[SOLVED] New firmware

I noticed that too... You can download both the new Audio Driver and Firmware update here... http://pioneerdj.com/support/product.php?lang=en&p=MEP-7000&t=105

BUT......  Those of you hoping that this took care of the play/pause button freezing issue, Guess What....  I just did a 4 hour gig on my way to the next one, I was excited to test out the new firmware update... It updated successfully, BUT the problem is still there!  Load a track and either press play and pause and cue to that spot OR just use the platter to get to a spot you want and cue it... Press Play, same issue is still there, maybe its happening less frequently but it is still there, if you touch the platter the song will play again fine with pause and play, until you set another or a new cue point...  COME ON PIONEER! What is up with this, we wait forever for this update and the main issue is still there... I have actually become accustomed to using the platter to play a song...  Also, the improper song/artist names on display are still wrong 75% of the time... Very Frustrating...  Everyone else, please post your findings as well...  Later

Jason

Same here Jason. I'm feeling a bit deflated. let's forget the mobile and 19" devotees, there's more money to be made of of installs and clubbers. It's great to see exciting new products on your website and international celebrities using them. minority products always get less attention. iguess that I expected the same almost faultless performance that I've had from my CMX -5000 and then the CMX-3000 ( I didn't discard the 5000 I added the 3000).

My biggest grief is that the MEP 7000 is still being bragged on some retailer websites, a product conceived in 2009. It's now 2012 and some of the most claimed features of the MEP/SEP fall short of their expectations.

My next purchase I have to say will not be as automatic as in the past. Stanton, Denon, Numark you're in the running for my future additions ( I can't believe that I have to say that).

Pioneer I have luved your products, but as your name suggests, pioneering is great, but without the backup of your loyal followers, even pioneers of great ideas fail to create a stable futurewithout structure.

HAPPY EASTER every bunny

First addressing Jason's point, we do NOT experience the problem you are having with any of the MEP units we use (we have more than ten MEP-7000s deployed now). Jason, you either have a flawed controller that needs service OR you are using audio files, hard drives, or formatting that falls outside of what the MEP can reliably handle.

Try this: Take your song file and drag it into Quicktime 7 (um… on a Mac) or into your favorite audio waveform editor on a PC. Save the file as a AIF or WAV. Copy the song file onto a USB flash drive (NOT a hard drive). Ideally, the flash drive has been formatted with the HP USB Disc Storage Format Tool v2.2.3 using FAT32. I do this via Parallels on a Mac, as this is a Windows utility.). If you want to encode the ID3 tags onto the file, pick from your favorite player/encoder (I just use iTunes to do this). Plug the flash drive into the MEP, load the song file, and play from that. I can almost assure you that you will not be able to freeze the player (even with the old firmware). We have literally played thousands of mobile gigs with this configuration (yes, we use very large, expensive USB flash drives and uncompressed music), and the MEP simply does not fail. Ever.

I am not saying that the MEP-7000 shouldn't be more reliable using different external hard drives, iffy MP3s, different formatting tools, etc. It should be. But if you stick with flash media and uncompressed audio files (we use AIFs), the controller doesn't freeze. It took us a LONG time to figure out a solution to this, but it really does work.

Phil, I don't think as a club owner I would use the MEP, since in that case, lots of different DJs will be using the equipment with different sources and file types. I think the MEP is too finicky. You don't need the 19" form factor anyway. By the way, I agree with you that the CMX-3000 was a workhorse and rock solid. We used a lot of those back in the day when we were burning CDs. But it's a new era. Media files are the only way to go. There is simply NOT a superior rack-mountable controller by any of the other manufacturers. Trust me, we have looked at ALL of them, and the MEP is the best. We currently use Numark mixers due to their price, small form factor, and five channel board EQ, but they suck. These things cannot handle more than about 100 gigs before they start failing in one way or another. Numark makes cheap stuff. Honestly, I think you would be happier to tweak your workflow and song preparation to bypass the bugs with the MEP-7000 than to try to use a lesser controller from one of the other manufacturers. The grass always seems greener, but we've spent money on the other side of the fence, and we came back to the MEP (or Serato… but that's a story for another day).

Woodster

As Woodster says, and I hate to sound like a broken record (no pun intended); the majority of problems with the Pioneer players comes back to the source media, not the player itself.  Proper media handling on both the device and the files therein is critical for flawless playback.  You can sit and tell me until the cows come home how well your songs play on another brand's player or a media player on your computer but the fact remains that the MEP is none of those and chances are very good it's superior to all you're comparing it to in almost every way.  But then the argument is "Well if it's so much better, how come it won't play my songs?"  Does a high performance race car run on the same cheap fuel at the Shell station?  Nope.  It requires a premium fuel, just as the MEP requires clean and error-free songs and drives.

While yes, I will agree, there were other issues that could have been sewn-up in this firmware update, I stated earlier that the engineering resources were not available for this EOL product and while it would be nice to be supported as a user, this is better than nothing.

Your comments and feedback are still appreciated and you never know if we may see another update for the MEP.

Thanks again for your patience and I hope you find the update fixes the major issue at hand.

Woodster...  I don't have a flawed controller, corrupt files, hard drives, etc.  I have spoken to other people that have the SAME issue as I, using the controller with Serato, though this problem is not present in Serato 2.2....  Serato will say its pioneer, pioneer will say its Serato, at least Serato does respond quickly.  I am a very computer Savvy person and would know about and fix file issues if there were any.  You state above; "If you stick with uncompressed audio files, the controller doesn't freeze." You also state that you do thousands of gigs with flash media and everything works flawlessly...  Ok, that may be, but then the controller shouldn't be called a media controller, it should be a USB controller...  The fact is, all of these controllers have their issues, the denon HC4500 has never froze but the pitch control is not as accurate as the MEP because it has slider that is not capable of doing such small increments, The MEP is not perfect with Serato, and so on...  At this point there is NOTHING perfect out there so we'll just make do with what we have.  For the Price the MEP sells for, it should not be so finicky about file type, as long as it is NOT corrupt and is an audio "media file" then it should have NO problems playing on a "media player".  Nascar  vehicles are designed to burn roughly 110 Octane leaded fuel, Indy cars are designed to burn Methane... Media controllers are designed to play Media, its not called an AIF controller...  Anyway, we can all go on and on and back and forth with each other for years on this topic.  Time to sleep and get ready for a gigs tomorrow... Goodnight Forum...

Pulse... thanks for updating us on stuff when you can and trying to help....  

Hi Pulse, Many thanks for pushing for the new update my friend ....well Done !

(This update includes: - Fixed a freeze issue while a specific music track is played.)

Can you explain a little further what this update fixes, what specific track does this mean ? Is this update mainly for Controller user's serato, traktor etc or has it solved VBR file playback ?

The reason I ask this - The only time my Mep freezed in the past  was due to VBR mp3 files or tried to unload a drive during operation - Both Freeze up the Player.

Thanks Graeme.

After reading other comments above my last post I realise my unit is not as flawed as others, I've been LUCKY to have less problems than others.

Again, it's not that certain units are flawed, it's the source media going into them.

Woodster - since i can see no way to message you,   can you e mail me - i have an MEP question that a multi-op owner can best answer -  

jmarch100 att yaho dott com

@swing > This thread is over a year old - Woodster may be unlikely to see your message. If you do have a question, please feel free to open your own topic.