When Will Akai Listen to What We Have to Say!?!?

M-Chop wrote:ol, but time will tell what the future holds for Akai and their Mpc Line

Here's my $.02

It's probably a wrap for a true AIO MPC from AKAI. Look at what the market has to offer right now. Do you know of any standalone sampler right now, with a legit sequencer, that isn't a boutique-ish item? Making music has become so cheap and accessible for everybody in todays world. It's a far cry from when you wanted to make real shit you HAD to save up 2 stacks to buy one of these legacy samplers.

The market has been turned upside down on it's head...and it's going all ITB. So I really, highly doubt AKAI even has any interest making a standalone unit ever again...they are too busy catering to the so-called "prosumers".

The Ren is about as close as it will get IMO. Maybe you will see a reincarnation of the Open Labs concepts without the ill-fate...but everything moving forward is going to be pc/mac based.

What about the recent rise of interest towards analogue gear, Dave Smith/Roger Linn gear, elektron etc....

m:t:c wrote:What about the recent rise of interest towards analogue gear, Dave Smith/Roger Linn gear, elektron etc....

I think the Tempest and Elektron are both well designed concepts...and very good. But they are still niche products.

The Tempest is not in stock in many places in Japan. You have to have it special ordered.

^ so are a lot of top of the line luxury cars... it's a niche but it's a top one aimed at pros... in tempest's case that means a quality built made in USA product with top features, expensive analog components and proper support & development... nukai obviously are at the complete opposite spectrum.. with the $5 iOS apps & ever so cheap disposable MPC sub-products... jack o donnell is clearly trying to be the steve jobs (or should is say tim crook) of music with a refocus on affordable consumer/prosumer products that offer style over substance.. even the teaser ad campaign for elements was a direct rip off apple marketing..

9th Wonder was making hit records using Fruity Loops (before it became FL Studio)...and many will say that is was not aimed at the 'Pro' market. Dudes making beats today don't care what anyone in this forum's perception of 'Pro' is.

I think there is too much obsession with Jack O'Donnell, Akai's Legacy, Roger Linn, and a whole bunch of stuff nobody care's about in the real world. People here need to stop fronting as I guesstimate 99% of this site are hobbyist that don't make money off anything lying around in their bedrooms. So these products are not essential to your well being.

But getting back to the point....when will Akai listen to What We Have to Say? Who is the we? What do we actually want? (MPC hardware days are long gone) And why are you not satisfied Akai has supported the Ren/Studio in a way that have never been done with an MPC before?

daftmunk wrote:^ so are a lot of top of the line luxury cars... it's a niche but it's a top one aimed at pros... in tempest's case that means a quality built made in USA product with top features, expensive analog components and proper support & development... nukai obviously are at the complete opposite spectrum.. with the $5 iOS apps & ever so cheap disposable MPC sub-products... jack o donnell is clearly trying to be the steve jobs (or should is say tim crook) of music with a refocus on affordable consumer/prosumer products that offer style over substance.. even the teaser ad campaign for elements was a direct rip off apple marketing..

You're preaching to the choir here...that is exactly what I was saying. I find the build quality on the Ren to be exceptional..the guts? Maybe they are your standard SMD loaded boards like everybody else...while I do believe Dave Smith and Linn (for example) to be of higher integrity than Nukai...I still believe they are looking at the bottom line when it comes to components. Just speculating...The Tempest is also of so-so build quality. It's coming off the assembly line in China..just like the Ren and the Elektron...so on and so forth. Whether the premium prices you pay are simply costs for higher specifications being passed off to the consumer is a guess...and yours is as good as mine.

I can't think of a sampler that is built in the US right now...can you? I think the OP-1 was initially believed to be built.in Sweden but then found to be not true IIRC.

So when we are talking about "luxury" samplers...I really think we are talking about feature sets rather than build quality. Build quality, on pretty much all electronic goods, has suffered over the last 20 years.

What I love about hardware legacy samplers is the way they force me to work a certain way because of constraints. And this is where I think Akai drops the ball with the Element....an 8 track sequencer would really let somebody get creative working in standalone and give them flexibility with the option of a DAW.

Even 4 tracks like the iMPC app would have sufficed. The fact a $5 app has more tracks to sequence than $150 offering is egregious.

But people should look at this for what it is. A nice addition to a DAW + a controller ( a controller that without question needs a pad swap..but I digress)...Looking at it as anything else will no doubt look like a failure.

$149! Cmon man..A plugin and a slimline controller with transport..

Hobbs wrote:...Looking at it as anything else will no doubt look like a failure.

Truth be told....no matter what Akai does now or in the future, it will always be looked at as a failure by alot of guys here. Dudes can't even be honest....every product released by Akai in the past decade....comments nearly identical. Just swap out the names of the products.

JAH wrote:

Hobbs wrote:...Looking at it as anything else will no doubt look like a failure.

