MPC 3 - no time signature option...?

I doubt it means anything other than to assume they have instructions not to engage in direct discussion over mpc3. It's clear it's a one way feedback situation - you send them feedback and hope they listen. They don't even discuss road maps or development details with the closed beta group, so they aren't about to start chatting about this stuff with customers.

machinesworking wrote:So I tried getting some clarity on Time Signatures in 3 directly from Akai support. Needless to say the reply doesn't clear anything up at all. In fact the lack of transparency makes me more convinced that things are not headed in the direction of time signatures returning to MPC 3 any time soon.

machinesworking wrote:So I tried getting some clarity on Time Signatures in 3 directly from Akai support. Needless to say the reply doesn't clear anything up at all. In fact the lack of transparency makes me more convinced that things are not headed in the direction of time signatures returning to MPC 3 any time soon.

Hi Michael,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

While we look forward to providing full support for MPC 3 upon its official public release, however currently, support is limited due to the OS' Beta status.

However, your input is highly valued, and our public beta testers are crucial to the success of this platform!

If you have any general feedback about MPC 3 Beta, please send it to the Akai Professional team directly using this link:

Akai Professional MPC 3 Public Beta - General Feedback Form https://forms.office.com/r/Dc08HSutAV

If you discover any issues with the update, please use the link below to send this information to the Akai Professional team directly:

Akai Professional MPC 3 Public Beta - Issue Reporting https://forms.office.com/r/zfb7GymJGp

General workflow questions should be answered in the video featured at the start of this article.

Not sure you can read too much into that. Just a stock answer to anything related to 3.0.

Not that I think it'll come back soon. If at all.

MPC-Tutor wrote:I doubt it means anything other than to assume they have instructions not to engage in direct discussion over mpc3. It's clear it's a one way feedback situation - you send them feedback and hope they listen. They don't even discuss road maps or development details with the closed beta group, so they aren't about to start chatting about this stuff with customers.

What means something is that there was confirmation from influencers who had the beta before we did that Mute was going to be fixed so it works like it does in 2. This was after push back. So far the time signature issue has not been addressed, and that doesn't bode well.

The lack of Release Notes outlining what is temporarily removed, what is still buggy, and in better release notes about betas, what is permanently changed and/or removed, is a real issue here.

I mean it's been said over and over, but it's pretty stressful for those of us who do use other signatures beyond 4/4 that there is no information whatsoever on this. It's almost enough for me to think about just ditching the whole platform, but the truth is there isn't anything comparable, so I'm just holding out that something changes. We get some sort of feedback on this from someone.

Influencers are a waste. they hardly caught a dammed thing that changed about 3, only about 2 people on youtube mentioned time signatures at all, and not surprisingly one is from Africa, i.e. he's interested in things besides 4/4 and traditional western pop.

I don't think I've been this frustrated with a beta ever? People keep on mentioning that it's a beta so they disable features, yeah, that's what companies typically do in the alpha stage, not public beta stage..

I was using an Alesis MMT8 back in the 80’s, multiple time signatures.
Akai, 2024, 4/4.
Inexcusable.

machinesworking wrote:Influencers are a waste. they hardly caught a dammed thing that changed about 3, only about 2 people on youtube mentioned time signatures at all, and not surprisingly one is from Africa, i.e. he's interested in things besides 4/4 and traditional western pop.

I don't think I've been this frustrated with a beta ever? People keep on mentioning that it's a beta so they disable features, yeah, that's what companies typically do in the alpha stage, not public beta stage..

This isn't a typical beta, they've definitely used it to gain feedback on features so they can improve, it's not just about bug fixing.

As for influencers, most of them are not beta testing. Beta testers in the closed beta group brought up the time sig issue the moment we spotted it, Akai have acknowledged, IMO it's likely a tricky technical issue they have to iron out (just guessing). Until they do, don't expect them to comment. But they understand how important this is to many people.

MPC-Tutor wrote:This isn't a typical beta, they've definitely used it to gain feedback on features so they can improve, it's not just about bug fixing.

