MPC5000 reviews, bug reports and fellow user support on the most recent standalone, hardware MPC from Akai
By sparq Thu Aug 02, 2012 6:24 pm
MeSoHordey wrote:
sparq wrote:I wish some people here would do their homework on akai's product's release/discontinue history. with all of their mpc's, never once was there an official announcement from akai that they were going to discontinue a product. when they released an mpc, there was never an official release date from akai. they promote it prior to release then it winds up in stores.

as far as longevity, since the mpc 60, each mpc had an average "new" sellable lifespan of about 2 1/2 - 3 years.

for those who don't know, here are the release years of each mpc:

MPC 60 - 1987
MPC 60II - 1991
MPC 3000- 1994
MPC 2000- 1997
MPC2000xl-1999
MPC4000 - 2002
MPC1000 - 2003
MPC2500 - 2005
MPC500 - 2006
MPC5000 - 2008

and now true to release form, 2012 another line of MPCs are about to hit the market. with the exception of the 1000 and the 500, about the time of each new MPC is release, the previous model is discontinued. so the 5000 being disco'd, its no suprise but more of evolution.

with regards to the 5000 being disco'd with only one OS update and the fact that JJ "saved" the 1000 and the 2500, I don't hear anyone saying the 3000 was dead in the water until the Vailixi upgrade.

who knows, maybe another JJ or Vailixi will come along and code an update for the 5000. do we expect akai to spend their time and money on their R&D department coming up with updates for the original mpc 60 in 2012? it's not like they are Roland, where roland dropped their MV line without coming out with something to replace it. They went from the 8000 to the 8800 then done. At least akai is still producing more MPC lines.


A lot of really biased statements there. If you wanted to provide useful information you should have provided their history of support for products over time. No one expects continual development on end-of-lifed hardware, but people can and should expect support for a company's current flagship product line.

Let me ask you this. How interested would you be in the Ren if you knew Akai was unlikely to ever put out more than one update to the product ove it's life? Be honest here.


please do me a favor and point out the bias statements in my post? The dates are fact, look it up. the os updates as i mentioned in this post is a fact. me mentioning the "continued" support of "end-of-life" hardware was sarcasm. my point being that everyone is complaining about akai's support. if this was a REAL serious issue, then just sell your mpc in favor of a company who you think will continue their support. another fact, akai has stopped support on all of their "flagship" products in lieu of their "next flagship" product.
By sparq Thu Aug 02, 2012 6:27 pm
MeSoHordey wrote:Let me ask you this. How interested would you be in the Ren if you knew Akai was unlikely to ever put out more than one update to the product ove it's life? Be honest here.


to answer your question, honestly.... i would still be very interested in the Ren because for one, the OS is on a completely different platform, another reason is updating an OS on a computer is a lot easier than updating an OS on the legacy mpc platform. technology has advanced and akai now has help with their programming from companies that have experience with computer music software programming and subsequent updates. so yes, i would still be interested in the Ren.
User avatar
By gertie Thu Aug 02, 2012 6:33 pm
Yo Sparq....

AKAI AKA DAN PROMISED, P R O M I S E D, AN OS UPDATE TO THE MPC5K IN THESE VERY FORUMS.....They even posted tweety tweets sayin it would be updated.....

this is where this all comes from.....of course companies drop support on products.....however some companies FINISH the OS before proceeding with NEW Products.

cut out the drama.....i own several non numark mpcs..and shall continue to use em.....however I will point out akais failing...as any other company which behaves this way

unless people speak out about this....nothing will change.... :nod:

Things do not look good for the REN..I base my opinion on past history....what do you base your REN optimism on?

akai mpc4k os not finished
akai mpc1k & 2,5k os was miserable....luckily JJ OS saved the day
Akai mpc5k.....well we all know what happened there

even the akai pro website is bollox
By sparq Thu Aug 02, 2012 6:56 pm
gertie wrote:Yo Sparq....

