Renaissance discussion 1 year later

InspectahEX wrote:

DJ Hellfire wrote:

telecom99 wrote:So i use Maschine as a VST inside on MPC software.Best workflow ever Maschine library and MPC content equals much inspiration.

I just set my Maschine library as a favorite in the MPC and load the Maschine sounds directly from the hard drive. No need to load Maschine as a plugin.

I tried this, but I couldn't access my maschine folder on my mpc pref, did u copy the maschine library to another folder that the Ren could access?

I have my Maschine Library on my LaCie Little Big Disk thunderbolt drive along with my other plugin sound libraries. I was able to set my folders to the folders that contain Maschine's sample content. I did this with Battery as well.

I'm with Jah and company on this one. Right now the Ren is a beast and if you dont think so it's either you dont have one, you havent dived in deep enough, you can't make good beats on an mpc maybe, or maybe you dont have many good vsts to use since we are working in the software realm now, maybe your computer is holding you back a little, who knows, maybe the Ren isnt for you. Maybe you have no faith that they will update the software periodically and continue to and add audio tracks and lot of better features, which I think is crazy bc they are obviously puttin in serious work rolling out updates with great new features and fixes. It's really just a MPC as powerful as any other mpc in the past, just that it utilizes the power of your cpu and ram and, can use vsts, and has the flexibility and the updatability of software. By the way, UNDO works 99% of the time at least.

My purpose was to see where the Ren was 1 year later. It appears it has gotten better but still has some issues for some, not as much for others. Since I dont have a Ren, I cant say beyond a shadow of a doubt whos right and whos wrong. What I am trying to decide is how it will effect my workflow. Is it needed?

I have two MPC3Ks (one being an LE), and a MPC2K. So if I take an any of those and run it as a controller with Battery (used as plugin in Cubase or Pro Tools) along with loading samples in it order to use the convertors (which the REN is trying to emulate), I should have a comparable system to a REN. This is how I am working now. BUT, I like being able to do it all in the box. I love my vintage equipment, but sometimes I dont want to stop to tweak a sound. The REN seems to meet that requirement. I just dont want to spend $850 to not like it then sell it for $600. I dont expect it to have everything I like. Nothing does. I just want a solid tool to use.

P.S. I just wanted to make myself clear. I think the REN is a good product from what I see. Not hating on it at all.

....but very good point dccarson....

just take' an old mpc 2000 and use it's midi capabilities only......

make it your midi master port for everything you do in a computer and see what you get.....it's amazing....

ok, there are no blinkin' lights....but apart from that....

ok, i shut up.....

InspectahEX wrote:By the way, UNDO works 99% of the time at least.

Thanks. One other thing I want to add into this discussion. How about the Studio? I dont see many post on it. Jah, how do you feel about it as a product? I dont need the interface of a Ren. Any thoughts?

InspectahEX wrote:I'm with Jah and company on this one. Right now the Ren is a beast and if you dont think so it's either you dont have one, you havent dived in deep enough, you can't make good beats on an mpc maybe, or maybe you dont have many good vsts to use since we are working in the software realm now, maybe your computer is holding you back a little, who knows, maybe the Ren isnt for you. Maybe you have no faith that they will update the software periodically and continue to and add audio tracks and lot of better features, which I think is crazy bc they are obviously puttin in serious work rolling out updates with great new features and fixes. It's really just a MPC as powerful as any other mpc in the past, just that it utilizes the power of your cpu and ram and, can use vsts, and has the flexibility and the updatability of software. By the way, UNDO works 99% of the time at least.

Threads like these always bring out the 'usual suspects'...the same 8 or so guys that keep regurgitating the same ol' talking points, have never used the product, and just feel compelled to visit this section of the forum to hate on it. Using an ancient hardware MPC with under 512 MB of memory does not make you guys obsolete...yes, I know it makes you feel that way. But it isn't that deep. I can't believe you guys are actually irate that hand full of us are happy with our new software MPCs (and yes..many of us still own hardware MPCs....several models).

