Renaissance Vs. Beat Thang

I think that part was totally true...

DJ Hellfire wrote:Oh and I left one thing out because I don't know if it's true or not. The fact that you can also wear the Beat Thang as a chain medalion just takes coonery to all new heights. I mean, come the **** on son!

whew reminds me of something out of that ludacris video “move get out the way” just take off the side panels,but keep the lights

DJ Hellfire wrote:

Fess wrote:

jpeg wrote:the mo phatt is almost as corny as beat thang as far as namesakes

But the Moog 'Lil Phatty' is a cool name right? I gotta laugh . First, you call it a fail, and then you say the audio outputs sound good. Which is it man? Does it pass or fail in your book of production device wisdom and please tell me where it fails so miserably? I need your professional insight to show me the error of my ways.

I look forward to your comprehensive and informative review. Please post all of your findings here.

For me, it's first and foremost the style/looks of the product. Just looks like ****. I don't care how good it sounds. It's too much over the top.

I don't like the marketing at all. I don't like the use of "Bling" and "Blang" buttons. Just sounds like coon mockery at it finest.

I don't like that the owners of the product/company replied to my MPC video on youtube, which had no mention of the BT, telling me I should try their beat thang because I don't know what I'm missing. WTF?! What company does **** like that ?

I don't like any of the unprofessional looking demo vids they put out.

I don't like how the pads are laid out like keyboard keys, although I do appreciate the idea of not copying the standard 4x4 layout. I just still prefer 4x4.

I don't care for the idea of battery powered portability. At least not the way they market it. I mean, what **** grown ass man walks around making beats like this? : http://vimeo.com/23881021

I appreciate that a group of black men were able to break into an industry where everything is predominantly white and asian. But damn, everything was just done so distastfully, IMO. And it just turns me off from the product, honestly.

I mean, look how many times they put a "buy it now" button on this page: http://www.beatthang.com/products/beat-thang.html. Terrible!

The packaging looks like something that would be in the music aisle at Toys R Us:


Again, doesn't matter how good it sounds. The way they market and promote doesn't make me confident AT ALL in the companies future. So I would never invest my money into such a product! Take NI for example, with Ski Beats. In his promo vids, he's not jumping all around with a bunch of gimmicks and "bling" (although Akai has done this with Ren). It's just good music doing the talking and a simple explanation of why he uses the product spoken in a way that everyone can interpret.

This is how ALL of Beat Thang's marketing should have been presented. Then I would have taken it more serious: http://vimeo.com/23344631

Well, to each their own but...
Style and looks? Well I know it doesn't have the red and green lights like the Renaissance pads but cmon man. Question for you; would a film score composer choose a Roland Fantom G8 over a Kurzweil PC3K88 to write a climactic orchestral piece? Only if he were an idiot...Yeah, the G8 looks 'futuristic' in a toyish way, but it sounds like ass compared to the Kurzweil. I'm pretty sure those who do the research, and actually learn what the BT box is capable of, don't choose it because of how it looks. We all know it looks like somethin outta Tron. It's strength is in it's functions with regards to producing sample based music, not how looks.
Bling? Blame Lil Wayne for that one. 'Blang' is wack, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the lights all work perfectly from a technical standpoint, and that's what matters. They're useful in low light areas and help with arrangements, mute pad/mute groups, mute/solo tracks etc. The full color LCD display is excellent for visual feedback as well. With regards to them posting in your YouTube MPC thread, I woulda told them to go fu*k themselves, but back then I didn't give a fu*k about Beat Thang or the Beat Kangz so I didn't even pay attention to the development of the hardware. I saw the videos of those clowns and I just laughed and shook my head like everyone else. I had no plans on getting this box with 3 MPCs already, but I was curious to find out what it could offer so I took the time to find out as much as I could about it's current, and upcoming features, and no one can deny that these guys (despite the shitty marketing initially) have created something useful for producers. I'm not sure what you find unprofessional about their tutorial videos: http://www.learnbeatthang.com/beat-than ... eat-thang/ They're actually very well done with multiple camera angles, good audio and decent video quality. The only vids that look cheap are the ones by Sounds for Samplers: http://www.learnbeatthang.com/beat-than ... eat-thang/ The pads don't feel anything like MPC pads. I'm not too fond of the pads myself. They could have been done a lot better. BT with an MPD solves that problem easily. No one in their right mind would walk around with this in one hand. It's too heavy, and balancing it would be tough. That being said, nothing wrong with a 4 hour battery to knock out serious sketches on the Greyhound. Their future looks brighter now than it's ever been. The exclusive with Best Buy is gone and they have overseas deals in place. They dropped the price to 999.
The website needs work and so does their marketing. You gotta remember, this is their first product, so they're still green in some areas. I think that these guys just had the wrong members in their crew on day 1, and now they're working with the right cats. And as for how it sounds, that's not why I got it. Out of the supposedly 3000 sounds it comes with, I listened to about 10 of them and then loaded two SD cards of my own samples. Sonically, it doesn't sound any better than any other 24bit 44Khz capable unit, but with regards to creative options, it stands out on it's own considerably, and again-that's what matters when shit has to get done.

