Akai Vintage Effects; what do they do (really)?

I've been Googling, and reading the User Guide to learn how the Vintage Effects operate. But, I haven't found anything; and, I can't hear much difference between the MPC 3000/60 and SP 1200 (ring mode is another story) effects. There seems to be a bit of compression going on; maybe some filtering. But, it's subtle - barely noticable for me at least. Where can I learn more about these effects? I want to know what they actually do!

biomaskin wrote:I've been Googling, and reading the User Guide to learn how the Vintage Effects operate. But, I haven't found anything; and, I can't hear much difference between the MPC 3000/60 and SP 1200 (ring mode is another story) effects. There seems to be a bit of compression going on; maybe some filtering. But, it's subtle - barely noticable for me at least. Where can I learn more about these effects? I want to know what they actually do!

Until you get more info in here, this link could start you off.


https://www.mpc-tutor.com/mpc-studio-mp ... unleashed/

One thing for sure, they are not hi tec modelling fx, we know the ring mode FX is just the decimator, the others are likely eq and compression. They are what they are, I don't think anyone really thinks they actually sound like what AKAI claim to be emulating. But if you like what they do then that's all that really matters. The thing that put a dampener on these was the original BS claim that they were hardware based.

MPC-Tutor wrote:One thing for sure, they are not hi tec modelling fx, we know the ring mode FX is just the decimator, the others are likely eq and compression. They are what they are, I don't think anyone really thinks they actually sound like what AKAI claim to be emulating. But if you like what they do then that's all that really matters. The thing that put a dampener on these was the original BS claim that they were hardware based.

Hmm, yeah. And today I learned that the MPC Ren actually had circuitry emulating the original ones from 90s samplers. Why the f**k did they stop doing that??

biomaskin wrote:
Hmm, yeah. And today I learned that the MPC Ren actually had circuitry emulating the original ones from 90s samplers. Why the f**k did they stop doing that??

Why indeed

I like the SP1200ring. I use it on a return, drop the volume to about-25 on the return, then send the kick, the bass and the rhodes/piano. I raise the send all the way up.

MPC-Tutor wrote:One thing for sure, they are not hi tec modelling fx, we know the ring mode FX is just the decimator, the others are likely eq and compression. The thing that put a dampener on these was the original BS claim that they were hardware based.

First thanks for all the knowledge you pass down here.
Second, they should be eliminated from the effects list & be put as presets in their rightful category (ie decimator, 1200ring preset)
The MPCs could use a good GUI streamlining/housecleaning/simplification/decluttering/revampification/overhaul.

Tabletop wrote:The MPCs could use a good GUI streamlining/housecleaning/simplification/decluttering/revampification/overhaul.

I think 2.8 was quite a poor release in terms of stability, something's gone wrong in the development cycle, maybe it was rushed out. And 2.8.1 hasn't addressed any of the the big new bugs. I was using the mpc software all this week and it was crash central, but nothing that I could recreate, so pretty much impossible to bug report

They need to back off and fix all outstanding issues and yes, overhaul and generally revisit many of the existing core features and UI decisions.

But I fear that instead they will just press on adding new features especially with that big 3.0 release everyone expects.

The history of the "ivtage fx" is interesting, they were a scam to make people buy the ren and not the studio (they implied it was tiesd to the hardware), then everyone worked out they could be unlocked for the studo and were just a crummy fx preset and not some built in hardware on the ren. imo akai should remove and rename them as its really lame trying to call these actual emualtions, i have the 3000 next to my live and the difference is night and day, its not a simple thing to emulate. part of the nukai inmusic legacy of shame, hey at least we got our multimode midi, still cant sample hold latch a pad from the sequencer but its gonna be as good as my 2500 one day

And someone said 2.8 was flawless and the best update.

Danoc wrote::WTF: And someone said 2.8 was flawless and the best update.

I believe the reality is that every update has its bugs and it's often pot luck whether they directly impact the kind of workflows you tend to regularly use. But I do struggle to understand how we get the stage where we have an existing core feature completely stop working. How are they testing things these days? If they'd released this to the public beta forum I would have reported every single one of these issues within the first day or so.

Are they trying to fix these issues? Who knows, there's no communication at all.

Covid 19 and these trade wars are hurting everyone. Lots of companies need to rethink their strategy and start producing better and not more. There is absolutely no reason to have the MPC ONE, X, LIVE, FORCE and LIVE 2.

Caustic Yoda wrote:The history of the "ivtage fx" is interesting,...

This is the original NAMM video in question, from 4.39 onwards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohloxZqX1Kc?t=279

Saintjoe: "Is the emulation of the 3000 and the 60 emulation... is that hardware based?'

Akai: 'Hardware based'.

Saintjoe: "It's hardware based?"

Akai: <nods>"Hardware based".

Later...

Akai: 'So the thing is....it enables us to use new algorithms to emulate all the old school stuff....

So, it was hardware based... with algorithms. Dan at some point confirms its ultimately software based and eventually it was discovered that there were 4 VST plugins in the MPC content folder that could be manually added to MPC Studio installations to produce the same emulations without the need for any Ren exclusive hardware working with them. Eventually Akai officially include the vintage VSTs for all MPC users, now in standalone and MPC Software etc.

The MPC3000 analog circuitry seemed to be a separate thing, and this was specifically included in all the written marketing. However I am not aware of Akai ever disclosing any details, schematics etc relating to this and since the Ren, there's been no mention of inclusion of that circuitry in any subsequent MPC.

MPC-Tutor wrote:
The MPC3000 analog circuitry seemed to be a separate thing, and this was specifically included in all the written marketing. However I am not aware of Akai ever disclosing any details, schematics etc relating to this and since the Ren, there's been no mention of inclusion of that circuitry in any subsequent MPC.

TIME: 7 min 29 sec. I was at this NAMM and they said the same thing, when we asked.

Yes, I think that's pretty clear that he's saying Vintage Mode is nothing but a software emulation. I also think the fact that they don't mention words like physical modelling etc makes it clear that there's nothing going on other than some standard FX tweaking.

It's interesting that in both videos they claim to have big plans for the emulations, but since that video we only got the SP1200 ring (the not very well hidden decimator preset). That said, I'm sure we could come up with an 'ASR' preset using the lofi plugin or similar.

Regardless, the 3000 circuitry is a really cool feature, they spent all that time developing it so why is it not there on MPCs like the X or Live II?