AKAI AKA DAN PROMISED, P R O M I S E D, AN OS UPDATE TO THE MPC5K IN THESE VERY FORUMS.....They even posted tweety tweets sayin it would be updated.....


if you look at one of the vids on the Ren, i believe it was Andy who answered someone's question on if there would be a 5k update. he said no.

gerite wrote:this is where this all comes from.....of course companies drop support on products.....however some companies FINISH the OS before proceeding with NEW Products.


i feel you on this. you got a point

gertie wrote:cut out the drama.....i own several non numark mpcs..and shall continue to use em.....however I will point out akais failing...as any other company which behaves this way


no drama and i see your point on this too

gertie wrote:unless people speak out about this....nothing will change.... :nod:


that's with anything but since numark/akai is a privately run company, no matter how many petitions there are about changing their methods, they can/will continue to do things the way they want to. (not saying that's right but.....)

gertie wrote:Things do not look good for the REN..I base my opinion on past history....what do you base your REN optimism on?


sparq wrote:...the OS is on a completely different platform, another reason is updating an OS on a computer is a lot easier than updating an OS on the legacy mpc platform. technology has advanced and akai now has help with their programming from companies that have experience with computer music software programming and subsequent updates...


gertie wrote:akai mpc4k os not finished
akai mpc1k & 2,5k os was miserable....luckily JJ OS saved the day
Akai mpc5k.....well we all know what happened there

even the akai pro website is bollox


this is true but again, Vailixi saved the 3000. and like i aslo said (optimistically), maybe someone like a JJ or Vailixi will come along and save the 5k.
User avatar
By gertie Thu Aug 02, 2012 7:18 pm
sparq, i guess you missed this thread....


viewtopic.php?f=36&t=151890&start=60

JAN 31 2012

point raised by gertie

why have you decided to put all your resources into new models and leave out the mpc5000 flagship and other standalone models?
I hear the mpc5000 may get an os update, but why has this taken three years? Would it not be possible to take two coders off the ren line and help deliver the long awaited os for the mpc5k a little earlier, or is your focus on new customers as oppossed to existing customers?

answer from DAN:

1. 2. This is a question of resourses, as I mentioned before. I agree with you, as I said before, and I've been product manager for about 3 months. All i can officially say is it's my priority for us to be better about this. An update is on the plate, and is in process, and I'm sorry I cant promise a date, only that it's coming.



So you see....in january this year he committed to an os update....
Last edited by gertie on Thu Aug 02, 2012 7:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
By jimfowler Thu Aug 02, 2012 7:21 pm
how many OS revisions did the 4000 get? it's called product support and it is/was something sadly missing on the 5000. pretty much can't argue with that. only a fool would buy a machine that promised no future updates, regardless of whether or not those are expansions or fixes.

- jim
By sparq Thu Aug 02, 2012 7:28 pm
crossings wrote:there's more than one undercover akai rep on this forum... :nod: :fku:

:lol:
By dtaa pla muk Thu Aug 02, 2012 8:06 pm
another reason is updating an OS on a computer is a lot easier than updating an OS on the legacy mpc platform.


very, very untrue. the amount of additional factors/considerations in creating programs for computers is vastly higher than working in a closed system such as an MPC. vst capability/compatibility alone is a big feat.

akai now has help with their programming from companies that have experience with computer music software programming and subsequent updates...


hiring companies to do your programming is the wrong way to do business. having your own in-house programmer/programming team is the best (only?) way to guarantee support. code that is created by one programmer is very difficult for another programmer to simply step in and fix/complete/improve etc. you need continuity - this is likely why the 5k is not updated, because its original dev team is disbanded or their contracts have expired.
By JVC Thu Aug 02, 2012 8:24 pm
I've been thinking that Akai / Numark was just trying to get rid of the overstocked MPC-5000 units for years. It was clear that MPC-1000 & 2500 have been much more popular than 5000.
There is no doubt in my mind that Akai / Numark has abandoned MPC-5000 long ago.
Many manufactures release updates for their discontinued product, but I really don't think that'll happen to MPC-5000.
Having seeing how they've supported MPC-500 and MPC-5000 over the years, (they were both developed by Akai / Numark / Alesis) I don't expect a lot from the companies, but I do wish that they'll prove me wrong on this.
By mcroepster Fri Aug 03, 2012 12:30 am
TYPO wrote::nod:
crossings wrote:there's more than one undercover akai rep on this forum... :nod: :fku:

Its like this and like that y'all


No, it's like that, and that's the way it is. :mrgreen: :lol: :lol:



peace :smoker: