Holy Crap!

DJ Hellfire wrote:

JAH wrote:

MPCTNT wrote:Will this work to save space when you often use the same sample(s), kit(s) and such... Instead of always creating a new folder for every project/song, create 1 project/song folder and dump new songs there (dif project names of course) and choose not to overwrite samples of same name.

Can you explain what you mean here? Because I don't think that method works to save space. If you save all your projects to one folder, it will still create a project file with a dedicated folder full of content specific to that project file.

Jah, he's talking about the same thing I mentioned on page 2:

DJ Hellfire wrote:If a Ren user didn't want duplicate sounds, one can simply just save all projects and samples in a single folder. That way, you'll have all your different projects in the folder that all reference the same sounds in that same folder. And there would be no duplicates of samples!

Thx HF... Yes what Hellfirfe said

Yeah....I tried that and it doesn't work.

1. Create an 'MPC' folder
2. Load a drum kit
3. Save 'Hip Hop' project to 'MPC' folder
4. Save 'House' project to 'MPC' folder
5. Save ' R&B' project to 'MPC folder'

Results - Inside the MPC Folder I see Hip hop.prj, House.prj, and R&B.prj. Plus there are three dedicated folders which basically have the same sample content.

Or is there something else you guys are doing?

DJ Hellfire wrote:

JAH wrote:

MPCTNT wrote:Will this work to save space when you often use the same sample(s), kit(s) and such... Instead of always creating a new folder for every project/song, create 1 project/song folder and dump new songs there (dif project names of course) and choose not to overwrite samples of same name.

Can you explain what you mean here? Because I don't think that method works to save space. If you save all your projects to one folder, it will still create a project file with a dedicated folder full of content specific to that project file.

Jah, he's talking about the same thing I mentioned on page 2:

DJ Hellfire wrote:If a Ren user didn't want duplicate sounds, one can simply just save all projects and samples in a single folder. That way, you'll have all your different projects in the folder that all reference the same sounds in that same folder. And there would be no duplicates of samples!

I still remember the days of multiple floppy disks so IDGAF about an extra 5 or 10 MB here and there today

JAH wrote:Yeah....I tried that and it doesn't work.

1. Create an 'MPC' folder
2. Load a drum kit
3. Save 'Hip Hop' project to 'MPC' folder
4. Save 'House' project to 'MPC' folder
5. Save ' R&B' project to 'MPC folder'

Results - Inside the MPC Folder I see Hip hop.prj, House.prj, and R&B.prj. Plus there are three dedicated folders which basically have the same sample content.

Or is there something else you guys are doing?

Nope, then it's not going to work because of the fact that Ren automatically creates a Project Data folder for each project.

What might work is saving programs and sequences individually inside the same folder as seen in the MPC Factory Content Folder.

JAH wrote:What might work is saving programs and sequences individually inside the same folder as seen in the MPC Factory Content Folder.

Yeah, I've thought of that. It's more work though. Although, it's how we've always done it in the past!

DJ Hellfire wrote:

InspectahEX wrote:Damn, Akai really needs to address this issue with projects being so big and saving duplicate files and things like this. I use the same drum samples in every project almost, so all those files get copied every time I make a project and it eats away my hard drive. I just realized my mpc projects were taking up 33 GB. I think this comes down to the purge feature maybe, we need to be able to purge sounds that are not used in projects, not purge sounds that arent in programs. That's the point of purge, to eliminate every useless file.

Is there any way around this?

It's not a Purge issue. It's a file management issue. Take Maschine for example, when you load sounds, it loads the sounds from the memory location of the original sound. It doesn't actually make a copy of the sound when you save the session, unless you specifically tell it to save the project with samples. The only downside to this is if that original file get's lost or corrupt, then EVERY project that uses that sound file will not be able to load that sound. This is why I always save projects with samples. Akai does this by default and does not give you an option like Maschine to not save the samples with the project and therefore you end up with tons of duplicate sounds. However, I ALWAYS save my projects with samples to avoid **** like that. So for me, the MPC method is preferred even though it comes at the expense of more space used and this is the same way I save with Maschine, and my hardware MPC's. Hope that explains it!

+1 agree with hellfire all the way on this one. for me, space is no longer an issue its 2013 and storage is cheap. when i finish a project, i compress it and archive it to different locations. thats it.

JAH wrote:The average Ren kit uses 5 mb of samples. See Hellfire's post on the math.

As far as the other comments...I suspect the 'many' forum members here that use the Ren (and participate in this most active forum of all MPC models) don't care about the number of units the Ren has sold.

What 'many' of us do care is that it is a platform that is heavily supported by Akai/Numark. And more updates are pending/planned. I suspect the next 2 updates will excite 'many more' people.

As Coz said which I can also confirm - sales have been pretty bad across Europe.

Akai wont use staff resources supporting a product that doesnt sell. If that happens the writing is on the wall - but I do hope your right about those next updates.

The last thing I think about when I go to bed at night or use my Ren is wondering about how many people in Europe or any place else is using these new software based MPCs. If I cared about something as meaningless as that, i would have stopped using MPCs a decade ago as most people across Europe (and every place else) use DAWs for sequencing. Another reason why companies don't release hardware products especially samplers as much as they use to.

