By
manji
Mon May 06, 2013 1:22 pm
Almost everything I would change (except the synth) would essentially just be a reworking of software, and is thusly real (except the VST thing)
If we were really reaching for the stars, I'd want a visual reworking of the OS. That big, beautiful screen is so under used its a shame. The Main screen has like zero information on the right half of the screen. Looking at JJOSXL128 shows what is actually possible on these screens. Even on a regular screen, look what he manages to do on the Main page, the one you'll be looking at allllllll day. You can assign pads, shows that sequences grid edit, assign FX and QLinks and basic mixing...from one single screen. You know, those button pushing sequences that we can all do in our sleep because eeeeeeverytime we want to change something, its 6 buttons away.
THATS the kind of workflow that would turn this thing into an absolute beast. I don't thinkk Akai needs to rip JJ off, but if you look at the 128 OS, it takes such CLEAR direction from the 5k graphically, its just so, so, so much more intelligently implemented.
I feel like Akai is too worried about going for that "classic" mpc feel. And thats all fine and good, but not to the point of hampering the development of products.
Whoever mentioned a linux like enviroment (even if it was closed) that could host vsts, even if it was just libraries, would be absolutely killer. An MPC, a keyboard and a recorder would literally be all you need. One of the major problems I at least am finding when looking for libraries is that most people making akai libraries anymore are a-holes on ebay and thats it. I have an s2800 here that can read multiple formats, akai, roland, I think one other. My z8 is close to the same. Yet my mpc5k and 1k can't share programs? It's that kind "haha, gotcha!" crap that makes these things not sell. Denying access to modern libraries in a sampler is absolutely garbage. A bunch of dudes sitting around chopping up records is great, but thats been the functionality for coming up on 30 damn years now. Roland and Akai have been DIRECT competitors long before Native Instruments or Massive came along, and they both realized that both companies benefit from being able to read each others software.
To be honest...I don't see why hardware samplers are dying and software isn't. I can't download an mpc, but I can sure go get every Kontakt Library ever...yet they're still making money. Goes to show that people still want samplers, they still the real deal...but only when that real deal can use modern libraries. I think something like the Ren is a decent step with computer integration (which I could care less about, but good for markets), but to completely gut the thing in the name of that is retarded. Why couldn't it be both? Wheres Aksys? One of my big points on buying a Roland Integra 7 was that if I reeeeally want to, I can just edit it on that big, beautiful, 22" 1080p computer screen. Same with my z8, and yet, when I want to, I can just make music with them without the computer. For gods sake, same with my DPS24. I mean, look at Access and like minded companies, they're killllllling it in hardware by offering the best of both worlds. A hardware module, tweakable in the real world, fits into any setup, but can stream its audio and be controlled by VST, if you want to integrate it into your DAW. But the flagship product that was almost a decade after the mpc4k/z8/dps24 doesn't do this?...a decade in which computers became MORE important to music making, not less? I can't think of much Kontakt (admittedly, I don't use it much) can do that wouldn't be capable on a piece of hardware. I mean, my z8 has ALMOST every function I could care about, minus the Qlink Sequences (as it doesn't have a sequencer).
The only thing killing hardware is craptastic hardware made by formerly great companies that are now in the expensive toy business, not the instrument business. And they're doing it to themselves.
AAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway. I agree about the modulation matrix, and that every single parameter of the synth needs to be tweakable and sequencable. Also...like 12 waveforms or whatever is pathetic. For gods sake Akai, I have a 3080 sitting here with a couple hundred or thousand. I mean...seriously. And either take out the 8 track recorder or put it in, but don't just put the tip in and ask me to act all grateful. Stop hampering your products.
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