The looks does matter. Doesn't mean it determines the sound, which I stated from the beginning. The shit is just too distracting, IMO. Shit needs to be toned way down. And the looks of a machine can help set a mood to an extent. It's why we all customize our gear. As far as the lights on the Renaissance, those are actually for functional purposes, not for "Bling".

The tutiorial vids I'm talking aren't these newer ones. I'm talking about the ones with "King Boom Bap" in a **** hotel room with the shit making beats on the shit! I think he pulled the shit out of a cardboard box or a paper bag like a 40oz or something!

Again, I don't think anything is wrong with portability, but the way they come off with it is just unrealistic and just plain **** stupid. Yeah, I'm gonna get out the car at my bank with my beat thang in hand and make beats on the way to the teller. Or make beats on the elevator on the way to see my PO. Dumb as hell!

All that dumb shit just takes away, for me! I don't care how it sounds or functions.

the beat thang was a great promotional item for the Tron sequel...

its a collectors item!

DJ Hellfire wrote: I'm talking about the ones with "King Boom Bap" in a **** hotel room with the shit making beats on the shit!

This cracked me up....



Sheeeeeit...

jpeg wrote:the mo phatt is almost as corny as beat thang as far as namesakes

Yeah, but the emu MP 7 was Like having a TR 808 with a synthesizer. It was raw.

fobedafied wrote:the beat thang was a great promotional item for the Tron sequel...

its a collectors item!

Their next video will be of Dallas Austin ridin around on one of these with a Beat Thang mounted between the handle bars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxhyqiy9IBI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... alnw#t=15s

I think its the name that turns people off.

If the companiy's name was something like "BK Audio" and the Maschine was named something like "BT 900" and was just a sampling drum machine with universal synth sounds it would have been cool.

But Beat Thang from Beat Kangz Electronics just doest sound professional or creative. Im figuring if they put this little effort in their company and debut machine name, the overall quality of the product had to be lacking.

I purchased the BTV and as much as I like the sound set, I simply can't get my head around the bugginess.

I mean the cursor is on the next column to the text???

Who does that?

Long time lurker wanting to put in my 2 cents. A few days ago I got some cash and decided to trial buy the BT. I saw it at Best Buy and it looked lame, like a toy.. whatever and came home intent to purchase a MPC1000. I decided to look at reviews, and I found few people if any actually spoke about it's features. It was either fake praise from company shills trying to make it out to be more advanced then a MPC4000/5000, or cats attacking the marketing. I understand that, I hate the marketing too. And I don't trust these cats about these upcoming updates but I hope they do get there shiz together. I knew that if I bought the MPC first I would keep it (as I had one before,) and never find out what the BT really could do. Obviously I'll return the BT as it's price will drop anyway. Anyway.
The Good the Bad and the Ugly.
What made me want to try the BT is the fact it has 128 voice polyphony. I do feel 32 is a bit limiting, 64 I could live with (and I'm thinking of getting a 5000 instead since the price drop..) Non destructive Auto Chop, portability. and a keyboard layout since I play some keys and guitar.
Now, they keys are nice, but too small to really feel drums out like on an MPC, but it does all right, I do miss MPC pads for drums, I kinda enjoy the chromatics for instruments but it's like a weird compromise between a keyboard and drum pads, and doesn't get the flow of either one.
Annoyingly, I quickly discovered that you can only quantize a track one way. So annoying and a bit of a deal breaker with 16 tracks... You can't record drums quantized at 16nths, like bass drum and snare, and then go back and overdub non quantized. Everything recorded today, yesterday, and tomorrow on that one track will be tied together to whatever quantize value you choose. So you can't mix rhythms and unquantized overdubs. LAME
Also, all the sounds have all the effects immediately selected, which is why some speak of the sound, the effects are all right, but I like to hear things dry first. They pre polished everything for the cats first coming in.
Workflow is quick though limited, the manual sucks, basic functions aren't explained and I am not sure if they exist or not. No grid edit, another deal breaker. They dare call this an MPC with a Fantom... Ha.... whatever.
Now, had this company been honest, with constant upgrades, well, the 128 voice 16 layer thing is nice, 16 tracks that can only be quantized to one level though kinda kills that.
I also noticed the nervous look in the namm videio, new price point, all these new promises, yet none of it is announced on their website.
Long Story short. I'd like to keep it for portability but not at this price point, At 1,499 I'd rather get an MPC5000... But I definitely have opportunities where a portable device would help my efficiency.

