How would you re-design the MPC software & hardware?

Its time for a refresh and i think a lot of us feel the same.

I personally am bored of the look of the MPC hardware and software.

We are in 2013, not 1993. Lets bring it forward Akai.

This isn't even about Maschine drowning the market, its about me/us wanting to have some colour, some minimalism, some better designed software and hardware.

How would you re-design it?

Please post sketches/drawings/graphics to illustrate it and i will get the ideas to the right person at Akai.

Thanks

It doesn't matter what it looks like as long as they continue to provide that iconic mpc workflow and classic mpc swing.

Damn, barely been 12 months!

The only eyesore on the software for me are the 3D style knobs. I prefer a flat design/look. Otherwise I'm kool. Don't care for a bigger/color hardware screen, just hook it up a little and add stereo wave form view.

It would have been nice to design it with a bigger screen but they didn't so that should be the end of story.

The last thing needed is for Akai to turn ship and do a redesign, they instead need to focus on continuing to develop the features and functions.

From a hardware point of view they simply need to redo the arrangement of what is on various screens.
In other words take a page from JJ like what he did with the screens on the 1k/2500
OS.
He managed to change the fonts and arrangement of the info on those small 240 x 64 screens to make them far more useful than what the Akai OS did.

That's what they need to do instead of complicating things with a redesign that would affect stability as well as their ability to support current controllers.

Ive worked on UI design, and have a design for a hardwhere seq on my mac somewhere... I posted tons of feature request both for the 4k and for other gear, much of it ended in jjOs ... Not that Im taking credit for that ..

But one of the major design flaws in the mpc is how you select tracks, soft keys or via data weel is a lame tit..

They need dedicated track selects and copy, paste, solo mute buttons for pads ..and thats just the tip of the hat..

Likewise for the seq; include dedicated and easy scrub/swing/shift note option, where you just hit the pad and operate, I could actually write quite alllot, even re-design the whole seq consept and how you build arrangements as is on my own design .. But My time is money..

Just wanted to point out the that track selection is very dated on mpc's as is the whole
softkey thing = dated .. We are past cutting corners on the design .. The whole
competiteion is about design and workflow and NI got very close to nailing it .. Im actually thinking of pre-ordering..

Color LCD screen really not important, but maybe give the option to reverse the display image to negative. Like blue lettering over black. Also make the screen bigger but that same wide screen like design it has now, only 2 times bigger.

Wooden side panels.

It should be a bit smaller too.

I'll sketch something just for the hell of it, mmm mmm mm for the smell of it.

Oh, and bring back the chibi mama. She held it down on the 4 and 5k. Bring her back or create a mascot, that really shows detail.

glide wrote:
Just wanted to point out the that track selection is very dated on mpc's as is the whole
softkey thing = dated .. We are past cutting corners on the design .. The whole
competiteion is about design and workflow and NI got very close to nailing it .. Im actually thinking of pre-ordering..

Have you every actually used Maschine?
I would not recommend pre-ordering if you aren't familiar with what using Maschine is actually like.

Can you elaborate on that^ ... As Ive not used the machine...

Yet, I've been on mpc's since the last century and after quickly looking at the machine it seams to have more dedicated controls for workflow, great use of colors and a two LCD design that's just smart,.. And the studio looks like a dream both in workflow and in the way integration of vst's is handled, ..
And their modeling drumsynth sounds quite awesome makes that 809 look like Fisher Price is standing in the corner smoking week weed while spitting bad rhymes ..

Now clearly workflow and stability are a huge asset in the game and NI has more resources and big head start.. But the mentality is also highly important and it seams to me that NI is built on pads, patterns and seens, the mpc is built on programs patterns and song mode, IMO there is a much smarter way to sequence (again referring to my own design).. But out of these two it seams NI integration is allot tighter... Same with sampling NI seam to do it directly to pad while MPC has its trim and program procedure.. Anyway Im interested in hearing your view. Id like to stay with Akai as Ive got so much history with them so please show me the light, where does the machine fail??

IMO, the Ren hardware is what makes it so appealing. I could care less about color screens etc, etc. If they need to update the screens to maintain pace with competitors... fine, but don't mess with anything else that could negatively change workflow.


Software is where Akai needs to continually focus their efforts. Every update gets the Ren closer to what it should have already been when they first released it.

Hardware is solid. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

ntalec wrote:Have you every actually used Maschine?
I would not recommend pre-ordering if you aren't familiar with what using Maschine is actually like.

How else is he supposed to know if it's for him? I say pre-order if it has your interest and see if it see if it works for you. That's the same advice being given to those considering the Ren. There's no reason it shouldn't apply to it's competitors.

The MPC needs updating if its to keep up with competition.

I dont want to change its workflow... that why im not a Maschine user!

I just want to change its design.

apricotandpearjam wrote:I dont want to change its workflow...

I just want to change its design.