why?

why does everyone want more when they know what they're purchasing? why would you complain about trimming samples when you knew from the get go that you couldnt with a 500. sometimes less features make you a bit more creative......not tryin to be a d!ck but come on......your wasting space and time. there needs to be a "wish list" space on the forum...

im sure if the 500 had a forum to talk just about jj os for 500 then thats where alot of the posts would be, but in all fairness, i think its alright to drop posts about those things, as long as they dont get too repetitive.

Is your question rhetorical or are you really looking for opinions?

spiral wrote:Is your question rhetorical or are you really looking for opinions?

really lookin.

Contra, That question was directed towards ziggyproductions05 as it seemed like the poster was already annoyed at the questions and suggested that people create a wishlist.

I both understand the point that limitation is good (that's why i buy hardware in the first place) but also feel the MPC500 fails to deliver on some basics both through software bugs and basic sampler features that would not cannibalize their upper-range, should they be included.

Manufacturers have created an environment of expectation with improvements and feature addtions with the advent of updateable firmware / software. The same goes for the software industry: beta releases, bug-ridden applications, security issues.

I don't have a problem with this ecosystem but it also means i don't have to accept "this is what you bought when you bought it" (within reason). There should be a balance of expectation with promised feature set. I'm certainly not going to cry if Akai never puts in auto-chop but i will be angry if they don't fix some of the bugs like the inability to assign a different program to a track when you copy a sequence, inability to set program to "none", inconsistent saving behaviors, etc.

I both agree with the original post: i really love the MPC500 for what it is right now, but i do have some wishes for the product as well.

spiral wrote:inability to set program to "none"

Are you talking about Track-Params-Program Assign-Program? It can be set to OFF on my MPC500 with OS1.11. Is this really not working, or are people looking in the wrong place?

As for the polyphony issue people complain about, is it really an issue, or are people just trying to play more than 32 voices at once, like using note repeat at 120bpm 1/32 timing on a 1 second stereo sample.

And yes, people do seem to be bitching a lot about features that you shouldn't really expect on a base level MPC. If you don't research it's features properly before handing over the cash...too **** bad, it's your own fault!!! If you want a fully spec'd sampler, buy a fully spec'd sampler. If you want a multi-input sequencer, buy one, it's not really what the MPC is designed for.

As for features not working as they should when first released, get used to it, it's how it has always been with Akai and their MPCs, along with long waits for OS updates.

If you don't research it's features properly before handing over the cash...too **** bad

you can "research" all you want but untill you actually own a unit and have it in your hands for more then 20 minutes at the store you really dont get to understand all the idiosyncratic behaviors of any piece of equipment.

Plus companies lie about what features are available on the unit at the time of release (check over at the 4000 forum). Im not saying akai is misleading anyone about the 500 right now.

Plus, there are things that you just assume are going to be there because you consider them basic. It never occured to me that they wouldnt give you the ability to manually set regions.

When you buy a car you assume is going to have a glove box, its not even something you'd consider wouldnt be there and you wouldnt even think to ask. Then when you get in the car you realize how odd it is that the car doesnt have one, but if you like the car enough not having a glove box isnt going to make you want to not buy it, you'll figure something else out. Thats how I feel about the 500, if they didnt add one more thing, I'd be happy with what ive got. But when its painfully obvious that some of the things it lacks are not things that would be difficult or impossible to do (like adding a glove box) you start to say "why doesnt it have this".

Now if the company comes back to you and explains to you that " We didnt put a glove box in because there wasnt enough room because the engine block takes up too much space", Then you understand why and you move on, but if they just come back at you and say "Ah, we just never thought about it", thats inexcusable. A car should have a glove box unless there is a reason that it can't have a glove box.

That is a whole differnt scenario then asking a car company "Why doesnt this $12,000 economy sized sedan have a 400 horse power turbo charged engine"? That is a clearly un-reasonible request on the consumers part.

I dont think we are asking for 400 horse power here, all I want is a damn glove box.

If akai said "We cant put a chop shop feature on the 500 because its processor isnt powerfull enough" (which I doubt) Then you say " Ok cool" and you can move on. But there is no excuse why you can't set regions manually and manually chop from there.

SimonInAustralia wrote:

spiral wrote:inability to set program to "none"

Are you talking about Track-Params-Program Assign-Program? It can be set to OFF on my MPC500 with OS1.11. Is this really not working, or are people looking in the wrong place?

I thought the same thing you did but it is apparently a bug Akai has seen but it might be language specific. I'm not sure. A few threads though:

http://www.mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=66759
http://www.mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=65699

4000is1monster wrote:If akai said "We cant put a chop shop feature on the 500 because its processor isnt powerfull enough" (which I doubt) Then you say " Ok cool" and you can move on. But there is no excuse why you can't set regions manually and manually chop from there.

Well, hopefully they sort out any bugs before trying to add new features, and if they do add new features, hopefully it will be more 'standard' sort of functions like your manual regions and more mute groups (etc.), before they work on 'extras' like chop shop.

SimonInAustralia wrote:Well, hopefully they sort out any bugs before trying to add new features, and if they do add new features, hopefully it will be more 'standard' sort of functions like your manual regions and more mute groups (etc.), before they work on 'extras' like chop shop.

My thoughts exactly. Start by fixing the simple things, like more mute groups, recordable track mutes (why that isn't in there alreadys is a mystery, like the glove box analogy, I took it so much for granted that I didn't even check it...) and so on.

Also, some minor UI "speedup" improvements, like not having to scroll from the begining of the sample list every time, and perhaps an option to hide samples that are already assigned and stuff like that, that improves workflow a lot but should be pretty easy and straightforward to implement.

spiral wrote:Contra, That question was directed towards ziggyproductions05.

o i kno, i was answerin 4 him

you guys trying to trim samples should check out a computer program called "audacity", its free, use the mpc program maker (cannot remember the name, blue box or something), and transfer the files via compact flash, usb, etc.....its sooooooooo simple - easy way to fix that problem of chopping. i own a 1000 and i understand why some would be upset of not being able to see the wave form of samples on the 500. but dont buy the thing when you knew it wasnt there, then complain about it. Im not directing that comment to every 500 owner, but it just shocks me to see some people so upset about it. The 500 is a portable mpc - which is great to accompany your other MP's in my opinion. im going to pick up the 500 to use with my 1k and wont have to worry about chopping due to the 1k and audacity, etc.....now im going to stop complaining and work on some beats. we should all do the same. haha.

im understanding to its flaws.... i still love it for what it does, and right now its doing most of the things i want and got it for. powerful yet portable... it balances out. but i wouldnt doubt that akai got plans to keep it the same size, yet put back the original big screen (depending on time and technology).... then call it the mpc500xl! lol can i c the future? hahahaha

Cosmic wrote:i wouldnt doubt that akai got plans to keep it the same size, yet put back the original big screen (depending on time and technology).... then call it the mpc500xl! lol can i c the future? hahahaha

plus a couple of extra outputs and the lithium-ion battery option to keep 4000is1monster happy!

yeah that would be awesome... extra outs and rechargable lithium ion battery... nice! buuuut back to planet earth. 2 or 3 years ago while i was using the 2000xl, the 500 wouldve seemed like a dream come true for portability.... and now the day has come