MPC 1.5... Akai IS AT DEFCON 3!!!!

Mr Varsity wrote:

Coz wrote:He's prime material for one of those crappy Auto-Tune song vids.

Yep... He should do a posse cut with Sweet Brown and Charles Ramsey... with scratches by DJ K. LOL

this video is really making its rounds. smh... I really don't agree with most of what he says in it. akai plug ins? really? over the top plug in manufacturers out there? thats just not one that comes to mind... I would rather they get in tight with arturia or spectrasonix or something... that is if you are talking about some deeper level of integration.

as for hardware upgrades etc... I don't see much wrong with the akai hardware layout. maschine and the Mpc (both ren and studio) both have hardware that works great for their workflow... I don't see a huge need for a change just yet on the mpc side of things. the software I am all about upgrading though.

but if you are constantly watching manufacturers as though you have to be one or the other... or "jumping ship" then you are looking at it all wrong. its just a tool... a carpenter doesn't stop creating houses until he gets the latest greatest hammer and was soon as dewalt drops a new tool he freaks... why should production be any different?

sorry I think I just took this sillyness way to seriously LOL

hahahahhaha!!!

Defcon 3? Really? Use what you like. Mpcs are dope I have a 2000 but I prefer Maschine. I considered the Ren when I bought my Maschine but Maschine fit me better. Its not about which is the better product on paper both have their strengths and weaknesses. Choose the tool that helps you get the most work done and stop worrying about what you do not have.

KevWestBeats wrote:Defcon 3? Really?

No, not really, it is a joke, we are laughing at the guy saying it, look at the video in the OP.

I agree with everything dude says about the screens, etc

As a former music studio owner, I realized early people love glowing equipment, to them the more lights, the more "advanced" your gear looks and it makes your studio seem next gen compared to others...

Sure it might have nothing to do with actual workflow. but it puts me in a cockpit mindset and I'm ready to fly looking at all my lights.

Color screens will always be better than those electroluminescent looking ones.

Akia does need to step the game up, they have High res color screens on watches now.

Having fancy colors and big screens only distracts the attention from what the music sounds like. If I had the option sure yes I'd get the color screens but it should NEVER be a must have to make great music. Did Quincy Jones ever have fancy color screens? No.

If the hi-res colour screens actually serve a useful purpose, i.e. to improve workflow, make live performing more intuitive etc, then I'm all for it. It shouldn't be about adding fancy tech for the sake of it, but if technology can improve the MPC, it should be incorporated.

A hi res 7" touch screen slap bang in the middle of the unit would be amazing for pinch and zoom editing of samples, sequencer events etc - no doubt would help streamline menu navigation as well, could probably get rid of some superfluous buttons at the same time. Quneo style 'zoned' pads seem like a no-brainer to me, unless they have some kind of restrictive patent on the whole idea.

MPC-Tutor wrote:If the hi-res colour screens actually serve a useful purpose, i.e. to improve workflow, make live performing more intuitive etc, then I'm all for it. It shouldn't be about adding fancy tech for the sake of it, but if technology can improve the MPC, it should be incorporated.

A hi res 7" touch screen slap bang in the middle of the unit would be amazing for pinch and zoom editing of samples, sequencer events etc - no doubt would help streamline menu navigation as well, could probably get rid of some superfluous buttons at the same time. Quneo style 'zoned' pads seem like a no-brainer to me, unless they have some kind of restrictive patent on the whole idea.

A touch screen to zoom in on waveforms, like a smartphone, would be sick.

MPC-Tutor wrote:If the hi-res colour screens actually serve a useful purpose, i.e. to improve workflow, make live performing more intuitive etc, then I'm all for it. It shouldn't be about adding fancy tech for the sake of it, but if technology can improve the MPC, it should be incorporated.

A hi res 7" touch screen slap bang in the middle of the unit would be amazing for pinch and zoom editing of samples, sequencer events etc - no doubt would help streamline menu navigation as well, could probably get rid of some superfluous buttons at the same time. Quneo style 'zoned' pads seem like a no-brainer to me, unless they have some kind of restrictive patent on the whole idea.

+1

pspsounds wrote:Having fancy colors and big screens only distracts the attention from what the music sounds like.

So you would run MPC Software without ever using/looking at the computer monitor?

Or you would put a small monochrome computer monitor on it, so that you were not distracted?

pspsounds wrote:If I had the option sure yes I'd get the color screens but it should NEVER be a must have to make great music. Did Quincy Jones ever have fancy color screens? No.

Quincy Jones made plenty of hits without any computer/DAW...therefore no one needs a computer or DAW, get rid of them now!

MPC-Tutor wrote:If the hi-res colour screens actually serve a useful purpose, i.e. to improve workflow, make live performing more intuitive etc, then I'm all for it. It shouldn't be about adding fancy tech for the sake of it, but if technology can improve the MPC, it should be incorporated.

A hi res 7" touch screen slap bang in the middle of the unit would be amazing for pinch and zoom editing of samples, sequencer events etc - no doubt would help streamline menu navigation as well, could probably get rid of some superfluous buttons at the same time. Quneo style 'zoned' pads seem like a no-brainer to me, unless they have some kind of restrictive patent on the whole idea.

The problem with this is it puts the focus at Akai in the wrong place.
The really need to continue to focus on getting what they have to work to the best of it's ability before even considering anything like that.

We already know/understand that Akai can't cover a few bases why ask them to cover the entire field?

This still remains one of the biggest reasons why a company ends up with a buggy or incomplete product; they listen to suggestions without proper balance.

The improvements the MPC Studio needs right now simply are not hardware based and a pretty sexy screen ain't fixing sh*t.

A new paint job won't make a car run any better, fix the engine first then paint it once it runs correctly.

ntalec wrote:The problem with this is it puts the focus at Akai in the wrong place.
The really need to continue to focus on getting what they have to work to the best of it's ability before even considering anything like that.

We already know/understand that Akai can't cover a few bases why ask them to cover the entire field?

This still remains one of the biggest reasons why a company ends up with a buggy or incomplete product; they listen to suggestions without proper balance.

The MPC Software programmer has made comments that he is only the software guy, and has nothing to do with hardware design.

So, if hardware and software development are completely separate, there is no reason they could not be working on new controller hardware at the same time as continuing software development with the current controllers.

It takes a fair amount of time to develop hardware to the point of being release ready, so they possibly have to start on new hardware designs sometime soon.

What is your expectation of the retail lifespan of a product like an MPC Controller, how many years should it be sold for before being replaced with a new model?

Take that time period, look at when the Renaissance was released, how long you think it should be sold for before replaced with a new model, and how long you think a new controller has to be in development before being released, and that will give you an idea of when development of a new MPC controller might start.

Yea i'm not against the idea, i think a bigger hi res colored screen will be ok as it's always nice to have a comfortable interface but what they need to do first is keep the software development and introduce the features we requested in 1.6 poll thread.

When the features will all be there we can talk about a colored screen.