Feature Suggestions: MPC Renaissance

Hey ya'll, been years since my last post but I just got the Ren and wanted to put in my two cents. First off I want to say how much I appreciate the hard work put into the Renaissance by all the engineers at Akai (particularly in regards to the high build quality and thoughtful lay out of the hardware).

That being said, I feel there are some VERY SERIOUS issues with the Ren, largely confined to the software side of things. Some have been covered but here is my list:

1. STABILITY:
On a Mac at least, there are a lot of instances and situations that cause the Ren to crash. Many of these are well known but they really must be addressed ASAP for the Ren to be an effective instrument. NI Maschine almost never crashes so take a page from their book.

2. PROGRAM-WIDE EFFECTS:
Again, not to sound petty or unappreciative, but the implementation (or complete lack thereof) of this feature really seems like an obvious oversight. Currently, if we want to add an effect to, say, a chopped up sound that we have turned into a new program, we must use track effects for that. I like the track effects feature, but it is a poor substitute for dedicated program insert effects or sends. WHY? Because if you have a sequence going, and the desired effect on the track with your chopped-up sample, if you then MAKE A NEW SEQUENCE (to create a bridge or hook, for example), and go to that same track there will of course be no affect assigned to it. So there is NO WAY to maintain consistency from sequence to sequence with out initializing MULTIPLE INSTANCES of the same plugin and than PAINSTAKINGLY matching all of there settings by eye. This leads me to my next two concerns...

3. COPY SEQUENCES CREATES ENTIRELY NEW INSTANCES OF PLUG-INS:
WHY? If you have a copy of Minimoog V or whatever, why would you create a second CPU DRAINING copy of it for a simple variation of that sequence.

4. NO VST BYPASS OR PRESETS, AND AU SETTINGS ARE NOT RETAINED AFTER PROJECT CLOSE:
Bypass is absolutely critical on all effects, insert AND send. This is just a necessity of workflow. And the plug-in window must be able to access presets.

5. AUTOMATION PARAMETERS MUST BE SPECIALLY ASSIGNED, WHEN THEY ARE ALREADY ASSIGNED TO QLINK KNOBS.
WHY? If we want to automate a parameter, why can't we simply hit overdub, go into program edit and start twisting knobs? The parameters are already conveniently assigned to almost every action, so why must we RE-MAP them? In Maschine you simply arm automation record and adjust the parameter as needed, and the data is recorded.

6. ABILITY TO MANUALLY ADD AND DELETE SLICE POINTS:
Must be able to do this to really get the chop that you want.

7. ABILITY TO DRAG AND DROP INDIVIDUAL SLICES FROM SAMPLE EDIT TO PADS. enough said.

8. ABILITY TO ENGAGE THE "ALL" PAD EDIT FUNCTION IN PROGRAM EDIT FROM HARDWARE.

9. IMPLEMENT A CLEAR, INTUITIVE WAY TO EDIT EVENTS/ BARS ON A PER TRACK BASIS.
The sequence edit window is great, but it would be great to have a way to quickly copy bars or fractions of bars in a track from the hardware, selectable by note/pad range, controller type, automation or ALL.

10. MORE THOROUGH IMPLEMENTATION OF LEGACY MPC FORMATS
Not sure about other’s experiences, but the Ren won’t read my MPC4000 All files, and I have to go back and re-save every individual program for export. I would imagine most people always just saved .ALL files as well. Also, the tuning is off for the program master once imported.

11. A FUNCTIONAL BROWSER
The browser needs A LOT of work. For one thing, you can’t drag multiple files at a time, either from the browser to the sample pool/pads, OR from the sample pool to the pads/browser. When auditioning samples, there should be a preference to adjust sample playback volume. The 5 pre-selected folders should be able to PERMANENTLY be set to their paths in preferences; as of now as soon as you go up a level in folders, you are away from your desired “special folder” next time you go back there. There should be a way to have additional folders appear in the folder select “drop-down arrow”, not simply your hard-drives and the pre-set MPC related folders. Also, when saving a sample, the browser always goes back to a top level folder, not the last folder used. Also, multiple samples should be saveable at once.

12. AUTO-SAVE
Should be someway to implement this feature, if we want to use it, in preferences. AT LEAST until proper stability is implemented.

13. BETTER PAD SENSITIVITY
Not really having a lot of luck using the current adjustments to get the das to trigger effectively across all velocity layers. It’s just not smooth.

14. HARDWARE ZOOM FOR SAMPLE EDIT/ SEQUENCE EDIT PAGES

15. DRAG N' DROP Tracks TO DAW
Great feature to have for easy exporting; way quicker than just the export function in the file menu.

16. EXPORT AS MIX-DOWN WHILE RUNNING AS A PLUGIN
WHY CAN'T WE DO THIS ALREADY? If you are trying to track your session out to the daw, it'd be way easier to be able to export files as you need them from the Ren in plug-in mode, but currently this is disabled.


