MPC5000 reviews, bug reports and fellow user support on the most recent standalone, hardware MPC from Akai
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By Askia Shaheed Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:36 am
And your point is? I never said or implied that this forum is only for users. But I did write that the majority of people here talking bad about the 5K don't own or use them.

I know exactly what I have and wouldn't exchange it for anything else on the market. I don't care if anyone buys that MPC 5K and I am not trying to sell it. I don't care if anyone agrees or disagrees that it is the dopest product on the market. Buying any MPC is not a status symbol. I have given muy objective opinion (both good and bad)....I have told people exactly what I think about the product as someone who actually owns or uses it. Simply read the bug threads and numerous other threads written here.

Additionally...I am the kang of feature requests. I probably have over a hundred somewhere in all these forums.

As far as bugs.....there are several MPC 5K users here. JB wrote about his experiences after having it for a few days...we have been writing about the 5K for months now. We all had different experiences....some better than others.
By justblaze Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:45 am
tomazzzi wrote:
For me the JJ OS is about workflow. If the 5k had the JJ OS workflow, I'd be all over it. Getting from one page to another, editing several program parameters at once, better use of screen space to display and edit more parameters without cluttering (far too many parameters hidden in windows on the Akai OS), track overview and cut/copy/paste editing directly in the MAIN screen, the list goes on...


I find the workflow very fast, some thing can be improved but, you know, it s the first OS so ...give them time !
I agree with the program edit feature of the JJ os though.

mistakes? where?


Some of the bugs in this thing are ATROCIOUS.


What bug is so ATROCIOUS ?

They need to be loa
ded from the hard drive.. one…by…one..


Wrong ....you can load entire folders.

Though i agree we definitly need a preview fonction !

Oh wait.. but sometimes you have to delete a synth program 4 times before it actually gets erased from your RAM. And some will not go away, AT ALL, no matter how many times you delete them.


Wrong, they delete just fine the first time ....i spent hours listening every patch to make my select, i never had the pb you r talking about.

IMPORTING FROM PREVIOUS MPCs IS BROKEN


Fixed, just take 30 seconds of your time to update the MPC.

Next step: Import a .PGM created in the 3rd party MPC Program Maker software

Even deader-er


Works fine here i create nearly all my PGM on the computer. (bluebox on pc, MPCpad187 on mac )
Maybe you tried with a 2000 PGM maker ...anyway ....fixed now.

Whenever I try to access this folder, I literally have to wait like 3 minutes while the unit freezes and gets itself together to prepare itself to let you scroll through files (with the weirdo wheel, see above) that it can’t properly process anyway.


HD ? CF ?

The HD preview pb is fixed....update....
If it s the CF, did you format it with the MPC ?

i never had to wait 3 minutes to browse a folder !!! never !!

But oh yeah… when it was all said and done and I actually made beat I thought was halfway decent, and wanted to save the NEW programs I made from scratch after I gave up on importing and starting fresh. I went to the hard drive.. made a new folder, selected “Save Entire Memory”

My screen said:

“Cannot Find Device… Ok??”


Never had this pb, i m using the save fonction everyday...mistake maybe ?

IT FORGOT WHERE MY HARD DRIVE WAS AND NO MATTER WHAT I DID IT WAS FROZEN.

IT FREEZES WHEN YOU TRY TO SAVE ENTIRE MEMORY??


I never had any freeze while saving ...i use it everyday " save entire memory "

My unit frooze about 2 or 3 times while previewing samples on the HD ...fixed with OS 1.02.
Never had any other freeze since.

the bugs arent my biggest problem so bug fixes arent going to change my opinion.

*maybe i should just write a script to say this automatically like every 5 posts.


My problem here is: THIS THING IS COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE AND SHOULD NOT BE!

Some of the bugs in this thing are ATROCIOUS.


*Maybe you should take the time to read your post again before writing your script * ;)

No offense, Just Blaze, but, yes, i found your review very impulsive & mostly wrong.
Also i think you don t really understand the bad publicity you made & the consequences your review can have on the 5000 sales. ( bad sales = less time & money for devellopement of future OS )

I agree there s some inacceptable bugs but nothing more than on previous MPC when they comes out..

Also it seems the new AKAI team is making their best to solve them quickly.

You know they definitly can t try every situation, they r not musician but devellopers.

It s up to us to report them bugs to make this beast better !

