By wessberg
Sun Jan 29, 2023 7:07 pm
Sorry for the semi-long read. I've been the happy owner of quite a few AKAI products over the years, and it is still one of the brands I trust the most and prefer to buy over the competition every time. I recently decided to give my good old S6000 sampler a rest and replace it with an MPC Live II for my live setup.
However I'm having some concerns and worries currently, all of which might be entirely unwarranted, but they're there. I don't want to just spread negativity, please understand that I really want AKAI to succeed and to continue to buy AKAI products for years to come.
So, to kick things off, I was really surprised to learn that the Live II couldn't do disk streaming, something I've always relied heavily on from my S5000 and S6000 samplers for live gigs. I'm aware that the Force can now do it, but I like the MPC workflow, and bought the Live II specifically because its portable, battery-powered nature fits really well into what I use it for currently.
I have been looking for a public roadmap from AKAI to understand if this is something they're intending to work on, but none seems to exist. I have been looking for statements or responses to questions from anyone representing AKAI in regards to whether or not disk streaming is a priority and whether or not the MPC product I bought will eventually support it. I have found none. I have tried to reach out to AKAI on Twitter. They didn't respond, and generally don't seem to respond to questions like that, certainly not publicly.
Now, combine this with my impressions based on their press releases for each new MPC update, the only insights I have into what is being worked on, and these always seem to focus on adding new effects and instruments to the MPC platform, all of which I really don't care about or use at all, rather than a deep focus on productivity enhancing tools or addressing the longest standing requests from the community - a community AKAI has built up over many years and really needs to protect, as this is one of its big advantages. AKAI is a respected brand.
I'm fully aware that AKAI nowadays is positioned within a competitive landscape where it's getting ever more difficult to beat the competition, - Ableton Live on a laptop - and thus they've clearly made it a strategic focus to compete on these DAW-like things, but ultimately what I've always liked about AKAI is how no matter what I've needed to accomplish from my sampler (or MIDI controller, etc) in the past, I've always found a way to do it - clearly AKAI products are engineered by people who use the products themselves, and clearly these have evolved from real-world use cases that doesn't seem relevant on the surface but comes up over time as the community starts using these tools in professional applications across the world and over years and years. Now, the omission of disk streaming seems to break that experience for me entirely, as this is so fundamental to me, and seems so glaringly, obviously important for touring musicians, especially for a unit with the word "Live" in the name.
Honestly, it feels like it's just too difficult to get in touch with AKAI directly, and I think there is extreme value in collaborating directly with the community while committing to a public roadmap - especially with a trusted brand like AKAI with a large group of returning customers who are essentially ambassadors for AKAI, having been along for the ride for many years.
AKAI, please don't neglect the importance of customers who come back and keep investing in your brand. Please work directly with us, share your thoughts with us and ask for our feedback. Get to know us, and the ways we use your products. That's the reason why AKAI became a leader in its field, and that's how you continue to stay relevant.
However I'm having some concerns and worries currently, all of which might be entirely unwarranted, but they're there. I don't want to just spread negativity, please understand that I really want AKAI to succeed and to continue to buy AKAI products for years to come.
So, to kick things off, I was really surprised to learn that the Live II couldn't do disk streaming, something I've always relied heavily on from my S5000 and S6000 samplers for live gigs. I'm aware that the Force can now do it, but I like the MPC workflow, and bought the Live II specifically because its portable, battery-powered nature fits really well into what I use it for currently.
I have been looking for a public roadmap from AKAI to understand if this is something they're intending to work on, but none seems to exist. I have been looking for statements or responses to questions from anyone representing AKAI in regards to whether or not disk streaming is a priority and whether or not the MPC product I bought will eventually support it. I have found none. I have tried to reach out to AKAI on Twitter. They didn't respond, and generally don't seem to respond to questions like that, certainly not publicly.
Now, combine this with my impressions based on their press releases for each new MPC update, the only insights I have into what is being worked on, and these always seem to focus on adding new effects and instruments to the MPC platform, all of which I really don't care about or use at all, rather than a deep focus on productivity enhancing tools or addressing the longest standing requests from the community - a community AKAI has built up over many years and really needs to protect, as this is one of its big advantages. AKAI is a respected brand.
I'm fully aware that AKAI nowadays is positioned within a competitive landscape where it's getting ever more difficult to beat the competition, - Ableton Live on a laptop - and thus they've clearly made it a strategic focus to compete on these DAW-like things, but ultimately what I've always liked about AKAI is how no matter what I've needed to accomplish from my sampler (or MIDI controller, etc) in the past, I've always found a way to do it - clearly AKAI products are engineered by people who use the products themselves, and clearly these have evolved from real-world use cases that doesn't seem relevant on the surface but comes up over time as the community starts using these tools in professional applications across the world and over years and years. Now, the omission of disk streaming seems to break that experience for me entirely, as this is so fundamental to me, and seems so glaringly, obviously important for touring musicians, especially for a unit with the word "Live" in the name.
Honestly, it feels like it's just too difficult to get in touch with AKAI directly, and I think there is extreme value in collaborating directly with the community while committing to a public roadmap - especially with a trusted brand like AKAI with a large group of returning customers who are essentially ambassadors for AKAI, having been along for the ride for many years.
AKAI, please don't neglect the importance of customers who come back and keep investing in your brand. Please work directly with us, share your thoughts with us and ask for our feedback. Get to know us, and the ways we use your products. That's the reason why AKAI became a leader in its field, and that's how you continue to stay relevant.