Futuremusic Blog: Standalone MPC?

http://futuremusic.com/blog/2012/01/05/ ... -products/

This blog indicates this MPC operates in 3 modes: software only, hardware/software, and standalone hardware. Is this an early April Fool's joke?

Crazyness, would be dope if true. Even though by their wording it seems as they're also speculating. NAMM can't come any sooner.

The one aspect that we thought was compelling was the Beat Thang’s ability to work as a portable stand-alone unit on the go (via battery-power). Any beat you composed on the unit while waiting for the bus, standing in line at the bank or getting a colonoscopy

The MPC comes with a software component, for both Mac & PC, that looks to allow you to work in three modes, stand alone software, hardware/software hybrid and stand alone hardware.

"looks". They guessed, and guessed wrong.

The next statement is also false:

This concept was what initially got many industry-watchers excited by the Beat Thang, when it was announced three years ago, but the company never seem to deliver on the promise.

They did deliver.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMerFpbkd8Y

Thats not what Akai are saying. On twitter Akai have tweeted that it is a controller only. No mention of being able to work stand alone.
There is always a possibility they are holding back that info for the second round of hype but everything points towards two machines. One with the sound card and midi interface and one without, (for now that is) because heres a comment from Akai on Twitter

AKAI
This is just the beginning more MPCS will be revealed soon!

if it can work standalone they would clean up. I would be on it in a second providing the internal clock is up to par.

in case you missed it in the beggining of video

MPC now stands for Music Production CONTROLLER


(something that makes me sad, ut i wouldnt have the money to buy it anyway lol)

Definitely just a controller. Direct quotes from Akai over a twitter


Can it run in standalone mode?

No but this is not a limitation in our view
This is designed as a controller and deeply integrated software combo

(sure its not a limitation if you dont use any look ahead plugins which will cause latency and depending on how you work, ie if you mix as you write you will use a lot of plugins and hence make the pads useless becasue of the latency. This is why I have never bought a pad controller.


BUT in another tweet they said

This is just the beginning more MPCS will be revealed soon!

labcoats wrote:Definitely just a controller. Direct quotes from Akai over a twitter


Can it run in standalone mode?

No but this is not a limitation in our view
This is designed as a controller and deeply integrated software combo

(sure its not a limitation if you dont use any look ahead plugins which will cause latency and depending on how you work, ie if you mix as you write you will use a lot of plugins and hence make the pads useless becasue of the latency. This is why I have never bought a pad controller.


BUT in another tweet they said

This is just the beginning more MPCS will be revealed soon!

Would it be any different using a DAW with a dedicated controller, Maschine, Spark, etc describing your workflow above?

It would be susceptible to the same latency issues any controller software combo. But its clear to me that as a controller at least its way ahead of Maschine and Spark

labcoats wrote:It would be susceptible to the same latency issues any controller software combo. But its clear to me that as a controller at least its way ahead of Maschine and Spark

And that is all I am trying to say. Maschine's controller works exceptionally well. No latency issues for me at all.

I suffer from latency and plugin glitches regardless of interface and OS platform.

I'm not 100% sold on software stability for live input of drums...yet!

Retrofreak wrote:I suffer from latency and plugin glitches regardless of interface and OS platform.

I'm not 100% sold on software stability...yet!

Its the nature of computers and software. I recommend dedicating a computer just for music production...never connect it to the internet unless to install updates. And also invest in a low latency sound card and companies that produce top notch plugins. I am going with a Mac because I believe it will give me the most stable environment for this new MPC. Also it appears that companies like RME produce sound cards that achieve lowest latency on Mac computers. I am also considering an Apogee interface and they only work on Macs.

JAH wrote:

Retrofreak wrote:I suffer from latency and plugin glitches regardless of interface and OS platform.

I'm not 100% sold on software stability...yet!

Its the nature of computers and software. I recommend dedicating a computer just for music production...never connect it to the internet unless to install updates. And also invest in a low latency sound card and companies that produce top notch plugins. I am going with a Mac because I believe it will give me the most stable environment for this new MPC. Also it appears that companies like RME produce sound cards that achieve lowest latency on Mac computers. I am also considering an Apogee interface and they only work on Macs.

Yeah I've done this.

I have the below and they still give problems, software is close, but it aint there yet imo.

1x MBP 17" 2.66 for web stuff etc
1x MBP 17" i7 2.2 quad (strictly for music)
1x Open Labs Miko i7 980x 12GB ram, Velociraptor and C300 SSD (strictly for music)
1x Apogee Duet 2, Mackie Onyx 1640i, RME Fireface 800 and an old Digi 002.

Well....if you pick up this new MPC and run into any issues, I will be more than happy to help your trouble shoot your problems, if any.