Now I know, whenever you are an early adopter, you are the beta tester, and the rest of the folks will go out and wait for version 2 or something.. I can deal with that. I’m a beta tester by nature.


I guess you understand what i just said then ...

He didn't say he hates Akai. He made the rant because he does like Akai and was disappointed with the 5000 because he obviously wants to use it and feels Akai is much better than the 5000 effort. If he hated Akai, I don't think he would have bothered making a huge complaint like that in attempts to get their attention. A person that hated Akai wouldn't give a **** and would just go get a refund and buy an MV or FL or somethin. I don't have a 5000 (but I am in the market for a new MP, so this thread is useful), so I can't comment on what he said about the technical stuff, but I didn't sense hatred for Akai in the write up.


I wasn t talking about Just Blaze, i know he doesn t hate AKAI.
I was talking about all those guys who post **** on the 5000 when they never tried it.

Also, you mentioned you use it for "big projects" and lots of programs. What type of stuff do you do with it?


I use it for electronic music live PA with a lot of other gear, my memory is at least 70% full each time i use the MPC.


yep.. apparently the memories are very selective around here... because ive addressed and calrified most of this already. if you are going to take the time to address me, read what i have said here previouslyin the thread. this is the last time i'm going to play this childish tit for tat game with someone in reference to this.

They need to be loa
ded from the hard drive.. one…by…one..


what i have already stated.. more than once.. was that i never said you couldnt load an entire folder. but given the lack of a preview, limited program space and the bug which would not allow progs to be deleted sometimes, it would actually end up being more work if you went folder by folder because you could kill your ram after loading 2 or 3 folders.. and then get stuck with a bunch of sounds u dont want, sometimes having to delete them 4 times before they were actually gone. so with that being said, going one by one ends up saving you time. If you experienced differenty, so be it. Do you think i did not call a few other people with the same machine, get info from them, and test more than one unit before saying what i said? No. Same problem was experienced in 2 other 5k's that i had brought down to my studio the night i purchased mine.

Oh wait.. but sometimes you have to delete a synth program 4 times before it actually gets erased from your RAM. And some will not go away, AT ALL, no matter how many times you delete them.


Wrong?
no.
just because you didnt have this problem doesnt mean noone else did.. see above.. I think i've actually even seen complaints HERE of programs not deleting from ram.

IMPORTING FROM PREVIOUS MPCs IS BROKEN


Fixed? Nice.. shouldnt have been broken in the first place.

Next step: Import a .PGM created in the 3rd party MPC Program Maker software

Even deader-er


Fixed? Nice... shouldnt have been broken in the first place. Basic functionality 101.

Whenever I try to access this folder, I literally have to wait like 3 minutes while the unit freezes and gets itself together to prepare itself to let you scroll through files (with the weirdo wheel, see above) that it can’t properly process anyway.


It was the hard drive.. and just because you never had this problem... welll. u know the rest...
apparently this is possibly linked to opening a folder that contained AKP files.

But oh yeah… when it was all said and done and I actually made beat I thought was halfway decent, and wanted to save the NEW programs I made from scratch after I gave up on importing and starting fresh. I went to the hard drive.. made a new folder, selected “Save Entire Memory”

My screen said:

“Cannot Find Device… Ok??”


Never had this pb, i m using the save fonction everyday...mistake maybe ?

IT FORGOT WHERE MY HARD DRIVE WAS AND NO MATTER WHAT I DID IT WAS FROZEN.

IT FREEZES WHEN YOU TRY TO SAVE ENTIRE MEMORY??

I never had any freeze while saving ...i use it everyday " save entire memory "

i never had to wait 3 minutes to browse a folder !!! never !!



dude.. after a while its starting to sound like you are trying to tell me that i don't know what i'm doing.. because all you keep saying is either a)its been fixed or b)you have never had this problem. So now that I think about it im going to stop going quote for quote here..

Let's get this straight..
I have been using software and hardware sequencers and samplers for 18 years now.
I have been programming computers since i was 7 years old man.. not using.. programming.
I have been using MPC's since the 60II.
I know what the hell I'm doing.
So pardon me for now starting to get a little aggravated because every other word out of your mouth is either "mistake" or something along those lines.
I made no mistakes, I did not exaggerate any claims, and anything I experienced was definitely not due to user error. Like i said, I had 2 other 5k's brought down for cross-reference before going on record with the problems I listed. Along with others I didn't bother to list because i wasn't going to type any more than i did.

