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For producers looking for larger capacity memory access with their Akai MPC2000 and MPC2000XL samplers, there are several external options available for using flash media with your Akai MPC2000 and MPC2000XL sampler. Keeping sounds, songs, sequences, etc., on no-moving parts flash media greatly reduces the risk of loss of data. Floppy and zip disks have been prone to fail at some point in time. The main reason for considering an external drive is keep the INTERNAL drive (floppy or zip) intact because there are still plenty of sounds available on floppy and zip disks and these drives can serve to migrate the sounds to flash media. It is always a very good idea to back up your data.

The versions of external scsi card reader writer drives listed below have been widely used and can be categorized as hot-swappable and non hot-swappable. In both cases, the drive is a solid state device with no moving parts. There are some factors that producers consider to help them determine Which version to use.

The ‘hot-swappable’ drive allows the user to insert and remove the compact flash card regardless of whether ALL equipment is ON or OFF. This can be convenient for some producers who swap cards frequently. The limitation of a hot-swappable drive is that flash memory can be limited from 1GB to a maximum of 4GB, depending mostly on the operating system and drive used. Also, in all cases, a pcmcia adapter will be required.

The ‘non hot-swappable’ drive allows the user to use flash memory up to a whopping 16GB, thereby, eliminating any need for card swapping. For this drive, it is very important to NOT remove the card when ANY equipment is ON. In other words, the flash card can ONLY be removed when ALL equipment daisy-chained to your sampler is OFF. Removing the flash memory card when any equipment is ON will damage and corrupt the flash card. Once again, the operating system will determine memory accessibility. For example, on an Akai MPC2000 Classic, by using operating system version 1.72, you will be able to access up to 16GB of storage on flash media. For the Akai MPC2000XL, by using operating system version1.14, you will be able to access up to 16GB. If an Akai MPC2000XL uses operating system version 1.20, then the maximum memory limit will 1GB. But changing switching from 1.20 to 1.14 on the MPC2000XL will allow more memory storage available on the flash card.

In summary, both options are good and the best choice ultimately depends on the producer’s preference.