#113

Over the Christmas break, I spent some time, money and solder on fixing up an old, original blue, MPC 1000 that a friend gave me a couple of years ago.

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The list of repairs / improvements I made:

  • New pads and pad sensors from www.mpc-stuff.com. The first gen MPC 1000s had different pads than the previous MPCs. These are prone to breaking and were replaced in the black MPC 1000 with better pads. This upgrade kit allows the blue MPC 1000 to have the same pads as the revised black MPC 1000.
  • Added the hard drive kit, an IDE to SD card adapter and a 128GB SD card, so it now has a 128GB solid state hard drive. This is much faster at loading and saving samples and (especially) whole projects than using the CF card slot.
  • Fixed the four cursor tact switches. This involved desoldering the old switches and soldering new ones in. The new ones have a much more positive clicky action, so it’s tempting to replace all of the tact switches now!
  • All new button caps from a kit bought from mpc-stuff.
  • Fixed the Q1 slider. This wasn’t working as the pad it was soldered to had become detached from the board! I removed some solder mask from the trace on the PCB and then soldered it in place using a thick solder bridge. Luckily the track was wide - I think it was probably the ground connection.
  • Replaced the encoder. This needed some ingenuity as the encoder used in the blue MPC 1000 is no longer available. This also changed in the black MPC 1000. The encoders that are available have a different “pin-out” to the encoder used in the blue MPC 1000. I soldered wires into the board, mounted the encoder rotated 180, straightened the pins on the encoder so they are flat and then used a JYK socket to plug the wires into encoder, changing the order in the wiring to match the pinout on the new encoder:
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  • New knobs. The encoder shaft is too tall to use the original dial, so I used a 38mm diameter MXR style knob, and two matching 27mm knobs for the input level and volume level. There’s a bit of a gap around the encoder knob, but it works well and is a bit more ergonomic than the old knob.

A pleasant surprise was how easy the MPC 1000 was to work on. Everything is through hole components, the solder pads are nice and big and the board seems good quality, if only single sided and not through plated holes.
I’d feel confident picking up even a tired 2nd hand one now, and repairing it as needed. I might even get a 2500 now! :slight_smile:

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#114

Wonderful. I did the pad swap last month on my black 1000 (it also had the old style pads).
I was curious about the sd/hard drive update. I might do that next.
I’m surprised nobody has hacked the 1000 to have more than 128mb of ram.

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#115

ah that would be cool indeed but I’m not sure the MPC1000 chip can handle more. I bought the MPC 1000 back in 2008 w/ a 128MB RAM already installed and at that time it was a major and expensive expansion. I tend to think, let’s deal with the hardware limitations, some great records have been made with that same device with the same limitations :smiley: another device that could benefit from more RAM: the octatrack especially when used as a looper

#116

I think it’s down to not having enough addressable space for more RAM. I’d kill for 256/512 but it’s impossible the way the hardware is configured.

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#117

Ah i think I’ll order an SSD kit and get a JJOS soon :slight_smile: and it’s great
to upcycle/upgrade, this device is totally worth it. Congrats on your repair/upgrade job, this MPC looks stunning.

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#119

That looks so excellent!

Given how far you’ve gone on this, I wonder if you might consider doing a PMVA LED screen upgrade as well? I’ve done them for my Mackie MCU and also an older MotU MIDI router and the difference is astounding. I imagine for darker performance settings (a good use case for your battery op version) such a screen would be handy.

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#120

Thanks for the compliment! Any new gen LED display would be so awesome and would make a world of a difference. I’ll have to check if there’s even one made in a similar size with at least a 240x64 resolution, let alone the protocol it uses. So in theory it could be an easy swap or some rerouting will need to be made to make it work. Although, I think this is definitely a worthy idea to consider. Thanks!

2 Likes
#121

There’s a seller on Reverb named SNAFU, based on Isle of Man, who sells upgrade LED kits for all kinds of stuff. I got mine from him. But he might already have one for it, if not he would probably know what you’d need.

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#122

This is amazing. I have recently been spending a lot of time with my 1k. The idea of going mobile with it sounds fantastic

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#123

Thanks! I 100% agree with you. The 1K x OS2XL always had a better workflow for me. Being portable with the Live was cool and all, but it’s just not quite as intuitive and I hated seeing my 1K sitting on my shelf.

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#124

Do you have a ballpark estimate of what the kits would cost?

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#125

Oh wow :star_struck:
Very nice work.
I’d be pretty keen to do this mod to my 1000.
Also interested in what it would cost.
Definitely following this thread!

#126

Oh no, I’m sad I missed this post - lots of positive responses.

#127
3 Likes
#128

Oh, my, this is great - thank you! Also my 1k is envious…

#129

I’ve recently begun using my MPC-1000 to help keep track of and trigger Chase Bliss Blooper loops. I didn’t realize you can have multiple pad assignments using pad sets, so I have one set for sending CC & PC changes to Blooper. Such a nice tool that’s standing the test of time.

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2 Likes
#130

Brilliant! I need to explore this pairing.
Any tips?

#131

I’m experimenting with keeping Bank A free, and saving and CC & PC assignments in banks B, C or D. Most of my kits only use up bank A, so this allows me to quickly play a kit and/or bank up and control Blooper.

Also, I don’t think there’s a way to name the pads, so I have a cheat sheet handy.

I’m trying to figure out how to record or run an LFO on a CC. Seems like it should be possible I think?

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#132

question for the forum:

i’m looking to pick up one of the MPCs to compliment my analog rytm as a main drum machine. I love the everything about rytm but I’ve used it so much over the years that I just need a different flavor

now I’m curious - what is the better approach, a 1000 with JJOS or the new live/one, and also, just general questions about the live/ one:

how does the quality of the drum synthesis stack up to something like a rytm or machinedrum?

how advanced is the sequencer? can it do things like parameter locking or probablity?

thanks for your input everyone :slight_smile:

#133

i’m still learning mpclive and never used machinedrum or rtym even though i’m familiar with their capabilities

but i’d recommend getting a digitakt instead of any mpc if you already like elektron sequencers and you mainly want an mpc for drumming (not sample chopping or midi seq)

the only interesting thing about new mpc’s that seems vastly different than anything else i’ve used is the ability to stack and blend multiple samples on the same pad…there is so much untapped potential using that feature!

other bonuses unrelated to drumming which set it apart from AR or MD: rechargeable battery & high capacity storage expansion slot

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