Should the renaissance be my first mpc?

Watsup guys ive been reading the mpc forums for a couple weeks now and Ive come up with a question. Should the renaissance be my first mpc? I've just started music producing this year. The first piece of gear I purchased was an NI Maschine hoping it would fulfill my want for an mpc but I've been disappointed. I really enjoy using maschine as a standalone but making full songs with it is a pain. Basically I want to switch to mpc but do you guys think I should wait for the renaissance to buy my first mpc? If not what do you suggest I start with?

Consider a MPC1000 with JJOS. It's already proven to be a good machine plus its cheaper. Only time will tell if the Ren is a good buy. However if the Ren turns out to perform like the 3000/60 then you will find yourself upgrading fast!

Not sure it's going to be any easier to 'make full songs' on a hardware MPC over a Maschine, perhaps less so.

groovemonger wrote:Not sure it's going to be any easier to 'make full songs' on a hardware MPC over a Maschine, perhaps less so.

It won't be at all. With the hardware MPC, you'll run out of ram for all your vocals buy the time you get to your 3rd verse. What you need is a DAW, because Maschine nor Ren has audio tracks, and a hardware MPC doesn't have enough RAM.

I'll recommend the MPC 5000. With that you'll learn everything about the Ren and about Akai and their flagship devices. It'll be a good lesson for you

I'd wait til the Ren/Studio come out to fully decide. That's what I'm doing. That way I/You can buy it, and try it out for the 30 days (or however long the place you're buying it from will let you return it) and if I don't like it return it and spend my money on something else.

tmoyer1215 wrote:Watsup guys ive been reading the mpc forums for a couple weeks now and Ive come up with a question. Should the renaissance be my first mpc? I've just started music producing this year. The first piece of gear I purchased was an NI Maschine hoping it would fulfill my want for an mpc but I've been disappointed. I really enjoy using maschine as a standalone but making full songs with it is a pain. Basically I want to switch to mpc but do you guys think I should wait for the renaissance to buy my first mpc? If not what do you suggest I start with?

if you were starting out as a deejay i would say , don't get
rane Serato ,or ni traktor scratch to start out with .. but as far a sampler .. o would say get what ever inspires/interest you .. but i will say thiers nothing like the touch the fell the smell of old gear .. i think i will pick one piece of my gear and see if i can legally marry her !!!!

All the software heads will agree: whatever you do, dont go backwards...as much as I hate to admit it, Hardware has been eclipsed by software, dont buy a hardware MPC...

When you buy a product, youre not paying for the box, the pretty lights and the name, youre paying for the years and years of product knowledge and design that has been invested into said product...
Look how eager evry 1 is to jump onto their computers and answer your question. The MPC has a very DEEP pool of knowledge that goes back 20 years, and when you get your hands on one, you will be like a weedy tree growing up under the shady branches of the huge forest...

strugglebuggiemusic wrote:All the software heads will agree: whatever you do, dont go backwards...as much as I hate to admit it, Hardware has been eclipsed by software, dont buy a hardware MPC...

When you buy a product, youre not paying for the box, the pretty lights and the name, youre paying for the years and years of product knowledge and design that has been invested into said product...
Look how eager evry 1 is to jump onto their computers and answer your question. The MPC has a very DEEP pool of knowledge that goes back 20 years, and when you get your hands on one, you will be like a weedy tree growing up under the shady branches of the huge forest...

Or just get anything that works and start making music?

What was it like back in the 90s? Studio-in-the-box hadn't hit yet. Akais were bland-looking boxes that you had to go to a specialist dealer to even see and cost a bomb. An 80s used model close to ten years still cost a bomb for a young person. And then you'd need probably some sort of used cheap synth, a junkshop mixer, a sequencer/computer, and maybe some cheap, nasty outboard effects just to get started.

I didn't have chas for any of this stuff as a young teen so would make tunes/beats on a 'tracker' program on my 16bit computer and run them into a used Fostex 4-track (you couldn't sync or anything). I hadn't even heard much electronic music - rave/acid house, De la Soul and chart hiphop, not a whole lot else. Didn't really know how to make any of that stuff so a lot of it was experimental.

When I was old enough to have a part time job I got an amazing deal on a load of stuff a guy was selling in '95 - 80s Akai S1000 with some extra ram, Atari with Cubase and the mono screen, little Roland Sound Canvas, little 8 channel mixer and some Zoom multi effects - had to make do with my Mum's Casio digital piano to have a keyboard (which didn't seem to transmit much MIDI data beyond the basic). I ran the results into a hifi cassette deck or the four track. It was perfectly possible to make good stuff on this already quite dated, limited gear. And it wasn't just me - when Norman Cook started to get massive hits he hadn't bought any new gear for ten years and was doing everything with S950s/S1000s and Atari.

Now any kid with a MacBook and Logic/Live has probably the equivalent of an overwhelming several hundred 19" rack units. Doesn't even need a mixer. It's all in the box. There's nothing 'minimalist' about laptop music - there's just TOO much stuff, too many options, too easy to slap megaFX on the most boring beats and phrases to get 'cool results' and bland hollywood sheen.

I don't think it's worth waiting for the Ren if you're keen on going MPC-style music right now. Make do with existing software or pick up a used hardware model (they'll hold their value a while yet so you can always offload later). Put in the time to learn - that's the biggie. All the tools work.

groovemonger wrote:

strugglebuggiemusic wrote:All the software heads will agree: whatever you do, dont go backwards...as much as I hate to admit it, Hardware has been eclipsed by software, dont buy a hardware MPC...

