My 1.6 Gripes and why 1.7 is Needed ASAP!

I'll try and not make this too long winded.

First off my specs:

Quad core i7 PC
16gb ram ddr3
2tb drive space
Win 7 ultimate 64 bit
MPC Renaissance 1.6

I jumped in at 1.4 and was quite happy with my purchase of the Ren.
Decent sounding soundcard, great sampling/resampling ability, MPC swing/groove, nice pads and solid hardware plus easily integrated into the VST world.

There were some flaws which I was/am prepared to put up with until version 2.0 and/or the next hardware incarnation comes about.

For example:

Only 4 outs is too restrictive.
Only 8 stereo virtual outs is too restrictive
Very limited sample processing options/engine from the kings of hardware sampling (IMO)
Poor mixer layout with no stereo busses for group processing
Patchy automation abilities which is very important to the type of music I make (electronic dance music)
No multicore (refer to my pc specs and understand my frustrations here when the Ren starts choking up and I'm barely getting started and then to realize I have 3 full cores just sitting idle waiting to be utilized)
Various bugs which required work arounds.

Admittedly these change with each update but it's here that my frustration has grown with 1.6...but I'll return to this point later.

Despite these 'issues' I consider the Ren a quality product that can serve to implement your creative ideas and make them a reality and also I see a ton of potential here, probably more so than the competition which is why I invested my money into the Ren (Akai)

Then 1.6 rolled out with supposedly 300 enhancements and a new list editor (good addition that has incredible uses for me and others I'm sure) but with 1.6 has come a ton of crashes and severely erratic behaviour.

For instance, I was just recording track mutes 5 minutes ago and I clicked on the screen to go back a few bars as I wanted to make an edit and the machine does this crazy stutter for 10 seconds and then goes back to the point I clicked and plays ok. This now seems to happen permanently, didn't happen in 1.5.

When I started recording my first batch of track mutes the software crashed...I say crashed, it just disappeared off the screen and needed rebooting. This behaviour happens a lot now and during some of the most simplest of commands like just going to a different screen

My Ren and software has now become more unstable than ever and I'm a little concerned as this is something I am/was hoping to bring on the road for live shows as the hardware heart of my setup. A little risky if the software is just shutting down at will??

Another frustration I have is I would often use the 32 bit version and it was rock solid in 1.5 but since 1.6 the 32 bit version is basically unusable due to crashes and random software shutdowns.

So I have to avoid the 32 bit version and all those plug ins that are yet to migrate to the 64 bit world

The 64 bit is more stable on my 64 bit PC (understandably) but many of these issues still remain and the crashes still happen and definitely way more than on 1.5. I don't really want to roll back to 1.5 as I like the list editor, it's a very useful tool for intricate sound creation/programming and it's brilliantly implemented here but I need that stability of 1.5 back asap please.

When is 1.7 dropping? Any dates been mentioned? I know guys are having serious Mac 10.8 issues which would make you think there's an imminent update on the horizon as Akai can't have a large number of their userbase with unusable products?

Not that mine is unusable, it's just erratic and glitchy.
[I know some might quip 'that sounds pretty unusable to me']

I haven't changed my PC settings recently, all hardware is the same, OS is up to date, drivers too so I'm firmly looking at 1.6 as the main culprit for the instability that has surfaced.

So Akai, if you're listening please get 1.7 out to the public as quick as you possibly can, try to utilize as much as feedback from your beta testers and current users on boards like this and make the Ren the stable product I hope it will become for ALL users.

Peace

I admire your courage for speaking up about the software. Very few people here seem to notice these things, or care enough to post about it. Just giving you the heads up, when you start speaking negatively about Akai and the software on these forums be prepared for a heavy amount of backlash. Like I suggested in another topic, you should try directly contacting Akai, write Inmusic, call their support # bc you aint getting nowhere on here lol.

One thing I would suggest is try uninstalling the software, reboot, then reinstall it. Not a guaranteed fix, but this often helped solve software instability issues for me when I was on PC.

