The Official MPC Element Thread

Hobbs wrote:

pspsounds wrote:This entire new MPC line covers every budget. I think $149 is a good price for the Element.

It covers every budget, yes...But what are you really buying with the element? The Element should be sold as a pad controller...as a newer sexier MPD that works with any DAW with relative ease.

But it couldn't be anything further from that. It's a dongle for what is essentially a demo of the MPC software LOL!

Did you get that?

A demo with a dongle! You cannot make this stuff up.

Cubase requires a $30 dongle for the demo. You have to understand this is not for everyone though.

Coz wrote:

Hobbs wrote:It's a dongle for what is essentially a demo of the MPC software LOL!

Sad but true.

See, Coz? It's not just me.

kaydigi wrote:

Hobbs wrote:

pspsounds wrote:This entire new MPC line covers every budget. I think $149 is a good price for the Element.

It covers every budget, yes...But what are you really buying with the element? The Element should be sold as a pad controller...as a newer sexier MPD that works with any DAW with relative ease.

But it couldn't be anything further from that. It's a dongle for what is essentially a demo of the MPC software LOL!

Did you get that?

A demo with a dongle! You cannot make this stuff up.

Cubase requires a $30 dongle for the demo. You have to understand this is not for everyone though.

It's insane...hey now that you bring it up...Cubase offers a free trial version of their software...it's not fully featured but doesn't require the eLicenser.

You know what its called? Cubase ELEMENTS

LOL

Oh the irony....

Undertow wrote:See, Coz? It's not just me.

I think my initial over-exuberance got the better of me.

They somehow snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with the Element. What could have been a brilliant little musical sketchpad has ended up being so limited that it's very existence has been nullified. It doesn't even warrant getting released, it's so bad. The 30 pin Fly was near-future landfill but this thing has got one foot in the grave already!

Whoever the Creative Director is there needs to move onto something else. I'm sure the programmers are a cool bunch of blokes, but shit rolls downhill. If you're being led by someone with no vision then all you'll churn out is stuff that nobody wants.

I don't know how much further they can sully the MPC brand at this point.

bobbybland wrote:The workflow in a daw would be this for me with essentials.

1. Load the 1st program and 1st instance of the essentials plugin - say a drum kit
2. Record the midi data with controller - NO DRAG N DROP, So save midi sequence.
3. Import midi data
4. Dissolve/explode the midi contained in sequence.
5. Now bounce these parts to audio.

Anyone notice the PITA workflow yet?

Rinse and repeat// I think it's obvious MPC software needs drag n drop.. both midi and audio by now!

bobbybland wrote:The workflow in a daw would be this for me with essentials.

1. Load the 1st program and 1st instance of the essentials plugin - say a drum kit
2. Record the midi data with controller - NO DRAG N DROP, So save midi sequence.
3. Import midi data
4. Dissolve/explode the midi contained in sequence.
5. Now bounce these parts to audio.

Anyone notice the PITA workflow yet?

Rinse and repeat// I think it's obvious MPC software needs drag n drop.. both midi and audio by now!

So with the Essentials could you not just put the Element in midi mode and record the midi data straight to the track in Logic( or any daw) instead of recording into Essential and trying to get the midi info back out into the daw afterwards?

in logic, bounce in place works fine( as good as drag and drop for audio) but the midi info needs to be in logic and not the plug in for this to be worth it. Producers arrange with the midi clips.....

Coz wrote:It doesn't even warrant getting released, it's so bad. The 30 pin Fly was near-future landfill but this thing has got one foot in the grave already!

I'm sure the programmers are a cool bunch of blokes, but shit rolls downhill. If you're being led by someone with no vision then all you'll churn out is stuff that nobody wants.

Well, apparently you can polish a turd after all—Akai must have seen that episode of MythBusters—but a polished turd…is still a turd.

As in went in our brief conversation about it. While it wasn't something that interested me, I did see the potential of it for certain audiences and scenarios. They seem to have doused that potential fairly quickly as people started to divulge the details.

Undertow wrote:Well, apparently you can polish a turd after all—Akai must have seen that episode of MythBusters—but a polished turd…is still a turd.

I see it more as preparing a turd by chopping it up into smaller pieces, but yeah, your analogy also works.

dorsey wrote:

bobbybland wrote:The workflow in a daw would be this for me with essentials.

1. Load the 1st program and 1st instance of the essentials plugin - say a drum kit
2. Record the midi data with controller - NO DRAG N DROP, So save midi sequence.
3. Import midi data
4. Dissolve/explode the midi contained in sequence.
5. Now bounce these parts to audio.