When you buy a product, youre not paying for the box, the pretty lights and the name, youre paying for the years and years of product knowledge and design that has been invested into said product...
Look how eager evry 1 is to jump onto their computers and answer your question. The MPC has a very DEEP pool of knowledge that goes back 20 years, and when you get your hands on one, you will be like a weedy tree growing up under the shady branches of the huge forest...

Or just get anything that works and start making music?

What was it like back in the 90s? Studio-in-the-box hadn't hit yet. Akais were bland-looking boxes that you had to go to a specialist dealer to even see and cost a bomb. An 80s used model close to ten years still cost a bomb for a young person. And then you'd need probably some sort of used cheap synth, a junkshop mixer, a sequencer/computer, and maybe some cheap, nasty outboard effects just to get started.

I didn't have chas for any of this stuff as a young teen so would make tunes/beats on a 'tracker' program on my 16bit computer and run them into a used Fostex 4-track (you couldn't sync or anything). I hadn't even heard much electronic music - rave/acid house, De la Soul and chart hiphop, not a whole lot else. Didn't really know how to make any of that stuff so a lot of it was experimental.

When I was old enough to have a part time job I got an amazing deal on a load of stuff a guy was selling in '95 - 80s Akai S1000 with some extra ram, Atari with Cubase and the mono screen, little Roland Sound Canvas, little 8 channel mixer and some Zoom multi effects - had to make do with my Mum's Casio digital piano to have a keyboard (which didn't seem to transmit much MIDI data beyond the basic). I ran the results into a hifi cassette deck or the four track. It was perfectly possible to make good stuff on this already quite dated, limited gear. And it wasn't just me - when Norman Cook started to get massive hits he hadn't bought any new gear for ten years and was doing everything with S950s/S1000s and Atari.

Now any kid with a MacBook and Logic/Live has probably the equivalent of an overwhelming several hundred 19" rack units. Doesn't even need a mixer. It's all in the box. There's nothing 'minimalist' about laptop music - there's just TOO much stuff, too many options, too easy to slap megaFX on the most boring beats and phrases to get 'cool results' and bland hollywood sheen.

I don't think it's worth waiting for the Ren if you're keen on going MPC-style music right now. Make do with existing software or pick up a used hardware model (they'll hold their value a while yet so you can always offload later). Put in the time to learn - that's the biggie. All the tools work.

See, at least you had a bit of knowledge in gear, even as a young cat, you had a Fostex

As for me, I didn't have any knowledge on what. I just had these vibes, and I knew that there was a device that made that sound I love so much. But what it was or how many things to buy, I didn't know. I just went to every electronic store in New York City and Brooklyn asking "do you have a 4 track tape sampler?" Of course, no one knew what it was, but later a dj told me a spot that had special equipment like that and for cheap. They had mostly rack samplers like the Jamman and Yamahas. But mostly priced in the thousand$. All I had was a hundred bucks, so I walked out with a Gemini DS-8. And the lust for gear began ever since. But there was no internet then, maybe through modem connection through a phone but that was for people with mula.

Ill-Green wrote:As for me, I didn't have any knowledge on what. I just had these vibes, and I knew that there was a device that made that sound I love so much. But what it was or how many things to buy, I didn't know. I just went to every electronic store in New York City and Brooklyn asking "do you have a 4 track tape sampler?" Of course, no one knew what it was, but later a dj told me a spot that had special equipment like that and for cheap. They had mostly rack samplers like the Jamman and Yamahas. But mostly priced in the thousand$. All I had was a hundred bucks, so I walked out with a Gemini DS-8. And the lust for gear began ever since. But there was no internet then, maybe through modem connection through a phone but that was for people with mula.

We had quite strong music mags in the UK - like SOS and Future Music so you could quickly find out what artists were using to do what they did. But in a way a lot of the gear just got filtered out of my brain as everything seemed to cost £1000-£3000 and didn't feel like anything I'd ever contemplate buying. I think having the S1000 and 8MB ram felt like I was a god at the time - I found samplers much more interesting than synths as you could kinda put anything into them. A loop. A nice string sound of a commercial sample CD. Some weird found sound you made by hitting a cardboard box. Vocal snippet off the radio. And you could put what felt like a LOT at the time in 8MB. Of course, a lot of stuff was really fiddly and simple things could take an afternoon but it felt like fun...

I would wait for the Ren to come out, especially if you are just starting to make beats. The hardware MPC's are mainly for us oldheads who started off that way and want that old school feel sometimes. Based on what I have seen of the Ren, you will be getting the old school feel and then some. Save your cash for the Ren.

For $300 and well under you can get to work right now with a pad controller , Geist , RM V , or similar. For $350 you can get Micro Maschine . Later if the Ren/Studio is in the cards you can always upgrade. There's no need to wait on anybody. Start building skills now. As a beginner you won't sound any worse starting out on basic setup as you would dropping $1300 or even $600 for the Studio.

moyphee wrote:For $300 and well under you can get to work right now with a pad controller , Geist , RM V , or similar. For $350 you can get Micro Maschine . Later if the Ren/Studio is in the cards you can always upgrade. There's no need to wait on anybody. Start building skills now. As a beginner you won't sound any worse starting out on basic setup as you would dropping $1300 or even $600 for the Studio.

Yes. And if you looked at some of the online retailers you can get Geist boxed much cheaper than the FXexpansion download for, less than £100. There's a really good MPD32 mapping (I've seen MPD32s for as low at £100 on eBay). So you could get a kick-ass MPC-like experience for £200 by buying wisely if you don't care about being hooked up to a computer. And Geist has been around for ages, a ground-up re-write of Guru, so you 100% know what you're getting. No 'Hmm, I wonder if Akai's software will suck again?'.

Ill-Green wrote:I'll recommend the MPC 5000. With that you'll learn everything about the Ren and about Akai and their flagship devices. It'll be a good lesson for you