First of all, clean the socket with contact cleaner. If nothing changed, check for broken solder joints.

This is known to happen. The Akai auto saves everything and it's internal memory can do weird things if not used for a long time. Factory reset should fix this. Plug in the unit and turn it off with the power switch on back. Next use one hand to push and hold the UP and DOWN buttons.on the front. While holding both of these, use your other hand to press the power switch and turn it on. You will see CLR flash on the display.

Thanks for the recommendations!

I checked the midi connector by plugging in a midi cable and checking the pins on the other end of the midi cable against the solder connections on the back of the circuit board for the connector and got continuity on all the pins.

I tried the reset, got it to display the "CLR", but no change.

I noticed that the internal battery seems to have been replaced with a socket like you'd see on a motherboard instead of the soldered on battery that I saw in a picture online of the inside of one of these. I tried running it with and without the battery, no difference.

Are you giving it enough power? The original ac adapter was 10v@800mA.

Yup, pleasantly surprised to find that the AC adapter it came with was actually 10v instead of 9 or 12. 850mA.

Anybody have any last minute suggestions?

Assuming the midi-in connector is working correctly and it's an issue with the memory, and the factory reset didn't solve it?

I can still return it if it's not something I can fix.

Thanks for the responses everybody.

EDIT: It's kind of working now! I left it plugged in and on for a while and now it actually accepts midi-in signals, or at least some of them. It'll play songs, but very haltingly and corrupted. Like it's only playing some of the notes and instruments.

Have you checked for broken solder joints on the board?

I didn't see any, though I didn't have any magnification or anything.

Not sure if you saw the edit, it sort of half works now, I'd left it powered on for a while and after that it accepts signals (the light blinks when MIDI data is sent to it) and it plays sounds, but not all the sounds it's supposed to.

Good news! It works seemingly fine now. I guess it just had to cook a while. If anybody ever runs into a similar problem the solution seems to be to plug it in and turn it on, leave it that way for a while, reset it a few times, and exercise it by trying to play stuff through it until it works the kinks out.

Also make sure you've got it in "multi" mode, even once it's working right it will only play one instrument in "single" mode.

Typically "warm up time to function properly" = bad capacitors.

Gotcha, guess I better measure them before they pop

SuperDeadite wrote on 2024-09-02, 23:10:

Typically "warm up time to function properly" = bad capacitors.

True, the board needs a recap.