Upcoming: MPC 2.0.5

BornElevation wrote:19 pages about a MYTHICAL UPDATE. This ish is CRAZY...

it's 2017 baby

I'm out of the Akai game.

I've had three epiphanies in the past 1-2 weeks that have lead me to that.

• Talks with Geoff+Pete+Simon on Twitter. They had all the chance to let me know about stuff, but things got smug and then silent real soon.
It will always be that. Always. They'll only react to praise and nothing else. Then they'll beat around the bush and you'll get the "I cannot give any date for PDC" while you're just asking if they're even working on it.
It's been f*cking 5+ years. Whatever, really.

• I was invited to join a major music software online presentation about their future stuff.
They had a nice, excited team telling us about what's to come.
Every team member did a good presentation on their field of expertise in the team and in terms of products. I was impressed.
Also, they were really open about what is not coming and addressed some users' potential questions regarding those features.
They had no shame in telling what they had failed to implement or what's probably not coming.
"We've tried to make X and Y work, but TBH we haven't been able to make it work so far". They also allowed people who joined the presentation to ask questions, and there, they didn't beat around the bush, either, and they openly responded to "That probably won't happen as it's not really working" to several questions. I love that. I love being open and honest (opposed to smug).
They even gave out a date. Not just a month, but a specific day.
All this…it's just a professional vibe. When was the last time you could say that of Akai?

• Elektron's putting out MK2 of Octatrack. That's not an epiphany per se, but relating to it:
A major feature announced for MK2, conditional trigs, will also be available for MK1. Elektron members appeared on the forums to discuss that. You should see how super happy existing OT users are about that, praising the company for how they support older devices and are not just trying to make you buy their new stuff. The happiness is tangible there. Having team members appear on the forum is a good look. When was the last time you could say that of Akai?

I know you can send bugs and suggestions via the MPC software. How many of them have you received replies to? None.
You can send your bug reports and issues to Ableton, and yes, a real human being will get back to you every single time.
You get the feeling they listen to you. Akai does not.

Anyways. This'll be it for me. And yes, I'll be closing the door when I leave, haha.
Maybe I'll check back every once in a while. Maybe PDC will be there by 2020 (probably not).
Thanks. It's been fun here.

Please do not bash Akai or the fanboys squad will tear you apart!

Akai is the best company ever!

hey we all know this, roger linn too
but they are making the mpc akai, is not akai is numark, nukai whatever.... they bought everything and if we want an mpc here we are (or stay on older mpc)

so there is no escape... u can buy a mashine, an octatrack.... but they are not mpc

My point does not have to do with how well the new MPC performs MPC-wise or much of an MPC it is.
If you're only looking at from the angle of how it performs when you throw a few samples in a rock on, it's all good.

It's just Akai's communication and business model that puts me off big time at this point.
As I've got older, I've become more interested in following certain companies and how they handle their business and PR.
Seeing how Akai do it just makes me feel I don't want to subscribe it to anymore. It's just, there's no way for me to "unsee" it anymore.
There are companies performing so, so much better on that front, and I feel they deserve my money, not Akai.
Akai does not care about their users…that's the feeling I've got.

I'll be honest: it was only a few weeks ago I was still thinking of buying the X, but I was still thinking of lack of PDC.
Then, that convo with the Akai guys just killed the appetite for me, and the other realizations relating to other companies just happened at the right time and sealed the deal for good.

Fanu wrote: Elektron's putting out MK2 of Octatrack. That's not an epiphany per se, but relating to it:
A major feature announced for MK2, conditional trigs, will also be available for MK1. Elektron members appeared on the forums to discuss that. You should see how super happy existing OT users are about that, praising the company for how they support older devices and are not just trying to make you buy their new stuff. The happiness is tangible there. Having team members appear on the forum is a good look. When was the last time you could say that of Akai?

Lol, you obviously missed the constant whining over the past few years while Elektron maintained that the OT was never getting another update. And the complaining about Overbridge. And the complaining about the lack of updates to the Rytm, and the complaining that MK-II versions were being brought in, and ....

