Sending my Ren in for repairs

appx 6 months of heavy use

-- "Play Start" button caved in (and no, i dont slam on it)

-- "Tap Tempo" button is going too (but yea, i hit that one a little harder)

still - only 6 months of heavy use..i have gear less than half the cost of the ren that has endured more abuse and lasted much longer.. hopefully this isnt a sign of things to come

a 1200$ "MPC" should be built like a tank....

i managed to get a copy of PT express and at least its under warranty, but i still have to ship my ren to akai and all that fun stuff...

lets see how long THIS will take

So much for all those people who warn against buying older hardware out of fear of it breaking....

good luck. keep us updated

Sorry to hear that mate, if you lived nearby I'd send you my Studio.

I remember 'back in the day' with the old Akai (UK branch) I had to wait 4 months for a new SCSI fuse in my MPC2000XL These days I'd just solder it in myself, but back then that kind of stuff scared me.

I'm sure they wont take that long. Anyway, after a few weeks I kicked up a stink at the retailer and they lent me the store demo unit. Otherwise I might have just given up with the whole MPC lark and you lot would be on the 'Get Satisfaction' forum or that single sticky post in Gearslutz (last posted to three weeks ago).

Shit..i've already opened mine once because of the side panels..
I rubbed the paint off..it was not so well painted and the first scratch came from my nails.. Also the top AKAI professional logo and the grey square behind the pads are scratced..

Lokaali Moraali wrote:Shit..i've already opened mine once because of the side panels..
I rubbed the paint off..it was not so well painted and the first scratch came from my nails.. Also the top AKAI professional logo and the grey square behind the pads are scratced..

yea i got nicks and scratches on mine too, from my fingers i think??? even in that pic look right above overdub button, thats missing paint, not dust

Tutor, great story!!!!

es-k wrote:

Lokaali Moraali wrote:Shit..i've already opened mine once because of the side panels..
I rubbed the paint off..it was not so well painted and the first scratch came from my nails.. Also the top AKAI professional logo and the grey square behind the pads are scratced..

yea i got nicks and scratches on mine too, from my fingers i think??? even in that pic look right above overdub button, thats missing paint, not dust

Tutor, great story!!!!

Akai uses the finest ink jets.

Ill-Green wrote:Akai uses the finest ink jets.

i thinks its water based

all dots round the main volume have gone now, all my other mpcs are fine

these are built to last yeah just past warranty

Yeah when you crack open a 2500 compared to even an XL that was manufactured the prior year you can see how they've skimped on the paint since the ownership changed.

Hope you get a quick turnaround es-k.


And Tutor thank god "the lark" continued, worked out pretty well and we're all thankful for that.

good looking out for bringing this up, damn 6 months

this mpc was supposed to be quality built. tact switches and and buttons is common maintenance on legacy mpc. but after few yrs of heavy use at least...

curious to see how many others will start having problems in distant future.

as far as paint lots of things is water based these days, including cars. it is illegal to use oil based paints in certain states, I know for fact cali is one of them.

in comparison what other gear have you used as frequently that's held up this far ?

konc3pt wrote:in comparison what other gear have you used as frequently that's held up this far ?

pretty much every midi keyboard ive owned (m-audio mostly).. ive had a few 1ks and even those i didnt have issues with like this.. despite subpar build. maschine is lightweight but has held up great. sp404 is a tank. etc

es-k wrote:

konc3pt wrote:in comparison what other gear have you used as frequently that's held up this far ?

pretty much every midi keyboard ive owned (m-audio mostly).. ive had a few 1ks and even those i didnt have issues with like this.. despite subpar build. maschine is lightweight but has held up great. sp404 is a tank. etc

From the looks of your pic, it looks like you broke the plastic button. All MPC models have buttons that you can break if you hit them hard enough repeatedly. Do you feel as if Akai used cheaper quality plastic?

Or is something else broken?

Whatever holds the button in place broke, yeah.

I understand that things can break.. I manage a retail store so I understand how dealing with this stuff works.. Glad it happened during the warranty so I can get it taken care of for free.

The point is this.. No, I don't slam on the button repeatedly, or hit it hard.. Why would u slam on that button ?? Surprised the tap tempo still in better shape cause I do def hit that harder than the rest of the plastic buttons. But back to the point, all I'm sayin is that I've been handling instruments since I was 6, electronic music equipment since 15 or so, and hardware mpcs since I was 17... I'm 24 now, so it's not like I don't know how to treat equipment nicely. I just actually USE it

The fact that this happened isn't a good look for the Akai and the build quality of the Ren. I will say they are handling it well so I'm not hating on customer service , I'm just surprised that the button broke.

And I guess I just wanted to warn people.. Be extra gentle..