How much would you pay for new firmware?

OS 1.31 still seems buggy, and Akai still seems unresponsive.

I was thinking about getting a 2500 so I could ditch Akai and use JJ OS, but the MPC500 is in another league with its small form and battery power.

Others out there must wish we could get more from this machine.

Is anyone willing to pay for firmware updates? Maybe if we pool some cash and vote on features we can buy some updates?

There are some things doable that would really unleash this little box, like auto-chop. But some of the stuff we already have just needs some improvements to help workflow.

Think Akai will listen if cash is involved?

If not, the only other portable machine with similar potential is the Beat Thang. If Akai doesn't listen up soon they may find a lot of us unhappy MPC500 owners switching over.

I think new firmware should be free. If I spent $700 for a device and an extra $150 for a measly 128RAM and then to have a sh!tty OS, they better damn well give it to me for free.

Ya, it should be, but it's been over 2 years now. All the bugs are still not fixed, and there are simple features that should be added. Akai isn't doing it. We want them to. So how do we get them to move? They won't open the source code, so that's why maybe money is the only possibility.

They have a matter of months though, because if the Beat Thang comes out and can do the stuff the MPC500 can, with battery power, I'm done with Akai. They've been nothing but hassle trying to deal with. But I'm willing to give them a last chance, and I'd pay some money to get their attention.

Akai is a new company now, thats riding on name and legacy. Quality and customer support are gone.

At least when the SP-606 came out with its bugs, Roland had the decency to release the 555 right away and discontinued the 606, and still made an upgradable OS for its current customers.

depends what is included
they could make this a bad ass little unit or not its up to them

look if you buy protools, sonar reason blah blah blah, you pay for updates(new versions)
I tell you I love my 500 but it could be so much more and for the right features Id pay about 200
dollars or so for it------ the hardware is solid and should last a while(people still usin 60s)

give me a beat based auto chop and pad assignment-----no wave form! so what
audio thru
sustain and release
dont know if an os can do it but higher vol output(this is prob. hardware)
fix bugs on the bugs list
MIXER MIXER MIXER
how bout auto tempo detect FL has it on their 49 dollar enty level software
add to this guys my brain aint workin tonight


b

by the way you bought the unit as it was when you bought it that was the deal
I hate akai's customer support or lack there of but they dont need to give anything away
(would be good PR though!)
If they come out with a new mpc500 thing (500XL or so)to battle the beatthang I am done ARE YALL LISTENING AKAI?
(nope)
thats all this world needs is people throwing old units away for new ones if a CRT monitor is bad cant imagine an mpc haha
FIX IT ILL PAY YA