Go To: www.beatkangs.com/forum/ Thanks!

If that's true, then that's really not a good look, and I'm glad someone pointed that out. However, their products can still be used without using their sounds. This definitely would hurt their credibility though. I can understand their beats being protected, but the individual sounds? That's not right at all.

This whole Beat Thang thing seems to get more complicated and convoluted as time goes by. Even if they have a great product there are a lot of things to make people shy away from dealing with them.

Simple solution, use a torrent to get the Burger Kang software....edit in a DAW or the MPC and shamwow...you got the sounds and the software for freebie

ONE wrote:If that's true, then that's really not a good look, and I'm glad someone pointed that out. However, their products can still be used without using their sounds. This definitely would hurt their credibility though. I can understand their beats being protected, but the individual sounds? That's not right at all.

This whole Beat Thang thing seems to get more complicated and convoluted as time goes by. Even if they have a great product there are a lot of things to make people shy away from dealing with them.

it means they are charging us for the included sounds... and telling us we cant use them for anything beyond demo-ing the unit.


when you buy sample packs you dont have to credit the sample pack maker... that would defeat the purpose of buying the sample pack in the first place.


the main thing the beat kangs advertise is all the sounds that come with the machine. they dont tell you that you cant use them without crediting them.

Beatzza13: IANAL and am assuming the EULA listed previously (and quoted below), is accurate of the BKE license agreement.

But the problem as I see it is that BKE can say what ever the hell they want in an FAQ, because it doesn't mean **** legally. BKE knows most users will read an FAQ but not a EULA, so they have room to spin it to sound more reasonable in the FAQ. If it turns out their statements in the FAQ didn't accurately represent the EULA later on, they can point a judge to the part where they cover their asses by saying, look we told them boys over at mpc-forums in our FAQ that "By installing and running the BEat Thang Virtual, the user agrees to a licensing agreement." Duh. Of course.

Read the EULA before trying to spin this any other way...

NO WHERE IN THE EULA does it say, "The user does not have to credit Beat Kangz if they are using individual sounds for their own compositions, but if they use an unedited preset beat, then a credit is required."

THE EULA APPARENTLY DOES SAY, "2. Pre-recorded Sounds and Patterns “beats”. The Software contains various pre-recorded sounds (“Sounds”) and patterns (“Beats”). Subject to this EULA, BKE hereby grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license, without rights to sublicense, to incorporate the Sounds or Beats into sound recordings produced by you and to copy, distribute, and publicly perform such sound recordings, provided that you provide an attribution credit to BKE as the source of the Sounds and Beats. You shall not copy, distribute, license, sell or otherwise transfer the Sounds and or Beats in their original and unedited or edited forms."

Based on the EULA, I believe I would be agreeing to give props to the BKE with every performance and recording I make using their software. Which is just un **** believable in this day and age.

Well you are correct, the current EULA was misleading and not worded correctly. The EULA has been re-written and it will be included in the new update. It will now read,

2. Pre-recorded Sounds and Patterns.
The Software contains various pre-recorded sounds (“Sounds”) and patterns (“Beats”).
Subject to this EULA, BKE hereby grants you a limited, non-exclusive,
non-transferable license, without rights to sublicense, to incorporate the Sounds
and Beats into sound recordings produced by you and to copy, distribute, and
publicly perform such
sound recordings, provided that, in the case of the Beats, you provide an
attribution credit to BKE as the source of the Beats. You shall not copy,
distribute, license, sell or otherwise transfer the Sounds and/or Beats
in their original and unedited or edited forms.

Hope this clears it up.

beatzza13 wrote:

Beatzza13: IANAL and am assuming the EULA listed previously (and quoted below), is accurate of the BKE license agreement.

But the problem as I see it is that BKE can say what ever the hell they want in an FAQ, because it doesn't mean **** legally. BKE knows most users will read an FAQ but not a EULA, so they have room to spin it to sound more reasonable in the FAQ. If it turns out their statements in the FAQ didn't accurately represent the EULA later on, they can point a judge to the part where they cover their asses by saying, look we told them boys over at mpc-forums in our FAQ that "By installing and running the BEat Thang Virtual, the user agrees to a licensing agreement." Duh. Of course.

Read the EULA before trying to spin this any other way...

