Anyone watch Benn Jordan's YouTube on the Key 61?

Anyone watch Benn Jordan's YouTube on the Key 61?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaDgI8mYbdE

Overall he's negative, of course. As I commented on Benn's YouTube channel, as an MPC newbie whatever bugs and problems he's encountering haven't impacted me. At least not that I can tell. I'm still a pretty happy camper with MPC Key 16.

Thoughts?
- Joe

It's good to see honest and objective reviews from time to time. The guy is right about the software being unfinished, among other things.

I watched most of it yesterday. Benn's usually pretty spot on, and while it's a bummer to see him be so harsh on the Key 61, many of his complaints are hard to ignore. I don't think he's been much of an Akai/MPC user, which also makes it hard to know how much exactly is "differences in workflow" and how much exactly is "the device is half baked"... or something else. Having been using MPCs for a long time, there are things I've just learned to live with though... so maybe Akai has taken my brain hostage and I don't even realize it.

Some of the interface lockups and other erratic behavior however made me sad... my only response was to just take a deep breath and hope he'd keep at it just a bit longer.

EDIT: Ave... lol

NearTao wrote:I don't think he's been much of an Akai/MPC user

Benn Jordan is a early AKAI Force adopter. And while the Force workflow is different from the MPC, the sampling engine, the effects and most of the architecture are the same minus different sequencer. You can't really claim he isn't much of an AKAI/InMusic user.

Been Jordan pays for his own gear, unlike some youtubers that have a vested interest in not being forthcoming about AKAI shortcomings...

I actually learned nothing new from his video, most bugs he encountered have been reported on mpc-forums for months if not years...

He is touring with his hardware, a crash in studio isn't a big deal, a crash on stage absolutely is. I think it's up to each one of us to decide whether the MPC line is reliable.

It makes a change for a youtuber to tell it as it is . Have you all noticed most the rest of em that get freebie's are very quiet on the subject. They are all either claiming they have had no issues. Or not putting a Mpc video out. Not very impartial as the claim to be.

I watched his video and if you have never used a MPC then you won't understand.. Key 61 is just a MPC with the same problems love or hate it but it really is a great product..

The guy is lost. Completely lost. He talks about his MPC Live 2 but I feel like he haven't pay that much attention to that either...He was lost in very common things. I almost screamed at my monitor...click the qlink button MF!!!!! Lol

I take YouTube reviews with a pinch of salt,most of them aren’t real world user opinions if they were nobody would buy the gear

I’ve used a 4000 for 20 years,it has its faults and flaws but have not found anything that gave me the features and ease of use that would make me ditch it,there are those that say it’s half baked or has problems I’ve not encountered anything that’s stopped me making music with it and hence why I’ve had it for such a long time

I’ve recently got the MPC key 61 that again has its issues but I’ve not updated my OS and not experienced a lot of the crap people spout which is supposedly crippling it’s OS,in fact it’s opened up a new way of working which has helped me embrace the newer generation MPCs this is why I tend to not watch these videos because they make you look at the instrument in a negative light almost like these subjective problems are being highlighted to your subconscious which are always there and your waiting for something to go wrong,because someone’s pointed out a bug that probably would not have hindered your use of it had you not read another users experiences

just make music with the damn thing and stop worrying about another persons take on ot

Forums are the same,if your looking to buy a new instrument,never read a forums posts as part of the research because they tend to be full of people posting problems they’ve had looking for technical support or negative views and can be off putting because most of the time they are simply user errors but can give the impression to newbies that a instrument is a lemon,and riddled with issues when in real world terms it’s not,years ago you had to phone the manufacturers for support so there wasn’t so much negative press,I mean how many people post on forums with praise for a piece of gear??not very many,or at least far less percentage wise than those that complain

it is good in another way because it allows the manufacturers to gather info about bugs and stuff but also can be off putting to prospective buyers


I’m more than happy with the MPC Key and I’ve got loads of top notch synths and keyboards in the studio that some would say are far superior in terms of workstation terms but the MPC key is giving them a run for their money that’s for sure

Other than the shitty feel of Keybed that should really be better for an instrument in this price bracket(the keybed feels like my old Novation Remote SL 61) I have no gripes with the MPC key it’s now the hub of my studio and does the job perfectly

Uncle Dieppe wrote:Forums are the same,if your looking to buy a new instrument,never read a forums posts as part of the research because...

Just curious - where would you recommend potential customers look before they buy music gear then?

I'd recommend potential customers do their due diligence and look at a variety of sources, personally. Both "reviews" written in various places, as well as looking at as much social media buzz that you can just to get an idea of the pro's and con's, and most importantly - real user feedback. And I certainly recommend looking at as many forums as you can just to gauge more of that buzz - including this one. All I'm saying is, don't count forums out altogether. Sure, most come here for tech support or to air their grievances, but there's also a good amount of owners who love their gear - shortfalls and all - and will give honest feedback to those looking to buy. We're not here offering help because we hate our MPC's (or Force) and sold them. Most of us kept them and pop in here to help the community.

Uncle Dieppe wrote:...if your looking to buy a new instrument,never read a forums posts as part of the research ...

Says the man on the forum

EnochLight wrote:

Uncle Dieppe wrote:Forums are the same,if your looking to buy a new instrument,never read a forums posts as part of the research because...

Just curious - where would you recommend potential customers look before they buy music gear then?

I'd recommend potential customers do their due diligence and look at a variety of sources, personally. Both "reviews" written in various places, as well as looking at as much social media buzz that you can just to get an idea of the pro's and con's, and most importantly - real user feedback. And I certainly recommend looking at as many forums as you can just to gauge more of that buzz - including this one. All I'm saying is, don't count forums out altogether. Sure, most come here for tech support or to air their grievances, but there's also a good amount of owners who love their gear - shortfalls and all - and will give honest feedback to those looking to buy. We're not here offering help because we hate our MPC's (or Force) and sold them. Most of us kept them and pop in here to help the community.

And Slam dunk,along comes a thread the likes of which I talk about

I rest my case


viewtopic.php?f=48&t=214396

Nah I skipped it and just watched Ave Mcree's

collargrip_cristian wrote:Nah I skipped it and just watched Ave Mcree's

You shouldn't , the "re" video doesn't show the bugs Ben had to deal with (that's why he released a negative video) . There are timestamps so you don't have to watch it all
Personally I support 100% those kinds of videos , there is a trend growing that bugs* are normal and will be patched on updates which is not the case for hardware gear (even though MPCs run an app inside an OS)
Same thing* happened for Maschine+ , fortunately the community there was super strict and no one recommended it until recent firmware updates

*I'm talking about serious bugs such as locking/reboot/no sound etc....those happen on alpha stage ,not even beta

The thing is, for Benn and his thinking about replacing his live gear setup with a simpler Key 61, the bugs were deal-breakers for live use. And that's cool for him and his decision.

I do routinely play live in a church band. Reliability and KISS are super important to me. So I get it.

I have very little intention or expectation of playing the Key 61 Live in front of an audience. I don't welcome bugs or crashes, but it's not game-over for me it happens on rare occasions. As a newbie, what matters to me now is if I can get past the MPC learning curve reasonably well for all the uses I'm seeing. And so far, so good.

Oh, and IMO it sounds great. Is it the best-sounding thing I've played? No, but that doesn't take away it sounding great.

Thx,
Joe

Uncle Dieppe wrote:And Slam dunk,along comes a thread the likes of which I talk about

I rest my case


viewtopic.php?f=48&t=214396