In Feb. The Rens price is changing

Price just went up on the Ren at sweetwater, amazon and guitar center Back to $999. Must have been just in the last couple days cause i was just looking over the weekend...

By the way, still at 699 at American Musical Supply if anyone's on the fence.

No point in raising the price after it was 699 for 5 months, the XBOX ONE just had the same issue.

Bah...

A resurrected topic.

They moved a lot of units at $699 so now it's back to getting that profit!

Gugleme wrote:Bah...

A resurrected topic.

a current issue, so it's a good bump

I think they're just massaging the figures so that when the Ren 2 drops at $1299 in black with a bigger screen, there won't be such a disparity between the prices.

Or maybe not... We'll see...

Eyalc wrote:People always refer to $699 as being a good deal for this... but you also have to consider the cost of a computer and possible an audio interface. That could very well run you up to $3k.

This isn't necessarily cheaper than a 4k, it's just a shift in where (and to whom) the money has to go.

Never would debate with anyone that loves this because it's in the box. I think it's a great perspective. I prefer not to be tethered to a computer, but I'm slowly (slowly!!) resigning myself to the fact that I may have to make that conversion in the future.

But when I'm referring to the price being too high, I'm merely speaking of the controller, not the software (realize it's a bundle). The controller - monochrome dot-matrix style display, and smaller than the previous flagship MPCs... it's a step backwards, all in the vein of trying to be "iconic". Just think it's too much money for where technology is these days (see Maschine Studio). Those Advanced keyboard controllers IMO offer a glimpse into what the next revision of the Ren Controller will look like (even notice that the color schemes are the same as the Ren in that Microsoft ITB concept piece).

If next revision is ITB, truly standalone, I'm all over it. If it's still a controller, if it looks worth it, I'll buy in.

You can't count the price of a computer though. 95% of people buying these machines already have computers. So you can't count the investment in a computer as part of the Ren investment, especially if you already had the computer and especially if you are using it for more than just the Ren.

$699 is **** CHEAP even with the shitty dot matrix screen. $699 isn't just the cost of the hardware. It also covers development costs, software, packaging, etc. 4000's were over $3000. 60's were over $5000. I paid almost $2000 for my 2500 and $1500 for my 2000 XL. And for $699 you have something that is MUCH more powerful than all of these machines. Anyone complaining about this price or saying it's too high is on crack! Two little colored LCD's don't drive costs up that much. Remember, the Ren also has an audio interface with 2 mic preamps complete with phantom power, midi interface, 4ins/4outs, usb hub, etc, which can be used with any DAW, none of which the Maschine has. Cost-wise, two little colored LCD's does not compare to this.

DJ Hellfire wrote:

Eyalc wrote:People always refer to $699 as being a good deal for this... but you also have to consider the cost of a computer and possible an audio interface. That could very well run you up to $3k.

This isn't necessarily cheaper than a 4k, it's just a shift in where (and to whom) the money has to go.

Never would debate with anyone that loves this because it's in the box. I think it's a great perspective. I prefer not to be tethered to a computer, but I'm slowly (slowly!!) resigning myself to the fact that I may have to make that conversion in the future.

But when I'm referring to the price being too high, I'm merely speaking of the controller, not the software (realize it's a bundle). The controller - monochrome dot-matrix style display, and smaller than the previous flagship MPCs... it's a step backwards, all in the vein of trying to be "iconic". Just think it's too much money for where technology is these days (see Maschine Studio). Those Advanced keyboard controllers IMO offer a glimpse into what the next revision of the Ren Controller will look like (even notice that the color schemes are the same as the Ren in that Microsoft ITB concept piece).

If next revision is ITB, truly standalone, I'm all over it. If it's still a controller, if it looks worth it, I'll buy in.

You can't count the price of a computer though. 95% of people buying these machines already have computers. So you can't count the investment in a computer as part of the Ren investment, especially if you already had the computer and especially if you are using it for more than just the Ren.

