Where to get info/contact akai? - Nag nag whine whine

hey all -
im about ready to drop money for the 4000.  I was just wondering, is there some sort of email for akai that i can send questions to?  I read the 4000 manual and have a good understanding of its features but still have alot of complaints in terms of things i expected of the machine that it does not YET deliver.  it seems that its designed to improve with time so im not so worried that these wishes will never be fulfilled.  it would be nice to send a wishlist of features to AKAI (if there is the slightest chance they care).
also, anyone here know of any plans for a 4000XL?  seems like a ridiculous question but i wouldnt be surprised if they unveiled one soon that had a 16 levels button and other features that make the mpc so good.
thanks for any info.[/color]

Hmm. It's hard enough getting Akai to reply to support emails, not sure they would be in any particular hurry to reply to a pre-sales email complaining about a lack of features.

I too think that the MPC4000 is a bit of a 'rush-job', and just cant justify spending wedges of cash on something that is still not finished - I mean, apparently, the CD burning function is still not working - but there's no mention of this on any spec lists on their site.

If you feel a bit weary about buying something like this, go with your gut - and either wait a while for the improvements (and price to go down) or just get a 2000xl and a Z-series.[/color]

just thought i'd share --- AKAI wrote me back, although they chose to only respond to one of my questions.
now i know for sure -- NO, the mpc 4000 CANNOT automate sample start/loop start points and other stuff of that nature....really dissapointing.  
BTW - does the cd burner not even work yet!?  Does it still take FOREVER to save to the internal hard drive??  is it comminicating smoothly with aksys?  
i have a feeling the 2000, however limited a sampler it may be, was never plagued by this many *serious* problems at any point in its lifetime.  i hope akai shapes up.[/color]

"i have a feeling the 2000, however limited a sampler it may be, was never plagued by this many *serious* problems at any point in its lifetime"

It was pretty close.[/color]

yah, the 2000 did have mad os bugs, but not like the 4000 does, man the guys at guitar Center asked me when I sat down to use the 4000 side by side with the 2000xl,
#1 If I had an Mpc, I told 'em yeah, I've had a 2000xl for a while. then they ask, If I wouldnt mind "letting them know" if I found a part of the 4000 that didnt work, cuz they had no idea (what?)
so I get on it and i start to play and find mad things wrong, menu's u cant get to, confirming instructions to it, then waiting while it "works" then it never doing the task u assign it to, man this is getting to be like video games, anyone remember the days when the first thing u did was NOT get on the net and download a patch to fix bugs?[/color]