How are yall feeling the MPC Renaissance?

Im a MPC 5000, 3000, and 2000XL user... until i recently sold the 5000 and 3000... thinking about buying the Renaissance, how do you peeps like it?

4dahaterz wrote:how do you peeps like it?

not so much...

I never tried one but my Studio is waiting for pickup at my local post officere was no one thee since thre to sign for package yesterday. I still grooving along on my 5k but may sell it soon. Over the years I have years I have used a lot of tools and other than workflow, we can get the job done with what ever tools we like to use. We usually like what we get most familiar with. If the XL is working for you, hang on to it and keep doing your research. Hopefully try one of the new systems via a store or person that owns. At least in the meantime, you got the XL as your tool.

Let me start by saying I do not own a Ren or a studio. I was looking at getting a Ren but I havent been able to demo one. When I do and if I like it, I will get one.

So just why and I posting? because I asked the same question a few weeks back and didnt get what I was looking for. I still have 2 MPC3Ks, a MPC2K, ASR-10, S2000, Emu E-64, MV8000.....I could go on. I like my vintage gear as well as the ton of soft synths I have. Using a MPC3K wth battery was a good combination. But I wanted a faster workflow. It was something DJ hellfire said to me that was a first blasphemy (lol) but made sense. The new gear can do more than those classic pieces of gear I have. I figured why not give it a try and if I didnt like it, I could always take it back.

So I demoed maschine and I wind up buying it. I figured if I liked it, Id keep it. If not, I would sell it. Guess what? LOVE IT!!!!!!!!! Its just that much easier to move things around and I still have my drum maschine feel. But I beleive I could get the same with a Ren. Now I wont buy the Ren as it stands now. I simply dont need another interface nor the midi outs. But I will be buying a studio soon. I would urge all those used to vintage/legacy gear to give either a try.

i dig it a lot (it has its downfalls though, and can be frustrating.. one thing though is that its definitely been improving with every update)

It may help him if you tell him specifically what those downfalls are that make it frustrating. These could be nonissues for him or could be deal breakers.

I'll chime in with any work-arounds......

JAH wrote:It may help him if you tell him specifically what those downfalls are that make it frustrating. These could be nonissues for him or could be deal breakers.

I'll chime in with any work-arounds......

small things like the fact that in pgm edit you cant change your selection from current to all without using the mouse... like the fact that undo button sometimes **** EVERYTHING up, or causes a crash... or that you cant name anything from the hardware.. small things like that, which effect workflow.

workarounds?


edit - www.soundcloud.com/rwronci most of the current stuff is all on the ren, in standalone mode, not used with a daw at all.. so yea those are just small frustrating things, i still love using the thing.

I like it and its getting better by the update

I replaced my old sequencer with this and use a lot of sounds off the motif.. . Alot bugs to start with but now stable enough to use on stage. It runs all night without rebooting... Can't recommend this enough...

Cant live without mine. It's dope.

Transitioned from maschine / ableton. Just use the MPC Ren now for everything.

JAH wrote:

4dahaterz wrote:Im a MPC 5000, 3000, and 2000XL user... until i recently sold the 5000 and 3000... thinking about buying the Renaissance, how do you peeps like it?

If you are serious, PM the dozen or so with the Ren/Studio listed in their signatures..

Jah, I have one. I wouldnt add it in my signature.
Do you not believe me?

OP
Im feeling mine a lot. Its currently sitting in its box.

To be fair though its only one issue I have with it (lack of a standard global mixer).
It has so much potential though.
What I really do like about it is the build quality and its look. Yes, a bit shallow perhaps but when you work with somethig a lot that does make a difference. I also like the sound of the built in souncard. I cant explain what it is - might be a little coloured in some way, but whatever It is I like that. I was so so about sampling through the card when the gain was intentionally set high (trying to get some saturation). I didnt really hear a great vibe - but that could be I needed to experiment more. I like the look of the software. Its simple(ish) and basic which is something I like anyway. In saying that there are some areas of the sofwtare that can needlessly induce some . Not because its complicated, more to do with implementation not being thought out so well in some areas.

