MPC 3 -- Let's GO!!

MPC-Tutor wrote:Holy shit, I've deleted my post (and all the related ones) as you lot are ridiculous gossips - I specifically said I know NOTHING about when the public beta is going to be released, I was just pontificating and hoping that it comes sooner rather than later as this place is getting a bit toxic and snarly.

It always gets like that in here when there is something new around the corner..

The ARP improvements are looking good. The whole lack of track mute was kinda stupid but I heard they are bringing it back in the public beta.

I think they work similarly like the motorola chip emulator guys for Virus, Nord, Waldorf etc..
There they have alpha for early testers to iron out biggest bugs and new features, then comes the public beta, which is enough for people to try out without crashing and other strange behaviour

Legotron wrote:I think they work similarly like the motorola chip emulator guys for Virus, Nord, Waldorf etc..
There they have alpha for early testers to iron out biggest bugs and new features, then comes the public beta, which is enough for people to try out without crashing and other strange behaviour

I'm thinking and seeing evidence that it's three stages here, and I believe that's not uncommon. Alpha like you mention for employees of Akai etc. for major bugs, then the second stage roll out to famous or old time users and influencers which is where we're at right now. Finally the public beta once bugs are mostly squashed. All this makes sense so it's dozens or less emails with bugs VS thousands.

machinesworking wrote:...then the second stage roll out to famous or old time users and influencers which is where we're at right now.

Influencers and famous users are not beta testers, that's not their role in the process. Beta testers are doing the beta testing, influencers make marketing videos in exchange for free gear and affiliate clicks

MPC-Tutor wrote:

machinesworking wrote:...then the second stage roll out to famous or old time users and influencers which is where we're at right now.

Influencers and famous users are not beta testers, that's not their role in the process. Beta testers are doing the beta testing, influencers make marketing videos in exchange for free gear and affiliate clicks

I feel like this is getting pretty nit picky, but open betas are still part of the process. Each stage has a reason, the second stage is definitely to catch bugs as well as exposure and free advertising. The size of the pool of people using the beta increases with every stage, in order to possibly expose more bugs. Sometimes things go smooth and no bugs are exposed during the phase, but this is why we get wind of betas, influencers with them etc. then weeks and weeks before release. Bugs get found, time is taken to squash them before "public beta" etc.



I don't think anyone wants what happened to Ableton with Live 8, where it went from the most bullet proof DAW to most, to a buggy mess with a too early release. The other side is Akai may have released v3 to influencers too early, more bugs were found than expected, and now we have people getting antsy.

My point is that influencers are not actually 'beta testing', they are not carrying out structured testing processes, filing detailed reports etc. That's what the actual beta testers are doing, influencers get sent a different build that they can use to make videos with.

I'm not saying that influencers don't offer something to the process as a whole, but they are not 'testers', they are marketing.

But yes, the process of 'alpha > private beta > open beta > final release' seems to be the way this is going to work.

machinesworking wrote: I feel like this is getting pretty nit picky, but open betas are still part of the process.

Come oooon Akai, we are running dry on flamewar material. Release the damn thing already so we can keep the praise/ doom n gloom posts going .

MPC-Tutor wrote:My point is that influencers are not actually 'beta testing', they are not carrying out structured testing processes, filing detailed reports etc. That's what the actual beta testers are doing, influencers get sent a different build that they can use to make videos with.

I'm not saying that influencers don't offer something to the process as a whole, but they are not 'testers', they are marketing.

But yes, the process of 'alpha > private beta > open beta > final release' seems to be the way this is going to work.

machinesworking wrote: I feel like this is getting pretty nit picky, but open betas are still part of the process.

Only the first stage really has structured paid testing like you mention. My point was more that the reason for each stages limited pool is because the alpha testers being a smaller pool will sometimes miss bugs that get caught when influencers and famous, or old time users get into the pool. The same will probably apply when the beta becomes truly open, unless Akai get lucky and nail it.

People complain because influencers etc. have had the beta for weeks on end now, it's probably because something got exposed. That was my whole point really, the size of the pool helps limit bug reports to something manageable if they happen.

machinesworking wrote:Only the first stage really has structured paid testing like you mention.

No, there's also a stage two going on ATM - Akai publicly advertised for applications to a private beta program a few years ago, there is currently intensive testing going on with experienced beta testers carrying out structured testing and filing detailed reports.

So, (alpha <> private beta) > public beta > final stable.

I assume, or at least hope, that there's a lot of automated testing going on all the time. That's the primary way to achieve a feature called "reliability".

I'm in the process of rebuilding my setup, it now includes more midi hardware, I've just tried to lay some tracks down and hit the midi bug straight away.
It's a bit worrying that not one of the YT influencers who have their hand on the beta have found the time to check for this?!?! or have I missed it?
Have they signed something specific that forbids them to discuss the outstanding midi bugs, note off & MTC etc?

Surely Akai MUST have fixed them?

Neurone wrote:It's a bit worrying that not one of the YT influencers who have their hand on the beta have found the time to check for this?!?! or have I missed it?
Have they signed something specific that forbids them to discuss the outstanding midi bugs, note off & MTC etc?

I don't know what type of deal the influencers agreed to, but beta testers cannot talk about what issues we may or may not be discovering. I suspect it's the same for influencers. Talk about the MPC3 features Akai have chosen to highlight in their videos, everything else, keep it to yourself.

But as I said before, these influencers are on the whole, not testers, so stuff like this isn't even on their radar, people are giving them far too much credit. Their job is to make marketing videos in exchange for free MPCs, not relay the inner workings of the private beta.

Those people get free stuff? lucky bastards...

*Free until they have to send it back.