Akai is just a brand name. Numark & Sonivox (a software company) and other resources under the InMusic umbrella is supporting the Ren and its development. Acquire an MPC Ren/Studio and click the About MPC Page that details who is working on the product.

Even without any more updates (which isn't the case as I know what is coming next), I wouldn't be using any other product on the market past or present. So the 'writing on the wall' means absolutely nothing...at least to me.

Everytime a new MPC is released...folks regurgitate the same stuff. Is it old yet?

Updates is all Akai got now to save themselves. They already wore out the MPC card and its a shame how the legacy came to this. 3 years from now, MPC will be a forgotten, has-been product and EMU reissues the SP-1200 with upgrades for the 2015 crowd.

TommyTench wrote:

DJ Hellfire wrote:

InspectahEX wrote:Damn, Akai really needs to address this issue with projects being so big and saving duplicate files and things like this. I use the same drum samples in every project almost, so all those files get copied every time I make a project and it eats away my hard drive. I just realized my mpc projects were taking up 33 GB. I think this comes down to the purge feature maybe, we need to be able to purge sounds that are not used in projects, not purge sounds that arent in programs. That's the point of purge, to eliminate every useless file.

Is there any way around this?

It's not a Purge issue. It's a file management issue. Take Maschine for example, when you load sounds, it loads the sounds from the memory location of the original sound. It doesn't actually make a copy of the sound when you save the session, unless you specifically tell it to save the project with samples. The only downside to this is if that original file get's lost or corrupt, then EVERY project that uses that sound file will not be able to load that sound. This is why I always save projects with samples. Akai does this by default and does not give you an option like Maschine to not save the samples with the project and therefore you end up with tons of duplicate sounds. However, I ALWAYS save my projects with samples to avoid **** like that. So for me, the MPC method is preferred even though it comes at the expense of more space used and this is the same way I save with Maschine, and my hardware MPC's. Hope that explains it!

+1 agree with hellfire all the way on this one. for me, space is no longer an issue its 2013 and storage is cheap. when i finish a project, i compress it and archive it to different locations. thats it.

There is a thought. The files reside on your computer. Zip up the folder and unzip it when you need to go back to it. I'm an I.T. guy and will admit, that I never thought of such a simple thing. I do this on my backup drive for all my data, not just music. So where people complaining about space, I am used to using more space for having backups. (Your data is only as good as it's backup)

JAH wrote:The last thing I think about when I go to bed at night or use my Ren is wondering about how many people in Europe or any place else is using these new software based MPCs. If I cared about something as meaningless as that, i would have stopped using MPCs a decade ago as most people across Europe (and every place else) use DAWs for sequencing. Another reason why companies don't release hardware products especially samplers as much as they use to.

Akai is just a brand name. Numark & Sonivox (a software company) and other resources under the InMusic umbrella is supporting the Ren and its development. Acquire an MPC Ren/Studio and click the About MPC Page that details who is working on the product.

Even without any more updates (which isn't the case as I know what is coming next), I wouldn't be using any other product on the market past or present. So the 'writing on the wall' means absolutely nothing...at least to me.

Everytime a new MPC is released...folks regurgitate the same stuff. Is it old yet?

Your missing the point.
Sales and an increase of prescence is everything to do with future support/development. It wont be supported if sales dont stack up to pay the wages of those programmers. Thats just basic economics.
It matters not a jot that you are delighted the way it is and I mean no disrespect in any way but thats because your a hobbyist. But for many of us this is not a hobby and we need the tools to do the job. I do want to see its prescence in the market increase - which in turns means further development - which in turns hopefully means I can take it out of its box and put it to more use than a 4 bar loop machine.
Ive said all I need to on this thread - apologies for the semi hijack folks

This is actually a hobby for most people using these products. Some have aspirations that it will generate an income someday.

You can discuss basic economics all day. But you have no clue of how much Akai invested in this product, manufacturing cost of each unit, how many units shipped and were sold, nor do you know how much they make per unit sold.

But what I know is that they have a software development team working on the product daily (even as I type this). I am aware of what is ahead.

And its good for the thread that you said what you needed to say...as you simply repeats the same stuff in every thread.

labcoats wrote: Sales and an increase of prescence is everything to do with future support/development. It wont be supported if sales dont stack up to pay the wages of those programmers. Thats just basic economics.
It matters not a jot that you are delighted the way it is and I mean no disrespect in any way but thats because your a hobbyist. But for many of us this is not a hobby and we need the tools to do the job. I do want to see its prescence in the market increase - which in turns means further development - which in turns hopefully means I can take it out of its box and put it to more use than a 4 bar loop machine.
Ive said all I need to on this thread - apologies for the semi hijack folks

This is a pretty good point! However, if you seriously can't make more than a 4 bar loop with the Ren, then something is really wrong, and it's not with the Ren! Hope you're just exaggerating for sake of your argument!

labcoats wrote:. I do want to see its prescence in the market increase - which in turns means further development

So receving a software update once a quarter is not enough? You may want to take it out of the box as things have certainly changed over the past 4 updates...and soon 5th update.

Granted...it doesn't have everything forum members want under the sun as seen by individual's need for different methods of saving and a global mixer of sorts. But it has certainly improved many times over in terms of stability, many bug fixes, workflow improvements plus the addition of numerous other features requested by forum members.