As for influencers, most of them are not beta testing. Beta testers in the closed beta group brought up the time sig issue the moment we spotted it, Akai have acknowledged, IMO it's likely a tricky technical issue they have to iron out (just guessing). Until they do, don't expect them to comment. But they understand how important this is to many people.

Thanks for the information. Honestly knowing they are aware people want it back is reassuring.

You’re probably right about time
signatures causing some issues with 3, the only consistent bug in the beta for me is the bar/beat lines disappearing while playing back. They added in things like markers to the timeline/invisible conductor track so things are changed/possibly broken there.

How could they not be aware?

jaymack wrote:How could they not be aware?

You can be aware and not do anything, again Maschine has but one time signature in its timeline, so Maschine + being the one percussion oriented sequencer workstation the most like MPC, it’s relatively successful..

Second beta is up, still no time signatures. The one consolation is Track Mutes came back in one beta cycle after an uproar.

I have been in contact with Akai about this, and the recommendation from a tier 2 tech support rep was to continue to ask for it, he was also requesting it etc. I'm waiting on getting my account back at the Akai forums, that's one option mentioned. Then there's the beta feedback and bug report forms. Akai on Facebook suggested the bug report one for some reason. Anyone who is wanting this back should request it. Us weirdos interested in things besides 4/4 would like to join the party. Here's the issue reporting form.
https://forms.office.com/pages/response ... 6MoUa3NwfA

machinesworking wrote:Track Mutes came back in one beta cycle after an uproar.

Not really because of the uproar. On one of Tefty earlier 3.0 videos had already mentioned that Akai said it will come back.

B-Wise wrote:

machinesworking wrote:Track Mutes came back in one beta cycle after an uproar.

Not really because of the uproar. On one of Tefty earlier 3.0 videos had already mentioned that Akai said it will come back.

Not really anything to debate here, tier 2 support asked me directly to keep requesting it, since it mattered to him as well.

Good about track mutes- time signatures is still the deal breaker on 3.0 for me. Il get a request in too!

I have zero faith in InMusic. They never delivered a feature that was in the UI in 2.O: simply defining ranges in long sequences that are followed with sequence changes. My dream was to record long sequences with audio, sequence copy, then define ranges to create an arrangement. After defining a range, changing sequences would always default to the first bar, song mode would start every sequence on the first bar irrespective of the defined range, and delete bars never worked. I went through a lot of BS with support, elevated to tier 2. They were constantly in touch, but just wasting my time. The issue, while acknowledged, clearly was not being worked on. Amazing how much more powerful Dave Smith's sequencer was from a composition perspective, and JJOS course expanded on it. I cna't compose on the new MPC, but of course I can produce much, much better. But can't compose!!!!!!

I think part of the problem with time signatures, is that they never worked properly in 2.x. I don't use changing time signatures much, but I do have one song in which I inserted a bar of 2/4. What I learned from this, is that once you've added an odd time signature, you can never remove it, even if you delete the entire section containing the time signature change. The other thing I learned is that the bar lines for quantization always align with the start of the song, rather than with the new bar locations after the change in time signature. Maybe some people can deal with that nonsense, but I can't. I suspect (hope) they are fixing all of those things before putting it out again.

jamos wrote:I think part of the problem with time signatures, is that they never worked properly in 2.x. I don't use changing time signatures much, but I do have one song in which I inserted a bar of 2/4. What I learned from this, is that once you've added an odd time signature, you can never remove it, even if you delete the entire section containing the time signature change. The other thing I learned is that the bar lines for quantization always align with the start of the song, rather than with the new bar locations after the change in time signature. Maybe some people can deal with that nonsense, but I can't. I suspect (hope) they are fixing all of those things before putting it out again.

Yeah looking at the way Ableton Live and all the Clip capable DAWs like Bitwig, DP etc. handle it is the best, each track can have it's own time signature, so you get the bars it needs etc. then there's a global time signature. replace clips with tracks and Scenes with Sequences and you get a workable time signature setup for a pattern based workstation like the MPC.