JUST BECAUSE YOU DIDNT EXPERIENCE SOMETHING DOES NOT MEAN IT IS NOT POSSIBLE. BECAUSE FOR EVERY PROBLEM YOU DIDNT EXPERIENCE, I KNOW AT LEAST 3 OTHER PEOPLE THAT IN FACT DID.

And you are right, they are developers, not musicians and the fact that they are not referencing with musicians the way other companies used to (and many still do ) is part of the problem. No offense to anyone on here who may have been involved in beta testing, but the fact that they haven't aligned with any of these major producers who are the reason this market still exists is pretty retarded.. many companies, regardless of the technology, whether it be music, computers, cell phones, whatever, will seed early versions of their hardware and software to real-world professional end users and run months of tests and trial and error before commercial release. and that is what i meant by being a beta tester by nature. I get a lot of stuff from these companies, anyone who knows me knows this. from cell phones, to keyboards, to computers and everything in between, i get tons of advance units to toy with and test their limitations. the difference is, i'm not paying for them.

People have become to complacent and accepting of bugs in hardware and that is another major issue of mine. yes the machines are capable of doing more now, so the possibilities for bugs are greater.. well u know what? test harder... and longer.

I was well aware at the time that damage was possible, and I have already addressed this in previous posts. Quite frankly I didn't give a damn, I felt they needed to get some things together and i stated my opinion. Like all other "flavor of the week" internet stories it will blow over and fade, and everyone will go on living their lives, and akai will go on making their machines, but if anything i said sticks with them over time and they take their customer base a bit more seriously and/or designs a better flagship next time around, then that's all that matters. and if they don't, boo hoo. life goes on dude..

and lastly :
My advice to JB since his crib is small and don't have enough space for an MPC 4000 (I thought he was ballin ).....simply pick up a Z8/Z4. You get your sample rates...you get your global program editing.....and pair it with Akai's new flagship.

I guess you think you're funny or something.. ur not, but anyway. What I said was the bulk of the 4000 was a little much for where i wanted to set up a small workstation area. Has nothing to do with the size of my living space (which you know nothing about so I don't know whyyou would choose to comment on it) And I cant believe after all this you still think that i was looking for a smaller version of the 4k and didnt know some of the features it would be missing. I'm not going to repeat myself again, it is not worth it, read my previous posts instead of skimming through them, and you will see you are mistaken. and who said anything about sample rates? I cold quite honestly give a damn about that. we are in the age of 16 bit CD's and MP3s. why the fluck would i pick up a z4? you are clearly fighting a battle just for the sake of fighting it, maybe just to get a rise out of me? I don't know. I'm sorry dude, but it is what it is, I've said what I've said. It's out there, and I stand by it. Defend akai and the 5k to the death if you like. Like i said I want them to do better, and they will need followers like you in order to do so. So more power to you. Soldier on and carry that flag on the forums, and I'll continue to do what I do. Every time you've tried to offer your snide "Advice" or a "correction" it's pretty much missed the mark, and comes off pretty pompous. Let it go dude.. like i said earlier, some of us will just not see eye to eye on this matter because we are DIFFERENT PEOPLE. and have had different experiences in life, thus, we have different expectations.
By moyphee Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:56 am
Just Blaze: Now that have an MV-8800 what's your opinion from the old MV8000-v2.0 you had.

With so many expecting the MV to behave like an MPC, I'm curious how you took to it this time. I grabbed an MV myself after years with 4000 and found the 8800 to be a beast and even easier to work with once I accepted it on it's own merit.

BTW- Any word from AKAI in response to your review yet?
By BxJaze Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:11 am
I'm just saying JBlaze, the next time i go out and buy a record and get hype off a sample that you ended up using, I'm gonna send russian midgets to tie you up and force you to watch that youtube over and over again that i sent you a while back of the retards "freestyling" over I Really Mean It. THEN I'm gonna curse out the a-holes who thought it'd be a good idea to put out Soul Caliber in 720p on the PS3 and stand outside of RIM's offices playing "Somehow, Some Way" until they finally release the damn Blackberry Bold, and identify myself as your cousin when I get arrested.




But more relevantly,

to Just--and / or anyone else who can answer:



Everyone's been talking about this whole "new OS" this, "wait for this 'n that update" that, "the 4000 had bugs" so on and so forth.