NO WHERE IN THE EULA does it say, "The user does not have to credit Beat Kangz if they are using individual sounds for their own compositions, but if they use an unedited preset beat, then a credit is required."

when is this update coming out???????????????????????????????????????????????/
THE EULA APPARENTLY DOES SAY, "2. Pre-recorded Sounds and Patterns “beats”. The Software contains various pre-recorded sounds (“Sounds”) and patterns (“Beats”). Subject to this EULA, BKE hereby grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license, without rights to sublicense, to incorporate the Sounds or Beats into sound recordings produced by you and to copy, distribute, and publicly perform such sound recordings, provided that you provide an attribution credit to BKE as the source of the Sounds and Beats. You shall not copy, distribute, license, sell or otherwise transfer the Sounds and or Beats in their original and unedited or edited forms."

Based on the EULA, I believe I would be agreeing to give props to the BKE with every performance and recording I make using their software. Which is just un **** believable in this day and age.

Well you are correct, the current EULA was misleading and not worded correctly. The EULA has been re-written and it will be included in the new update. It will now read,

2. Pre-recorded Sounds and Patterns.
The Software contains various pre-recorded sounds (“Sounds”) and patterns (“Beats”).
Subject to this EULA, BKE hereby grants you a limited, non-exclusive,
non-transferable license, without rights to sublicense, to incorporate the Sounds
and Beats into sound recordings produced by you and to copy, distribute, and
publicly perform such
sound recordings, provided that, in the case of the Beats, you provide an
attribution credit to BKE as the source of the Beats. You shall not copy,
distribute, license, sell or otherwise transfer the Sounds and/or Beats
in their original and unedited or edited forms.

Hope this clears it up.

when is the update out?????????????????????????/

LOL @ the free crack for school kids for every thang downloaded.

The reason why there is a negative review on my page about the Beat Thang Virtual, and not a positive, is because the point of that quote was to show that it is still beta quality. On some PCs, all you have to do is switch modes and the thing crashes. That makes it unusable for them. But even if it doesn't crash, it's still buggy and missing features.

You may say that's bad to point out, but it's true. People should know what they're getting into before paying $140. There was no trial download, so the buyers were jumping into this purchase blindly. I took the fist jump as a service to the public, to test the waters to make sure they're warm and safe. All I was doing is reporting what I learned.

My page about the Beat Thang changes as we go. Not long ago it was very positive, with high hopes, standing up for the Kangz. Then I preordered, and kept reading their posts, and started to get more factual data. That's when it shifted towards the negative, because the facts made it go that way. I didn't want it to, and still don't really.

Pointing out flaws is a positive act, because it shows them what needs to change. The license agreement for instance, the purpose of pointing that out isn't to make everyone hate the Kangz for saying one thing in emails, which is not legally binding, and another in the legal agreement. The point is to inform so they know to change the EULA wording.

Maybe Aja wanted it to be what he is telling people personally, but the lawyers went too far as they usually do and he just doesn't understand legalese enough to see the difference. By pointing it out I made a potential problem known in a clear way, which can help him know what to change. All it takes is a call to the lawyer and a new EULA drafted.

The Beat Kangz are the ones who invited us to get involved. They said that's what sets them apart from Akai. They'll listen to us. It's not our fault if they don't like what we say. It's still positive participation saying anything at all, as long as it points out a problem in a way that gives them an opportunity to fix it.

A lot of decisions seem premature and poorly made now, but it's still early. Maybe if they relax on the promotion stuff and focus on the product then in 6 months they'll really have something. If that happens, haters won't have any legitimate reason to hate, and the Kangz will get their love and praise.

But if the President keeps getting feelings hurt, running home instead of sticking around to try and solve what he should have the power to change, then nothing will get done, and the negativity will grow. They've changed some things already, like offering a downloadable purchase, trial, and changing features on the software.

All they have to do is keep doing that kind of stuff. Stay focused on the product, don't waste time battling potential customers.

Beatzza13 - Thanks. The EULA mods clear the original concerns about attribution responsibility IMO. Seems BKE is still listening for the time being at least. Maybe this can be a constructive dialogue afterall?

Regarding comments about torrenting software. A lot of the up and comers have been raised to believe this is fine. I think it disrespects the owners of this particular forum, diminishes this community and does harm to the industry as a whole. It is why I don't even joke about it. That's a convo for another day I suppose.

the one thing about torrents and that kind of thing... it shows what people like and what people want. It really shows the people's preferences.

Why pay $1000 for a BT & BTV when you could get a full blown copy of Logic9 with more free sounds and duty free loops than the BT? A full fledged DAW for half the price, with none of the bugs or shiftiness (I know Logic is Mac only and Apple is SUPER SHIFTY on memory pricing). I really don't see a reason for the BT to exist. just my 2 cents. one.