Spend some time learning about the product and why we have our hardware MPCs collecting dust center in the corner like ancient artifacts and fossils in favor of a product you apparently despise for some off reason.

....this cycle never changes....

As far as the Studio...cool little piece..same software advantages as the Ren. But it fell to the wayside like Maschine as I don't really need smaller unit for portability and prefer the robust controller in the Ren. The Ren's audio interface has no influence over my preference for it as I use my Apollo interface as the MPC software I/O.

MeSoHordey wrote:

InspectahEX wrote:By the way, UNDO works 99% of the time at least.

Hardware MPCs only have 1 level of undo at the most.

dccarson wrote:P.S. I just wanted to make myself clear. I think the REN is a good product from what I see. Not hating on it at all.

No need to clarify. Believe it not, most of the folks on this forum don't interpret dissenting opinions as hate.

[/quote]As far as the Studio...cool little piece..same software advantages as the Ren. But it fell to the wayside like Maschine as I don't really need smaller unit for portability and prefer the robust controller in the Ren. The Ren's audio interface has no influence over my preference for it as I use my Apollo interface as the MPC software I/O.[/quote]

Whoa my friend!!! So the software is good, you dont comment on the interface and you diss the Studio controller? What are you trying to say here cause I could infer you are more impressed with the controller which you only really use a portion of (you said you dont use the interface). So much to say to what you just said but I want to keep it brief. At the end of the day, its the software that should make the Ren awesome, not the hardware. That should be icing on the cake. Please explain what you mean so I wont assume.

JAH wrote:

InspectahEX wrote:

DJ Hellfire wrote:
I just set my Maschine library as a favorite in the MPC and load the Maschine sounds directly from the hard drive. No need to load Maschine as a plugin.

I tried this, but I couldn't access my maschine folder on my mpc pref, did u copy the maschine library to another folder that the Ren could access?

I was able to set my folders to the folders that contain Maschine's sample content.

I'm just going to put it like this, dudes covet the old hardware MPC's. If you put any one of them up next to the Ren, the Ren will shit all over it. There's no denying this fact. The Ren does practically everything an old MPC does and more. So I really don't see what the hate for it is as far as being an MPC is concerned. But as far as in comparison to other software, yes, I agree that there are many things left to be desired. But even still, compared to other software, as far as actually making music goes, nothing else, IMO, is more enjoyable and inspiring to use.

I mean, guys are mad that Akai didn't release another hardware MPC, yet, the Ren can do so much more than what a new hardware MPC could have done. I really don't see the anger behind this. When you use it, it feels like any other MPC. And who doesn't have a computer now-a-days? And who never wanted to have a computer screen hooked up to their hardware MPC? And really, how much more could another hardware MPC be able to do that would justify the cost of buying another hardware MPC? And why is your current hardware MPC no longer good enough?

And people are really worried about not being able to use the Ren in 10 to 20 years due to dropped support??? Guess what?! I'M NOT! I'll be moving on to the current technology. You can try to stay behind if you want!

I pre-ordered the REN so got one of the first shipments to the UK a year ago.
I loved it when it first arrived even with with buggy software.....you could see the potential with this thing and Akai are delivering the goods with every update.

Hellfire. I totally respect your comment and it makes sense. While I have vintage gear, I know its not as powerful. I dont want to drag a sample into a MPC editor to load it onto a floppy or zip then load it to an MPC to then save it to a zip. I also dont want to sample and spend time looking at a little screen to edit. Then, record it back into the PC. This is just a preference as far as workflow is concerned. The results are on point and no one can deny that. There is a reason why we have MPC emulations for sound.

However, I would rather drag a sample, manipluate it however I want and lay a track down. Once its down, I can click a button to convert the midi track to wave, go take a leak and come back to a tracked out session ready for the next step. But as I said before, I am cheap.

The concept of the Ren is phenominal. I think if it was around the price of the studio without an interface, I would have had one yesterday.