Exchange tips and tricks for the Akai MPC4000
By mozzy4k Sun Jul 04, 2004 4:57 am
Yep, I am back :roll:

I sent this e-mail to AKAI asking for support.
Has anyone experienced this issue or know the resolution?

------------e-mail sent to AKAI Support------------------

Is there a know bug within AKsys when doing the following:

Double click sample, it loads my configured sample editor (Sound Forge)

I make changes to the sample, save it.

I don't get prompted to re-transmit the sample back to the MPC.

I have to click ANOTHER sample inside AKsys then it tells me the original sample
has been changed and prompts for a transfer.

I click "YES" and the program crashes.

I try to launch AKsys again and get the error msg
"USB error15 on z48 - uninitialized it may be unplugged"

I have to reboot my PC.

This happens every time I attempt to edit a sample within AKsys on the MPC.

Some information about my setup.

Aksys 2.53 PC Version
Windows XP PRO
MPC 4000 with the latest 1.51 OS


Thanks for your help.
User avatar

By Mohammed Sun Jul 04, 2004 2:02 pm
Yeah ive mailed akai about some akaisys bugs to. I have the usb error when i rename samples, and when i save to pc, the usb connection gets lost when transmitting large files
User avatar

By ikke Sun Jul 04, 2004 2:19 pm
Mohammed wrote:Yeah ive mailed akai about some akaisys bugs to. I have the usb error when i rename samples, and when i save to pc, the usb connection gets lost when transmitting large files


Yeah, same here..

By mozzy4k Sun Jul 04, 2004 2:37 pm
Originally posted by Mohammed:
Yeah ive mailed akai about some akaisys bugs to. I have the usb error when i rename samples, and when i save to pc, the usb connection gets lost when transmitting large files
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Yeah, same here..


Well atleast I am not insane. This is driving me mad!!! If I can't access the MPC over the PC, it takes away quite a bit from it.

What setup do you guys have? USB wise? INTEL or AMD based motherboards?, etc.

I am on AMD 2600+ system. I am going to test this exact same editing on my INTEL laptop to see how it works.

Did anyone receive a reply from AKAI on how to resolve the issue?
User avatar

By ikke Sun Jul 04, 2004 2:46 pm
I have Intel chipset with Pentium3 and pentium4. It doesnt matter wich comp you have I guess..

Try to change your USB cable. Its possible you have an USB 2.0 cable instead of a 1.1.

My Aksys crashes now and than.. Not to often. Only a few times. I recently dragged more then 4GB from the MPC's HD to my desktop HD and it went ok..
But sometimes it just disconnects for no reason..

By mozzy4k Sun Jul 04, 2004 2:52 pm
I have Intel chipset with Pentium3 and pentium4. It doesnt matter wich comp you have I guess..

Try to change your USB cable. Its possible you have an USB 2.0 cable instead of a 1.1.

My Aksys crashes now and than.. Not to often. Only a few times. I recently dragged more then 4GB from the MPC's HD to my desktop HD and it went ok..
But sometimes it just disconnects for no reason..



Does it really matter that with 1.1 or 2.0 cables? I thought they were backward compatible?

Is there a documented way on how to remove the USB drivers completely for the MPC4k?

The drivers on www.akaipro.com they have 2.0 and 2.1 they say 2.1 is a new version for WIN 98 SE. Does that mean it's ONLY for 98SE?

By Ol'Sparky Sun Jul 04, 2004 5:53 pm
I use a Mac with Panther OSX.3 and I can't get my sample editor to open up the sample for me. Do any of you ever have this problem? It is making Aksys impossible for me to use. I choose Recycle and click OK, then it goes back to the Aksys page without opening my sample. I double click on the sample and Aksys ask me to pick a sample editor again, thus the cycle continues. Has anyone reported this bug before? Is there a way to save my samples in Aksys(inside my MPC) to my harddrive? That way I can just open Recycle and select them from within. Help!!!!
:?

By mozzy4k Sun Jul 04, 2004 6:01 pm
Man, I don't know what to say. I am having nothing but trouble with my MPC4k and AKsys is only one piece.

AKsys is horribly buggy! As you can see the issue I e-mail AKAI about was verified by other users. I am guessing it's just as buggy on the MAC.

I have a 45 day window to return my MPC and it's starting to look very tempting.

This is the most expensive headache I have ever purchased. And I am not new to MIDI/AUIDO/SAMPLING. It's pretty straight forward and just doesn't work as it should.

