The Fly is out.

tapedeck wrote:

■Works seamlessly with the iMPC app (sold separately)

shameless

In all seriousness that's my one remaining question. Will the iMPC standalone magically have Core MIDI when and only when you have it in a Fly...or is it still oh just go get Tabletop...

No matter really, this is the Beatmaker 2 controller for 90% of buyers I bet, but still enough with the head scratchers akai.

if I had some spare bills the I be tempted to get a fly just so I can use it in beatmaker2. HOWEVER, if the pads are anything like the MPC1000 then they can take a hike.

acronym wrote:if I had some spare bills the I be tempted to get a fly just so I can use it in beatmaker2. HOWEVER, if the pads are anything like the MPC1000 then they can take a hike.

Flux302 said not as solid as the Ren (lower mounting/lower profile case could explain that). But I got the sense that it wasn't anything as poor as the first 1000 ones .I would hope maybe even better than than newer 1000 ones, those still have the gap like MPD/MPK.

I'm hoping they are as good as LPD8 and I'd be relatively satisfied. The design is the same so I hope they are.

I wish they implemented a design so the lid is detachable so its just an ipad in a case and then you can attach to the pads when you're producing.

acronym wrote:I wish they implemented a design so the lid is detachable so its just an ipad in a case and then you can attach to the pads when you're producing.

Good point. Even if I could map Safari to respond to MIDI...

Metatron72 wrote:Appreciate that psr, hadn't ventured over there yet. Even if it's red only I may do it.

Flux302 said they pads didn't hit as nice as Studio and Ren which I'm inclined to believe. I know it's the newer LPD/Ren style pad construction but with the MPD/1000 Updated Pads it was always the gap/mounting. And the low profile and I would guess less weight than the Studio could explain why it's less sensitive.

But I'll wait to hear about extended use. But if the pads aren't as good as say a Korg nanoPAD, maybe I'm cool, because the clam shell case aspect while dope is not the main draw for me. (Occasional bus ride, and high school kids just wild out once they realize what your doing... )

The pad sensitivity/velocity issues may have been due to the iMPC app. I used a Quneo pad controller with iMPC and Beatmaker2. The pad response was much better in BM2. I'm not even sure if iMPC has implemented velocity sensitivity yet.

Received the Fly yesterday. So far, I like it, The pads are smooth, responsive and the 16 control buttons work well with the iMPC stand alone app. The problem is that the stand alone app. lacks some essential features and pretty much requires you to use iMPC within Tabletop. For some bizarre reason none of the controls on the Fly work in Tabletop! Unbelievable! Retronyms/Akai updated the stand alone app. but didn't update the app. in Tabletop!

I'm sure they will update it soon, they would be foolish not to.

With all that said, using the Fly with the iMPC app. is pretty cool! It is like having a portable MPC with a large touch screen:)

It also works with Beatmaker 2: http://www.intua.net/forums/viewtopic.p ... 591#p14591

This whole thing has been far too confusing and way to little info has been given so we can sort through it.

If they say the answer is to use it in Tabletop, what do you do when you immediately realize the transport in Tabletop isn't mappable. If Tabletop could receive a MIDI MMC message from the transport controls on the Fly would they tell us? You certainly can't look up MIDI MMC in the Fly's manual as the manual doesn't exist...

I don't know, I hope they have more to say soon beyond "give us gleaming reviews and you can have an update maybe..."

If anything I've done them a favor by not reviewing the app yet and waiting to see if they do a real update, which I will review.

I couldn't figure out how to use it but the "textsound" app is supposedly capable of loading puredata patches to use on the iPad. Maybe you can run textsound as a background app to midi map the fly for beatmaker.

Harmoncj wrote::idea: I couldn't figure out how to use it but the "textsound" app is supposedly capable of loading puredata patches to use on the iPad. Maybe you can run textsound as a background app to midi map the fly for beatmaker.

They're using MIDI Bridge to do the mapping over in another thread.

The Akai rep's suggestion (when asked about getting the Fly to work with Beatmaker) was to use it within Tabletop:) I informed him that Beatmaker does not work within Tabletop, duh. Ironically, iMPC doesn't even work within Tabletop right now! Retronyms confirmed that they are working on it, but don't have a timetable. The pads can be manually mapped, but none of the 16 controls work. Does Akai even test their products before releasing them? Sheesh

I was interested in the Fly but now that ship done sailed and sunk. I'm not impressed at all. Just feels like the other add-on gimmicks for iPad that get used a month and then gets locked in a dusty closet.

Yeah if the best you can do with it is have to buy another app to even map MIDI #'s, and (maybe ) load different templates into that MIDI app as the only way to have 4-8 banks of pads....no thank you.

wow!! its like hella people waited hella long for a fail.... I'm on the road to building my own midi controller through livid instruments DIY and all parts are made in the USA.

inflict3 wrote:wow!! its like hella people waited hella long for a fail.... I'm on the road to building my own midi controller through livid instruments DIY and all parts are made in the USA.

NICE.

I have no real need for more controllers but I love what Livid does with those Block/Brain customizable controllers. And yeah man, no doubt a quality US made product. How often can you say that?