My cousin uses the 4000 and he definitely is on the "4000 over 5000" side of the fence. But my question is, how major of a difference was there between the 4000 that first dropped, and the 4000 after "all the updates" I've been hearing about? Because from reading the boards, some ppl make it seem like the 5000 is gonna end up a whole new machine (which, in my opinion, it should've been in the first place)


Sure I'd love to wake up a month or two (or 3, or 4, or 5 :( ) from now and know my $2700 was not spent in vain (not that it matters cause they love me @ Guitar Center--no George Michael) because the "new OS" or "OS updates" people talk about will have solved most-if not all- of the issues we don't like about the 5000.......but how likely is is that the changes will be THAT major? I mean, were the aforementioned (but rarely detailed) bugs and issues of the 4000 taken care of so well that initial-release buyers were satisfied in the long run? Or should I just run back and get a 4000 now, and forget hopes that my 5000 will one day be everything I hoped it would be?




Simply put - how likely is it that akai will make MAJOR changes, and what kind of time period are we talking about between the initial release of the 4k, and the way it is now?
Last edited by BxJaze on Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
By justblaze Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:17 am
moyphee wrote:Just Blaze: Now that have an MV-8800 what's your opinion from the old MV8000-v2.0 you had.

With so many expecting the MV to behave like an MPC, I'm curious how you took to it this time. I grabbed an MV myself after years with 4000 and found the 8800 to be a beast and even easier to work with once I accepted it on it's own merit.

BTW- Any word from AKAI in response to your review yet?


yeah got an email re: akai but havent reached back out yet.

I've powered the MV on and went through it. doesnt seem to be all that different from what I remember with the 8000 but to be honest i dont remember much i only messed with it for like 4 days maybe. I remember my main feeling with the 8000 being if u r going to copy the mpc look, copy the OS and just make it better. They obviously didnt do that with the 8800 but it does seem to be a bit easier to use than the previous version. At first i was like WTF!! it was very alien. but once i got past that and tinkered around a bit it's not that bad of a machine.. I'm not sure what advantage i'd gain in using it though. aside from the real time time compression/expansion and compatability with roland sound libraries (which i still need to figure out how to import properly), what makes it better than an MPC, if anything? I know some people swear by it, but i haven't really seen why yet.. of course i havent done anything on the machine to find out, just wondering.

Oh one thing that annoys me.. the lack of pad bank buttons, u have to go to a menu and select the bank you want? 4 thumbs down to that.. =/
By justblaze Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:25 am
BxJaze wrote:I'm just saying JBlaze, the next time i go out and buy a record and get hype off a sample that you ended up using, I'm gonna send russian midgets to tie you up and force you to watch that youtube over and over again that i sent you a while back of the retards "freestyling" over I Really Mean It. THEN I'm gonna curse out the a-holes who thought it'd be a good idea to put out Soul Caliber in 720p on the PS3 and stand outside of RIM's offices playing "Somehow, Some Way" until they finally release the damn Blackberry Bold, and identify myself as your cousin when I get arrested.




But more relevantly,

to Just--and / or anyone else who can answer:



Everyone's been talking about this whole "new OS" this, "wait for this 'n that update" that, "the 4000 had bugs" so on and so forth.

My cousin uses the 4000 and he definitely is on the "4000 over 5000" side of the fence. But my question is, how major of a difference was there between the 4000 that first dropped, and the 4000 after "all the updates" I've been hearing about? Because from reading the boards, some ppl make it seem like the 5000 is gonna end up a whole new machine (which, in my opinion, it should've been in the first place)


Sure I'd love to wake up a month or two (or 3, or 4, or 5 :( ) from now and know my $2700 was not spent in vain (not that it matters cause they love me @ Guitar Center--no George Michael) because the "new OS" or "OS updates" people talk about will have solved most-if not all- of the issues we don't like about the 5000.......but how likely is is that the changes will be THAT major? I mean, were the aforementioned (but rarely detailed) bugs and issues of the 4000 taken care of so well that initial-release buyers were satisfied in the long run? Or should I just run back and get a 4000 now, and forget hopes that my 5000 will one day be everything I hoped it would be?


It really depends on what u want out of the machine.. obviously I'd go with a 4.. some ppl may prefer the synth and audio track recording of the 5... I dont understand the audio track thing at all really. In this day and age of laptops etc. but to each his own i guess. The 5k may be a bit more of a jack of all trades but a master of none, while the 4k is just the best at what it does. without some of the extras of the 5.

as far as bugs.. its beena long time since the 4k release and i didnt get the japanese relase.. i had one of the first US models, and i didnt have too much of a problem with it in terms of bugs. but i just use these machines for sampling and sequencing, all tht extra filter link midi sync I/o adat expansion flux capacitating modulation wheel megapreggiationizing, i dont really get into.. hell i never used a q-link fader on a beat until i did this house record like 2 months ago lol. so there may have been other problems. but on some regular hip hop stuff, once they fixed the pitch/polyphony bug in the first US release i was straight.. anything after that just made it better or fixed little nagging things. I'm sure the OS updates wil make the 5k better, but its just a matter of do u need the few things that seperate it from the 4k, or do u just want a workhorse sampler/seuencer, if so then i'd go with the 4, otherwise keep your 5
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By dabmeister Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:33 am
justblaze wrote:like i said earlier, some of us will just not see eye to eye on this matter because we are DIFFERENT PEOPLE. and have had different experiences in life, thus, we have different expectations.


Let the truth be spoken. And like a well known D.C. band...the Experience is Unlimited. I always thought production skills had more merit over just owning hardware. Where as most look at the glamour of spec's and what not, the true test of ones skill level shouldn't be based on the gear they have.

So I appreciate having Mr. Blaze share his insight on his experiences as opposed to him being stirred up about little trivial stuff he's made claim about many threads ago. It's a free society, some may want macaroni while others prefer spaghetti.
By BxJaze Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:39 am
justblaze wrote:It really depends on what u want out of the machine.. obviously I'd go with a 4.. some ppl may prefer the synth and audio track recording of the 5... I dont understand the audio track thing at all really. In this day and age of laptops etc. but to each his own i guess. The 5k may be a bit more of a jack of all trades but a master of none, while the 4k is just the best at what it does. without some of the extras of the 5.

as far as bugs.. its beena long time since the 4k release and i didnt get the japanese relase.. i had one of the first US models, and i didnt have too much of a problem with it in terms of bugs. but i just use these machines for sampling and sequencing, all tht extra filter link midi sync I/o adat expansion flux capacitating modulation wheel megapreggiationizing, i dont really get into.. hell i never used a q-link fader on a beat until i did this house record like 2 months ago lol. so there may have been other problems. but on some regular hip hop stuff, once they fixed the pitch/polyphony bug in the first US release i was straight.. anything after that just made it better or fixed little nagging things. I'm sure the OS updates wil make the 5k better, but its just a matter of do u need the few things that seperate it from the 4k, or do u just want a workhorse sampler/seuencer, if so then i'd go with the 4, otherwise keep your 5




Honestly the main things that attracted me to it was the big screen, and the 8 outputs. Until this 5k, I had never owned a MPC...i was strictly software + midi keyboard. To get the feel, i went out and bought the MPK49--which I read you liked, but i hated it and exchanged for an MPD32 the next morning...which i grew to like when coupled with Battery....I was making some pretty good stuff with that combo....of course til i went to visit home in new york and came back to an empty lab.



But I initially learned on a 2000 and HATED the screen (as well as load times). Depending on the record at hand, I tend to chop up a record into a million pieces at times (which I have yet to find can be done easier than using the Edison plugin).....the learning curve of the 4000 threw me off (not that lil cuz was a good teacher, either) but a sound library like mine (almost 300gigs and 9 years worth) was kind of rough programming into Battery, so i went the MPC route.

To make a long story longer, I really only use it for sequencing and sampling, which at your suggestion would make the 4k a better choice. I also wasn't sure...I had asked you via myspace a while back what your thoughts were on the sound quality of the diff machines, because when i started looking into MPC's everyone around me was into this whole "i like the sound of the 2k" or "the 4k sounds too clean" etc etc. I was curious as to whether or not this whole "MPC swing" and "that dirty MPC sound" stuff was a bunch of malarkey, or valid. Many producers I see, from dudes down the block, to some of the big boys (no Stephan Urkelle) were using ASR's for sampling, but after soft-sampling for so long I was always looking for a piece of hardware that would get it done the fastest for me (again, no Lance Bass) and the ASR looked--at least at first glance--a tad bit time-consuming.


I think I'll get a 4k to test. Thanks dude.

lmao @ "megapreggiationizing" (Yeah i had to copy 'n paste that one)
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By Askia Shaheed Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:03 pm
justblaze wrote:[
It really depends on what u want out of the machine.. obviously I'd go with a 4.. some ppl may prefer the synth and audio track recording of the 5... I dont understand the audio track thing at all really. In this day and age of laptops etc. but to each his own i guess. The 5k may be a bit more of a jack of all trades but a master of none, while the 4k is just the best at what it does. without some of the extras of the 5.


So because you don't understand the audio tracks your advice is a lap top......

Well add that same laptop to an MPC 5000 and any advantage that you believe you gained with the MPC 4K has completely disappeared. I think we got it a long time ago....you love the 4K. You tried the MV but went back to a 4K. Your tried a MPC 5K but prefer a 4K.

Besides....all the regular hip hop stuff you do can be accomplished using any MPC that came out in the 90s and a rack mount sampler. So if you are too lazy to install a new OS....too lazy to create your own synth presets...I certainly don't believe you do anything special with the MPC 4Ks sampler or sequencer. So I can understand why you were looking at another MPC to begin with.


So Just Blaze...while we sit here everday and write about MPCs...how do you feel about the rumor that Kanye and No ID will be the only producers on the Blueprint 3?
By justblaze Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:21 pm
Askia Shaheed wrote:
justblaze wrote:[
It really depends on what u want out of the machine.. obviously I'd go with a 4.. some ppl may prefer the synth and audio track recording of the 5... I dont understand the audio track thing at all really. In this day and age of laptops etc. but to each his own i guess. The 5k may be a bit more of a jack of all trades but a master of none, while the 4k is just the best at what it does. without some of the extras of the 5.


So because you don't understand the audio tracks your advice is a lap top......

Well add that same laptop to an MPC 5000 and any advantage that you believe you gained with the MPC 4K has completely disappeared. I think we got it a long time ago....you love the 4K. You tried the MV but went back to a 4K. Your tried a MPC 5K but prefer a 4K.

Besides....all the regular hip hop stuff you do can be accomplished using any MPC that came out in the 90s and a rack mount sampler. So if you are too lazy to install a new OS....too lazy to create your own synth presets...I certainly don't believe you do anything special with the MPC 4Ks sampler or sequencer. So I can understand why you were looking at another MPC to begin with.


So Just Blaze...while we sit here everday and write about MPCs...how do you feel about the rumor that Kanye and No ID will be the only producers on the Blueprint 3?


this guy is amazing.

my advice is a laptop?

no my advice is better english translation, bc you clearly didnt understand what that line meant.

let.. it... gooooooo.. for your own sake man... let it go.

we're heading to the next block over.. you know MoveOn Blvd? we're all gonna hang over there.. you can stay over here if you like but you're more than welcome to join us!

:arrow:
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By Askia Shaheed Thu Aug 14, 2008 2:13 pm
Don't blame me for not understanding your points. They just don't add up. Audio tracks on the MPC 5K serve several purposes. Workstations such as the ASR-10 and Triton Studio have similar functions. The Fantom series and MV workstations have audio tracks but they are RAM based. The MPC 5K offer both RAM and hard disk audio tracks. But since the MPC 4000 doesn't have these features I can understand why you may be puzzled.

As far as moving on....I thought we were still talking about MPCs that he hate and love? My bad.....but what about that Blueprint 3?
By tomazzzi Thu Aug 14, 2008 2:18 pm
this is the last time i'm going to play this childish tit for tat game with someone in reference to this.


Keep cool man, we r only sharing experiences.
No need to be rude, i told you i didn t want to offense...

what i have already stated.. more than once.. was that i never said you couldnt load an entire folder. but given the lack of a preview, limited program space and the bug which would not allow progs to be deleted sometimes, it would actually end up being more work if you went folder by folder because you could kill your ram after loading 2 or 3 folders.. and then get stuck with a bunch of sounds u dont want, sometimes having to delete them 4 times before they were actually gone. so with that being said, going one by one ends up saving you time. If you experienced differenty, so be it. Do you think i did not call a few other people with the same machine, get info from them, and test more than one unit before saying what i said? No. Same problem was experienced in 2 other 5k's that i had brought down to my studio the night i purchased mine.


I also have some friends who own the 5000, they never had this problem too ...
Don t think i didn t call my friends either to make them try before posting my answer.
We only had memory freeing problems while loading big samples but never with the synth programs...
( i ll try again tonight to fill up the memory only with synth programs & then empty it )

Anyway ..i ll be glad to be able to reproduce this bug to provide a step by step to AKAI so they can fix it !
Don t hesitate to provide it, it ll be much more constructive than critisism.

apparently this is possibly linked to opening a folder that contained AKP files.