AND it's not like it's rocket science to code for exisiting standards on the PC or MAC.

I remember when I first got my S-3000xl I had to wait for OS2.0 to come out so it would register correctly within windows. Until then I had to run the 16bit SCSI drivers for it. Atleast that was a solid work around!!

Seems they are still on the same development challenges of old. Clowns!

By deaf-mute Mon Jul 05, 2004 7:50 am
why is ak sys using a keyboard layout when assigning samples to a key group..... they should maybe also try somehow to add a layer with the pad numbers and pad bank numbers as it is quite confusing.... as to where the actual sample is on the pads....

Also, the new os beta is reaaaaaaalllly slow.... I tried scroling through the samples in the program page and this took for ever....

I also have the problem that when I record a new track in the mpc, data from other tracks is being erased????? ie the first kick...

very weird

andy
User avatar

By Blue Haze Mon Jul 05, 2004 11:19 am
deaf-mute wrote:why is ak sys using a keyboard layout when assigning samples to a key group..... they should maybe also try somehow to add a layer with the pad numbers and pad bank numbers as it is quite confusing.... as to where the actual sample is on the pads....

Also, the new os beta is reaaaaaaalllly slow.... I tried scroling through the samples in the program page and this took for ever....

I also have the problem that when I record a new track in the mpc, data from other tracks is being erased????? ie the first kick...

very weird

andy


Keygroup program is chromatic just like a real samplers on a keyboard. If you want to use the pads use pad editor on the mpc icon. Each Keygroup has a range of keys to play the pitch of a sample. This is how samplers are made if you say you want to play a piano multisample from the MPC 4000. :D

NOTES REGARDING THE PAD EDITOR AND KEYGROUP PROGRAMS
The Pad Editor is essentially designed to make drum sample assignment easier when
assembling ‘drum’ programs. However, it is necessary to understand how the physical pads on
the MPC4000 relate to programs.
There are two types of programs you can load/create on the MPC4000. One is a ‘drum’
program where each ‘keygroup’ has a single note assignment (e.g. C1-C1) to which you can
assign (typically) drum samples. The physical pads on the MPC4000 can then be set to play
certain notes so that they will trigger the appropriate samples. For example, you assign, say, a
kick drum to C1 and a snare to D1. Now set pad 1 to send out C1 and pad 2 to send out D1.
Pad 1 will trigger the kick drum and pad 2 will trigger the snare.
In a ‘drum’ program, however, the settings for these pads are unique to each program and the
pads’ settings are stored with the program.
When a ‘keygroup’ program is selected, there are two modes - DEFAULT and CHROMATIC
which are shown in the top left of the Pad Editor window. DEFAULT is similar to a ‘drum’
program except that the note assignments affect all ‘keygroup’ programs equally. CHROMATIC
automatically sets all the pads to ascend in chromatic order and editing one pad will affect all
others. Again, this mode affects all ‘keygroup’ programs equally. This simplified diagram shows
the relationship of the pads to the different types of programs:
'Drum' program
'Keygroup' programs
As you can see, the two ‘drum’ programs each have their own unique note assignments for the
pads whereas the DEFAULT (or CHROMATIC) assignments affect the three ‘keygroup’
programs equally.
When the Pad Editor is open and a ‘keygroup’ program is selected, it is not possible to assign
samples to the pads and these fields are greyed out in the Pad Editor. However, you can edit
the note assignments.
Page 4 in the manual

I hope it helps :D
User avatar
By Blue Haze Mon Jul 05, 2004 11:32 am
mozzy4k wrote:Yep, I am back :roll:

I sent this e-mail to AKAI asking for support.
Has anyone experienced this issue or know the resolution?

------------e-mail sent to AKAI Support------------------

Is there a know bug within AKsys when doing the following:

Double click sample, it loads my configured sample editor (Sound Forge)

I make changes to the sample, save it.

I don't get prompted to re-transmit the sample back to the MPC.

I have to click ANOTHER sample inside AKsys then it tells me the original sample
has been changed and prompts for a transfer.

I click "YES" and the program crashes.

I try to launch AKsys again and get the error msg
"USB error15 on z48 - uninitialized it may be unplugged"

I have to reboot my PC.

This happens every time I attempt to edit a sample within AKsys on the MPC.

Some information about my setup.