Dissapointed in the Q Link functionality. Great knobs, great feel, just poor implementation. They could have been put to a lot more use.

Only ever noticed pad latency when using look ahead plugins - which of course is to be expected. Otherwise there are no problems in that area but you do need to get your buffer down to at least 128 samples imho. I can get mine down to 64 and even 32 as long as Ive not gine crazy with VST plugs and FX. The Rens own internal FX are pretty decent. But they dissapear - Ren software badly needs a stay on top feature.

Compared to the 5000 - I think you would be pretty happy with the Ren. If you require a standard mixer though - that something you might need to check out first. The mixer is convoluted and basically doesnt work for me at all - hence why its in its box.
There are a few irritating things which can mount up and create a bigger irritation (like plugins not staying at the front of the interface and not remembering their last opened position). I would hope stuff like that would be addressed though but I certainly wouldnt bank on it. Overall its a very decent product but could be hugely better if they updated the bread and buter stuff and added some 21st century enhancements features and workflow.

labcoats wrote:Compared to the 5000 - I think you would be pretty happy with the Ren.

Yes.. Chopping is better than the 5 k...I like how they have set it up with the q links.. Instead of using the edit cursor to adjust incriment size for adjusting start and end points/chops.. Still prefer the jjos method though... Zoom dictates the resolution. And shift button is a quick way of jumping through faster... Would be cool if they implement that...


4 inserts per pad..
4 inserts per track..
4 master send effects.. (so 4 sends from each pad and 4 sends from each track. That's alot)


Otherwise its pretty much a mpc.. minus the issues everyone else has mentioned...

some pretty good comments in here.. i'll add to the constructive criticism..

i agree that the mixer is in dire need of a serious overhaul..
you still can't side scroll with a trackpad gesture which is silly since you can in program edit..
would be perhaps nice to have an active track view in the program mixer for quick visual on your levels.. again annoying to have to side scroll through 8 banks in program mixer especially when starting with only couple sounds..

i also found it ridiculously annoying that all the levels are set to max by default with no gain knob anywhere to be found so basically you can't boost any low sample, you gotta turn down everything else..retarded..

i think the q-links should by default be mapped to sound levels @50/60% when a sound is dragged to a pad, so you could adjust sound levels on the fly SP1200 style.. even maschine got this right (drag a sound and a volume knob is set to 60%)

so yea the whole mixing feels convoluted and should be worked on imo..

my other main gripe is the midi out being limited to 16 channels despite the 4 midi outs.. that is a major letdown, especially considering hardware MPCs like the 60/3K/4K/5K offered 64 simultaneous midi output channels..

i think we can all agree there is a strong potential here, and all these issues should be fixable.. i'll be watching as i do like the concept a lot.. but the features/workflow in some areas is still inferior to legacy MPCs & competing plugins imo..

dazastah wrote:Yes.. Chopping is better than the 5 k...

That, IMO, is not a particularly lofty height to aim for

I can't be the only person flabbergasted that the threshold algorithm in the MPC Software is completely incapable of consistently creating a 'clean' chop, especially in simple drum breaks. 90% of regions have a big click at the end.

Yes you can get rid of this using the envelope in any resulting program, but you shouldn't have to, and it's a pain if you are just looking to make standalone samples as you have to manually fix each region.

Plus there's a number of bugs and annoyances with the way the edit point focus acts when zooming in and previewing. Basically this current implementation feels rushed and make-shift. I personally feel chopping is fundamental to the MPC workflow, so it's a part of the software they should have nailed perfectly by now.

And I agree with es-k, by now they should have remedied all the functions that cannot be accessed from the hardware.

Oh, and why can't I use an '_' when naming samples in the software (in certain screens at least)? Is this not an industry standard file name delimiter?

EDIT: and where's the vertical waveform magnification?

MPC-Tutor wrote:I personally feel chopping is fundamental to the MPC workflow...

I tend to agree in spite of the fact in the past year.....minimal discussion has centered around Sample Editing. Everyone is in love with a global mixer, MIDI Controller Mode, and Akai's business plan.