I’m sure there are plenty of other features but this is a good start. Again, many thanks and much respect to the Akai team for really trying hard on this product; I hope we can help them take it all the way there.

Best,
Mickey

A lot of those have already been mentioned...but...

Add 64bit and multicore to that list, and it might be the list closest to my heart.

Mickey freeland wrote:Hey ya'll, been years since my last post but I just got the Ren and wanted to put in my two cents. First off I want to say how much I appreciate the hard work put into the Renaissance by all the engineers at Akai (particularly in regards to the high build quality and thoughtful lay out of the hardware).

That being said, I feel there are some VERY SERIOUS issues with the Ren, largely confined to the software side of things. Some have been covered but here is my list:

1. STABILITY:
On a Mac at least, there are a lot of instances and situations that cause the Ren to crash. Many of these are well known but they really must be addressed ASAP for the Ren to be an effective instrument. NI Maschine almost never crashes so take a page from their book.

2. PROGRAM-WIDE EFFECTS:
Again, not to sound petty or unappreciative, but the implementation (or complete lack thereof) of this feature really seems like an obvious oversight. Currently, if we want to add an effect to, say, a chopped up sound that we have turned into a new program, we must use track effects for that. I like the track effects feature, but it is a poor substitute for dedicated program insert effects or sends. WHY? Because if you have a sequence going, and the desired effect on the track with your chopped-up sample, if you then MAKE A NEW SEQUENCE (to create a bridge or hook, for example), and go to that same track there will of course be no affect assigned to it. So there is NO WAY to maintain consistency from sequence to sequence with out initializing MULTIPLE INSTANCES of the same plugin and than PAINSTAKINGLY matching all of there settings by eye. This leads me to my next two concerns...

3. COPY SEQUENCES CREATES ENTIRELY NEW INSTANCES OF PLUG-INS:
WHY? If you have a copy of Minimoog V or whatever, why would you create a second CPU DRAINING copy of it for a simple variation of that sequence.

4. NO VST BYPASS OR PRESETS, AND AU SETTINGS ARE NOT RETAINED AFTER PROJECT CLOSE:
Bypass is absolutely critical on all effects, insert AND send. This is just a necessity of workflow. And the plug-in window must be able to access presets.

5. AUTOMATION PARAMETERS MUST BE SPECIALLY ASSIGNED, WHEN THEY ARE ALREADY ASSIGNED TO QLINK KNOBS.
WHY? If we want to automate a parameter, why can't we simply hit overdub, go into program edit and start twisting knobs? The parameters are already conveniently assigned to almost every action, so why must we RE-MAP them? In Maschine you simply arm automation record and adjust the parameter as needed, and the data is recorded.

6. ABILITY TO MANUALLY ADD AND DELETE SLICE POINTS:
Must be able to do this to really get the chop that you want.

7. ABILITY TO DRAG AND DROP INDIVIDUAL SLICES FROM SAMPLE EDIT TO PADS. enough said.

8. ABILITY TO ENGAGE THE "ALL" PAD EDIT FUNCTION IN PROGRAM EDIT FROM HARDWARE.

9. IMPLEMENT A CLEAR, INTUITIVE WAY TO EDIT EVENTS/ BARS ON A PER TRACK BASIS.
The sequence edit window is great, but it would be great to have a way to quickly copy bars or fractions of bars in a track from the hardware, selectable by note/pad range, controller type, automation or ALL.

10. MORE THOROUGH IMPLEMENTATION OF LEGACY MPC FORMATS
Not sure about other’s experiences, but the Ren won’t read my MPC4000 All files, and I have to go back and re-save every individual program for export. I would imagine most people always just saved .ALL files as well. Also, the tuning is off for the program master once imported.

11. A FUNCTIONAL BROWSER
The browser needs A LOT of work. For one thing, you can’t drag multiple files at a time, either from the browser to the sample pool/pads, OR from the sample pool to the pads/browser. When auditioning samples, there should be a preference to adjust sample playback volume. The 5 pre-selected folders should be able to PERMANENTLY be set to their paths in preferences; as of now as soon as you go up a level in folders, you are away from your desired “special folder” next time you go back there. There should be a way to have additional folders appear in the folder select “drop-down arrow”, not simply your hard-drives and the pre-set MPC related folders. Also, when saving a sample, the browser always goes back to a top level folder, not the last folder used. Also, multiple samples should be saveable at once.

12. AUTO-SAVE
Should be someway to implement this feature, if we want to use it, in preferences. AT LEAST until proper stability is implemented.

13. BETTER PAD SENSITIVITY
Not really having a lot of luck using the current adjustments to get the das to trigger effectively across all velocity layers. It’s just not smooth.

