Repurchased the Ren for Round 2

Clint wrote:Since you just bought back in, at least give the next two updates a chance. That should take you up to around the one year anniversary. The Rens future should be clearer by then, for better or for worse. The smart money hasn't bought into this thing yet...

After 1.4 ill know if its legit or not. By the 4th update if its not a stable device and OS it will never be. I love the XL but my production needs are beyond its capabilities as well I had the 2500 and loved it but still had to endure the actual tracking process. I want to create, sequence and move on to new beats bcuz I need my other time to be free for mix and mastering needs. If what it offers out of box this time suits me I'm good. I hated the duplicating instruments of 1.1 and since that is resolved I think I can rock it with Live 9 and Logic.

I don't think you can give a relatively new software package 30 days to prove its worth, we all know its a work in progress. If you loose your right to return, that's the price you pay for making a commitment. This is your second purchase after all, stand by your decision a bit longer this time. Dont become a serial "I'll play with it, and then take it back within 30 days" kinda guy. If you're not willing to commit to it for a couple of months why bother??

legacy813 wrote:I love the XL but my production needs are beyond its capabilities

Word?









Oh, and this one does "less" than the 2000XL





And I still don't understand the headache of tracking. Press record on the DAW and press play on the MPC. Done.

Maze I appreciate the sentiment and love those pics. They're a few years old now and I'm not saying the XL isn't capable or I couldn't use it, I'd just like an mpc with a modern use and integratin into my DAW of choice.

Clint wrote:I don't think you can give a relatively new software package 30 days to prove its worth, we all know its a work in progress. If you loose your right to return, that's the price you pay for making a commitment. This is your second purchase after all, stand by your decision a bit longer this time. Dont become a serial "I'll play with it, and then take it back within 30 days" kinda guy. If you're not willing to commit to it for a couple of months why bother??

I totally respect your take on the issue and appreciate that it takes time to settle into the device. I think it's worth pointing out that its still in the box and once I own it and give it a go ill feel it out. If it works with my setup ill love it. It doesn't have to be a DAW and do all my production to add value and be useful for me.

legacy813 wrote:Maze I appreciate the sentiment and love those pics. They're a few years old now and I'm not saying the XL isn't capable or I couldn't use it, I'd just like an mpc with a modern use and integratin into my DAW of choice.

All good. Just trying to make the point that the XL is a VERY capable machine and has made amazing music and billions of dollars in the last 15 years or however long its been around. Also, despite the fact that the pics are old, most, if not all, of the people in those pics (RIP Dilla) still use the same gear. Anyway, good luck with the Ren. Hope it works out for you. Truly, no troll.

Don't like the tracking process much?

We used to do that all day long like a ninja back in the cassette and double cassette days (Record+Play, Start, Pause etc). It should be second nature to most unless you're a child of the lazy ass, I want it now, automatically because I'm impatient and lack skills, 'digital generation'. Younger than say 30 years lol

Good luck with the Ren, hope it works out this time around fella.

Clint wrote:Don't like the tracking process much?

We used to do that all day long like a ninja back in the cassette and double cassette days (Record+Play, Start, Pause etc). It should be second nature to most unless you're a child of the lazy ass, I want it now, automatically because I'm impatient and lack skills, 'digital generation'. Younger than say 30 years lol

Good luck with the Ren, hope it works out this time around fella.

Clint, I just laughed out loud at your post no joke. I'm 35 in July, rocked the cassette method you mentioned and started on a 4 track Tascam, working reel to reels and rocked the 1000, 2000 classic, 2kxl, 2500 and the 5000 for a minute. I started DJ-ing in 1996 and even started on that vinyl stuff. Maybe I'm getting impatient in my old age.. lol

^I'm about to be 41 myself, I don't think its simply impatience so much as the tools have changed so much at this point. And being able to do what was 3 parts of a process basically all at once is one of things that changed a lot with in the box stuff.

A hardware MPC is still really fast to use to get stuff down, but when compared to working in the box on a powerful rig where you can have top shelf FX plugins running as you create and other time saving amenities, I can understand where you're coming from.

OP, congrats on the Ren purchase. I can also list what is cumbersome about tracking using the 2000XL (and other hardware MPCs) and several other things. MPC 2000XLs are dirt cheap ($250-$300) these days and easily found.

By the way.....Kanye's new album sounds like he didn't touch an MPC or ASR.

Metatron72 wrote:^I'm about to be 41 myself, I don't think its simply impatience so much as the tools have changed so much at this point. And being able to do what was 3 parts of a process basically all at once is one of things that changed a lot with in the box stuff.

A hardware MPC is still really fast to use to get stuff down, but when compared to working in the box on a powerful rig where you can have top shelf FX plugins running as you create and other time saving amenities, I can understand where you're coming from.

Yeah you hit the nail on the head.. I still love my XL so ill keep it

JAH wrote:OP, congrats on the Ren purchase. I can also list what is cumbersome about tracking using the 2000XL (and other hardware MPCs) and several other things. MPC 2000XLs are dirt cheap ($250-$300) these days and easily found.

By the way.....Kanye's new album sounds like he didn't touch an MPC or ASR.

I'm loaded and ready to beat some pads.... Kanye is dope ill give you that. It doesn't matter what you use as much as that you are comfortable using it and creative. After using Logic and Live for the last 3 years I have missed the MPC workflow so I'd like to add it back. I'll let you know how it goes.

Update::

So far so good, no crashes and I'm digging the integration with my DAW, Native Instruments Komplete 8 and my Apollo interface.

No duplicate plug ins but some of the Komplete VSTs dont seem to appear correctly OR I just need to get used to how to search for them.