I HATE / LOVE THE MANUAL (FULL CIRCLE)

It also helps to read the older updates to the 4000 manuals just in case your current manual is missing some important information. Check out the downlands for the various mpcs to search for the differences of each to reduce confusion of the capabilities of each machine.

It also helps to read the older updates to the 4000 manuals just in case your current manual is missing some important information. Check out the downlands for the various mpcs to search for the differences of each to reduce confusion of the capabilities of each machine.

Once more for the fam to read/

Once more for the fam to read/

Small tip check out the Emu 1200 manual its some good stuff in there.

Blue Haze wrote:It also helps to read the older updates to the 4000 manuals just in case your current manual is missing some important information. Check out the downlands for the various mpcs to search for the differences of each to reduce confusion of the capabilities of each machine.

Well, I hope that at somepoint, Akai plans on releaseing a new version of the manual,
as their are some big changes if you're running the latest OS. THe Q-Link section
is completely different naming then what's in the Manual and Reference Guide. If Akai
doesn't do it, I could see a good Writing Project, to do a comprehensive manual for
it that comes from how the machine is today.

renegadebliss wrote:

Blue Haze wrote:It also helps to read the older updates to the 4000 manuals just in case your current manual is missing some important information. Check out the downlands for the various mpcs to search for the differences of each to reduce confusion of the capabilities of each machine.

Well, I hope that at somepoint, Akai plans on releaseing a new version of the manual,
as their are some big changes if you're running the latest OS. THe Q-Link section
is completely different naming then what's in the Manual and Reference Guide. If Akai
doesn't do it, I could see a good Writing Project, to do a comprehensive manual for
it that comes from how the machine is today.

My two cents once more for all the newcomers.

Blue Haze wrote:It also helps to read the older updates to the 4000 manuals just in case your current manual is missing some important information. Check out the downlands for the various mpcs to search for the differences of each to reduce confusion of the capabilities of each machine.

The MPC4000 User and Reference manuals have *never* been updated (ie, the "current" manual still is v1.0 )

You *have* to read all the "OS Addendum" PDF *as well* to find out about all the (loads!) of new stuff.
Q-link is the most confusing - it has been substantially changed at least twice, and there is no longer a single thing you can read from Akai that explains it all.

The Ak.Sys manual is also a useful read -
it is written in a much more colloquial, friendly style of English than the other documents (which are in rather dry and pedantic International English technical writing style).
The Ak.Sys manual only covers certain stuff that's relevant to Ak.Sys, especially the PROGRAM stuff - but what's there is very useful.

By the way,
I annotated the v1.0 Reference Manual PDF with little notes, marking all the bits that need new material to take account of OS updates.

I sent this to Akai (more than once) and its uploaded into the user files area of the MPC4000 Yahoogroup.

Bump

I think we should bully feline1 into makin a new manual for the 4000. If not bullying works maybe we should setup a paypal and pay him? How much you need for something like that feline1? NAME YOUR PRICE!

Speaking of the "Addendums", at Akai's FAQ section, references are made to new features as of OS 1.60. The problem is, there is no "Addendum" for V 1.60, for that matter 1.71 at least I couldn't any. Were these ever puplished?

Feline1, I'll check out the user files area of the MPC4000 Yahoogroup.

They are txt-file "Readmes" for these OS upgrades, no proper PDFs.

Kalei,
it would be pointless thinking about working on those manuals unless Akai will release the source files, which are in Adobe FrameMaker format
( http://www.adobe.com/products/framemaker/ )

Standard technical writing contract author prices (in the UK at least) are usually somewhere between £20 - £40 per hour.

Industry standard metric for how long a job takes is approx 1.5 hours per page of new material (less to just integrate and re-edit existing pages... which would be the majority of the work here.)

You may count the number of combined pages in the OS Addendums if you wish, to determine an approx quote for how long the work would take and how much it would cost to be done by a professional (like me )

say akai did release the framemaker files, how long time would it take you (approximately) to make a "relevant" manual for the 4k?

Yeah, but they're not gonna release them, are they?

A project like that doesn't just need work from the doc. author -
the software engineers also have to participate, going back and checking their code to answer queries, and reviewing the draft doc when it's finished, to check everything.
In most scenarios, I'd expect a doc that size to get turned around in under 3 months.