Samples not playing to the end - Video example

I've had my MPC 500 for a week or two but haven't really used it much as I have some RAM on order for it as I was finding the onboard 16MB a bit restrictive on day one.

In my limited experience using it, I appear to be having an issue. I'm not sure if it's a setting that needs changing, if the 500 is faulty, because of my limited RAM or if it's purely a limitation of the 500 model.

In a nutshell, I have created a sequence and have it looping while I play with some samples over the top. When playing patterns over the top, it appears to be affecting the playback of the samples in the sequence.

Here is a YouTube video of my problem.

The set-up:
- 8 Bar loop.
- Six tracks.
- Default programs in memory.
- Loaded Strings program.
- Loaded program of samples from a TV show I've sampled.
- Tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Muted.

Explanation:
- 00:03 - Track 1 playing. Low strings.
- 00:19 - Un-mute track 2. Drums.
- 00:36 - Un-mute track 3. Unknown, could be empty!
- 00:52 - Un-mute track 4. Synth?
- 01:07 - Un-mute track 5. High strings.
- 01:24 - Un-mute track 6. Voice.
- 01:40 - Load strings into track 7.
- 01:47 - Demonstration of sample not playing to end.
- 02:10 - Playing pattern with strings, voice sample play to end.
- 02:20 - Plating pattern with strings, voice sample cuts out.
- 02:35 - Plating pattern with strings, voice sample cuts out.
- 03:03 - Demonstration of sample not playing to end.
- 03:14 - Stop loop, show full length of string sample.
- 03:22 - Start loop. Demonstration of sample not playing to end.
- 03:40 - Playing pattern with strings, low strings not playing to end.
- 03:55 - Select program with voice samples.
- 04:17 - Demonstration of voice sample cutting out.
- 04:25 - Stop loop and show full length of voice sample.

There's quite a bit of unnecessary bits in the video and explanation, but I tried to capture as much of the problem as bearable.

I have updated the firmware from 1.10 to 1.13, which didn't fix the problem.

So, is anyone else experiencing this? What's going on?

Many thanks in advance, oh, and great forum guys - Been reading a lot today!

Either it's in note off or you don't know how to check the truncation of your sample.

It's the polyphony. You probably have effects on some of your samples and/or some of your samples are stereo samples. Using stereo samples cuts your polyphony in half, so if you were to use all stereo samples your polyphony would but 16 voices instead of 32. The akai site says that the mpc 500 has a 32 voice polyphony...but it use to say" depending on the situation that the mpc 500 would have a lowered polyphony i.e when using effects" This is the exact reason I sold the 500...I couldn't handle the polyphony issues....I'm glad you posted this vid so folks can check it out. If you're still under warranty maybe you can take it back and get a 1000 or maybe it's not that big of a deal for you, but I can tell you this....the 1000 and 2500 DO NOT HAVE THIS PROBLEM.

7 1 4 Beats wrote:Either it's in note off or you don't know how to check the truncation of your sample.

The only reference I can find to truncation on the 500 is in Mode -> Other -> Truncate dura. which is set to "As played". As far as "note off", I couldn't find any information on this in the manual, or looking through the settings on the 500 - The only similar thing I could find was in Mode -> Program -> Play mode. I have all my samples set to "Note on".

Upright wrote:It's the polyphony. You probably have effects on some of your samples and/or some of your samples are stereo samples. Using stereo samples cuts your polyphony in half, so if you were to use all stereo samples your polyphony would but 16 voices instead of 32. The akai site says that the mpc 500 has a 32 voice polyphony...but it use to say" depending on the situation that the mpc 500 would have a lowered polyphony i.e when using effects" This is the exact reason I sold the 500...I couldn't handle the polyphony issues....I'm glad you posted this vid so folks can check it out. If you're still under warranty maybe you can take it back and get a 1000 or maybe it's not that big of a deal for you, but I can tell you this....the 1000 and 2500 DO NOT HAVE THIS PROBLEM.

The reduction from a 32 to a 16 voice polyphony makes sense to me if the samples were in stereo or had effects attached to them, but in actuality, all of the samples used in the sequence are mono and have no effects on them.

I don't fully understand the term "32 voice polyphony" - Does this mean that it can play 32 channels of the same or different samples at the same time? My sequence must be only using about 10 samples anyway, and the fact that it starts playing all of the samples but cuts of halfway through is odd - Also, I have noticed that the samples last for about 4 beats before they cut out every time I tried it, starting at different positions in the bar.

Do you think that this is a hardware or software limitation? Is it likely to be fixed in a later firmware update, or can the audio processors only handle a certain amount?