Truth be told....no matter what Akai does now or in the future, it will always be looked at as a failure by alot of guys here. Dudes can't even be honest....every product released by Akai in the past decade....comments nearly identical. Just swap out the names of the products.

I think it is fair to say that AKAI is a far cry from what they were 10 years ago..and even further to the left of what they were 20, however, that is just the evolution of the market and an unintended consequence of supply and demand.

10 years ago.....2003. MPC 4000, Z series samplers, MPDs......

Expensive samplers most here couldn't afford or didn't want. MPC 4000...buggy as hell. Z series samplers quickly died an prices dropped significantly (software samplers blew up). MPDs lasted....

And it had nothing to do with Numark, if my memory serves me correctly......

I wouldn't trade my MPC Ren for the MPC 4000.

JAH wrote:9th Wonder was making hit records using Fruity Loops (before it became FL Studio)...and many will say that is was not aimed at the 'Pro' market. Dudes making beats today don't care what anyone in this forum's perception of 'Pro' is.

I think there is too much obsession with Jack O'Donnell, Akai's Legacy, Roger Linn, and a whole bunch of stuff nobody care's about in the real world. People here need to stop fronting as I guesstimate 99% of this site are hobbyist that don't make money off anything lying around in their bedrooms. So these products are not essential to your well being.

But getting back to the point....when will Akai listen to What We Have to Say? Who is the we? What do we actually want? (MPC hardware days are long gone) And why are you not satisfied Akai has supported the Ren/Studio in a way that have never been done with an MPC before?

you're more obsessed with AKAI than anyone else on this forum and don't make money from AKAI equipment either...

all you do is talk about people not being able to afford equipment you beta test... you have issues.

should i hit that report button for you?

Holy shit I totally forgot about the Z series samplers

Hobbs wrote:
I think it is fair to say that AKAI is a far cry from what they were 10 years ago..and even further to the left of what they were 20, however, that is just the evolution of the market and an unintended consequence of supply and demand.

They've definitely gone down hill in terms of quality and support. But it started a long time ago. I could stand the hit on hardware quality, but really can't stand the lack of understanding of how users actually use their software. It's obvious they don't use their own products or have anyone providing guidance on how users work. I also despise their take on DRM for their latest pc-based controllers.

Hobbs wrote:
...I still believe they are looking at the bottom line when it comes to components. Just speculating...The Tempest is also of so-so build quality. It's coming off the assembly line in China..just like the Ren and the Elektron...so on and so forth. Whether the premium prices you pay are simply costs for higher specifications being passed off to the consumer is a guess...and yours is as good as mine.

I can't think of a sampler that is built in the US right now...can you? I think the OP-1 was initially believed to be built.in Sweden but then found to be not true IIRC.

i don't know about OP-1 but my Elektron gear says made in sweden, and my Tempest is definitely Made in USA. some of the internal components may be sourced from elsewhere but the assembly and quality control is what really matters.. and is also iwhy my +20 year Made in Japan MPC60/3000 still perform without a glitch..

Hobbs wrote:So when we are talking about "luxury" samplers...I really think we are talking about feature sets rather than build quality. Build quality, on pretty much all electronic goods, has suffered over the last 20 years.

not just features but specs.. tempest has analog circuitry, analog filters,analog oscillators, analog compressor, analog distortion.. that's quite expensive circuitry.. Ocatrack has an optical crossfader, and powerful/expensive CPU to do all it's wizardy... Ren on the other hand is an empty shell, it's just a cheap controller/interface which you are charged $1299 for and still need a computer to run.. you do the math..

daftmunk wrote:i don't know about OP-1 but my Elektron gear says made in sweden, and my Tempest is definitely Made in USA. some of the internal components may be sourced from elsewhere but the assembly and quality control is what really matters.. and is also iwhy my +20 year Made in Japan MPC60/3000 still perform without a glitch..

I stand corrected Elektron only sources the PSU's from China. And DSI is made in the US..but you can look for yourself and see there are plenty of issues to go around with DSI build quality.

not just features but specs.. tempest has analog circuitry, analog filters,analog oscillators, analog compressor, analog distortion.. that's quite expensive circuitry.. Ocatrack has an optical crossfader, and powerful/expensive CPU to do all it's wizardy... Ren on the other hand is an empty shell, it's just a cheap controller/interface which you are charged $1299 for and still need a computer to run.. you do the math..

I love the Tempest, it's a great drum synth. And I toyed with the Octatrack and it never pulled me in. Elektrons stuff on a whole hasn't. But I know the Octatrack is a beast. But here is the thing. Who is in the market for it?

What is it's allure to some 17-18 year old kid just getting into the game? He can learn a DAW that can do anything the Octatrack can do @ 1/8 the price. (Or free if he is messing with warez)

And as for me... I cut my teeth on all the legacy samplers..I still use my EPS-16 religiously. But...I do 80% of my work in my DAW. What is the incentive for somebody like me to drop a stack and change to learn a whole new piece?

Not trying to say one is better than the other...just trying to give some insight to what kind of marketing is going on here at Akai.