MPC solutions/questions for the new age

Sun_FortuneSun_Fortune 1,374 Posts
edited February 2006 in Strut Central
All of this "click of death" shit Ive been reading about has got me totally shook. Im so conscipated by this I cant even go to the bathroom. I've decided to air my thoughts and worries, in the hope that we can use our combined knowldege to solve some unsustainable problems for mpc users. A few questions for those who might know:I assume the click of death affects jaz disks, correct me if Im wrong. So when the click of death happens, and it will, that means that all of my disks are then unreadable? Or just some? Does anybody have a good method for backing data up? Ive got about twenty 2gb jaz diks that i need to back up. Its a bit narcissitic to back everything up, but Id like to save a large chunk. What is the optimal saving device? I assume its one of those card readers, but I really dont have the energy to spend six months figuring that out. Are built in Zips an option? How about those elusive SCSI drives? It seems that making music on the mpc is not practical because, well, everyone will loose all their data over time. (I know entropy is a law, but it should take longer than a few years.) What is a practical way to use older model MPCs? Should one simply use it as a controller and sequencer for software programs? It seems the only option is to either accept total inevetable information loss or to abandon the older models and start using a 1000 with a computer or a 4000. Does anybody use those machines (I forget what they are) that look alot like the MPC. Is it a pioneer? Basically, anyone who has any ideas and information to contribute is encouraged to discuss. I dont know about you folls, but the MPC is my main instrument and method for composing. i wouldnt mind abandoning it if I could find a piece of equipment that was as easy to operate quickly. The 4000 seems like an idea, but with all the accesories, its a bit expensive. But I guees you gotta drop 20 gs to play on a great steinway.is the mpc era over.............?
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  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    a card reader for the mpc2000 is a great option and if you don't feel safe installing it yourself, i'm sure you can find someone else to help you with it. a built-in zip is good too. honestly, you're going to lose some data eventually so just backup regularly and just make beats. buy a usb zip drive and backup your sessions daily. stop worrying about this stuff.

  • what is this click of death thing of which you speak? I don't personally own an MPC but am still interested.

  • a card reader for the mpc2000 is a great option and if you don't feel safe installing it yourself, i'm sure you can find someone else to help you with it. a built-in zip is good too. honestly, you're going to lose some data eventually so just backup regularly and just make beats. buy a usb zip drive and backup your sessions daily. stop worrying about this stuff.

    dude, I dont wanna worry about this -- thats why Im seriously considering dropping the MPC. Biran, what do you back up on? Does the usb zip work with an og mpc2000? Sounds intriguing...

  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    what is this click of death thing of which you speak? I don't personally own an MPC but am still interested.
    floppies, zip disks, hard drives, and any other storage medium with movable parts will eventually fail and usually beforehand it develops this "click of death." you will know it when you hear it.

  • chasechase 767 Posts
    I was scured to put a scsi card reader in my MPC 2xl but it was SO easy, and it only cost me maybe 30 bucks, and took about 20 mins to do... the click of death happend to me and it sucked.. dont risk it, back your shit up and switch that shit pronto!

  • I was scured to put a scsi card reader in my MPC 2xl but it was SO easy, and it only cost me maybe 30 bucks, and took about 20 mins to do... the click of death happend to me and it sucked.. dont risk it, back your shit up and switch that shit pronto!

    Im not sure if you can install a card reader for the mpc2000, do you know? Dude, that sucks about the click of death. how long had you been using your zip for when it happened?






    happy 420 btw.

  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    dude, I dont wanna worry about this -- thats why Im seriously considering dropping the MPC. Biran, what do you back up on? Does the usb zip work with an og mpc2000? Sounds intriguing...
    USB zip would be to hook up to your computer for backups. If you're really concerned about this, get a compact flash card reader (do the research to make sure you get the correct one) and hook that shit up.

    on another note, i just got a mpc1000 in last week and while i haven't put it through extensive use yet, the workflow seems about the same as the 2000xl i had before. if you're really concerned about data backup and all that, the 1000, 2500, and 4000 with their usb connections are going to be nice for you. storage on compact flash and transferring files over usb on the mpc is a really really really nice thing compared to just using zips on the 2000xl but i really think it's more of a convenience than anything.

  • dude, I dont wanna worry about this -- thats why Im seriously considering dropping the MPC. Biran, what do you back up on? Does the usb zip work with an og mpc2000? Sounds intriguing...
    USB zip would be to hook up to your computer for backups. If you're really concerned about this, get a compact flash card reader (do the research to make sure you get the correct one) and hook that shit up.


    on another note, i just got a mpc1000 in last week and while i haven't put it through extensive use yet, the workflow seems about the same as the 2000xl i had before. if you're really concerned about data backup and all that, the 1000, 2500, and 4000 with their usb connections are going to be nice for you. storage on compact flash and transferring files over usb on the mpc is a really really really nice thing compared to just using zips on the 2000xl but i really think it's more of a convenience than anything.

    brian man, thanks for the knowledge. The usb zip sounds like a great option. Im definately going to lok into that and some card readers asap. You've given me hope...

