By fancy_pance
Thu Mar 02, 2017 10:25 pm
Hi,
I had a 2000XL back in the day and I'm now coming back around to MPCs because I heard about the new standalone units and was thinking about getting one.
As cool as they look, I don't think I'm going to get on board. For me it comes down to something shockingly simple and mundane: time signatures!
Time signature was on the main screen of the 60, 60 II, 3000, 2000, 2000XL, 4000, 1000, 2500, and 5000 (and I'm sure would have been part of the 500 if there was enough real estate). Why? Because meter is one of the most fundamental elements of music, and it can vary wildly. Anyone that's learned to read and write music knows meter needs to be indicated at the beginning of each piece.
From what I can tell, around the time of the 'tethered' MPCs, Akai dropped time signature from the main screen. A 'bar' is now implied to consist of 4 beats. Apparently meter can still be adjusted, but it's now buried somewhere in the PC software from what I gather (I haven't owned any of these units).
Although it's true that most hip hop and dance music is in 4, there's tons and tons of music that isn't. A huge portion of the music I think about and want to make on the MPC isn't in 4. And by not making time signature a more prominent part of the UI, Akai is severely limiting the usefulness and potential of this instrument. I would also say that by turn they are limiting the potential of hip hop and dance music by hiding this element away. I'm sure there are lots of people in dance and hip hop who don't even think about meter that might start experimenting with it.
To me, essentially locking a sequencer into 4 is absolutely absurd: it's like locking an image editor to a single aspect ratio.
Users should be able to set a sequence time signature from the main screen and freely combine bars of different meters in the same sequence, just as was possible for those machines from 20+ years ago!
As a potential customer, I'm sad. As a musician and music teacher, I'm disgusted! BRING BACK TIME SIGNATURE TO THE MAIN SCREEN!!
I had a 2000XL back in the day and I'm now coming back around to MPCs because I heard about the new standalone units and was thinking about getting one.
As cool as they look, I don't think I'm going to get on board. For me it comes down to something shockingly simple and mundane: time signatures!
Time signature was on the main screen of the 60, 60 II, 3000, 2000, 2000XL, 4000, 1000, 2500, and 5000 (and I'm sure would have been part of the 500 if there was enough real estate). Why? Because meter is one of the most fundamental elements of music, and it can vary wildly. Anyone that's learned to read and write music knows meter needs to be indicated at the beginning of each piece.
From what I can tell, around the time of the 'tethered' MPCs, Akai dropped time signature from the main screen. A 'bar' is now implied to consist of 4 beats. Apparently meter can still be adjusted, but it's now buried somewhere in the PC software from what I gather (I haven't owned any of these units).
Although it's true that most hip hop and dance music is in 4, there's tons and tons of music that isn't. A huge portion of the music I think about and want to make on the MPC isn't in 4. And by not making time signature a more prominent part of the UI, Akai is severely limiting the usefulness and potential of this instrument. I would also say that by turn they are limiting the potential of hip hop and dance music by hiding this element away. I'm sure there are lots of people in dance and hip hop who don't even think about meter that might start experimenting with it.
To me, essentially locking a sequencer into 4 is absolutely absurd: it's like locking an image editor to a single aspect ratio.
Users should be able to set a sequence time signature from the main screen and freely combine bars of different meters in the same sequence, just as was possible for those machines from 20+ years ago!
As a potential customer, I'm sad. As a musician and music teacher, I'm disgusted! BRING BACK TIME SIGNATURE TO THE MAIN SCREEN!!