$699 is **** CHEAP even with the **** dot matrix screen. $699 isn't just the cost of the hardware. It also covers development costs, software, packaging, etc. 4000's were over $3000. 60's were over $5000. I paid almost $2000 for my 2500 and $1500 for my 2000 XL. And for $699 you have something that is MUCH more powerful than all of these machines. Anyone complaining about this price or saying it's too high is on crack! Two little colored LCD's don't drive costs up that much. Remember, the Ren also has an audio interface with 2 mic preamps complete with phantom power, midi interface, 4ins/4outs, usb hub, etc, which can be used with any DAW, none of which the Maschine has. Cost-wise, two little colored LCD's does not compare to this.

And a Phono pre-amp too...very usefull.

TT_Lab wrote:

DJ Hellfire wrote:

Eyalc wrote:People always refer to $699 as being a good deal for this... but you also have to consider the cost of a computer and possible an audio interface. That could very well run you up to $3k.

This isn't necessarily cheaper than a 4k, it's just a shift in where (and to whom) the money has to go.

Never would debate with anyone that loves this because it's in the box. I think it's a great perspective. I prefer not to be tethered to a computer, but I'm slowly (slowly!!) resigning myself to the fact that I may have to make that conversion in the future.

But when I'm referring to the price being too high, I'm merely speaking of the controller, not the software (realize it's a bundle). The controller - monochrome dot-matrix style display, and smaller than the previous flagship MPCs... it's a step backwards, all in the vein of trying to be "iconic". Just think it's too much money for where technology is these days (see Maschine Studio). Those Advanced keyboard controllers IMO offer a glimpse into what the next revision of the Ren Controller will look like (even notice that the color schemes are the same as the Ren in that Microsoft ITB concept piece).

If next revision is ITB, truly standalone, I'm all over it. If it's still a controller, if it looks worth it, I'll buy in.

You can't count the price of a computer though. 95% of people buying these machines already have computers. So you can't count the investment in a computer as part of the Ren investment, especially if you already had the computer and especially if you are using it for more than just the Ren.

$699 is **** CHEAP even with the **** dot matrix screen. $699 isn't just the cost of the hardware. It also covers development costs, software, packaging, etc. 4000's were over $3000. 60's were over $5000. I paid almost $2000 for my 2500 and $1500 for my 2000 XL. And for $699 you have something that is MUCH more powerful than all of these machines. Anyone complaining about this price or saying it's too high is on crack! Two little colored LCD's don't drive costs up that much. Remember, the Ren also has an audio interface with 2 mic preamps complete with phantom power, midi interface, 4ins/4outs, usb hub, etc, which can be used with any DAW, none of which the Maschine has. Cost-wise, two little colored LCD's does not compare to this.

And a Phono pre-amp too...very usefull.

^^^this.


But damn, now I REALLY want a MacBook Pro, lmfao!


Can't really factor the cost of a computer in on the whole, but it's definitely something to consider. I'm on the fence until the price drops again and/or I cop a laptop. Happy using a friends Ren and banging on the XL at home in the meantime. The iMac ain't getting road usage like that, haha.


But holy **** is the Ren awesome. Lol. And I was SERIOUSLY skeptical of this thing. It does everything I've ever wished my XL could do and I've barely scratched the surface. Really trying not to be a fanboy, but damn, akai seems to be turning the ship in the right direction, especially with the number of solid updates and quick revision changes/bug fixes that have come from the community. Only time will tell, but my hopes are pretty high, hahahaha......


One quick question to everyone though.....

Has any Akai MPC OS ever made it into a 2.x revision??? I will probably end up holding off to see what happens, tbh. Really worried about buying a piece of kit that the developers abandon a year from now....something Akai is notorious for!

Would be nice to buy a product that doesn't need updates, bug fixes and paid beta testing though. Remember NES? That **** had no network connection, and a cartridge was what it was...

Oh nostalgia,

jonestown massacre wrote:
Has any Akai MPC OS ever made it into a 2.x revision??? I will probably end up holding off to see what happens, tbh. Really worried about buying a piece of kit that the developers abandon a year from now....something Akai is notorious for!

Even if they abandon the ren...thing that is not probably to happen even if they put a ren 2 in the market...because it is just software that they need to update, not a dedicated firmware os as ol' good mpcs... the ren is a beast of a "instrument" right now.
I hope the software grows, and gets completly bug free, but there is no such thing as the ren/studio in the market IMO. Maschine is second? maybe but I'll choose my 1k better.