So the kangs can skew info, attack buyers, be sneaky and put out buggy software that is sub par to other software already in existance but using a torrent to get their stuff is wrong? This is the same "company" that came out the gate claiming people stole their ideas and bla bla bla. For a company looking to have a real impact on the industry they sure went about it sh*tty..I dont see where they actually deserve my money so if I could get a copy of it Ill snag it just for the sounds.....I dont care.

contact jamon for the free download then, he is doin thangz

Jamon wrote:Pointing out flaws is a positive act, because it shows them what needs to change. The license agreement for instance, the purpose of pointing that out isn't to make everyone hate the Kangz for saying one thing in emails, which is not legally binding, and another in the legal agreement. The point is to inform so they know to change the EULA wording.

I gotta agree wit Jamon on this on...he pointed this out to me, as I hadn't givin it much thought until I really studied the wording. I assumed it was in reference to the premade beats or whatever, BUT we all know how legal stuff goes so if it wasn't explicit then it was open.

Glad to see they will be changing it. I did talk to aja after jamon pointed that out, out of personal concerns and I wanted to have the write info. He definitely didn't sound "shifty" when he let me know it was about the actual tracks they made and not the sounds.

Only folks that need to worry about it are those that take the premade instrumentals and create a song out of it...even still I think it's more like sampling...peeps won't even notice unless you blow. At least they aint askin for royalties...I'm pretty sure if someone is making songs out of the premade tracks, they prolly don't care about saying "this is a beat kaaaaaangz production" lol.

long as they aint limiting my use of the sounds it's good.

so no, they aint coming after you for using the sounds and samples in the thang, they just want "attribution" if peeps are taking the premade beats...

I don't see it as any different than some sample cds, like smoker's delight...I can use the samples all day long, but the "demos songs" are not mines to use, not even if I give them attribution, they retain all copyrights and such.

it was def confusing, but looks like they are fixing the wording.

I just wanted to speak on this one cuz Jamon was the one that showed it to me and I had to check with them for myself.

so even though some may not like Jamon's methods...he still providing some good information in between his rants man, everyone has their own way of giving up the info, just use what you can to make the best decision.

I don't hide the fact that I'm a fan of this thang, but I also don't hide the fact that there are improvements and workflow enhancements that I want to see...

I'm waiting for the first update too

SaintJoe, I see a 4K in your avatar. Do you have one? If you do, why would you want to downgrade to a BT? Personally I lust after a 4K. I got some business sh*t bout to pop of, and after I cop a G5 and a PowerBook, I'm definitely getting a blown 4K. Not trying to start no sh*t, just wondering. one.

what are thsoe 2 nipple looking knobs on the top suppose to do? are they data wheels? i'd like to see them control start and end points of the sample for quick chopping.

also, i'd like to see the track buttons dual function as xoxo style drum programmng buttons.

im also curious to know how btv and bt interact with each other, is it like akysys on mpc4000? does it auto syncranize? like as you work on the bt, do your changes show and vice versa? or is it like mpc2500 where you ahve to be in "usb" mode and you only get to drag samples to the memory disk?......maybe i missed this info somewhere.

MPC O.G. wrote:SaintJoe, I see a 4K in your avatar. Do you have one? If you do, why would you want to downgrade to a BT? Personally I lust after a 4K. I got some business sh*t bout to pop of, and after I cop a G5 and a PowerBook, I'm definitely getting a blown 4K. Not trying to start no sh*t, just wondering. one.

I have a 4k, have had it for years...when I got it, it fit what I was doing. The beat thang...based on the specs, fit where I'm going now. It's portable and offers better integration with the computer.

the 4k is dope, don't get me wrong, but I'm just growing in a new direction personally, things like the beat thang, maschine, ableton lol..etc...they let me do what I want, still get the sound I like, and don't have some of the limitations.

the 4k will always be a dope machine.

I personally don't have a room full of gear anymore...which is why the 4k was important to me at the time. And with Kontakt being able to load akai sample cds, I can still use my library in the digital domain.

so...it's not a matter of beat thang being an "mpc killer" for me...it's just a matter of what fits for how I work now, that's all.

I don't consider it a downgrade

no the beat thang can't do everything the 4k can, it can't replace it as the centerpiece of your entire hardware/software studio, it can't control multiple modules and such....

but most of my sound is coming from "inside the box" now...so that part isn't a major factor for me anymore.

but regardless what I do on the computer, I still like to turn it off and just bang out...I'm looking for the beat thang to fill that void, being able to move it away from the computer and still have my drums and riffs to work with.

but again, that's just my personal reason...I still say do what works best for you man, you won't be mad with the 4k trust me lol.