Maybe vibes are good there today, but give it a week and it’ll be be back to business as usual. Think it’s pretty funny that the complainingest forum on the internet (imho) is being used as an example of good customer engagement tbh.

Fwiw, I got my Live last week and I’m happy with it overall - it’s pretty much the next-gen MPC I’d wanted since I got my 1k years ago. No crashes so far, no issue with installing an ssd. Granted, I’m using it standalone at the moment, it warping in programs is really the only feature that I’m missing badly. I’m more concerned that any update doesn’t come out half baked and affect stability, personally.

benway wrote: I’m more concerned that any update doesn’t come out half baked and affect stability, personally.

I've been waiting for plugin delay compensation for over five years. So much for a fixed update vs half-baked one. They even said they rewrote the software, but didn't address that (I'm sure the rewriting thing was a lie, like MPC Ren's classic component modeling was).

On top of that, Akai has not expressed any sort of communication in terms of PDC to give users some faith.
And there's so much more relating to their communication and business practices, and all the info is out there, even on this forum, if you want to find out...I won't be listing it here.

It's hard – impossible – to compare companies 1:1, but the one that takes the cake in questionable marketing tactics and ignoring users is Akai. This is not to say anyone else should agree, and I hope those who have just subscribed to the Akai camp are enjoying their products, and I sure aren't trying to turn anyone else's head.

Fanu...when these units were announced and when they dropped i remember you being quite defensive of Akai and heaping on the praise

When a lot of people were pessimistic about how the saga was going to unfold you kept it optimistic....

its a ball bag that you feel the straw has fucked up your camels back...

for me the elephant in the room is the price tag......i could accept a couple of shortcomings (or soon comings as the case may be) if the price tag was less salty...

but for what they are charging i'd expect a complete product....all singing and dancing.....i'd want these units to fellate me and pass me a lit cigarette once i'd clicked export.....i'd want them to complement me and whisper sweet nothings in my ear.....

i cant see me buying any new Akai gear either

Living Bate wrote:Fanu...when these units were announced and when they dropped i remember you being quite defensive of Akai and heaping on the praise

When a lot of people were pessimistic about how the saga was going to unfold you kept it optimistic....

I agree with this 100%. I've really tried to be optimistic for a while. Just can't do it anymore.

And I agree with the price. You pay premium, you'd expect to get premium.
Don't get me started on X costing 2 thousand euros, shipping with "coming soon" for List Edit…

Living Bate wrote:for me the elephant in the room is the price tag.....

IMO £599 would be more suitable pricing for the Live, £699 at a push. Nearly £1000 is looking increasingly ridiculous. And £1850 for the X? Come on.

The mythical 2.05 update does look promising though, based on what is mentioned in the SOS review at least. A new 'PROGRAM EDIT > SAMPLES' screen with audio editing looks great, although it does mean some hefty updates required for my book!

Fanu, don't go, at least stick around and post up your videos. Would love to hear which music software manufacturer you have such a positive experience with, PM me if you'd prefer to keep it private.

Fanu wrote:I've been waiting for plugin delay compensation for over five years.

For sure man, and I don’t mean to defend Akai or minimise the frustrations of other users. But I will say that I’ve seen comments pretty much identical to yours on Elektron’s forums re communication and missing features in the past few years, it seems like gear often remains as a work in progress for years after launch these days, Akai definitely aren’t unique in that regard. Doesn’t make it any easier to take though.

saying this if they don't make track mute with an external button i will call em
they call it live and to enter track mute u need 2 pushes

i think the engineer here are really good, but the problem is that they don't make music and jesus only knows who are the beta tester that send suggestiongs for these machines....
that's why roger linn is a genius doing machine, he is a musician as well
my 2 cents always

Beta testers do nothing else except advertising. Have you read any negative comments coming from them, ever?

ok but they are using someone who suggest do this and do that no?

I doubt it.

Akai are in their own world doing their thing, not caring much about what's going on around them.