MPC 3K buying tips needed

Hi guys, this is my first post, great forum.

I want to buy a 3k on ebay and the one i'm looking at has OS 3.08 installed. is this a problem or is upgrading simple? and another question, i live in europe and the item is located in the US, will need a voltage converter from 110V to the EU standard?

Anything else i should be looking at?

Thanx for your help!!

I wouldn't buy 3.08 your gonna have some problems possibly. You could get it and then download Rohan's 3.16 OS to a floppy or zip and use that instead so you don't get errors.

what kind of problems? how does one upgrade?

(what about the "mansell-labs" OS?)

Get the Mansell-Labs update and your straight!

i'd love the mansell labs upgrade, i wasn't aware that it's 200$ though.

Anyway, why is upgrading to 3.11 is a problem? plz elaborate...

7 1 4 Beats wrote:I wouldn't buy 3.08 your gonna have some problems possibly. You could get it and then download Rohan's 3.16 OS to a floppy or zip and use that instead so you don't get errors.

MPC3000 machines can boot from:

1: OS in ROM.
2: OS on FLOPPY.

No boot capable from SCSI devices.

Rohan.

flextone wrote:i'd love the mansell labs upgrade, i wasn't aware that it's 200$ though.

Anyway, why is upgrading to 3.11 is a problem? plz elaborate...

If you get a machine that is fitted with OS 3.08 in ROM then it "may" exhibit problems when attempting to boot a floppy based update. ( to any higher version )

"MAY" meaning ...... might not work.

Also, booting the MPC3000 from a floppy based OS reduces the available sequencer memory.

3.11 : http://www.akaipro.com/archive_os/Mpcv311.zip

Unzip to a DOS formatted floppy. ( formatted by a Windows or MAC computer ).

3.16 : Still available for download at:

http://www.mansell-labs.com/downloads/m3k316.rar ... Instructions are with the download.

Rohan.

as a simple question.. why did u choose the 3k????? its somehow important... i just wanna ask so everything goes right for u!

well, beyond the crunchy sound which i want and the groove and tightness factor, i love the way it is built and laid out. plus, i'm a big roger linn fan and i'd rather have a 13 y.o machine with character then a new- chinese made-pads double trigger-feels like toy-mpc.

Rohan, can't the ROM be upgraded with sysex or something? only floppies? is the mansell-labs OS also a floppy one ?

then you got the wrong machine
[quote="flextone"]well, beyond the crunchy sound which i want [quote]

i assume you mean the mpc60, great crunch i agree, but i will not pay that much for a 12bit only machine. i'll just get a decent bitcrusher (then i can have 8bit as well!)

3k is not all that lo fi sounding.

flextone wrote:Rohan, can't the ROM be upgraded with sysex or something? only floppies? is the mansell-labs OS also a floppy one ?

The old Mansell-Labs 3.14B/3.14/3.16 OS was available in ROM for a period of time until is was obsoleted by the release of Vailixi 3.50.

The old Mansell-Labs 3.16 OS is still available as a "session boot" floppy release. ( with usual side affects, reduced sequencer RAM etc ...... )

The Mansell-Labs MPC3000 Vailixi 3.50 OS resides in a pair of ROM chips only and is not available as a "session boot" floppy release.

ROM == READ ONLY MEMORY.

Not upgradeable in circuit via live dump methods at an end user level.

The ROM chips are UV erase types.

They take an hour plus to erase correctly in a UV eraser.

Further time is then needed to program and test the ROMS in a dedicated workbench development environment.

Upgrades are then carried out by a physical ROM swap. ( removal of old / fit of new )

The MPC3000 was made before FLASH memory was common place in appliances; so full and permanent live update techniques are not viable.

"Session boot" floppy upgrades are not permanent and operate with undesirable side affects. ( reduced sequencer RAM etc )

The complexity of the newer OS features require the installation to be in ROM.

All of this has been discussed in some way or another on www.mpc-forums.com and the yahoo mpc3000 list many times in the past.

The http://www.mansell-labs.com/faq for more of the same info again.

Rohan.

ok, thanx for all the info! i'll look for a 3.11 mpc3k then!

[quote="flextone"]well, beyond the crunchy sound which i want and the groove and tightness factor, i love the way it is built and laid out. plus, i'm a big roger linn fan and i'd rather have a 13 y.o machine with character then a new- chinese made-pads double trigger-feels like toy-mpc.

Okay, i was about the same thing when i bought mine... all this music thing taught me is ... except for 12 bits samplers... u WONT find a sound thats tight by default...

U have to tweak it... 3kz arent Crunchy, they are FAT, LOUD, DEEP, MUFFLED... but not crunchy.. except if u tweak it to be...

A really good example of the 3k sound should be the first Slum Village albums! cop them... its a teaching on rythm as well hehe

What u have to know is that most of beatmakers tweak up EVERYTHING they got so it sounds loud.. i dont wanna discourage you! its just that.. ur machine is HELL IMPORTANT (and go for the 3k hehe) but ull have to work ur sounds if u make beats.. thats the universal law.

eg : Dr. Dre, Swizzie... they both use the 3k and they dont have the same sound (yet they both LOUD AS **** MAHAHHAHA)

Seriously if u have any question regarding the purchase of a 3k ... or existential production questions... holla at me