MPC Ren's Vintage Mode Revealed

Bug reports & end-user support for Akai's MPC Software 'controllers' including the new MPC Studio 2, the MPC Touch, MPC Renaissance & original MPC Studio and MPC StudioB lack.
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Re: MPC Ren's Vintage Mode Revealed

By JAH Sun Jul 22, 2012 11:51 pm
DJ Hellfire wrote:
JAH wrote:I have been spending the entire weekend at home going through JJOSXL. Besides the mentioned functions, there is nothing in their I absolutely must have. They same can be said for the MPC 5000 and the MPC Ren...as there are aspects of those products I won't use. Sample recording and editing is where I believe the focus should be to really improve.


What about non-destructive chop?

Without a doubt. That is what I was referring to when I left the Akai OS for the chopping improvements.

Today, I am interested in what JJ is going to do with OS128XL. This and the larger LCD is more appealing as the regular screen and JJOS is too busy for my liking. Until now, everything JJ has added in the past few years was overkill as the small LCD can barely support it. Personally, I think JJ should model the GUI of OS128XL after the MPC 4000.
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Re: MPC Ren's Vintage Mode Revealed

By DJ Hellfire Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:05 am
JAH wrote: JJOS is too busy for my liking. Until now, everything JJ has added in the past few years was overkill as the small LCD can barely support it. Personally, I think JJ should model the GUI of OS128XL after the MPC 4000.



I agree. This is why I never upgraded to OSXL and stuck with OS1.
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Re: MPC Ren's Vintage Mode Revealed

By dabmeister Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:20 am
JAH wrote:Until now, everything JJ has added in the past few years was overkill as the small LCD can barely support it. Personally, I think JJ should model the GUI of OS128XL after the MPC 4000.


Soooooooo...........with what you guys said, the 4k is still a mpc product that is a preferred model in some form or factor for current and future mpc's......right?
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Re: MPC Ren's Vintage Mode Revealed

By JAH Mon Jul 23, 2012 2:08 am
dabmeister wrote:
JAH wrote:Until now, everything JJ has added in the past few years was overkill as the small LCD can barely support it. Personally, I think JJ should model the GUI of OS128XL after the MPC 4000.


Soooooooo...........with what you guys said, the 4k is still a mpc product that is a preferred model in some form or factor for current and future mpc's......right?


I think the layout of the MPC 4000 is easy on the eyes and not too difficult to navigate so JJ should look towards that model since he has more real-estate to work with using the larger screens.

The MPC 4000s sampler, sample record's quick FXs, modulation routing, drum grid edit, seperate params for each sample layer, etc are functions that would be ideal in the MPC Ren.

The only things I don't like about the MPC 4000 other than its size is how Akai implemented the sampler and the sequencer. I haven't touched one in almost a decade. But it just needed to be simpler. I should be able to select a track and either insert a drum or keygroup program and immediately play it from the pads or external controller. Simple and intuitive...

Now I am unsure if Akai wants to add an actual keygroup sampler to the Ren on par with the 4000. They didn't do it with the 5000. The Ren's keygroup sampler looks to be modeled after the 5000. Being able to use plugin samplers may make this a wasted effort on Akai's part to add a more advanced sampler.
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Re: MPC Ren's Vintage Mode Revealed

By Tag One The Fader Fiend Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:18 am
DJ Hellfire wrote:
JAH wrote: JJOS is too busy for my liking. Until now, everything JJ has added in the past few years was overkill as the small LCD can barely support it. Personally, I think JJ should model the GUI of OS128XL after the MPC 4000.



I agree. This is why I never upgraded to OSXL and stuck with OS1.


I agree with both off you, it would be cool if JJ could make a base model of the OS in which the user can request features from JJOS 1, 2 and 2XL to customize the OS to their needs. He could charge x amount for the base model and each extra feature would cost x amount etc. This way you would get so much more out of the OS in regards to workflow, production etc. I know this would be so much hard work for JJ to do and it wouldn't be implemented, but I thought I would share my vision with you anyway. :nod:
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Re: MPC Ren's Vintage Mode Revealed

By Coz Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:13 pm
JAH wrote:I should be able to select a track and either insert a drum or keygroup program and immediately play it from the pads or external controller. Simple and intuitive...




What makes you think you can't do this with a 4k?? :hmmm:

It's no different to other MPCs... Create or load a program and assign it to a track in main screen. Very simple and intuitive...
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Re: MPC Ren's Vintage Mode Revealed

By JAH Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:20 pm
Coz wrote:
JAH wrote:I should be able to select a track and either insert a drum or keygroup program and immediately play it from the pads or external controller. Simple and intuitive...




What makes you think you can't do this with a 4k?? :hmmm:

It's no different to other MPCs... Create or load a program and assign it to a track in main screen. Simple and intuitive...