In all fairness, I bought the 500 over a Boss DR-880 drum machine as I wanted something for looping drum patterns when practicing the guitar, the 500 appeared to do a whole lot more for a relatively small amount of extra money. But after playing with it, I want to start using it for more than just drums!

For someone who has had the mpc for only about a week or so, I'm impressed. Youre beat wasnt bad, I've had mine for a few weeks now and am still a little stuck. I need to read more. As far as your problem, I wish i could help but I just got the thing so..sorry

Doog wrote:The reduction from a 32 to a 16 voice polyphony makes sense to me if the samples were in stereo or had effects attached to them, but in actuality, all of the samples used in the sequence are mono and have no effects on them.

I don't fully understand the term "32 voice polyphony" - Does this mean that it can play 32 channels of the same or different samples at the same time? My sequence must be only using about 10 samples anyway, and the fact that it starts playing all of the samples but cuts of halfway through is odd - Also, I have noticed that the samples last for about 4 beats before they cut out every time I tried it, starting at different positions in the bar.

Do you think that this is a hardware or software limitation? Is it likely to be fixed in a later firmware update, or can the audio processors only handle a certain amount?

In all fairness, I bought the 500 over a Boss DR-880 drum machine as I wanted something for looping drum patterns when practicing the guitar, the 500 appeared to do a whole lot more for a relatively small amount of extra money. But after playing with it, I want to start using it for more than just drums!

32 voice polyphony as I understand it would mean that the mpc 500 should be able to play 32 sounds at one time as long as all the samples are mono.

I had this EXACT same problem with the 500 so believe me I feel where you're coming from. I couldn't figure out the exact reason for the samples cutting either...so I just chalked it up as a polyphony issue. As far as Akai fixing this problem...I guess you could always email them, maybe that will help.

I have a DR 880 and it's perfect for practicing guitar....although in the end you'll only really use the 880 for just that 'practicing guitar' and it sounds as if you have the skill to do much more than just practice your guitar with a beat and a bassline playing so I'd say you made a good decision going with the mpc 500.


PS if you get to the bottom of this problem please post your findings.

Thanks for your input Upright, I'll drop Akai an e-mail and point them to the video to enforce the issue. I'll post up if I hear anything of interest back from them.

That video is hilarious. Nicely done, man.

I'm having the same problem. I have no idea why it does that. Please post back any more info. that you get!!

Thanks for bringing this up.

Akai Professional Tech Support wrote:It sounds like you are running out of polyphony. Once this happens and new pads are pressed to trigger sounds, the MPC will take from sounds you have already sequenced which will cause them to end prematurely. Unfortunately increasing the RAM will not solve this. Using shorter samples or not as many samples per sequence would be the best workaround.

Akai Professional Tech Support wrote:That's correct; the polyphony on the MPC 2500 is the same as the 500. It really sounds like lack of polyphony is causing this and also the pad issue.

Hmmm.

Akai Professional Tech Support wrote:That's correct; the polyphony on the MPC 2500 is the same as the 500. It really sounds like lack of polyphony is causing this and also the pad issue.

Nope,....this is definitely not true....They may claim that the 500 has the same polyphony as the 2500 but it doesn't. I've spent hours upon hours with both machines and I can tell you without a doubt 'I've never ever had this problem with the 2500'....and when I had the polyphony problem with the mpc 500 I was no where near 32 voices...I wasn't even close to 16 voices for that matter!!

That stinks Doog! Hopefully this doesn't become a huge problem for you. If it does become something you just can't live with, you can always sell your 500 and upgrade.

Can we take this up with Akai somehow?

If they are false advertising, that's not cool.

I might not have made the purchase I did if the polyphony is really as bad as it seems.


But, maybe we are overlooking something? Why would they lie?

I sent the same e-mail to the american support address and the european one - This is what Europe has responded with:

Akai Professional Europe wrote:I think that your problem stems from your poly settings in mode program. Go to the voice overlap option in the program menu and change all single hits like a snare and kick drum to mono. You are getting a poly overload causing samples to cut out.

Doog wrote:I sent the same e-mail to the american support address and the european one - This is what Europe has responded with:

Akai Professional Europe wrote:I think that your problem stems from your poly settings in mode program. Go to the voice overlap option in the program menu and change all single hits like a snare and kick drum to mono. You are getting a poly overload causing samples to cut out.

Hmmmm,...we'll at least we all agree it's a polyphony issue

Maybe you can perform a simple test with all mono samples. Try and see when the polyphony cuts out by stacking samples. Like you said....it didn't seem as if your sequence in the video even had 32 voices. I think something's fishy here....I hope I'm wrong.

I'll do some experimentation over the next couple of days and see what I can come up with...

Stock sounds are horrible...