Anyone notice the PITA workflow yet?

Rinse and repeat// I think it's obvious MPC software needs drag n drop.. both midi and audio by now!

So with the Essentials could you not just put the Element in midi mode and record the midi data straight to the track in Logic( or any daw) instead of recording into Essential and trying to get the midi info back out into the daw afterwards?

in logic, bounce in place works fine( as good as drag and drop for audio) but the midi info needs to be in logic and not the plug in for this to be worth it. Producers arrange with the midi clips.....

1. Insert Essentials on a DAW track
2. Load a drum kit into Essentials
3. Enter MIDI Control Mode
4. Arm your DAW track to record
5. Strike the pads of your MPC Controller to record MIDI into your DAW

Results -
1. MIDI Control Mode will trigger the drum kit within Essentials
2. MIDI Control Mode records MIDI data into the track that hosts Essentials

This is the equivalent to Maschine's Pad to note feature without having to click around in the software. Can be done straight from the hardware.

Hobbs for president!

JAH wrote:

dorsey wrote:

bobbybland wrote:The workflow in a daw would be this for me with essentials.

1. Load the 1st program and 1st instance of the essentials plugin - say a drum kit
2. Record the midi data with controller - NO DRAG N DROP, So save midi sequence.
3. Import midi data
4. Dissolve/explode the midi contained in sequence.
5. Now bounce these parts to audio.

Anyone notice the PITA workflow yet?

Rinse and repeat// I think it's obvious MPC software needs drag n drop.. both midi and audio by now!

So with the Essentials could you not just put the Element in midi mode and record the midi data straight to the track in Logic( or any daw) instead of recording into Essential and trying to get the midi info back out into the daw afterwards?

in logic, bounce in place works fine( as good as drag and drop for audio) but the midi info needs to be in logic and not the plug in for this to be worth it. Producers arrange with the midi clips.....

1. Insert Essentials on a DAW track
2. Load a drum kit into Essentials
3. Enter MIDI Control Mode
4. Arm your DAW track to record
5. Strike the pads of your MPC Controller to record MIDI into your DAW

Results -
1. MIDI Control Mode will trigger the drum kit within Essentials
2. MIDI Control Mode records MIDI data into the track that hosts Essentials

This is the equivalent to Maschine's Pad to note feature without having to click around in the software. Can be done straight from the hardware.

Well thats fine for what I do! Still think essentials should be free for us ren/studio owners

Hobbs wrote:It's insane...hey now that you bring it up...Cubase offers a free trial version of their software...it's not fully featured but doesn't require the eLicenser.

You know what its called? Cubase ELEMENTS

LOL

Oh the irony....

You need dongle for the Elements Trial of Cubase 7. You might have not needed it in previous versions but you do now.

dorsey wrote:

JAH wrote:1. Insert Essentials on a DAW track
2. Load a drum kit into Essentials
3. Enter MIDI Control Mode
4. Arm your DAW track to record
5. Strike the pads of your MPC Controller to record MIDI into your DAW

Results -
1. MIDI Control Mode will trigger the drum kit within Essentials
2. MIDI Control Mode records MIDI data into the track that hosts Essentials

This is the equivalent to Maschine's Pad to note feature without having to click around in the software. Can be done straight from the hardware.

Well thats fine for what I do! Still think essentials should be free for us ren/studio owners

There has been no confirmation on Akai's website either way.

dorsey wrote:Well thats fine for what I do! Still think essentials should be free for us ren/studio owners

Call me crazy but IMHO that shouldn't be the case cause essentials shouldn't do anything that full MPC software can't do

Coz wrote:

Undertow wrote:Well, apparently you can polish a turd after all—Akai must have seen that episode of MythBusters—but a polished turd…is still a turd.

I see it more as preparing a turd by chopping it up into smaller pieces, but yeah, your analogy also works.

Same difference. And…not to say I told you so but they almost had you for a day or two.

This thing, as a real controller or without the Dumb and Dumber software mentality from Akai, could have actually been a better idea than the Fly. However, now it's just starting to look more and more daft.

MPCTNT wrote:

dorsey wrote:Well thats fine for what I do! Still think essentials should be free for us ren/studio owners

Call me crazy but IMHO that shouldn't be the case cause essentials shouldn't do anything that full MPC software can't do

Essentials is a lighter version of the MPC Software. One is designed to work on multiple DAW tracks and one isn't.