14. HARDWARE ZOOM FOR SAMPLE EDIT/ SEQUENCE EDIT PAGES


I’m sure there are plenty of other features but this is a good start. Again, many thanks and much respect to the Akai team for really trying hard on this product; I hope we can help them take it all the way there.

Best,
Mickey

Man, that's the realist breakdown I have heard for this whole time, I think everybody is agreement on these issues, the software is going to make or break AKAI, I'M SURE they know this already, but this is VERY unstable with multiple glitches like you described. I wouldn't mind getting my money back if this update is no good and I doubt they've covered the issues so we will see.

IMAKEMADBEATS wrote:A lot of those have already been mentioned...but...

Add 64bit and multicore to that list, and it might be the list closest to my heart.

Agreed, these two are really important as well.

And Third, thanks man.

third wrote:I wouldn't mind getting my money back if this update is no good and I doubt they've covered the issues so we will see.

Most (if not all) confirmed bugs reported in this forum have been covered. I'll buy your Ren from you for $800.

JAH wrote:

third wrote:I wouldn't mind getting my money back if this update is no good and I doubt they've covered the issues so we will see.

Most (if not all) confirmed bugs reported in this forum have been covered. I'll buy your Ren from you for $800.

nice (as in I'm glad the bugs are covered) however I find it hard to believe they've covered all the "featured suggestions" Mickey Freeland covered, if they do that's what's up.) Oh yeah, as far as selling it to you, mine is still under warranty so no.

third wrote:

JAH wrote:

third wrote:I wouldn't mind getting my money back if this update is no good and I doubt they've covered the issues so we will see.

Most (if not all) confirmed bugs reported in this forum have been covered. I'll buy your Ren from you for $800.

nice (as in I'm glad the bugs are covered) however I find it hard to believe they've covered all the "featured suggestions" Mickey Freeland covered, if they do that's what's up.) Oh yeah, as far as selling it to you, mine is still under warranty so no.

Well...if you change your mind, I will certainly take it off your hands to find it a better home.

Addressing bugs is one thing....features is another. All these features Mickey freeland wrote is just an extensive list of features requested multiple times already. I seriously doubt you will see all those features in 1 update.

JAH wrote:

third wrote:I wouldn't mind getting my money back if this update is no good and I doubt they've covered the issues so we will see.

Most (if not all) confirmed bugs reported in this forum have been covered. I'll buy your Ren from you for $800.

look at this hustlin' little weasel here...

JAH wrote:Most (if not all) confirmed bugs reported in this forum have been covered. I'll buy your Ren from you for $800.

I hope this means being able to accurately load mpc 2000xl programs and sequences.

That'd be great.

IMAKEMADBEATS wrote:

JAH wrote:Most (if not all) confirmed bugs reported in this forum have been covered. I'll buy your Ren from you for $800.

I hope this means being able to accurately load mpc 2000xl programs and sequences.

That'd be great.

Individual program and sequences? Or are you talking about All or APS files?

JAH wrote:

IMAKEMADBEATS wrote:

JAH wrote:Most (if not all) confirmed bugs reported in this forum have been covered. I'll buy your Ren from you for $800.

I hope this means being able to accurately load mpc 2000xl programs and sequences.

That'd be great.

Individual program and sequences? Or are you talking about All or APS files?

I'd be satisfied for now with what they advertised, the pgm and seq's.

Mickey freeland wrote:Hey ya'll, been years since my last post but I just got the Ren and wanted to put in my two cents. First off I want to say how much I appreciate the hard work put into the Renaissance by all the engineers at Akai (particularly in regards to the high build quality and thoughtful lay out of the hardware).

That being said, I feel there are some VERY SERIOUS issues with the Ren, largely confined to the software side of things. Some have been covered but here is my list:

1. STABILITY:
On a Mac at least, there are a lot of instances and situations that cause the Ren to crash. Many of these are well known but they really must be addressed ASAP for the Ren to be an effective instrument. NI Maschine almost never crashes so take a page from their book.

2. PROGRAM-WIDE EFFECTS:
Again, not to sound petty or unappreciative, but the implementation (or complete lack thereof) of this feature really seems like an obvious oversight. Currently, if we want to add an effect to, say, a chopped up sound that we have turned into a new program, we must use track effects for that. I like the track effects feature, but it is a poor substitute for dedicated program insert effects or sends. WHY? Because if you have a sequence going, and the desired effect on the track with your chopped-up sample, if you then MAKE A NEW SEQUENCE (to create a bridge or hook, for example), and go to that same track there will of course be no affect assigned to it. So there is NO WAY to maintain consistency from sequence to sequence with out initializing MULTIPLE INSTANCES of the same plugin and than PAINSTAKINGLY matching all of there settings by eye. This leads me to my next two concerns...

