Work Flow.....Hmmmm

Bug reports & end-user support for Akai's MPC Software 'controllers' including the new MPC Studio 2, the MPC Touch, MPC Renaissance & original MPC Studio and MPC StudioB lack.
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Work Flow.....Hmmmm

By mr3rown Tue Aug 26, 2014 9:33 pm
So as man of you know (the older members) I have been a die hard MPC2000, MPC1000 user for donkeys, however the switch to getting a Studio has been somewhat ..... bland, boring, useless and tiring.

I find the workflow to be disruptive and long winded. Nothing is as seamless as it felt previously.
I could be totally on my own here, but has anyone else had this issue.

It just could be a learning curve thing, but considering the years I have in this game, I'm not sure.

I find my self using my MPK Mini and the midi insert "Beat Designer" tool in Cubase along with Battery much over using the Studio.

I'm starting to feel as if Akai got this wrong.. I have been using Soundforge and my MPC's for years now things have somewhat merged, its become lifeless and tedious especially looping bass notes, and note off'ing them to make a chromatic bassline. This feels weak and none responsive... perhaps i got a dodgy build? lol

I don't know perhaps I'm venting.....
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Re: Work Flow.....Hmmmm

By MPCTNT Wed Aug 27, 2014 1:26 am
I am old time hardware user and I love my MPC Studio. Didn't at first but I wasn't giving it a true deep dive session. I can do a lot of things I remember wishing "If only my MPC could do this"

This works for me but you have to do what works for you. If thats your hardware, then stick with that and let no one force U into making anything else work for U

Re: Work Flow.....Hmmmm

By reeloy Wed Aug 27, 2014 6:59 am
....hmmm, pretty shure akais next step is NOT the ultimate software update that finally can compete with maschine...which is what you're all waiting for...
next step will be a step back again...back off from computers, backt to real hardware standalone machines again.....

hope you did'nt sell your old originals for that retro controler.....
and first rule still is....never change a running system....so why did you in first place...?

sell that damned thing before it falls asleep, frozen to some 1.8 or 2.0.1 never seen again version of an os, that was simply too expensive to catch up on the long distance run of ever changing platformupdates....it's called renaisance because in two years from now, you all need an old xtra computer to make it still work....

don't listen to all these guys, pretending they're happy with what they've paid for....
a rip off of a rip off is nothing but a rip off....
wrong turn....
next stop....the windows core mpc.....
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Re: Work Flow.....Hmmmm

By fdodds Wed Aug 27, 2014 11:41 am
reeloy wrote:don't listen to all these guys, pretending they're happy with what they've paid for....
a rip off of a rip off is nothing but a rip off....
wrong turn....
next stop....the windows core mpc.....


Everyone's entitled to their opinion but to accuse people who are happy with the ren or the studio as liars is ridiculous. Myself and many other users find the ren an excellent tool for creating tracks with a computer. Combined with any DAW, it's an extremely versatile tool..

I've never owned a hardware MPC so i'll stay out of any debate about 'solidness' or whatever else, but I've been making music with computers and hardware for a decade and the ren as of 1.6 has made a huge improvement in my workflow by consolidating 99% of what I've always done making beats or otherwise into one unit, that works fine for me (barring a 2 day troubleshooting period after getting a new computer on win 8.1).
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Re: Work Flow.....Hmmmm

By MPCTNT Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:10 pm
fdodds wrote:
reeloy wrote:don't listen to all these guys, pretending they're happy with what they've paid for....
a rip off of a rip off is nothing but a rip off....
wrong turn....
next stop....the windows core mpc.....


Everyone's entitled to their opinion but to accuse people who are happy with the ren or the studio as liars is ridiculous. Myself and many other users find the ren an excellent tool for creating tracks with a computer. Combined with any DAW, it's an extremely versatile tool..

I've never owned a hardware MPC so i'll stay out of any debate about 'solidness' or whatever else, but I've been making music with computers and hardware for a decade and the ren as of 1.6 has made a huge improvement in my workflow by consolidating 99% of what I've always done making beats or otherwise into one unit, that works fine for me (barring a 2 day troubleshooting period after getting a new computer on win 8.1).


