Official: 'Akai MPC Touch' - The New MPC

If you get the MPC Touch, you have to accept you're being a guinea pig for the touchscreen concept, and in all likelihood there' likely to be some things that don't work too well, although anything relating to software can be fixed.

TBH I have no idea how much user testing has gone into the MPC Touch hardware and touch software UI (in terms of actual producers using it day-in-day-out, as opposed to engineers and software devs playing with it and saying 'wow, this is so cool and fun'), so we'll just have to wait and see how usable it is. It could be the missing link, or maybe just a bit of a gimmick.

That's why we need promo vids of working producers actually using the thing to make music, showing us just how it's allowing them to be more creative from both a song writing and live performance perspective.

All I'm going to say is they had better make that touch screen as solid as the pads.

Not a chance I'd buy it without a proper demonstration of how the entire unit works.

some good points about the cons of standalone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

funkycoldmedina wrote:I'm interested in how many current Ren owners will be buying the Touch. For any Ren owners reading this who want to chime in, I'd be interested to hear. Because I'm definitely going to hold off. Mainly because I'm not interested in learning a new workflow. What's the point of using an MPC if it involves a new workflow?

I think the Touch looks cool and i definitely feel the pull of wanting a new slick black unit with nice pads and a shiny screen, but in reality I have no use for it. Current Ren owners-what do u think?

If the touch is as smooth as beatmaker 2 on the iPad then I think itll be an upgrade from the ren. Looks like it has a decent audio card like the ren.. Only issue I'll have is the software.. I think it's a positive sign that mpc software will be part of the touch so that it doesn't just stop updates. In all, if they can get audio tracks and some better editing features like beatmaker 2 does wth the iPad then this thing has alotttttt of potential..

I do agree with that because Beatmaker 2 is great! It is so much better than the impc pro app.

funkycoldmedina wrote:I'm interested in how many current Ren owners will be buying the Touch. For any Ren owners reading this who want to chime in, I'd be interested to hear. Because I'm definitely going to hold off. Mainly because I'm not interested in learning a new workflow. What's the point of using an MPC if it involves a new workflow?

I think the Touch looks cool and i definitely feel the pull of wanting a new slick black unit with nice pads and a shiny screen, but in reality I have no use for it. Current Ren owners-what do u think?

it is firmly planted in my mind that this is the successor to the MPC Studio. I think there will be something else maybe at NAMM (if not later) that will be similar with a touch screen but that is bigger and more in line with a proper REN successor.

That said I'm hoping to get my hands on the MPC Touch for review but I wont be trading the REN for it... 16 Q links traded for 4 qlinks. nope. even with a touch screen.

psr wrote:

funkycoldmedina wrote:I'm interested in how many current Ren owners will be buying the Touch. For any Ren owners reading this who want to chime in, I'd be interested to hear. Because I'm definitely going to hold off. Mainly because I'm not interested in learning a new workflow. What's the point of using an MPC if it involves a new workflow?

I think the Touch looks cool and i definitely feel the pull of wanting a new slick black unit with nice pads and a shiny screen, but in reality I have no use for it. Current Ren owners-what do u think?

it is firmly planted in my mind that this is the successor to the MPC Studio. I think there will be something else maybe at NAMM (if not later) that will be similar with a touch screen but that is bigger and more in line with a proper REN successor.

That said I'm hoping to get my hands on the MPC Touch for review but I wont be trading the REN for it... 16 Q links traded for 4 qlinks. nope. even with a touch screen.

I feel the same way

funkycoldmedina wrote:I do agree with that because Beatmaker 2 is great! It is so much better than the impc pro app.

Speaking of Beatmaker.. There is this that is coming, which looks to be interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR38wubucYk

one question .. is the ren done ?

Some people argue that it would cost too much to have a standalone. I disagree. Let's take a look at the Beat Thang. I know that it had some bugs and didn't appeal to a lot of users. But it was standalone and even had a 4 hour backup battery built in. SD card slots, phantom power, USB connections and virtual software. All running without a power cord. It just needed more development in software. People who want a standalone unit would like to have the option to toggle between standalone and connecting to the computer. Since this is just the beginning I hope Akai has something similar coming soon. Since the last standalone MPC was made some parts are more cheaper and more powerful. This is very possible with devices like Rasberry Pi which is a computer the size of a credit card and can run Windows 10.

pspsounds wrote:Some people argue that it would cost too much to have a standalone. I disagree. Let's take a look at the Beat Thang.

The actual manufacturing costs of building hardware on this scale is minuscule, but companies are in this to make as much profit as possible, they are not interested in keeping the retail price down as low as possible, they are purely looking to sell at a price they think they can maximise profits from.

If they can get away with initially charging $999, even when $699 is still going to make a tidy profit, they'll go for $999 every day. Ultimately pro audio is a relatively niche market and people expect to pay high prices, the manufacturers simply don't need to keep pricing low, no one is expecting it.

Sad reality.

MONSTA_UNO wrote:one question .. is the ren done ?

Not until we get hands on impressions on how accurate the touch screen is.

pspsounds wrote:Some people argue that it would cost too much to have a standalone. I disagree. Let's take a look at the Beat Thang. I know that it had some bugs and didn't appeal to a lot of users. But it was standalone and even had a 4 hour backup battery built in. SD card slots, phantom power, USB connections and virtual software. All running without a power cord. It just needed more development in software. People who want a standalone unit would like to have the option to toggle between standalone and connecting to the computer. Since this is just the beginning I hope Akai has something similar coming soon. Since the last standalone MPC was made some parts are more cheaper and more powerful. This is very possible with devices like Rasberry Pi which is a computer the size of a credit card and can run Windows 10.

fair point but look at the form factor of beat thang and even the sp606 which was the fore runner of hardware that connects to a PC.

they were all low end dj/ home user type devices; but making standalone sampling workstations on the of the form factor of the ren or mv880 the price and construction cost jumps up substantially.

beat thang was a grand when it came out; if akai drop a standalone thats gonna start out around a G and a half.

would this raspberry system be powerful enuff to run vst? or are we saying the feature set should reduce when disconnected from the PC.

Im told the mpc studio outsold the ren; even though the ren was released before the studio; so maybe akai have seen that the mid to low end market is more lucrative.

jpeg wrote:

pspsounds wrote:Some people argue that it would cost too much to have a standalone. I disagree. Let's take a look at the Beat Thang. I know that it had some bugs and didn't appeal to a lot of users. But it was standalone and even had a 4 hour backup battery built in. SD card slots, phantom power, USB connections and virtual software. All running without a power cord. It just needed more development in software. People who want a standalone unit would like to have the option to toggle between standalone and connecting to the computer. Since this is just the beginning I hope Akai has something similar coming soon. Since the last standalone MPC was made some parts are more cheaper and more powerful. This is very possible with devices like Rasberry Pi which is a computer the size of a credit card and can run Windows 10.

fair point but look at the form factor of beat thang and even the sp606 which was the fore runner of hardware that connects to a PC.

they were all low end dj/ home user type devices; but making standalone sampling workstations on the of the form factor of the ren or mv880 the price and construction cost jumps up substantially.

beat thang was a grand when it came out; if akai drop a standalone thats gonna start out around a G and a half.

would this raspberry system be powerful enuff to run vst? or are we saying the feature set should reduce when disconnected from the PC.

Im told the mpc studio outsold the ren; even though the ren was released before the studio; so maybe akai have seen that the mid to low end market is more lucrative.

I would believe the Studio outsold the Ren also. They had the MPC STUDIO on ABC's Nashville for a couple of episodes.