By x-straktor
Fri Jul 19, 2013 6:56 pm
"Fusing Akai Professional’s legendary MPC layout and workflow with the power of your computer". That is the false advertisement which caused me to buy the MPC Renaissance. I started using DAWs because I didn't have enough room for all the wires that a drum machine requires. I wanted to use a drum machine because I always heard how fast it was to make beats. When your hear stories like Madlib making an album a day and J Dilla making beats in 15 minutes, it makes you curious. So when the NI Maschine came out, I was like "this is it". I bought the Maschine 3 times and sold it 3 times, because it was worthless for me, coming from a DAW world. There was just no midi control over the note positioning. You can't tell where a note is located, so you couldn't adjust the position to where you want it to be because there is no read out of the note event. Then the Maschine has a big piano roll editor display you can see on your computer with the note laid out, but of course with no note event read out, you really don't know where it is and how to adjust, so it's not even a piano roll editor. Eyeballing stuff is crap. I wanted a readout. this is 2013 not 1983. I was disappointed and could not figure out how it is possible for a drum machine to make beats fast.
When I heard about the new MPCs coming out, I was skeptical. But I decided to read manuals from older MPCs just to see. I was surprised to read that the MPCs possessed a feature that allowed the same midi control as DAWs. As I read about this feature, I could see how producers are able to make beats really quick. Of course you could say if you use quantize and swing, you can make beats quickly, but then your beats will only possess the rhythmic real of those settings. The producers that I admire are not really using quantize and swing on most of their beats. Some of them are played without quantizing, but most of the drum and percussion elements used to create their rhythms is based on predetermined mathematically calculations to adjust the midi events accordingly. I know because I do the same thing in my DAW. Some of my calculations are unfortunately the same as theirs, but it's just coincidence. Anyway, now I see how these producers were able to make beats so fast on the MPC with some of their signature grooves and their feel. It probably looks like someone working on a typewriter if you get good at it. I could explain more about the rhythmic elements I talking about, but I don't want to give too much away.
Anyway, the feature I'm talking about that was suppose to save the day is called "step edit", also "grid edit". But did the new MPCs come with this? Of course not. It's just the NI Maschine only worse. At least on the Maschine, you can use the hardware to select individual notes, even though you still don't exactly where the note is at or exactly where you are moving it to. The Renaissance was falsely advertised and I want my money. How can you make a new MPC with less features than the older versions? We should be able to use the hardware to select an individual midi note, see some type of readout of event position and velocity and be able to adjust to the exact measurement you want. I mean alai has had this feature for the past 20 years, and now they say"We didn't think people would want it." Absolutely ridiculous. They keep coming out with updates that don't address the issue. what a waste of time. Look. If they were to make an MPC 2500 that could be powered by your computer, that would be better than the Renaissance 1.4, because at least it would have all the features that the old MPCs have. No step edit!! This is 2013 not 1983. This thing was falsely advertised and I want my money back.
When I heard about the new MPCs coming out, I was skeptical. But I decided to read manuals from older MPCs just to see. I was surprised to read that the MPCs possessed a feature that allowed the same midi control as DAWs. As I read about this feature, I could see how producers are able to make beats really quick. Of course you could say if you use quantize and swing, you can make beats quickly, but then your beats will only possess the rhythmic real of those settings. The producers that I admire are not really using quantize and swing on most of their beats. Some of them are played without quantizing, but most of the drum and percussion elements used to create their rhythms is based on predetermined mathematically calculations to adjust the midi events accordingly. I know because I do the same thing in my DAW. Some of my calculations are unfortunately the same as theirs, but it's just coincidence. Anyway, now I see how these producers were able to make beats so fast on the MPC with some of their signature grooves and their feel. It probably looks like someone working on a typewriter if you get good at it. I could explain more about the rhythmic elements I talking about, but I don't want to give too much away.
Anyway, the feature I'm talking about that was suppose to save the day is called "step edit", also "grid edit". But did the new MPCs come with this? Of course not. It's just the NI Maschine only worse. At least on the Maschine, you can use the hardware to select individual notes, even though you still don't exactly where the note is at or exactly where you are moving it to. The Renaissance was falsely advertised and I want my money. How can you make a new MPC with less features than the older versions? We should be able to use the hardware to select an individual midi note, see some type of readout of event position and velocity and be able to adjust to the exact measurement you want. I mean alai has had this feature for the past 20 years, and now they say"We didn't think people would want it." Absolutely ridiculous. They keep coming out with updates that don't address the issue. what a waste of time. Look. If they were to make an MPC 2500 that could be powered by your computer, that would be better than the Renaissance 1.4, because at least it would have all the features that the old MPCs have. No step edit!! This is 2013 not 1983. This thing was falsely advertised and I want my money back.
