Interview With Roger Linn

Roger Linn is like an artist. Always looking to do things different, always pushing the envelope and looking for a decent label to publish his works and if not, he goes indie. Thats the way I see him.

Ill-Green wrote:Roger Linn is like an artist. Always looking to do things different, always pushing the envelope and looking for a decent label to publish his works and if not, he goes indie. Thats the way I see him.

Exactly.

sirparksalot wrote:Rather than a $600 modern sampling workstation, give me a $2k-3k one and make it worth every cent. I want solid construction, excellent electronic components, good pads, good screen, nice knobs.....the Apple approach. Make it feel like an instrument rather than a toy that has tact switches break after 6 months of daily use. Yes....I do basically want a modern day MPC 3000

is that not what the ren is?

jpeg wrote:

sirparksalot wrote:Rather than a $600 modern sampling workstation, give me a $2k-3k one and make it worth every cent. I want solid construction, excellent electronic components, good pads, good screen, nice knobs.....the Apple approach. Make it feel like an instrument rather than a toy that has tact switches break after 6 months of daily use. Yes....I do basically want a modern day MPC 3000

is that not what the ren is?

Well, I enjoy the standalone boxes. I should have verified that. I work with a 4000....so basically an updated 4000 with a better feel. The 4000 is nice, but the 3000 is much better in terms of quality IMO. Not sure that we will ever see that happen, though.

the video reminds me of Paarliament/Funkadelic



peace

damn this thread is a moody read - chill out people!

jpeg started a thread in OT yesterday titled: The Cult of Roger Linn. The thread has been merged into this thread as both are essentially discussing the same subject. Posts have been merged in order of post time, but you can tell which posts came from jpeg's thread by looking at the post subject.

... i'll just add that what i appreciate in this dude is his focus on innovation, quality construction, user friendliness and smart design. these are all things he's upheld no matter the direction his products go in. i guess there is a parallel with steve jobs and apple, which is where the "cult" following might make sense, but to me the major difference is roger didn't get engulfed in the whole mass production world domination corporate side of things. pretty sure that's were the original beef with akai japan came to be as they were always thinking of cutting corners to make the MP more accessible (wether relocate production to china, eliminate the tilt screen, less buttons, cheaper converters etc) and roger wasn't having none of that.. also props on him for supporting the MPC60 OS which you can still purchase the latest version to this very day on his website.. that's almost a 25 year OS support!!! what other company can claim so?

daftmunk wrote:also props on him for supporting the MPC60 OS which you can still purchase the latest version to this very day on his website.. that's almost a 25 year OS support!!! what other company can claim so?

Not being cynical here but..

As someone who has had email conversation with Mr Roger Linn, I wouldn't say he 'supports' the 3.10 OS, but he does still sell it because it helps us current 60 owners get beyond the crippled Akai OS and it provides a steady income stream which helps replace missing royalty cheques. Also the 3.10 OS is not 25 years old and has barely been updated since the 3.0 version first appeared. The 'support' for this OS and the MPC60 in general just is a couple of static pages on his website. Linn is quoted stating that this is not profitable part of his business, and he sells the upgrade out of love for users of the MPC60, but you need one eprom burner and some blank eproms which any of us could afford. At the price he sells the upgrade, the truth is its a highly profitable sideline for his company. I'm not saying there is a problem with this, considering the situation with his royalties drying up. He's earned it and deserves every penny.

If you speak to the man himself about MPC60's with the Akai OS, he is likely to tell you that there are modern tools now that can do a better job...or buy the 3.10 upgrade. Before you tell me I'm wrong, this is my opinion, based on my experience.

i'm not going to argue with you but it does seem like whatever e-mail conversation you've had with him (i'm assuming in regards to your mpc 60 book endeavor) has kind of put you on the dark side of the force for some reason.. i'd honestly take whatever odd feelings you got from him with a pinch of salt, he is probably a bit leery concerning anyone approaching him with commercial intents towards those MPCs..

..about the OS.. i did not mean "support" as in he is going to troubleshoot any ongoing issues, nor did i imply the OS was 25 years old. what i simply meant is that 25 years after the product was originally launched, he still offers an upgrade solution (as outdated and overpriced as you might feel it is). not too many companies offer this kind of service on a 25 year old product, and it is something i personally value when investing my money. in contrast it's a little bit uncertain how long Ren will be supported, and since it isn't standalone well it could very well end up as hefty paperweight when nukai decide to pull the plug or god forbid they run out of business in year 20XX.

daftmunk wrote:i'm not going to argue with you but it does seem like whatever e-mail conversation you've had with him (i'm assuming in regards to your mpc 60 book endeavor) has kind of put you on the dark side of the force for some reason.. i'd honestly take whatever odd feelings you got from him with a pinch of salt, he is probably a bit leery concerning anyone approaching him with commercial intents towards those MPCs..
.

Uhhhh..... Where are you getting any of this...

clint has made it pretty adamant that roger hasn't been very forthcoming in his recent email convos regarding what i must assume info for his upcoming book project. i have a feeling this has swayed his opinion on the man but i'll let him express himself if he disagrees

daftmunk wrote:clint has made it pretty adamant that roger hasn't been very forthcoming in his recent email convos regarding what i must assume info for his upcoming book project. i have a feeling this has swayed his opinion on the man but i'll let him express himself if he disagrees

I would tend to agree, going off this interview alone. But he gives countless talks and symposiums on the 60/3000 every year. I'm sure what your saying is somewhat true, considering almost everytime he talks about the akai legacy he ends up talking about the tempest. But from what I have seen he still has a lot of patience with people that want to talk about the 60/3000. The lecture I saw, he seemed downright excited to share information. I'm sure it's more of a balance between your and Clint's opinion over the years, and right now with the Ren things might run a little more hot than usual.

The feeling I got was, he loves his legacy and what people are doing with the mpcs. But dosnt like Nukai. If you think of him like one of us (an artist not a company) it would be pretty boring answering the same questions for 20 years... Or troubleshooting an OS for a 20 year old machine.. If it was me I'd be much more excited about what I'm doing now.

not to mention the now clear fact he doesn't get a dime from nukai for talking about MPC's and he does have a product to promote. some may find it annoying he always brings up tempest but somebody has to, DSi is only a 8 person team and their advertising budget is ridiculous compared to giants like akai & others..