So..it s not really as you first stated...

dude.. after a while its starting to sound like you are trying to tell me that i don't know what i'm doing.. because all you keep saying is either a)its been fixed or b)you have never had this problem. So now that I think about it im going to stop going quote for quote here..

Let's get this straight..
I have been using software and hardware sequencers and samplers for 18 years now.
I have been programming computers since i was 7 years old man.. not using.. programming.
I have been using MPC's since the 60II.
I know what the hell I'm doing.
So pardon me for now starting to get a little aggravated because every other word out of your mouth is either "mistake" or something along those lines.
I made no mistakes, I did not exaggerate any claims, and anything I experienced was definitely not due to user error. Like i said, I had 2 other 5k's brought down for cross-reference before going on record with the problems I listed. Along with others I didn't bother to list because i wasn't going to type any more than i did.


It s not my first hardware either, i m not going to explain you my whole life but trust me i m used to sequencers & hardware for more than 10 years.
It s my first personnal MPC but i used them for years on others studios ( MPC 60, 3000, 4000 )
I was more into software sequencers but tired of laptop for live pa s so i bought the 5000.
I work for a software developper company ( not as a dev, network admin ) so i know this world too.

I own a Radikal technologies Spectralis for exemple, there s a lot of bugs & we are waiting for a 1.0 os for more than 4 years but i don t see such hate on the forums.
The new Korg toy "r3" i recently tried is also full of bugs but nothing like here on korg s forums either...
As well as many others products including Roland Juno D, kurzweil synths etc...

No hardware is free of bugs, same for software, most company wait for users reports to solve bugs ( microsoft is the prime exemple :) )
Don t blame AKAI for doing like everyone. ( testing cost a lot )

So why all this hate with AKAI ? ( not talking about you but the general agressivity on this forum )

If i didn t have the 5000 & read your review i would have think there was no way to SAVE & IMPORT files without freezing it , which is not true.
So i would maybe have think twice before buying it !

For my own use ( live pa, studio ) i didn t find anything catastrophic that can avoid me to work with waiting for an update.

Like i told you before i only had 2 or 3 freezes while previewing samples on the HD since i got it ( 3 month of dayly use )

That s why i didn t understand when i read your review telling you wasn t even able to save a simple beat without a freeze, sorry if you took it bad it wasn t an offense at all.

Anyway we ll be very happy to see you in the bug thread reporting your experiences or problems to make this machine better than it is.

I m sure, with your knowledge, you can do a lot !

Best regards
By mdiddy05 Thu Aug 14, 2008 3:25 pm
Maybe i missed the post but JB what would have liked in the MPC 5000 to make it better? I mean as an aspiring proudcer myself i would love to see what a pro as yourself like in machine. Plus quite frankly something about the MPC 5000 draws me in.

On the flip side i have been reading these post every day and realize that there is a lot of childish ish talking on this fourm. I would assume we are all adults here. everything on this fourm is suppose to be informational. but right now it's just Ish talking. if the 5000 isn't your fav mpc... then oh well move on. if it is I undersant backing it up.. but it isn't your little child ( maybe i should take that back my Motfix xs is by baby).

i would hate to see this fourm keep going on about childis things. Oh JB and anyone else what is your opinon on the sound diffence between the 4k and 5k?
By 4dahaterz Thu Aug 14, 2008 6:07 pm
DANG!!! ITS SOME OTHER POSTS THAT ARE PUNCHING BELOW THE BELT... THATS NOT COOL, lets keep it civilize, respectful, and on the subject or close to it... but anyways... my actual post about this comment is down below this quote

tomazzzi wrote:
For me the JJ OS is about workflow. If the 5k had the JJ OS workflow, I'd be all over it. Getting from one page to another, editing several program parameters at once, better use of screen space to display and edit more parameters without cluttering (far too many parameters hidden in windows on the Akai OS), track overview and cut/copy/paste editing directly in the MAIN screen, the list goes on...


I find the workflow very fast, some thing can be improved but, you know, it s the first OS so ...give them time !
I agree with the program edit feature of the JJ os though.

mistakes? where?


Some of the bugs in this thing are ATROCIOUS.


