Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

I was kind of excited about this piece when I heard about it, because I thought could potentially replace my aging MPC1000 in my live set.

So, I got my hands on one, and my feeling about it is less like disappointment, and more like AMAZEMENT with how incredibly bad it is.

It simply can not play back a sample like the sample sounds. It is inherently flawed at the very basic level.

I made a video:



It can not trigger a sample without cutting the first 1 or 2 ms off the beginning, so forget about any transient sounds at all, and the amount missed varies each time. This variation is not due to any modulation, velocity, start point setting, or any such thing.

Besides this, there is another problem, demonstrated by this youtube user:



There are, for some reason, no proper reviews of this unit. Only some unboxing videos and some stoner who's only playing the built-in sounds (which trigger fine by the way).

Way to go Akai!

I found two more examples:

Sheesh...after the long wait to get it out the door it doesn't even work right? Unbelievable.

Maybe Akai got Waldorf to do the software design for them

Hope there's still time for you to return it.

It's weird right? Did anyone at Akai even try the damn thing?

I'd love to see a good review from sonicstate, bashing the thing, so more people don't get suckered into buying this thing, because on paper, it is a very cool gadget.

I've done some sniffing around this problem are any of you using the converter or raw files?...
If not, can someone try to get into the pad calibration menu? (select + and volume - on the MPX8, but I don't know on the 16)
Here's the 808 kick from the MPX8 sample pack available here

The top wave is an 808 kick one converted with the MPX16 file conversion utility, the other is the stock 808 kick right out of the zip...


it seems to have cut the sample down to exactly 128kb and truncated the tail, the MPX8 can handle a whopping 4 minutes of data if properly converted such as this Russian Dance Track

I'm going to buy an MPX16 soon and figure out this problem, send a patchfix to Akai so they can get off their duffs and keep on putting out excellent gear

DX21 wrote:I've done some sniffing around this problem are any of you using the converter or raw files?...

I've tried various ways of importing, as well as various formats and sample rates.

The problem does not lie in the file transfer, because there is a "sample edit/preview" menu where the sample plays correctly.

It isn't until the sample is loaded onto a pad that these symptoms show up.

DX21 wrote:
I'm going to buy an MPX16 soon and figure out this problem, send a patchfix to Akai so they can get off their duffs and keep on putting out excellent gear

Yes! Do it! I found your MPX8 teardown intriguing! Make a 3rd party OS like JJ for the MPC so Akai can sell more units and never thank you for it

DX21 wrote:the MPX8 can handle a whopping 4 minutes of data if properly converted

Any info on this conversion? I've seen one site with many mods related to MIDI control that seemed to be way more trouble than a $99 sample player is worth!

What a huge f**k on Akai's end.

sequentialsoftshock wrote:What a huge f**k on Akai's end.

Wow that sucks... probably the same team that made that drum machine recently lol

This is what happens when you race to the bottom on price, although to be fair even the MPC2500 had quite coloured DA conversion. When I moved my old band's live set over from the MPC to the Octatrack everything all of a sudden became clearer and punchier, even stuff that I'd originally sampled on the MPC. Comparing the DA stage of a $200 unit with Maschine (I imagine you're running out through an interface that cost a lot more than $200) just isn't a fair fight.

I get less color on the MPC60 at 12 bit 40khz.

I don't understand how it could even be this bad since it's even got a problem playing samples already made.

It's a really cheap DA stage. The MPC60 was really expensive when it was new, it had engineers working hard to make it sound as clean and good as possible, regardless of the cost or the sample rate. The MPX was made as cheaply as possible, it's the exact opposite in design philosophy.

Stab Frenzy wrote:It's a really cheap DA stage. The MPC60 was really expensive when it was new, it had engineers working hard to make it sound as clean and good as possible, regardless of the cost or the sample rate. The MPX was made as cheaply as possible, it's the exact opposite in design philosophy.

I don't even know where they found a D/A converter that bad, it sounds worse than the converter in a $20 chinese mp3 player.