How do Renaissance owner's feel in 2015?

I'm thinking about going from the 2500 to the MPC Ren. Just worried Akai will drop the support like they did on everything else. Is the Ren a pain in the ass or have they got all the bugs worked out? Does it seem like they're dropping interest on keeping it relevant now since the Touch is out? I have no interest in the MPC touch. I'm leaning towards the comfort of having something that will streamline with my DAW, and work with Logic Pro X. Every MPC i've owned had issues with the mac writing or formatting CF cards, or SD cards. I'm tired of constant work arounds. Just worried as soon as I get comfortable with the Ren, akai will drop it, and then i'll update my mac OS in a month and the thing will be a big paperweight. thought?

It seems a bit too late in the day for late life conversions with the Ren, but that's just the way I view it. You'll have 3 years less use out of it between now and when they inevitably kill it off, than someone who bought it on day 1. That said, if you can get it cheap, go for it. People seem to really like it at this point in its life cycle.

The Ren is dope but you may want to hold out to see if a new product will be announced at Winter NAMM in January. I hope Akai announce something that would replace the Ren.

Don't dismiss the Touch. The initial videos and lack of info was a bad mistake. After actually using it, it just naturally feels like the next evolution for MPC's.

If you are dead set on the REN please make sure that everything you want the REN can do now and not in a promised update. Sweetwater is still out of Ren's and with Winter Namm coming up it may get discontinued. This is all hearsay though and not based on any fact.

But the Ren and Studio are good controllers never the less. You can open your 2500 projects right now in The software demo and see how everything is laid out.

http://www.akaipro.com/product/mpcrenaissance#downloads

Mastakilla wrote:I'm leaning towards the comfort of having something that will streamline with my DAW, and work with Logic Pro X. Every MPC i've owned had issues with the mac writing or formatting CF cards, or SD cards. I'm tired of constant work arounds. Just worried as soon as I get comfortable with the Ren, akai will drop it, and then i'll update my mac OS in a month and the thing will be a big paperweight. thought?

"Streamlined with my DAW / Logic Pro X" - the integration of the MPC with DAWs is marginal at best. If this is important to you, you will probably be annoyed sooner than later. I'd wait for the next MPC to drop (hopefully NAMM) to see if they improve DAW integration. "Constant workarounds" are constant.

Regarding Akai dropping support, that's the path they always take - for anyone to suggest otherwise is surprising to me... A company that traditionally doesn't support products long past the introduction of a new one... will all of a sudden support a product long into the future past the introduction of a new one? I don't see the Ren being supported this time next year. That could be a good thing though - they will be cheap on the second hand market.

They are awesome at what they do, but don't look for tight DAW integration. It doesn't do that well at all.

pspsounds wrote:The Ren is dope but you may want to hold out to see if a new product will be announced at Winter NAMM in January. I hope Akai announce something that would replace the Ren.

+1
you also might be impressed what Roland or other manufacures bring to the NAMM.

peace

peterpiper wrote:

pspsounds wrote:The Ren is dope but you may want to hold out to see if a new product will be announced at Winter NAMM in January. I hope Akai announce something that would replace the Ren.

+1
you also might be impressed what Roland or other manufacures bring to the NAMM.

peace

it's good joint and fun to use now, Im worried and uncertain of whether akai will continue or drop the support on it in favor of something else.

I bought the mpc 2500 brand new when it came out, if it wasnt for JJOS it would have been regretful purchase all the way.

there's still bunch of improvements and tweaks ren needs, and like the NI maschine i hope this platform is here to stay and will continue to be improved on, even if the next major feature changing upgrade will mean paid upgrade.

holding on to my 2500 jjxl and ableton live but ren been getting most use lately.

if they prematurely drop support with ren this is the last mpc i bought, i'm upgrading ableton live and buying push2.

you can score used ren on ebay for around 400 these days it's good buy for that price, I got mine at guitar center new for 700 2 years ago and didnt feel ripped off given the updates it's receiving and ongoing improvements so far...it's far from finished product though

ren is definitely not the best out there and still has ways to go but it's fun to use and if you mpc head you will enjoy working with it, the controller feel like hardware mpc.

i hope ableton comes out with controller like ren, I miss audio clips, real-time stretching, audio tracks and slice to midi

I think the Ren is complete enough the way that it is, even if they never update it any longer. A lot of people wonder if Akai drops support of the Ren if they will be able to use it years from now but the way that I see it is that we shouldn't have much to worry about. If the Ren works on Windows 10 and the Akai drops support then just make sure you keep a computer that has Windows 10 on it. As a matter of fact I would clone your operating system's hard drive just incase your hard drive crashes. The point I'm trying to make is that we will always have access to the Ren because we will always have access to the Windows 10.

I'm still rocking with the ren. i have no interest in the touch. its no replacement for the ren. all it has is a screen. you have more control with the ren in my opinion.

mreese06 wrote:I'm still rocking with the ren. i have no interest in the touch. its no replacement for the ren. all it has is a screen. you have more control with the ren in my opinion.

I have both the Ren and the Touch and eventhough I don't believe the Touch was meant as a Ren replacement I still believe that the Touch can replace the Ren depending on your personal workflow. The more I use the Touch the faster I get. I think the advantage the Touch has over the Ren is that you have more access to the MPC software without using a mouse than you do on the Ren and also with the Touch being a touchscreen controls, menus, buttons, ect. can be added to and improved upon with an update but on the Ren the controls you have are all that you will get. You can't go wrong with either or though.

Ren & Mpc DAW is good. Ren & Logic & Mpc DAW is... A latency nightmare. The MpC daw is good, not great, but better than trying to use the MPC in logic. Everytime I try and use the MpC in as a plug, I quit and just use the MPC daw.

Ren is a beauty. Wish it had the pads of the touch but other than that, it's a beauty. You can get it on Kijiji or CL for under $400. This is a steal. Buy, keep, play, write. Love this thing.

I'm over the moon with the Ren . . . Going from the 2kxl its like i'm in dream world . .

I love it . . . .

Traded my Ren for MV8000! Stoked about the standalone beast.

Haha that´s what´s up!