3. COPY SEQUENCES CREATES ENTIRELY NEW INSTANCES OF PLUG-INS:
WHY? If you have a copy of Minimoog V or whatever, why would you create a second CPU DRAINING copy of it for a simple variation of that sequence.

4. NO VST BYPASS OR PRESETS, AND AU SETTINGS ARE NOT RETAINED AFTER PROJECT CLOSE:
Bypass is absolutely critical on all effects, insert AND send. This is just a necessity of workflow. And the plug-in window must be able to access presets.

5. AUTOMATION PARAMETERS MUST BE SPECIALLY ASSIGNED, WHEN THEY ARE ALREADY ASSIGNED TO QLINK KNOBS.
WHY? If we want to automate a parameter, why can't we simply hit overdub, go into program edit and start twisting knobs? The parameters are already conveniently assigned to almost every action, so why must we RE-MAP them? In Maschine you simply arm automation record and adjust the parameter as needed, and the data is recorded.

6. ABILITY TO MANUALLY ADD AND DELETE SLICE POINTS:
Must be able to do this to really get the chop that you want.

7. ABILITY TO DRAG AND DROP INDIVIDUAL SLICES FROM SAMPLE EDIT TO PADS. enough said.

8. ABILITY TO ENGAGE THE "ALL" PAD EDIT FUNCTION IN PROGRAM EDIT FROM HARDWARE.

9. IMPLEMENT A CLEAR, INTUITIVE WAY TO EDIT EVENTS/ BARS ON A PER TRACK BASIS.
The sequence edit window is great, but it would be great to have a way to quickly copy bars or fractions of bars in a track from the hardware, selectable by note/pad range, controller type, automation or ALL.

10. MORE THOROUGH IMPLEMENTATION OF LEGACY MPC FORMATS
Not sure about other’s experiences, but the Ren won’t read my MPC4000 All files, and I have to go back and re-save every individual program for export. I would imagine most people always just saved .ALL files as well. Also, the tuning is off for the program master once imported.

11. A FUNCTIONAL BROWSER
The browser needs A LOT of work. For one thing, you can’t drag multiple files at a time, either from the browser to the sample pool/pads, OR from the sample pool to the pads/browser. When auditioning samples, there should be a preference to adjust sample playback volume. The 5 pre-selected folders should be able to PERMANENTLY be set to their paths in preferences; as of now as soon as you go up a level in folders, you are away from your desired “special folder” next time you go back there. There should be a way to have additional folders appear in the folder select “drop-down arrow”, not simply your hard-drives and the pre-set MPC related folders. Also, when saving a sample, the browser always goes back to a top level folder, not the last folder used. Also, multiple samples should be saveable at once.

12. AUTO-SAVE
Should be someway to implement this feature, if we want to use it, in preferences. AT LEAST until proper stability is implemented.

13. BETTER PAD SENSITIVITY
Not really having a lot of luck using the current adjustments to get the das to trigger effectively across all velocity layers. It’s just not smooth.

14. HARDWARE ZOOM FOR SAMPLE EDIT/ SEQUENCE EDIT PAGES


I’m sure there are plenty of other features but this is a good start. Again, many thanks and much respect to the Akai team for really trying hard on this product; I hope we can help them take it all the way there.

Best,
Mickey

I agree with everything

IMAKEMADBEATS wrote:
I'd be satisfied for now with what they advertised, the pgm and seq's.

You did send your 2000XL programs and sequences not loading correctly to Akai or beta testers?

And actually...Akai's website advertises compatibility with sounds and sequences....not programs.

Mickey freeland wrote:Again, not to sound petty or unappreciative, but the implementation (or complete lack thereof) of this feature really seems like an obvious oversight.

It may seem that way on the outside looking in...but that is not reality when developing a product such as the Ren. There are hundreds of potential features/functions that are projected. Decisions have to be made to determine what will be included with each update. If every feature that forum members say that it should have shipped with were actually coded...the Ren would not be available in stores today. 1.1 will be released....and there will still be many features that are not included.

The same goes for other similar products. Maschine is just receiving features that an overwhelming number of users feel should have been included 3 years ago...but has only been recently added.

JAH wrote:

IMAKEMADBEATS wrote:
I'd be satisfied for now with what they advertised, the pgm and seq's.

You did send your 2000XL programs and sequences not loading correctly to Akai or beta testers?

And actually...Akai's website advertises compatibility with sounds and sequences....not programs.

No mpc 2000xl Seq loads properly in v1.0. If I sent them the specific ones that didn't work, I'd be sending them every beat I ever made on the 2000xl lol.

But yes, in the first 2-3 days I had the Ren, an Akai consultant and I, talked directly to Akai about this. This problem was known, confirmed, and they were already working on it.

MPC 2000xl programs load fine on 1.0. It's playing back sequences thats problematic.