Correct... As I said above:

"This works for me but you have to do what works for you. If thats your hardware, then stick with that and let no one force U into making anything else work for U"


I am not going to say that just cause it works for me it should work for everyone, or visa versa.
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Re: Work Flow.....Hmmmm

By THE ADVERSARY Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:22 pm
Image


reeloy wrote:....hmmm, pretty shure akais next step is NOT the ultimate software update that finally can compete with maschine...which is what you're all waiting for...
next step will be a step back again...back off from computers, backt to real hardware standalone machines again.....

hope you did'nt sell your old originals for that retro controler.....
and first rule still is....never change a running system....so why did you in first place...?

sell that damned thing before it falls asleep, frozen to some 1.8 or 2.0.1 never seen again version of an os, that was simply too expensive to catch up on the long distance run of ever changing platformupdates....it's called renaisance because in two years from now, you all need an old xtra computer to make it still work....

don't listen to all these guys, pretending they're happy with what they've paid for....
a rip off of a rip off is nothing but a rip off....
wrong turn....
next stop....the windows core mpc.....
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Re: Work Flow.....Hmmmm

By fdodds Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:26 pm
MPCTNT wrote:
"This works for me but you have to do what works for you. If thats your hardware, then stick with that and let no one force U into making anything else work for U"


I am not going to say that just cause it works for me it should work for everyone, or visa versa.


Exactly, that's why I stressed that it's about making tracks with a computer. If you're not experienced or comfortable with working with digital tools then you are going to hit A LOT of stumbling blocks when trying to work with the REN.

When I started making tracks I started out digital only because I was a broke high school student on a home desktop. Digital tools then were so limited compared to what we have today, and there was a lot of stigma about how the sound quality of digital was 'cold' or 'harsh'. I think that's still around in the mpc community, even though most of everyone in other genres/music communities accept that blaming the tools is useless.. it's all about how you use what's available, and how willing you are to dive into the documentation and do the hours to get your shit running smoothly. I use a mixture of hardware, software, midicontrollers, guitars and whatever, they all have limitations and they're all running on independant systems that are extremely complex... of course there's headaches getting this shit to work.. but you have to put your ground work in, and what feels awkward at first becomes second nature with repetition..... just practice using the studio and look at what it's offering you not what you expect it to do

Re: Work Flow.....Hmmmm

By dazastah Wed Aug 27, 2014 1:33 pm
It's because your comfortable or use to work with the older mpcs. which isn't worst or better, just the way your work. I love my little mpc1k with jjos, but i still use it with reaper... And now with the ren, and reaper together i haven't touched the 1k for a while, because the ren slides in much like the 1k, but with less cables..

I'm not using the mpc software in the traditional vst plug in sense, as this is where akai are really falling short... Plug in mode... It's **** useless in terms of using the mpc plugin as a multi timbral instrument where the midi or events are sequenced in your daw instead of the mpc plugin... A major over sight from akai in my opinion..

I'm using reaper and the mpc software both in standalone, where the mpc software actually routes into reaper, like a hardware mpc, so you don't lose control of the mpc transport control (which is a big part of the flow) and can get the mixing power and routing of reaper.. REgarding midi, i can now also run something like kontakt in reaper where it doesn't limit the multitimbral functions or audio routing functions, but sequence it from inside the mpc software using virtual midi cables... much like a hardware mpc.. Running kontakt inside the mpc software limits the audio routing of each instrument inside the mpc software, to it's shitty sub mix system... REaper can route audio back into the mpc software as well.. so i can resample.. put kontakt chords as one shots to pads.. All sorts of shit ..

Sorry for the rant, but if you get into the flow of it, the ren, or studio can be really powerful and fast and flexible once setup...

Re: Work Flow.....Hmmmm

By reeloy Thu Aug 28, 2014 12:18 am
...sure it is.

at least until osx11 and windows 9will show up and the wolf was howling for one single iindian summer.... beyond the cold harshness of having no clue at all....

Re: Work Flow.....Hmmmm

By Eyalc Thu Aug 28, 2014 12:27 am
dazastah wrote:I'm not using the mpc software in the traditional vst plug in sense, as this is where akai are really falling short... Plug in mode... It's **** useless in terms of using the mpc plugin as a multi timbral instrument where the midi or events are sequenced in your daw instead of the mpc plugin... A major over sight from akai in my opinion..