  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    whoops, sorry to get your hopes up but it seems like the installation for the 2000 and 2000xl card reader is different.

    http://www.mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=24363&highlight=mpc2000 is a thread to read up on that but basically you need to modify extra things for the 2000 and it ends up being quite expensive. i don't know if you want to but i remember you saying you had two mpc2000s so maybe you could sell one and get a 1000? just an idea.

  • whoops, sorry to get your hopes up but it seems like the installation for the 2000 and 2000xl card reader is different.

    http://www.mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=24363&highlight=mpc2000 is a thread to read up on that but basically you need to modify extra things for the 2000 and it ends up being quite expensive. i don't know if you want to but i remember you saying you had two mpc2000s so maybe you could sell one and get a 1000? just an idea.

    hope is fleeting, the candle blows out in the wind.
    That sounds like a great idea though. definately a greta idea.

  • PABLOPABLO 1,921 Posts
    Any of that Iomega crap will break, whether external, internal, Jaz, Zip, whatever.
    The only MPC???s that are a real bitch to bring into the 21st century would be the 60/II and the 3000.
    They use a painfully outdated SCSI control that I think 3 card reader models (out of the thousands out there) will work with.
    The 2000 and up should be really easy to put a cheap internal multicard reader in.
    If I was in a jam with one of the later MPC models I???d honestly just try to do the software jump. I keep the 3000 because the sound and the swing is just undeniable. Later models, not so much.

  • So this click of death issues sounds like what routinely happens on a harddrive. The control arm that reads the information off the platters breaks and you hear a click when you boot your computer up. If this is the same thing with the PC well than you should be aware that shit with mechanical parts such as zip drives and floppy drives are always going to have the possibility of breaking in such a manner. I would just use scsi to my computer and use something like Chicken Systems software to library the shit. I think their software supports the mpc.

  • DescryDescry 229 Posts
    i think that the older mpc models still sound dope, but the problem of saving programs/sequences is a problem. though, there're alotta ideas up in this post. honestly though, the ability to equip a mpc w/ a harddrive is a God send for me.

    to answer dude's question above: the click of death is literally...a click of death. your floppy, zip, jaz, etc. drive just starts clicking and you lose all the data on the disc.

    on another aside, the machine you were talking about is the roland mv8000. i dont fux with new roland machines these days though (except for the newer sp 303/404 series) cause i don't really like the interface design or navigating through those menus.

  • magneticmagnetic 2,678 Posts

    Im not sure if you can install a card reader for the mpc2000, do you know?

    http://www.midicase.com/card_reader_guide.htm

  • dj_pidj_pi 335 Posts
    I put a card reader in my mpc as well. Nothing hard to do at all. But make sure you buy a Read/Write card reader. I bought one off this dude on ebay that said it was read/write and it was only read. I have to flash the bios of the card reader which wouldn't be hard to do but I don't have a computer that has a SCSI interface. All in all...had to put the floppy back in and I have an external Zip.

    Like I said though...REAL easy to do...just make sure you get the read/write card reader.

  • dayday 9,612 Posts
    I put a card reader in my mpc as well. Nothing hard to do at all. But make sure you buy a Read/Write card reader. I bought one off this dude on ebay that said it was read/write and it was only read. I have to flash the bios of the card reader which wouldn't be hard to do but I don't have a computer that has a SCSI interface. All in all...had to put the floppy back in and I have an external Zip.

    Like I said though...REAL easy to do...just make sure you get the read/write card reader.

    What do you physically have to do to the MPC in general? Remove the floppy drive (obviously) and solder the card reader in? Or is it more disconnect/connect? I want to get a card reader asap, but I'm apprehensive about doing it with damn near zero knowledge of chip boards and soldering.




  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    What do you physically have to do to the MPC in general? Remove the floppy drive (obviously) and solder the card reader in? Or is it more disconnect/connect? I want to get a card reader asap, but I'm apprehensive about doing it with damn near zero knowledge of chip boards and soldering.
    http://mpc2000xl.com/storage.htm
    definitely get someone else to do it if you aren't comfortable with it.

    day: was it you a few months ago asking about using a microkorg and mpc with midi?

  • dayday 9,612 Posts
    What do you physically have to do to the MPC in general? Remove the floppy drive (obviously) and solder the card reader in? Or is it more disconnect/connect? I want to get a card reader asap, but I'm apprehensive about doing it with damn near zero knowledge of chip boards and soldering.

    definitely get someone else to do it if you aren't comfortable with it.

    day: was it you a few months ago asking about using a microkorg and mpc with midi?

    Cool, that's actually is different than another one I saw. Maby I'll give that a shot.
    And yeah, it was me who asked. I still can't get that shit to play more than one midi note at a time which I think is all it can do. It's good for basslines, though.
    Don't you have the same set up?

  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    i sold my (broken) 2000xl and got a 1000 this weekend. shits real nice so far but i gotta figure out the best way to hook all of this up with my limited setup

  • What's the word on the 1000 as a stand alone sampler (no pc)?
    Is it really lacking that much of the "feel" of the 2000/XL?

