MPC5000 reviews, bug reports and fellow user support on the most recent standalone, hardware MPC from Akai
By 4dahaterz Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:22 am
tomazzzi wrote:??

yes, i know but it doesn t work

the MPC doesn t retransmit the MIDI time code when it s in Slave mode


I can Co-sign on this one... tried to use Pro Tools as the master, MPC 5000 Slave, and the MPC 2000XL Slaved to that(cause i got some of my favorite sounds already setup perfect in here), and it will slave fine to the MPC 5000 alone, but not when trying to slave the MPC 5000 to Pro Tools, and then to the MPC 2000XL will not start, only the MPC 5000 will.

Another bug
By tomazzzi Fri Jul 11, 2008 7:22 am
ah, i know you arent a Noobie, you found too many unknown bug issues for a noobie(which you actually know its a bug, most wouldnt probably)...


I was joking :)

The 4000 and the 2000XL usually work fine when slaving to something else, while its MIDI outs still start and stop another module. But they usually save quicker as well, although its not much memory to save on the 2000XL, cause its only 32mb.


So i guess the 5000 should also have this feature ....bug then ...
Yeah they should improve the save time also cause it s damn slow when you have 64mb to save, i can t imagine with 192 !

A little question i asked myself yesterday ..maybe you can answer :

When you have an already saved project, is there a way to add the new stuff you just done to the existing project without re saving everything ?
If you overwrite the existing project it will re save every samples, that take a lot of time.
Would be cool if the MPC only add the new stuff to the existing project.
I checked in the manual & think it s not possible but maybe you have a solution ...
By 4dahaterz Fri Jul 11, 2008 3:03 pm
tomazzzi wrote:A little question i asked myself yesterday ..maybe you can answer :

When you have an already saved project, is there a way to add the new stuff you just done to the existing project without re saving everything ?
If you overwrite the existing project it will re save every samples, that take a lot of time.
Would be cool if the MPC only add the new stuff to the existing project.
I checked in the manual & think it s not possible but maybe you have a solution ...


Ok, everytime I load up my MPC, I've got about maybe around 18 programs that I load up on Autoload that I use most of the time, which takes up about 140mbs. It actually only takes about 4 minutes to load em up, but to save that entire project when I first made it, Took over a hour, So i know how you feel about resaving a big project. So now I have an extra program inside that project called "New", That way, when im searching for samples on the HD that i dont already have loaded up, I load them in the New Program Pads. After I load them up, I would go to save mode, open up the project folder which is my"Autoload" and save that New Program again, so it will save the new samples. They will load up with that program when you load up that entire folder, Im not sure if you just load up the project file, but when i just hit load on the whole entire folder it all loads up fine. My sequences, I save in a seperate folder, that way I can load those up as needed.
User avatar
By scd Sat Jul 12, 2008 10:26 am
tomazzzi wrote:So it s another bug, cause it doesn t work, when slaving the MPC with my 909 or anything else the MPC doesn t retransmit the midi clock to the midi outs.
Anyone able to confirm ?

Thanks


Can't confirm.
I have Logic sending midi clock to port 1 on the MPC. In "Sync" I have set "SyncIn" to "1 (Slave)"
Starting Logic wil start the MPC, so far so good

Then I connected "OUT A" from the MPC to a midi input port on my Mac where the program "MIDIMonitor" is monitoring that midi input.
I have set "SyncOut" on the MPC to "A (Master)" (Also tried "ALL (Master)") and when starting Logic, the MidiMonitor application receives song position data and midi clock on the IN port

So everything is working as expected here.
User avatar
By scd Sat Jul 12, 2008 10:28 am
The slow action when changing screens etc. will memory fully loaded is a known issue. Hopefully the Akai-engineers can cleanup/speedup the OS for that matter.

friendly regards, Boele
User avatar
By scd Sat Jul 12, 2008 10:41 am
4dahaterz wrote:
tomazzzi wrote:??

yes, i know but it doesn t work

the MPC doesn t retransmit the MIDI time code when it s in Slave mode


I can Co-sign on this one... tried to use Pro Tools as the master, MPC 5000 Slave, and the MPC 2000XL Slaved to that(cause i got some of my favorite sounds already setup perfect in here), and it will slave fine to the MPC 5000 alone, but not when trying to slave the MPC 5000 to Pro Tools, and then to the MPC 2000XL will not start, only the MPC 5000 will.

Another bug


See my other reply. This is strange, two people reporting this, while it is working perfectly here. I did another test to see if start and stop messages come through and they do.

So I recorded a few notes on the MPC that play a synthesizer with an arpeggiator.

The chain is: Logic -> MPC in - MPC out -> synthesizer with running arp (notes coming from the MPC).

This works perfectly. Starting Logic will start the arp, changing tempo in Logic will change the arpeggiator tempo. This is all happening with the MPC in between.

Please retest.
By tomazzzi Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:30 pm
Hi

I m sorry but it doesn t work

I made a video where you can see it s working fine when the MPC is the master but it s not working when it s slave

i m sure it worked for you cause the synth did recieve some notes, maybe the mpc is sending the tempo message but it s not sending the start stop messages for sure.