audiounity111 wrote:Long time lurker wanting to put in my 2 cents. A few days ago I got some cash and decided to trial buy the BT. I saw it at Best Buy and it looked lame, like a toy.. whatever and came home intent to purchase a MPC1000. I decided to look at reviews, and I found few people if any actually spoke about it's features. It was either fake praise from company shills trying to make it out to be more advanced then a MPC4000/5000, or cats attacking the marketing. I understand that, I hate the marketing too. And I don't trust these cats about these upcoming updates but I hope they do get there shiz together. I knew that if I bought the MPC first I would keep it (as I had one before,) and never find out what the BT really could do. Obviously I'll return the BT as it's price will drop anyway. Anyway.
The Good the Bad and the Ugly.
What made me want to try the BT is the fact it has 128 voice polyphony. I do feel 32 is a bit limiting, 64 I could live with (and I'm thinking of getting a 5000 instead since the price drop..) Non destructive Auto Chop, portability. and a keyboard layout since I play some keys and guitar.
Now, they keys are nice, but too small to really feel drums out like on an MPC, but it does all right, I do miss MPC pads for drums, I kinda enjoy the chromatics for instruments but it's like a weird compromise between a keyboard and drum pads, and doesn't get the flow of either one.
Annoyingly, I quickly discovered that you can only quantize a track one way. So annoying and a bit of a deal breaker with 16 tracks... You can't record drums quantized at 16nths, like bass drum and snare, and then go back and overdub non quantized. Everything recorded today, yesterday, and tomorrow on that one track will be tied together to whatever quantize value you choose. So you can't mix rhythms and unquantized overdubs. LAME
Also, all the sounds have all the effects immediately selected, which is why some speak of the sound, the effects are all right, but I like to hear things dry first. They pre polished everything for the cats first coming in.
Workflow is quick though limited, the manual sucks, basic functions aren't explained and I am not sure if they exist or not. No grid edit, another deal breaker. They dare call this an MPC with a Fantom... Ha.... whatever.
Now, had this company been honest, with constant upgrades, well, the 128 voice 16 layer thing is nice, 16 tracks that can only be quantized to one level though kinda kills that.
I also noticed the nervous look in the namm videio, new price point, all these new promises, yet none of it is announced on their website.
Long Story short. I'd like to keep it for portability but not at this price point, At 1,499 I'd rather get an MPC5000... But I definitely have opportunities where a portable device would help my efficiency.

did you cop the two year extended warranty?

audiounity111 wrote:. They dare call this an MPC with a Fantom... Ha.... whatever.

Made me laugh as i am some one with a MPC and a Fantom XR. I would be very surprised if it was as good as that, and from what you said above as well, it aint even close. Marketing claims like that reek of desperation, or just straight up bum whackery. Not cool man, not cool.
So to me Ren looks the winner between the two, but will stick to a real MPC1000 and a Roland Fantom thanks

the funny thing is, when beat kangs came around, they should have went down the maschine & mpc ren path instead of thier wack hardware. A controller software mix would have been easier for them to pull off and they prob would have been more successful with it.

did you cop the two year extended warranty? [/quote]

as I said. I wanted to try it with the expectation that I might have some fun, make a beat, but would ultimately return it so no...
I wanted to try it because of all the sarcasm and hate poured on it with little tech discussion, like what it can't do which I stated, and what it can like 128 not polyphony.
As a musician that matters to me.
Ultimately it has issues but I only take specs at face value, and that's it.
I'm a grown man whose played in many bands from jazz to hip hop and can give a **** what anyone thinks about looks or vibe about a product, to me it comes down to specs. I'm too old to care if my product choice is hated or not. Any cat with some talent can come up with something good on the Beat Thang, MPC, hell, a casio keyboard and a tape deck. I just wanted to let the cats who think by specs and not public opinion what use this box may or may not have.