    I've been thinking of selling my 2000 and getting one just for the convenience of not having to fuck around with ZIP discs and that kind of thing...

  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    Define "feel." I've only used mine for about ten hours so far and the only other MPC I've used was the 2000XL. Some of the menus and ways of accessing things are different but I'm already into it.


  • And yeah, it was me who asked. I still can't get that shit to play more than one midi note at a time which I think is all it can do. It's good for basslines, though.
    Don't you have the same set up?

    I'm running a 2kxl and a microkorg and have no problems. This isn't meant to sound patronizing but is the patch your using monophonic? Coz i know some of them are. If not i can run through my set up for you if you like. Pad sounds etc play chords fine.

  • Well you get people the MPC nerds talking about how each has it's own feel/quantisation and how the new ones suck balls because of that. And i wasn't sure if that actually made much difference, or it was just nerdy guys being nerdy.
    I haven't learnt my 2000 yet properly (i'm using a different one completely at the moment) so the different menus isn't an issue, just curious about whether it's nice as an all in one thing...

  • Well you get people the MPC nerds talking about how each has it's own feel/quantisation and how the new ones suck balls because of that. And i wasn't sure if that actually made much difference, or it was just nerdy guys being nerdy.
    I haven't learnt my 2000 yet properly (i'm using a different one completely at the moment) so the different menus isn't an issue, just curious about whether it's nice as an all in one thing...

    I've used both a 2kxl (at home) and a 1k (travelling) fairly extensively and i think the biggest difference is the weight/construction. I don't really quantize very often though... just practice and you won't really need it. I don't have a good knowledge of the Rodger Lynn (sp?) machines though, so i can't argue whether the MP changed dramatically after he left (which seems to be alot of the arguement) since i was late to the party.

  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    Well you get people the MPC nerds talking about how each has it's own feel/quantisation and how the new ones suck balls because of that. And i wasn't sure if that actually made much difference, or it was just nerdy guys being nerdy.
    I don't really feel qualified to speak on how the swing of each machine but as far as I know, the 60 and 3000 are known for their swing (among other things). I don't know if the 2000 and 1000 have any differences in swing but I'm assuming they are neglible.

  • Wicked, thanks for your help!

  • slushslush 691 Posts
    a fair warning: in 2002 i had about 40 beats stored between 4 jazz disks, with additional files scattered about. I decided to back up the backups cos i had been hearing a lot about the click of death. sure enough, as i connected the scsi to my computer, the dreaded click noise started. Figuring that it was only going to be the one disk, i inserted another. Yup...the worst thing that could possibly happened DID, the click infected my drive and moved over to a 2nd disk.

    now i gotta say, what i did after that is still beyond me to this day. i panicked and ended up putting a 3rd disk in the machine, hoping that i could at least salvage my most important beats that i was about to make a second album with. i regret that a lot... 3 of those 4 disks were completely destroyed. I even sent them to an mpc specialist and data recovery expert jeff goins, who runs the site mpc2000xl.com. He didnt charge me anything, but told me they table of contents was erased, and there would be no way to recover ths disks.

    when he told me a took a hammer to the jaz drive. no joke. and that was pretty much the last time i cried like rivers of tears.

    i ended up using the encasing of the jaz drive to hold a 4 gig hard drive in a scsi bay. it still works. I still use an mpc, but honestly i dont know why

  • Just make your ish tight and put it on disk or cassette then when the click of death happens re-sample what you recorded onto Disk or Cassette and change it up a bit and BAM you have that new shit everyone will be jockin you for. Dudes will be "Oh snap dude just flipped that hiss is classic hip hop doggie"! and dudes will bit all day!

  • slushslush 691 Posts
    btw, if you want to back up your jaz, or anythign scsi related the best way to do it is buy a scsi card for your desktop, and download Winhex. then make a cloned backup of the whole disk. its a little more complicated than it sounds though. not that much more but still, hexidecimal is kinda freaky

  • dayday 9,612 Posts

    And yeah, it was me who asked. I still can't get that shit to play more than one midi note at a time which I think is all it can do. It's good for basslines, though.
    Don't you have the same set up?

    I'm running a 2kxl and a microkorg and have no problems. This isn't meant to sound patronizing but is the patch your using monophonic? Coz i know some of them are. If not i can run through my set up for you if you like. Pad sounds etc play chords fine.

    Yeah, it is, but I wasn't talking about polyphony, I was talking about playing more than one track at a time. I've always avoided MIDI and have a somewhat unorthadox creative process, but I figure it's time I utilized everything I have, so I started using the Microkorg in conjunction with teh MPC. My problem is overdubbding tracks on the MPC because I can only play one instrument at a time on the Microkorg. I'm guessing that might just be a MIDI thing, but I don't know for sure. Plus, I always see a million rack mount modules when people use MIDI.

    i can run through my set up for you if you like. Pad sounds etc play chords fine.

    By all means, please do

    I need some
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