Now I get why people hate Akai

<rant>

I'm torn.

I love my MPC live...in theory.
We have good days. We get along. I've learned to accept the Bluetooth midi and the Ableton Link support that may be "coming soon!" forever, never to be implemented. I've learned to live with the fact that I can't **** send it a midi cc from a knobby controller to sweep a filter. I bought an external drive and gave up on wondering why the files stored to the internal drive are literally untouchable and can't be backed up to a computer without some crazy workaround of loading everything to a song and then dragging it into Ableton or putting things on a thumb drive or whatever the hell you'd have to do to see your own files on a desktop. I've gotten quick on the q-link menu and I've come to love chopping samples with a combination of touch screen and q-links. I love the compressors.
I'm not so keen on the fact that it randomly crashes, making me lose hours of work. But hey! Nobody's perfect!

Joking aside: this thing is so close to being amazing, and I've made some good beats on it, but the glitches make me really pissed that I spent A THOUSAND DOLLARS on something that is literally unreliable for the basic task it was designed to do (hint: making beats without crashing and losing your work). Where is Akai? Where is a response that isn't their call-center-league lackey giving you peppy answers about how he'll be happy to forward your requests to the developers? When will we get an update so the thing doesn't crash when you use the looper? This month? Next year? Septemberoctobernovemberwhenever the X comes out?

In the time that this product has existed, Elektron teased a new sampler, released it, UPDATED IT with bug fixes as well as some exciting new features, then ANNOUNCED MK2'S OF ITS THREE OTHER FLAGSHIP PRODUCTS. The Rytm mk2 will be able to sample from the hardware, the A4 mk2 will have individual outs and cv control, the octa mk2 will have...well...new buttons (you can't win them all).

But Akai has our money and then they peaced out.
Is this a company, or a new love interest playing playing hard to get? Did we get ghosted? Are they just not that into us?

If I had discovered this stuff before my 30 day return period passed I can't say I would still have the unit.

</rant>

Unfortunately random crashes has been a part of the MPC Software since 1.0, certainly for me at least. Setting up Autosave helps. People seem to be under the impression that the standalone will be immune to these crashes, but ultimately if the crash is due to a core bug in the software then the host environment is probably irrelevant regardless of how well optimised the hardware is.

I believe Akai will continue to bring out updates and will address many issues, they seem to attend to the issues that people are most vocal about. Keep on reporting those bugs and talking about it on forums and social media.

But it is clear that these products aren't really 'finished' yet, there's still bugs and obviously a lot of features missing or not quite fully implemented. No product is released in a perfect state, certainly no MPC ever has been, but it does seem that this release is perhaps one of Akai's most erratic to date, it just seems very 'rushed' and could do with a few more months development IMO.

There's many people who seem very happy with their purchase, so it's not all bad. There's clearly a great product in there somewhere, but I think first things first, Akai need to a) iron out the bugs, b) properly implement the existing features (e.g. sort the browser out,etc) and c) implement the 'coming soon' features that have been promised, especially the ones that should have been there at release (list edit, automation lane, DRUM program warp etc).

Once they've sorted all that they can then concentrate on optimising the product moving forward.

I agree with the sentiment that it is close to being amazing, and it's not finished.
But it is not being marketed as a beta product, and that's what rubs many the wrong way.
The current state of the machine+software isn't that bad, but it definitely isn't amazing, at least not yet.
Too many things are half-baked or just not there, and you're not getting much out of Akai; I dislike the fact that they're playing cool...it doesn't work.
If they were way more open about things, their public image would change for the better.

FWIW, it hasn't been crashing for me anymore…we're far from 1.0 days, which was pure hell.

Akai could definitely learn from Elektron.

Fanu wrote:FWIW, it hasn't been crashing for me anymore…we're far from 1.0 days, which was pure hell..

I'm still getting random crashes on two separate systems, admittedly on the public beta, but I also experienced crashes on 1.9.6. It's not every session, once or twice a week. But yes, 2.0 is light years better than 1.0, although it should be, it's been 5 years since 1.0 was released.

Akai would definitely benefit from improved communication, but we've all been saying this for years now.

Nukai surely is a joke of a company.

You would think during the production run of the MPC X, the software team were knocking out bugs and implementing the missing features but its the same slab of shit between two buns since NAMM. I don't think anything is gonna be done either. Pete was already saying the next update is a "little bugfix" then after a few months they'll release a bigger update. Thats a **** ****! That big update should've been worked on ready in time for the X's release, which is NOW! What the **** these assholes were doing since NAMM? The software team can't say because of "refining cosmetics" or "pirated boats" thats not their department so why speak out your ass Pete? That creep should inform us of software and firmware issues, but acting like he owns Akai is so much fun.

Personally, the Live is fun, its cool for what I do but knowing it comes from a mindless company who claims to be professional, really keeps me away. Lets get real folks, if these products were professional devices, the main outs would be XLR slots.