What bug is so ATROCIOUS ?

They need to be loa
ded from the hard drive.. one…by…one..


Wrong ....you can load entire folders.

Though i agree we definitly need a preview fonction !

Oh wait.. but sometimes you have to delete a synth program 4 times before it actually gets erased from your RAM. And some will not go away, AT ALL, no matter how many times you delete them.


Wrong, they delete just fine the first time ....i spent hours listening every patch to make my select, i never had the pb you r talking about.

IMPORTING FROM PREVIOUS MPCs IS BROKEN


Fixed, just take 30 seconds of your time to update the MPC.

Next step: Import a .PGM created in the 3rd party MPC Program Maker software

Even deader-er


Works fine here i create nearly all my PGM on the computer. (bluebox on pc, MPCpad187 on mac )
Maybe you tried with a 2000 PGM maker ...anyway ....fixed now.

Whenever I try to access this folder, I literally have to wait like 3 minutes while the unit freezes and gets itself together to prepare itself to let you scroll through files (with the weirdo wheel, see above) that it can’t properly process anyway.


HD ? CF ?

The HD preview pb is fixed....update....
If it s the CF, did you format it with the MPC ?

i never had to wait 3 minutes to browse a folder !!! never !!

But oh yeah… when it was all said and done and I actually made beat I thought was halfway decent, and wanted to save the NEW programs I made from scratch after I gave up on importing and starting fresh. I went to the hard drive.. made a new folder, selected “Save Entire Memory”

My screen said:

“Cannot Find Device… Ok??”


Never had this pb, i m using the save fonction everyday...mistake maybe ?

IT FORGOT WHERE MY HARD DRIVE WAS AND NO MATTER WHAT I DID IT WAS FROZEN.

IT FREEZES WHEN YOU TRY TO SAVE ENTIRE MEMORY??


I never had any freeze while saving ...i use it everyday " save entire memory "

My unit frooze about 2 or 3 times while previewing samples on the HD ...fixed with OS 1.02.
Never had any other freeze since.

the bugs arent my biggest problem so bug fixes arent going to change my opinion.

*maybe i should just write a script to say this automatically like every 5 posts.


My problem here is: THIS THING IS COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE AND SHOULD NOT BE!

Some of the bugs in this thing are ATROCIOUS.


*Maybe you should take the time to read your post again before writing your script * ;)




As for alot of this... I can relate to most of the issues that Just Blaze got, that you and your friends didnt experience Tomazzzi. But of course, its the way we are using the machine compared to you and your friends Tomazzzi, I mean we are coming from an MPC era when there was only 1 slider(on the MPC 60, 3000, and 2000) and luckily got 2 on the MPC 4000, where our concentration with the MPC was Primarily in sampling and sequencing(which the MPC as a hardware machine is trying to now compete with computer software in ways which it has too).

I already know, with the last OS, going to large folders with a lot of files, the MPC would most definitely freeze up for a few mins or seconds. It still holds up a few secs but not as long now. I mean as I stated before, If i could get more RAM(such as at least the 512) now, I would be content with it more or less. But at the same time, with me being able to just go thru the HD and preview samples, its straight now at the moment.

And there is still a problem with the file importation of older MPC's including the so call fix for the MPC 2000 file importing(only importing the Program file with the .wav files works with this) of course it did state this and still does this on the website:
MPC2000/2000XL: SEQ, WAV, SND, PGM (Most parameters of PGM file can be loaded.)
MPC4000: SEQ, WAV, PGM (DRUM program only. Only note assign and tune are loaded.)
MPC3000: SND (THRU Computer)
Z4/Z8: SEQ, WAV, PGM (DRUM program only. Only note assign and tune are loaded.)
S5000/6000: WAV only (THRU Computer)

and I dont even think half of this, if at all is working besides just the MPC 2000 .wav files and programs importing is.

Which I have always been thinking and am still considering going back to a MPC 4000 cause like most producers, I need a lot of RAM(cause i mostly just sample and sequence as well, this headache for me might be worth it) compared to q links that i never use for real, luv the big screen though. So im still in the debating process of ebay and finding a good MPC 4000 Plus on ebay
By 4dahaterz Thu Aug 14, 2008 6:16 pm
Hell, my MPC 2000XL slider has been broken for years, and I didnt know it until i tried to actually assign it one day just playing around with the machine... and guess what, its still broken, never had a reason to fix it