Akai MPD and MPK pad mods - tips for better pad sensitivity

[brephophagist]

Exacto knife or razor blade and patients.

Had all 3 of those.

I was more looking along the lines of "well I measured the dimensions of the contact surface, then scratched them in a square into a chunk of wood with a boxcutter, and used that as a template to cut pieces of tape out of...".

Or, "I grabbed a T-square and a TEM and made sure each square was identically dimensioned within 4 microns".

Or, "I had my date lay a hand down on the table, and just made sure to cut every piece of tape to exactly cover that melanoma on the 3rd knuckle."

You know - details.

I'd also be curious how many tries some of you had to take (re-disassembling, adding some tape here, taking some out there, etc.) at doing this before you were satisfied with the result. That way I'll know when I've crossed the line from "detail-oriented" to "obsessive".

[H20nly]

^ I'd say you're crossing it

cut one perfect piece and use it as your template.
cut the next piece.
repeat last step.
repeat last step.
repeat last step.
repeat last step.
repeat last step.
repeat last step.
repeat last step.
repeat last step.
repeat last step.
repeat last step.
repeat last step.
repeat last step.
repeat last step.
repeat last step.

done cutting.
stick em in place and put it back together.

[brephophagist]

^ I'd say you're crossing it

Woops. My apologies.

[JaeOne3345]

Great tip.

Word of advice. For those of you don't wanna deal with electrical tape, about a year ago I did this mod on my MPC 1000 (suffers from same issue) but all I did was use stationary dots (the office supply ones, ya know the little circle colored dots). I made stacks of about 8 and stuck them to the gap under the pad.

No cutting needed, and the circles fit in the pad area just fine.

[Dr. Zoiberg]

I've modded my MPD16.

pic here

[hiphopdontstop]

More success stories. Akai should pay me as an independent consultant. haha.

[thornz1]

Before I pop my mpd open...

Does this fix also improve the response when hitting the pads near the corners? I tend to do that and as you all know, hitting the corner of the pad produces no sound 9 out of 10 times.

If not, is there a way to fix that? And anyway, why did they make the square pads hollow around the circle that hits the sensor???

[Dr. Zoiberg]

Before I pop my mpd open...

Does this fix also improve the response when hitting the pads near the corners? I tend to do that and as you all know, hitting the corner of the pad produces no sound 9 out of 10 times.

If not, is there a way to fix that? And anyway, why did they make the square pads hollow around the circle that hits the sensor???

Unfortunately taping the sensors won't improve the response when hitting the pads near the corners.
I really can't understand why Akai made the bottom of the pads circular instead of square.

[thornz1]

Done and done.

Much better. It's silly how much better it is. My only regret is that I wish I had put a couple more pieces of tape on each pad, but I really don't feel like taking it apart again... Tonight at least. The corners are much more responsive now too which makes me happy.

On a side note, am I going mad or is there no way to enable arp on the mpd? I've RTFM and GIYF and STFF and I can't seem to find it. Thanks y'all.

[ilmago2k]

does anybody know if MPD 26 they addressed this issue?

[dstroud]

Thought I'd post about how went about this. I didn't like the feel of the pads with the square tape bits (felt wobbly) so I wanted to make circular tape pads that matched the diameter of the original MPD pads.

Step 1. I got some aluminum foil and laid out a long strip of 1 1/2" plastic tape (Scotch brand that seems a little stiffer than most electrical tape and doesn't adhere quite as strong. Wide electrical tape would probably work as well or better but I couldn't find it locally).

Step 2. Repeat with more layers of tape on top of this, trying to minimize air bubbles.

Step 3. Trace circles of the appropriate size onto the strip of tape (I used the inside of a reel of clear tape which was just the right size).

Step 4. Remove from foil, cut into squares, then cut out the circles.

Step 5. Stick em on and give it a go.

[ninja girl]

hi ya, i'm arriving late to this...

does anyone have any tips/instructions for disassembling the mpd24? it looks pretty easy ie. starting with taking out all the screws on the bottom but just wondering if there are any snags to look out for?

also, i'm wondering as this thread seems to be largely recommending using tape as the sensor mod, has anyone had any issues with the adhesive running do to heat within the unit? seems like the unit doesn't get that hot itself but i'm in a humid state and a little worried about this creeping in during a show. thanks!

[trikster_b]

hi ya, i'm arriving late to this...

does anyone have any tips/instructions for disassembling the mpd24? it looks pretty easy ie. starting with taking out all the screws on the bottom but just wondering if there are any snags to look out for?

also, i'm wondering as this thread seems to be largely recommending using tape as the sensor mod, has anyone had any issues with the adhesive running do to heat within the unit? seems like the unit doesn't get that hot itself but i'm in a humid state and a little worried about this creeping in during a show. thanks!

I remember getting stuck at one point. When you take off the bottom which has like ~10 screws, you'll see the green board in it. It has a couple screws in it that can be easily taken out. Then (this is the snag) when you're done with that, turn the MPD24 over and remove all the knobs and sliders, since there's about 4 bolts on 4 of them. Once you remove them, you can easily slip out the pads and just stick the tape on it.

dunno about the overheating though; I don't think it's a problem, really. I did notice that after about 5 months, one of the pads on mine is starting to trigger no matter what pad I press, but I think it's just sloppy adhesion on my part. Anyone else experiencing this?

[gatek]

Thanks a lot guys!
Pads feel much better after the mod. I suspected it can be done but you made it so much easier with videos and tips.
I mod'ed MPK-49.

I'm curious about the new MPD-26. Does it have the same problem? Anybody got it already?

[outershpongolia]

Thanks a lot guys!
Pads feel much better after the mod. I suspected it can be done but you made it so much easier with videos and tips.
I mod'ed MPK-49.

I'm curious about the new MPD-26. Does it have the same problem? Anybody got it already?

Same question I had about the LPD8.. Still no word on that..