Aksys 2.53 PC Version
Windows XP PRO
MPC 4000 with the latest 1.51 OS


Thanks for your help.
There should be no special setup procedure to launch your sample editor from with ak.Sys on
a PC and basically, if opening files with a .wav extension opens your sample editor elsewhere
on your PC, then the association between .wav files and the sample editor has been made and
samples can be edited from within ak.Sys as well.
NOTE: If there is some problem opening .wav files within ak.Sys, you may like to visit Windows
Explorer, click on My Computer and in the VIEW menu, select FOLDER OPTIONS and then in
the FOLDER OPTIONS window, select FILE TYPE - here you can set your own file
associations manually.
However, you can also nominate a sample editor by clicking on the SAMPLE EDITING menu
item. In the menu select CHOOSE SAMPLE EDITOR. The usual navigation windows will be
shown and you should find your way to the sample editor you want to nominate. For example:
Simply double click on the application’s icon.
You can revert to the default system association using the USE SYSTEM ASSOCIATION
button. Also, if the nominated application is deleted or uninstalled (or can’t be found for
whatever reason), ak.Sys will revert to the system association.
ak.Sys - Version 2.00 Page 86
SAMPLE EDITING - PC
Your sample editor will launch within ak.Sys under the following circumstances:
• When you double click on a sample in the ak.Sys BROWSER
• When you select EDIT in the contextual menu in the sample name field of a keygroup zone
• When you select EDIT in the sample SEARCH window (see later regarding this)
When you use your sample editor in any of the ways described above, the sample is
automatically transferred via USB to your computer where it can be edited in your nominated
sample editor. When you are happy with the results of your edit, use the editor’s SAVE or
SAVE AS... function to save the sample - it will be automatically transferred back to the sampler.
NOTES ABOUT SAVING/TRANSFERRING SAMPLES
When you edit a sample in your sample editor via ak.Sys, the file is transferred from the sampler
to your computer and placed in a temporary, invisible ak.Sys folder called “AKSYS WATCHED”.
The sample editor is also launched (if not open already) and the sample can be edited in the
editor.
When you come to save the sample, it is saved to this ‘watched’ folder and then automatically
transferred back to the sampler .
The SAMPLE WATCH menu option allows you to clear this folder if disk space is at a premium.
However, please note that the ‘watched’ folder is automatically flushed whenever you exit
ak.Sys.
NOTES ABOUT SOME SAMPLE EDITORS
Some sample editors save their loop information in a separate file within the WAVE file. If you
edit a sample from the sampler in such an editor, when transferred back, there is a risk that loop
information will not be preserved.
ak.Sys so far no problems because everything is automatic. I just check by on the MPC or Aksys to see if the samples been changed or not. Check if you looped, changed the bit rate and etc in the window or edit screen. :D
User avatar

By Mohammed Mon Jul 05, 2004 2:55 pm
Buel Haze, just copy paste some stuff from the manual aint much help. Most poeple do read the manual,,



And yeah as im writing this, im trying to save a project to the pc for the 4th time because akaisys is losing its USB connection.
User avatar

By Mohammed Mon Jul 05, 2004 3:19 pm
I also had a fatal error on my mpc4k while transferring files tru USB,,, jezus christ that AKAISYS is running like shit :cry: nothing but trouble


Is it possible to download the earlier version of akaisys?? this version is so crappy i cant even use it once without having it crashing
User avatar

By Blue Haze Mon Jul 05, 2004 3:29 pm
Mohammed wrote:Buel Haze, just copy paste some stuff from the manual aint much help. Most poeple do read the manual,,



And yeah as im writing this, im trying to save a project to the pc for the 4th time because akaisys is losing its USB connection.


The answer is if you double click the sample it is supposed to go to the sample editor and if you click on the preference each icon you can hear when the save is save or being processed. I paste the information so everyone can see it for themselves Some of the questions and answers are their to see. I and you Mo started on this board around the same time so I understand how you feel but Lacasanotra hip me to some knowledge about the difference between knowing and understanding the basic information. :D
User avatar

By dudum Tue Jul 06, 2004 12:15 pm
sounds like you cats might have some issues with spyware on your cpu's.

i've never had a problem with Aksys running USB with Audacity as an editor.

if you guys are losing USB

1. are you making a 'safe' disconnect?
2. do you unhook USB after every use?
3. check your hibernation settings and pop-up killers/virus ware etc. that runs in the background.

i've got an athlon 1.4 running XP and the only problems i've had is with the lack of documentation.

USB 2 cable shouldn't matter, it's goes backwards.

if it's a problem with your machine being hooked to your computer i would be checking that CPU out hard.

good luck!