Renaissance sound quality?

FANU, you were discussing this topic with Danny Breaks?? I have just about every one of his releases on vinyl from the Droppin' Science label. That guy is an absolute legend in the development of jungle / Dnb! Had no idea he was an AKAI guy, but knowing that now makes me glad that I am using AKAI to produce similar styles of music.

Anyway, just a shout back to a good thread. Thanks!

Fanu wrote:Ah, it seems SOS say the following in their review:
In addition, the analog output circuitry in MPC Renaissance is identical to the highly regarded MPC3000.

http://www.soundonsound.com/news?NewsID=14683

It's been discussed for pages on here, but I still think it's marketing BS. I think they're simply calling 1/4" outs MPC 3000 circuitry, I mean they've been opened up and no one can find AD/DA convertors matching the 3000. A $300 EIE certainly does not have 3000 circuitry that's for sure. I think SoS is just repeating what Akai told them.

But Jerome says Dan told him so, so....

Metatron72 wrote:

Fanu wrote:Ah, it seems SOS say the following in their review:
In addition, the analog output circuitry in MPC Renaissance is identical to the highly regarded MPC3000.

http://www.soundonsound.com/news?NewsID=14683

It's been discussed for pages on here, but I still think it's marketing BS. I think they're simply calling 1/4" outs MPC 3000 circuitry, I mean they've been opened up and no one can find AD/DA convertors matching the 3000. A $300 EIE certainly does not have 3000 circuitry that's for sure. I think SoS is just repeating what Akai told them.

But Jerome says Dan told him so, so....

I never said Dan told me anything. I have never spoken to Dan.

To the best of my knowledge....No one here (with the exception of myself) owns an MPC 3000 and a Ren. No one here has opened up an MPC 3000 and Ren and compared their AD/DA converters.

Fanu wrote:So the question is, now, does the Ren sound as good as the other Akais / MPCs?

In my opinion, the Ren sounds equal to or better than any hardware MPC.

Metatron72 wrote:

Fanu wrote:Ah, it seems SOS say the following in their review:
In addition, the analog output circuitry in MPC Renaissance is identical to the highly regarded MPC3000.

http://www.soundonsound.com/news?NewsID=14683

It's been discussed for pages on here, but I still think it's marketing BS. I think they're simply calling 1/4" outs MPC 3000 circuitry, I mean they've been opened up and no one can find AD/DA convertors matching the 3000. A $300 EIE certainly does not have 3000 circuitry that's for sure. I think SoS is just repeating what Akai told them.

But Jerome says Dan told him so, so....

They're simply reprinting the bogus claims made in the videos.

Spinscott wrote:FANU, you were discussing this topic with Danny Breaks?? I have just about every one of his releases on vinyl from the Droppin' Science label. That guy is an absolute legend in the development of jungle / Dnb! Had no idea he was an AKAI guy, but knowing that now makes me glad that I am using AKAI to produce similar styles of music.

Anyway, just a shout back to a good thread. Thanks!

Don't get too excited – I'm not too sure. I'm guessing he doesn't use the Ren at least.
There's an old video of him using an Akai s3000, and I think he's got tracks named "Rokin on the MPC" and such. I know he's used an EMU sampler, too (that was in some interview). Recently saw a pic he posted with Maschine.

But I'll be glad to now return to this thread and answer my question and say the Ren sounds really dope. Pete Rock is using one, and so is Lord Finesse.

Fanu wrote:But I'll be glad to now return to this thread and answer my question and say the Ren sounds really dope. Pete Rock is using one, and so is Lord Finesse.

square one & reminisce over you & time are clean

Fanu wrote:Ah, it seems SOS say the following in their review:
In addition, the analog output circuitry in MPC Renaissance is identical to the highly regarded MPC3000.

http://www.soundonsound.com/news?NewsID=14683

That is not a review, that is an Akai Press Release that SOS published in their news section - it even says so at the top of the release. It was written by Akai's marketing department.

To my knowledge no review has actually investigated this, they just take Akai's word for it and repeat it, which is to be expected, it's not something you'd expect a standard review to investigate.

MPC-Tutor wrote:

Fanu wrote:Ah, it seems SOS say the following in their review:
In addition, the analog output circuitry in MPC Renaissance is identical to the highly regarded MPC3000.

http://www.soundonsound.com/news?NewsID=14683

That is not a review, that is an Akai Press Release that SOS published in their news section - it even says so at the top of the release. It was written by Akai's marketing department.

To my knowledge no review has actually investigated this, they just take Akai's word for it and repeat it, which is to be expected, it's not something you'd expect a standard review to investigate.

And thats why updates take longer, because they are spending funds on white-washing reviews.

get a real interface.

of all the things people have complained about the sound is the least

Metatron72 wrote: A $300 EIE certainly does not have 3000 circuitry that's for sure.

that's the bottom line

Danny wrote:of all the things people have complained about the sound is the least

that's a fact

I'm sure overall it sounds as good as any other software. Everything should be sample accurate nowadays anyways. I do think that different software sums audio differently, in spite of many claiming that's not true.

The zeroes and ones are all the same, yes, but each manufacturer is not use the same code to do the digital summing. But aside from a few poorly produced plugins, mostly synth edit ones and all freeware I've never heard any software that made me say "that sounds terrible".

I still think the circuitry thing was misrepresented, and anything you re-sample through any analog out back into the box will sound different with anything on earth. That's just simply DA to AD. It's cool they have the emulations for sure, but all evidence seems to point at it being 100% software based.

I've noticed that when I export a song from my REN to a 16 bit WAV, the quality is pretty damn good. The WAV sounds very close to how it sounds coming live through the REN. When I ran a line out and recorded straight into ableton or reaper or whatever, the sound quality was not as good. Granted I was using 12 ft patch cables, but more circuitry and stuff for the sound to go through obviously depletes the quality.

Mentioning anything about the circuitry has been discussed in numerous threads (most of them now locked)/thousands of posts. What is true today..was true 1 year ago and will be true several years from now while we are still using the Ren MKI controller. This is completely irrelevant to the question 'How is the Renaissance sound quality?'.

Using the Ren controller's audio I/O...the sound quality is excellent....at least equal to hardware MPCs. I wold certainly like to have a 3rd party do a shoot-out with other MPCs. Using a 3rd party interface (Avid, RME, Apogee, UAD, Lynx, Presonus, Motu, etc), you may find more favorable results depending on your personal preferences.