Try with a drum machine or something with an internal sequencer you ll see ..

The drum machine receive something cause the led are flashing when i press start on the sequencer ( ableton live ) but it s not starting ...

I tried with many diffrent hardware (sequenced synths, drum machines, software sequencer on my laptop ) ...all same ....

If i replace the MPC with another drum machine or synth it works as it suposed to be ..

Here is a link where you can see the video i made :

http://uploaded.to/?id=j1ilt3

it s a 3gp video if you have some pb to read it download " klite mega codecs pack " to read it
Sorry for the quality, i took it with my phone... if you need something better just ask me ..but i think it ll be enough to see ...

cheers
User avatar
By scd Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:47 pm
Thanks for that movie. It indeed looks like start/stop midi messages are not transmitted when the MPC is started from another source. Could you do the exact same test but now with a note recorded on the track that stears the Evolver?
But I think I already know the answer. You will hear just that one note and it won't start it's internal sequencer.
I did the test with an *arpeggiator* build into the Waldorf Blofeld. THAT one is starting to run when a note on is received. But you are talking about *sequencers* that need a start/stop message.
Looks like a bug indeed. I will test again, but now with a real sequencer.

Thanks again for your investigation
User avatar
By scd Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:59 pm
Confirmed. It's a bug and entered in the bugbase.
By tomazzzi Sat Jul 12, 2008 7:13 pm
I did the evolver test as soon as i saw your previous message but as you just said i just hear one note...

Thanks for your quick answer & for entering the bug in the bugbase Boele.

I can t wait to see the new os with those few bugs solved :)

Anyway i m really happy this MPC is a great machine !!

Thanks again

Friendly regards

tomazzzi
User avatar
By scd Sat Jul 12, 2008 8:32 pm
Yes, the MPC5000 *is* a great machine. The bugs that popped up so far (this particular one is a more nasty one if you depend on this setup with midi sync in and out needed) are not funny but also not breath taking to me.
It is unavoidable to have bugs found after release. But it's a short list so far and also nothing show-stopping. I think we can use the 5k without worries and just wait for the bugfix update indeed.

Thanks again.

Boele
User avatar
By Askia Shaheed Sun Jul 13, 2008 12:19 am
scd wrote:Yes, the MPC5000 *is* a great machine. The bugs that popped up so far (this particular one is a more nasty one if you depend on this setup with midi sync in and out needed) are not funny but also not breath taking to me.
It is unavoidable to have bugs found after release. But it's a short list so far and also nothing show-stopping. I think we can use the 5k without worries and just wait for the bugfix update indeed.

Thanks again.

Boele


Are we using the same MPC 5K? I have not used in extensively but have found quite a few bugs doing simple things. Yes..some of these bugs are show-stoppers. When the 5K freezes and has to be restarted in a middle of a project....that is a major show-stopper.
User avatar
By scd Sun Jul 13, 2008 6:36 am
Can you reproduce that bug Askia?
By 4dahaterz Sun Jul 13, 2008 3:15 pm
Askia Shaheed wrote:
scd wrote:Yes, the MPC5000 *is* a great machine. The bugs that popped up so far (this particular one is a more nasty one if you depend on this setup with midi sync in and out needed) are not funny but also not breath taking to me.
It is unavoidable to have bugs found after release. But it's a short list so far and also nothing show-stopping. I think we can use the 5k without worries and just wait for the bugfix update indeed.

Thanks again.

Boele


Are we using the same MPC 5K? I have not used in extensively but have found quite a few bugs doing simple things. Yes..some of these bugs are show-stoppers. When the 5K freezes and has to be restarted in a middle of a project....that is a major show-stopper.


I feel ya on this... Nonthing like a taking 2 days to do a song for an artist.... All because of the slow pace at which It starts moving when changing screens, trying to load programs, save programs and sounds, save sequences(and yes please save every step because if this machine freezes up on you, you are f..cked), and the freezing process. And please dont ask me about when it freezes cause I cant keep up with each time it does when I got deadlines at certain times(thats the time you are really using it hard is when you have to go hard). You normally dont have time to troubleshoot freezes. Sometimes, it would move so slow, you would think it has frozen up, but you try to give it a couple of minutes in hopes that it didnt freeze.

I like what the machine has the capabilities of doing, but Akai has to get those issues fixed.

Dont get me wrong, I have finally used it seriously last week on a song, but seriously thinking about pulling the MPC 2000XL off the rack, and going back to work with it until a new OS is released.
By 4dahaterz Sun Jul 13, 2008 3:20 pm
tomazzzi wrote:Thanks a lot for trying SCD, i m gonna try this too as soon as possible

Maybe the MPC is sending the start stop message cause you have some notes on a track ??

I ll try this & keep you on touch


Yep, the exact problem I was having.... trying to start and stop another sequencer... Although, I did notice, if you hit the play button on the MPC 5000, it would start the other sequencer(thats slaving from the MPC 5000), while the MPC 5000 has already started playing from the Master source.