The 4000 is mos def different. You have to set the Out1 to select parts, etc. etc. This is the only MPC with that workflow. Granted..once you know what you are doing it becomes 2nd nature. But all others MPCs, I just prefer over the 4000 in this regard.
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Re: MPC Ren's Vintage Mode Revealed

By Coz Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:27 pm
The 4k definitely has its quirks, but more often than not it only amounts to an additional button press or two at the most compared to other MPCs.

After reading countless posts on here about how complex and hard to grasp the 4k is, I was bowled over by how easy it is to use.
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Re: MPC Ren's Vintage Mode Revealed

By JAH Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:48 pm
Things as small as that turned people off about the 4K. Anytime there is a new MPC released, and it does something completely different than the previous flagship model...you will hear moans/groans.

That is why I would like the Ren to include all features found in previous MPCs to the greatest extent possible.

In the JJOS Forum, I have been discussing the changes JJ made to the load menu. There is no longer a way to filter or view specific file types....so you can show only programs..or only samples. The near concensus was that most users sort their files in folders and its a non-issue. But for users that have all their files (as opposed to projects) in a single folder...not having a filter can be a headache. JJ could have kept this load 'View' function. For those that don't need it, 'View' can be set to 'All Files' and their workflow won't be impacted at all. But for those that need this function, it is a little annoying not to have it.
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Re: MPC Ren's Vintage Mode Revealed

By Lampdog Mon Jul 23, 2012 2:53 pm
Coz wrote:but more often than not it only amounts to an additional button press or two at the most compared to other MPCs.

True

JAH wrote:Things as small as that turned people off about the 4K.

And that's ashamed that some people don't have a 2 button attention span :lol:
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Re: MPC Ren's Vintage Mode Revealed

By Lampdog Mon Jul 23, 2012 2:54 pm
JAH wrote:Anytime there is a new MPC released, and it does something completely different than the previous flagship model...you will hear moans/groans.

Also very true, even before it comes out.
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Re: MPC Ren's Vintage Mode Revealed

By Coz Mon Jul 23, 2012 3:05 pm
Lampdog wrote:And that's ashamed that some people don't have a 2 button attention span :lol:




It's pretty sad really. :fku:

The only thing that's taken some getting used to with the 4k is the shift+cursor to change the value increment in trim. It was a bit too arthritis inducing doing it one-handed, so I do it two-handed now. No problem.

The Q-links are borderline useless in trim unless I'm missing something obvious... :hmmm:
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Re: MPC Ren's Vintage Mode Revealed

By Lampdog Mon Jul 23, 2012 3:09 pm
I agree, I don't use them in trim. I didn't use the fader in 2kxl for trimming either, it's a novelty feature to me. Rather use the scroll wheel.
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Re: MPC Ren's Vintage Mode Revealed

By Coz Mon Jul 23, 2012 3:14 pm
I can't remember that far back, but in the 2500 the travel of the fader would take you from one end of the sample to the other. It was quite useful for roughing out your chops.

It also meant you weren't hearing that ****' terrible jog wheel for a few seconds! :lol:
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Re: MPC Ren's Vintage Mode Revealed

By MPCWeapon1 Mon Jul 23, 2012 7:10 pm
JAH wrote:
dabmeister wrote:
JAH wrote:Until now, everything JJ has added in the past few years was overkill as the small LCD can barely support it. Personally, I think JJ should model the GUI of OS128XL after the MPC 4000.


Soooooooo...........with what you guys said, the 4k is still a mpc product that is a preferred model in some form or factor for current and future mpc's......right?


I think the layout of the MPC 4000 is easy on the eyes and not too difficult to navigate so JJ should look towards that model since he has more real-estate to work with using the larger screens.

The MPC 4000s sampler, sample record's quick FXs, modulation routing, drum grid edit, seperate params for each sample layer, etc are functions that would be ideal in the MPC Ren.

The only things I don't like about the MPC 4000 other than its size is how Akai implemented the sampler and the sequencer. I haven't touched one in almost a decade. But it just needed to be simpler. I should be able to select a track and either insert a drum or keygroup program and immediately play it from the pads or external controller. Simple and intuitive...

Now I am unsure if Akai wants to add an actual keygroup sampler to the Ren on par with the 4000. They didn't do it with the 5000. The Ren's keygroup sampler looks to be modeled after the 5000. Being able to use plugin samplers may make this a wasted effort on Akai's part to add a more advanced sampler.


Yep. The 4000 screen is most def easy to look at all day. The other MPC LCDs are like looking at a DOS computer screen.

The sequencer is good to me. It took a short while to get used to the new workflow, assigning tracks to parts and what not,but once I adjusted I started cranking out beats.plus its good to be able to assign outs to tracks/parts instead of pads.
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