THIS!!!!!!

Plugin mode is useless. And it could be an absolutely powerful plugin if they put time and attention into it. Heck I don't need to say more... Dazastah nailed it.
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Re: Work Flow.....Hmmmm

By fdodds Thu Aug 28, 2014 12:35 am
reeloy wrote:...sure it is.

at least until osx11 and windows 9will show up and the wolf was howling for one single iindian summer.... beyond the cold harshness of having no clue at all....


So you've reduced your criticism to some bs hippy statement about how OS's change (and upgrading is completely voluntary... everyone in the music industry knows you never upgrade your computer until your software has been patched to support the newest OS)

If that's all you've got to say after being called out, well I guess you were just trolling. That's your criticism? Like you're saying a rip-off is a rip-off is a rip-off because the software might break on windows 9?? Give me a break, do you have any experience with a ren/studio at all, or are you just one of those 'hardware better den software' purists with an axe to grind?
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Re: Work Flow.....Hmmmm

By SimonInAustralia Thu Aug 28, 2014 1:47 am
reeloy wrote:next step will be a step back again...back off from computers, backt to real hardware standalone machines again.....
---
sell that damned thing before it falls asleep, frozen to some 1.8 or 2.0.1 never seen again version of an os, that was simply too expensive to catch up on the long distance run of ever changing platformupdates....it's called renaisance because in two years from now, you all need an old xtra computer to make it still work....
---
next stop....the windows core mpc.....

And what exactly do you think is going to run on that windows core mpc?

...MPC Software will.

Any idea what that means for future development of MPC Software?
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Re: Work Flow.....Hmmmm

By Lampdog Thu Aug 28, 2014 5:10 am
reeloy wrote:....hmmm.....

Image
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Re: Work Flow.....Hmmmm

By mr3rown Fri Aug 29, 2014 10:07 am
Oh good lawd, what have I started!...

First and foremost, big up Lampdog!!! :worthy:

2nd...

There is some truth to maybe not "diving in" and not giving it a good session or opportunity... but to me it feels like I have to conform to another way of making music, which is somewhat frustrating being that I'm coming from a generation of Akai hardware that simply made things creatively fluid for me.

For those who remember the learning curve from 2000 to 4000, most of us like me sold the 4000 and carried on with your 2000's. (XL etl al)

My whole process over time has been how to simplify, how to do less clicks and presses, less knob spinning etc.. and also SPACE!

As normal life has taken over, I have had to de-clutter and take stock of whats really needed and whats not, hence I have been selling ALOT of my gear to replace it with software or smaller versions.

No longer being concerned with analogue and digital arguments, because to be honest I know sound and I know how to make it no matter what I'm using.

Problem is it seems to take longer with the new MPC's,

several years ago my 1000 pads had died, so whilst saving up for new pads, I had to look at other ways to make music.

Being a cubase user already i made the jump from sx3 to 5 which came with a little midi insert called "Beat Designer" (step sequencer) add that with Battery 3, my life changed and music just got easier and faster to make... BUT!

what suffered in my music was something I loved in music more than anything, and that was basslines!!... cause of habit the only way I could make basslines was on my MPC, so my hope was getting the mpc studio would help solve that problem... well unfortunately it did not forcing me to re-learn and use a keyboard! (mpk mini)

now for some this is a piece of cake, but im one of them play by ear beat makers who cant tell you a C# from a B flat! ... so now because of all these changes and faith in what akai used to be i now have a piece of gear that simply sits on the floor never being used but to load old beats from my 2000, xl, 1000, 2500 days!

Bare in mind, this is just a rant, nothing to take to serious, just a vent on my journey thus far...

If this was someone else's post, I would reply back with what you guys have said... thou i do like the post about people fooling them selves.... I actually saw that when everyone jumped on the first maschine... saw some of my mates doing NI adverts saying how great they were, but then behind the scenes went back to using their Akai's .. lol hilarious what we do for a cheque and free gear!

On another note, I have come back to the forum to get a better understanding of what is going on with everyone else's experiences and how they are getting on, perhaps you guys can teach me something for a change, instead of the other way round.
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