intended" that they would break so much as whoever they hired to build the original pads -- which we don't even know costed less due to increased labor -- was completely and utterly incompetent.

but to EXPECT that this would happen "because the 1000 is cheaper" is just naive. it suggests that the technology used in the 1000 is "doomed to fail."

this is not true. akai could have used the parts they purchased from Inaba rubber to perfectly good effect - a working, usable, DURABLE alternative to the interlink electronic FSR - but they didn't. it wouldn't have cost them any more to use self contained sensors like the sr-d15-s that i did in my own version (remember, those are also made by inaba!!)

i've said this a hundred times. it's not in the sensor technology, it's in the SENSOR DESIGN. 4 dots of silicone glue is not adequate adhesion on a sloughing rubber part. i've shown the problem and the original pads to almost half a dozen engineers, electricians, carpenters, and a guitar effects pedal inventor and each basically slap their forehead at this design.

props to the finger wrote:got my pads today and they definitively feel better than the original ones, but the velocity is plain **** with the jj os. it worked great with the akai os, but i just can't use that anymore after having ring modulation and mtc since i bought the jj os.

the threshhold issue has to be adressed, as i feel i'll break my mpc when i try to reach a decent velocity. i use full level for most of the samples, but i like having a bit wider range of velocity when i'm programming drums.

i bought a couple of single replacement pads from vst and i think they had the same problem: they just are not as responsive- but is this the OS or the replacement pads themselves? i have to hit the pads REALLY hard to get them to trigger at full velocity, and they dont respond as consistently to light hits.

do we know if JJ is planning to create a version of the OS that will work better with the new pads? it seems like just setting the threshold lower would do the trick, but i dont know.

i think i might do some testing for differences between the akai os and the jj os, strictly in terms of pad response. anyone have any info to share regarding this?

oh, also- can i install akai's v2.11, and then just reinstall the jj os when im done testing? like do i need to re-enter the password or anything?

AlphaMale wrote:oh, also- can i install akai's v2.11, and then just reinstall the jj os when im done testing? like do i need to re-enter the password or anything?

no, once you put in the password once you will never have to do it again - even if you go back and forth between akai and jj os