I got mine from ebay. It was bought by the previous owner around march 2007. It has a black backpanel and it came in a (sexy) black box.
It also has 128mb ram...



Hm, the center does feel stiff compared to the edges but the pads seem to respond as they should...

I bought an MPC1000 last week and it came in the new black box with manuals and 128mb MPC Sound Library Card.
The base is a grey/silver colour.
The pads are solid in the middle and bend at the edges.
I'm assuming these are the old pads!
Some of them had different levels when hit, even after assigning the same sample to all 16 pads and having full level pressed!
It came with Akai OS v2.10 installed, which I upgraded to v2.11.
The pads all sound the same level now! Very strange.
Is it worth contacting my supplier to see if they have the new ones in stock?
I can not find any info on the Akai website regarding pad upgrades
Any help appreciated.
Cheers

Ok, so i'm definitely stickin' with mine for now.

No I was wrong. The pads are back to being eratic!
Double hits. No sound. Different volumes even with Full Level on.
Beginning to wish I had never bought the ******* thing!
Akai aftersales. What aftersales!
Where's my hammer!

hey all,

i'm writing from france, and have received a new 1000 two or three weeks ago (the shop called akai because no stock).
i don't remember the version of the original os, cause switched to jj os after 1 hour!

black rear panel, 128mb card... but old pads, i guess.
very solid in the center, but feel "empty" on the borders and corners.

here is how they behave (with jj os 4.87, sensitivity set to 16) :
- almost impossible to be precise under 50, and sometimes no response at all
- most often you get 60-100
- 100-127 with a very very bit more pressure (perfect for me)
all in all, very difficult to be precise, except for 127
with lower sensitivity, it's harder to get 127, and i want to break no pad for now, so i keep 16 all the time.

can you confirm that they are the old ones?
can anybody tell me how mpd-24 behaves with mpc, please?
(thinking of adding 16 real pads to 1k)

thanks in advance, bye!

Sounds like the old pads to me. Same as mine.
Solid in the middle and bend in at the edges.

phew, i was about to buy akais pad fix. now i'll wait.

RETURN YOUR MPC under warranty and demand a new one. keep switching until you get one with the new pads. simple as that.

the switcheroo would also work. Guitar Center is a prime victim for that.

and if you are curious whether they're old or new, take off your faceplate

or jostle 1 pad by wiggling it north and south, east and west... if you see the others move, then it's the new set because all the pads are on 1 sheet. if not, they're the old pads because each are disconnected.

Cheers
It's getting returned.
They are the old pads. Pad 2 is ******!

thanks antonym and flaxter,
the pads definetly look disconnected, so guess i can say that there is no link between black back panel & 128mb card and the new pads (too bad...)
bye

this is absolutely ridiculous

i don't know who it's worse for, people who bought their mpc years ago and suffered through years of bad pads or people who just bought their mpc and didn't get one with new pads in it.

bad, dirty business. they've just made this nastier by releasing their so called "upgrade."

geez this is excruciating! every day i've been reading the forums about the 1k as i wait for mine in the mail, i hope all the pads are ok for now because i wanna get straight into jj without having to worry about the pad upgrade level issues. i wondering whether i maybe should sell this 2nd hand one i just bought and buy a new one with the good pads? argghhh the dilemma!!

I just contacted Akai UK. Managed to get through this time.
The person I spoke to said there was a pad issue and it has been rectified but only in the last week in the UK.
There was a pad upgrade option but he had no details.
This likely means that stores are still carrying the old 1000s with the old pads.
Regardless of black base, fancy new box and 128mb card.
He's supposedly going to email me further info.
I wait with baited breath

I just spoke to another person at Akai UK, who informed me there was a pad upgrade but it was the old pads from earlier machines???
This will only be available in the UK in a months time and in limited supply.
Not sure about USA or any where else.
I also asked him about the double trigger that occurs sometimes and he said it's a fault and needs checked out.
This only seems to happen on PAD 2 of my machine.
What a nightmare!