If you use Ableton and don't use the push 2, you are cheating yourself brother. The mpc live concept is dope but has wayyyy to many shortfalls for me to waste my time on. Get a Push 2 and use.. imo it's the best piece of hardware since the mpc 4K. It'll take Akai about 3 years to figure out these issues using their trend. I got the live and it's pretty much a dust mite. I won't quit on Akai however, I'll remain optimistic that they'll get it right. But their on the clock.

I wouldn't get my hopes up that the Analog RTYM MKII is going to come close to being an MPC-league device. Those pads will break your heart. Also, "sampling capability"? That sounds like an afterthought, and I have zero confidence that it'll have a fraction of the sampling / chopping depth of the new MPC standalones.

The rytm is not an mpc, and I'm with you: the pads on MK1 are the reason I no longer own it. I'm not expecting a lot out of the pads on the mk2 but I'm down to be surprised. The point I was making is that Akai is an outlier in the 2017 for the extent to which they simply don't communicate with customers or engage in the kind of productive back and forth that earns trust and loyalty.

When I had problems with my Rytm, I ended up emailing back and forth with one of the actual developers himself. He also shared some of the music he'd made with the rytm and it helped me see the creative potential I might have been overlooking. He was aware that people wanted sampling, better pads, and a clearer workflow. Within a year of talking to him, I now see that they put out a device with those exact features.

Elektron is not Akai. Despite their cult following, they're a tiny Swedish company run by musicians for musicians. But they do some things that Akai could learn from: have an actual forum run by your company and dedicated to critical group discussion about the drawbacks and benefits of the devices (not the "get satisfaction" so-called forum that Akai runs, which is basically a troubleshooting guide and the only company representative sounds like a PR bloke). Have the developers available for discussion with the community, even if it's only via forum participation. Admit you're wrong, as Elektron did, and give people a sense that you're actually doing something about their concerns instead of promising point updates that drop six months between each other. In general just be *available*.

I own an Akai *instrument*, not a Sony television. I want to feel like I'm talking to instrument makers.

Perhaps I'm asking too much, or we're just spoiled in the era of Web 2.0 and being able to tweet with out favorite musicians and such. I simply started the thread to note that, when it comes to Akai, something indeed seems off, and I'm one more person noticing it, who you can't just dismiss as a lone whiner on the MPC forum. That's all. Plus i was venting. Because: venting.

I personally want to THANK inMusic Brand(Akai, Denon…) for releasing half-baked, poorly implemented, beta products!! It is because of my bad experiences with inMusic Brand products, that I now own several great hardware pieces from competitor companies. It's been a pure joy trying out other products and discovering that there ARE other companies that make great products & care about their customers! Some examples...

1. I bought a Ren. MPC Ren software was a nightmare so I sold it and I bought a Roland MV8800 instead.

2. I bought a Denon DJ MCx8000. I had one unit replaced because it was defective. The replacement unit also had issues. I sold that device and bought a Roland DJ-808.

3. I wanted to add live remixing/beat making to my DJ sets so the MPC Live seemed like the obvious choice. inMusic Brand releases the Live with unfinished advertised features along with a beta OS. I instead discover and buy a Boss RC-505 & a Roland Handsonic HPD-20.

4. I'm looking to add a hardware center piece to my studio. Once again, the Akai MPC X SEEMS like the obvious choice… BUT just like the Live, it's released with unfinished advertised features & a beta OS. This gives me the perfect opportunity to try out Elektron and maybe an OP-1.

Once again, THANK YOU to inMusic Brand for giving me the motivation to try other company products. I'm sure your competitors are appreciative of all the new customers you keep sending them!!

I think a lot of disappointment comes from the fact that people order products without even demoing them in real life. They are too impatient and order a unit just because of specs or youtube demo videos. If you want to be sure if equipment is okay just wait some time… After 6 months or so you can decide if can live with the bugs that are known around that time.
If you decide to be an early adopter, well accept that a product just isn’t ready and has it's bugs… Don't be naive and believe everything that Akai promises you...

Also, if it's not working well enough for you, you can return it OR accept its faults, submit bugs and suggestions and live in the faith that improvements may come.
What is not clever is keeping it and moaning about it.
Me, I accept it for what it is and I've sent an absolute on suggestions and bugs…and I also have an absolute ton of ways to make music…MPC Live is one of them.

Buy it for what it has now.. Not for what it might become. Else move on..

I've had a Maschine mk1 for a year and because of that I visited the Maschine Forum regularly. I got so depressed of all the crybabies over there, complaining about e-ve-ry-thing that Maschine lacks... They want all the features that MPC's have... They want all the features Ableton has. They want realtime timestretching, song mode, better swing. A bunch of guys are posting all day everyday of the week, using that forum just like a chat box. Pfff.. I'm glad I've sold Maschine and moved on.That Maschine forum has such a negative vibe. Just make music and stop complaining like little kids. If you don't like the product, sell it...