The other thing is keep an eye on what plugins you are using when you start having issues. Then try not using them and see if you still have problems. Also helps if your plugins are up to date.

Good feeback!

InspectahEX wrote:What are you talking about? Show me 8 threads where I was whining and bitching???

Come on man, there was a week where you were definitely 'on one', firing off rants continually. I'm pretty sure that these days only 3% of members on this forum are Akai fanboys, and most backlash you got was purely about how full on you were being that week

Anyway, that was last week Let's not derail this constructively written topic.

...."lets not start sucking each others d***s just yet" -RESERVOIR DOGS.

Lighten up guys....it's the weekend. I reinstalled and everything is now fine with this version. i found myself whining about the software without actually trying some of the suggested solutions. When I did....things got better

F*ck This! Im with inspectahex on This One...
what is This a celebration forum??? No, this forum specifically is for help with your mpc hardware, and giving constructive feedback and criticize until ish gets improved...and if akai choose to slap their buying customers in the face! Several times, things might get a bit heated and the tone might be raised...but still we all want the best device possible and we do not want to be f*cked in the @ss by marketing lying penises that just took our money made false promises and was nowhere to be seen when they were righteously criticized!! Not even a word on release dates that were exceeded big time, promises of features not being held....and releasing a new mpk with a bg F U to us users that still work with crashes and ridiculous limitations!!! For postive asskissing go to akai's thickhead twitter account...avoiding any form of help full feedback, but their akaiprompc webpage still say the same crap as 2 years ago.....
viva la revolucion!!

Nah family, nobody's jumping on you or the OP here.

We hashed our differences out during your little "episode"... so that's water under the bridge B.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who is just sick and tired of pissing contests and bitchfits about the Ren/Studio/Akai in general etc. It has gotten very old, very quickly.

Trust me, we get the point.

Now, I'm all for customer service and people should get what they paid for, but what about all of those beats in the Ren/Studio beat threads. Some of those kats had to struggle a bit to get a finished product out instead of bitching and moaning about how the Ren doesn't do exactly what YOU paid for it to do. Y'all sound like bitches that just came off a bad date... Or some **** bitching at a refund counter about how the broken 60" TV you bought from a junkie.

OP came made this thread with a minor issue, and used some plain ole common sense to figure it out.

Now if you really would like to make some noise and light a fire under Akai's asses about how you feel, I would suggest this... as it has worked for me before.

Get an attorney to send a nastygram to A. That prick Jack O'Donnell B. Dan and Co at Akai Dev...

Believe me, it will get you much farther than whining here and co-signing every other dipshit who can't figure it out how the $1300 controller and $99 software works.

MPC-Tutor wrote: Let's not derail this constructively written topic.

I've cleaned the topic up. Stick to discussing the op's first post.

Just ignore it then cuz this type of response or getting just as old...so if u don't agree or have an opinion why post a story like this every time...someones clearly kinda upset of a crash that made m lose a song etc. If it doesn't apply to you, or u don't have an opinion then just leave it...cus this defending reply stuff is annoying...especially when u just struggled with hardware or software and feel **** by akai and throwing away your hard earned cash...i guess for most of ya"LL it wasn't such a big investment...and a lot of u own maschine multiple unused mpc and hardware synth,,while still making beats with your mouse in ableton....well,good for you...
how about us???

I digress...

It all comes down to dudes on here being sensitive little girls. Whatever I posted in whatever thread, who the F cares, really? Its not a big deal Y'all took it that personal? Cus Im not even sure I know what y'all talking about, saying I was firing off rants somewhere in a thread? Please link me. Either way I never seen so many grown men get their feelings hurt over internet discussion in such a short amount of time. I have a fan club of haters all of a sudden and I think it's hilarious. Dudes need to get a life on here and work their feelings out, go cry to mommy, or go crawl up with wifey in the bed, take your kids to school or something, go do something worth your time