Seriously, 2.0 and still no hardware re-naming?

I really cannot believe after all these years and now a $100 upgrade that has taken two years to develop there is still no way to rename anything from the Ren/Studio hardware, I still have to use the computer GUI. Utterly ridiculous.

I dont know man, I dont know your input to Akai's engineers, but I imagine they have to account to someone for the time they spend working on aspects of the software who may or may not prioritize items as you. Overall, it remains a developing work in progress, and in my own experience, a fairly solid (stable) one. I put stability over a crashfest that promises to do much. imo

IMO this is a core feature that should have been there from the very outset. I appreciate the pads don't have any letters above them like every other MPC ever made, but JJOS has a working alternative to this (all letters in a row across the screen, use data wheel to scroll to the letter you want, hit right cursor to move onwards). I struggle to see how adding a feature like that is going to present too many issues for the devs.

I know we all have different priorities, but I think people forget how Akai originally marketed the Ren & Studio - they were very clear in claiming that you didn't need to look at your computer screen, 'virtual standalone' but this is an example of a feature that has always completely destroyed that concept. IMO anything that forces a trip to the computer (beyond initial boot up etc) is something that should have been addressed at some point in the 6+ years of development (I'm including the pre-release development).

Seriously, after working with the Touch where you are able to develop a complete 'no computer' workflow, going back to a system that doesn't even allow me to rename stuff from the hardware is painful. Every legacy MPC, (every sampler ever created?) had some system in place for naming from the hardware UI. Way back in 2011 when they initially started developing the MPC Software, hardware naming shouldn't have even been considered an optional feature.

MPC-Tutor wrote:they were very clear in claiming that you didn't need to look at your computer screen,

this is a fair point...

its not an aspect that concerns me too much because i find using a computer keyboard much faster....

but if i was trying to not use the computer it would annoy me a lot because like you say....they always claimed you dont have to rely on it.....

MPC-Tutor wrote:
but I think people forget how Akai originally marketed the Ren & Studio - they were very clear in claiming that you didn't need to look at your computer screen

This is something they are doing verry often, it's like it's part of their marketing:

Vintage Mode is based on hardware
MPC 2.0 is build from the ground up
MPC 2.0 on the computer is the same software as on the MPC
And the list goes on..

Like Andy Mac always says:

This is so powerfull..!!

It's also concerning for me that people are almost thankful that it's 'at least stable'. It should be stable after 6 years of development, it should have been stable upon release. Stability, i.e. no complete application 'crashes' is something that should be addressed in the pre-release stage, but at the very least ASAP after public release (IMO of course!). I'm not talking about general 'bugs', I'm talking about working in a project and suddenly the software just crashes, shuts down and you lose all your work.

And if anyone thinks 2.0.6. doesn't crash I have news for you, I managed to completely crash it three times in one session the other day (by loading multiple sample-heavy keygroup programs into a project). And currently I have no 3rd party plugins installed, so we can't blame third parties.

I must be really lucky with all my other applications, because I can't remember the last time an 'actively developed' app crashed on my system. I have a couple of really old abandoned apps that can crash, but that's it. The MPC Software is without doubt the most flakey application I have ever encountered.

I moved from an 2500 to a Black Studio recently and didn't find a way to rename programs from the hardware. Can anybody confirm this is still not possible?

Yes, not possible with MPC Studio and Renaissance (I guess it's the same with the Touch).

When I bought my Ren in 2013 I was really annoyed by this as well. Now in my workflow I mainly use the Ren but I also use the computer screen, mouse and keyboard for inserting and controlling plugins, checking the arrangement and for renaming. I can only give you the tip to accept the situation and use both the controller and computer screen, keyboard and mouse to its advantages.

at least the record sample screen renames new sample1,2,3 etc.

not so with the loop screen. as i remember this one doesn't increment the filename and sends you to the keyboard