Reviews and questions about the entry-level MPC500
By djdistortion Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:06 am
are the pads really actually hard to hit or are a lot of people just b****ing about it
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By inflict3 Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:41 am
are the pads really actually hard to hit or are a lot of people just b****ing about it


if your talking about the 500, the pads are fine,. i have a mpd32, and the rubber on the pads is softer then the rubber on the 500.. the 500 has harder rubber, which makes it have a stiffer feel, but no, they are not hard to hit, unless you got sum fu*king godzilla hands :lol:
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By phono Tue Jan 13, 2009 11:22 am
they soften with time also
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By 64hz Tue Jan 13, 2009 11:25 am
they are not as bad as what i thought them to be. :D
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By Cold Snap Tue Jan 13, 2009 1:04 pm
people just b****ing about it... Nuffin wrong with the pads at all... just like a new set of monitors or shoes, you gotta break em in a lil thats all.
By markmorgan10 Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:11 pm
Cold Snap wrote:people just b****ing about it... Nuffin wrong with the pads at all... just like a new set of monitors or shoes, you gotta break em in a lil thats all.


I hope so - I've gone from an mpc 1000 to a 500 for the portability and am really happy with it. But for sure I have to smack the pads like Tyson in a bad mood to get any sort of response out of them.

Cracking machine though :) , and it would make sense that the pads would soften over time.
By objektivone Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:47 pm
markmorgan10 wrote:
Cold Snap wrote:people just b****ing about it... Nuffin wrong with the pads at all... just like a new set of monitors or shoes, you gotta break em in a lil thats all.


I hope so - I've gone from an mpc 1000 to a 500 for the portability and am really happy with it. But for sure I have to smack the pads like Tyson in a bad mood to get any sort of response out of them.

Cracking machine though :) , and it would make sense that the pads would soften over time.



I had a 500, and after a month returned it to get a 1000 because I thought the workflow on the 500 was a little cumbersome.... but the pad response was ridiculous on the one I had. I had to hit the pads so hard the batteries would rock and turn the machine off. I even changed the pad sensitivity.....

Then I bought a 1000 and the pads are so much more sensitive. I wonder if they did this because the 500 is supposed to be portable so it would go through more wear and tear than another MPC would....

I don't know. :?
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By Cold Snap Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:02 pm
I've had my 500 over a year now and the pads have definitely softened ...

I would smash the hell out the pads when I 1st got it cuz I aint know no better but after havin it a few months I began to realize I don't have to pound them at all, using the FULL LEVEL feature I can basically just press the pads verses hitting them and the response is pretty solid... even with the FULL LEVEL feature turned off pressing vs hitting seems to work better even tho I still hit them every now n then , most of the time I just press... I realized I'm programming drums & not actually playing a drum set,lol
By objektivone Tue Jan 13, 2009 5:12 pm
Cold Snap wrote:I realized I'm programming drums & not actually playing a drum set,lol


Which is why I switched to an 1000. I want to be able to play mine like an instrument. I don't hit it like a drumset, but I found I had to press the pads like buttons on the 500 or slam them really hard. I didn't like that. It threw my groove off.....

BUT it is portable which is the point.
By logic_user99 Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:47 pm
Had no problems with the pads on the 500; really good feel to the whole unit. Infact, I like them a shade more than those on my MPD24.
By Grizzle Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:55 pm
feel good to me. In the last week or so I've played the 500, 1000 & 2500. All the pads felt kind of the same. The 2500 pads are bigger but it didn't really make any impact on me when I played. I mean I didn't really notice any difference. The pads on the 1000 are a little softer around the edges but again I didn't really notice when I was playing.

For me pad sensitivity would not be a deciding factor. The extra outs and the second MIDI port are much more important.
By Emilie Wed Jan 14, 2009 9:08 pm
phono wrote:they soften with time also


Just like your belly ;-)