^ jah has already admitted to only write a 2-bar loop once a year on his mpc's, he's really more of a collector/salesman then a music maker (nothing wrong with that)
i'd really like an answer on the ren's filter behavior (continuous or retriggered) this is an important architecture/workflow point for me where maschine fails to behave like the 2K/3K filters
before buying one, i'd like an answer to my question.. so i know that my 2K/3K beats will import fine, obviously to answer it you would need to make a beat to test out.. is it close to being that time of the year jah?
before buying one, i'd like an answer to my question.. so i know that my 2K/3K beats will import fine, obviously to answer it you would need to make a beat to test out.. is it close to being that time of the year jah?
You will have a complete review hopefully soon. MPC-Tutor is working on that one. Its that time of the year for me...and that time of the month for you. Don't wear white.
3. Maschine has a duplicate feature which NI demo'd in a tutorial to use it for nondestructive chopping. The Ren has nondestructive chopping via Link Slices Off which allows the end/start points of adjacent samples to over lap. But it also has the Crop Off function which slices/duplicates samples and mapped them up to 128 pads. These duplicates maintain their slice points but you can go in and freely edit each of the slices the full length of the sample as they were not sliced destructively. This trumps Maschine big time and there are videos available to show this of. Also…to convert Mashine users, it looks like the Maschine method will also be implemented according to what Dan wrote in the MPC Forums…..direct communication with developers!
4. Editing slices can be done manually from the controller. Via Regions, you can quickly dial in 2 to 128 slices and mapped across all 8 pad banks. Pressing a pad and turning the Q-links is how you quickly manually edit the slices. Maschine has a comparable 'Split' slicing function. However it is limited to fixed increments of 4, 8, 16, 32 which is far less flexible IMO.
9. The Ren isn't a 64 bit application but runs perfectly on 64 Bit operating systems.. In my opinion, I think Akai may release a 64 bit version once the remaining major players are also 64 bit and the Ren software more mature. I can see this also including multi-core support. But these are just my opinions so stay tuned.
About 3: Maybe I'm not understanding what people mean by non-distructive sample chopping, but Maschine does that already. If you need to edit a slice after you've already chopped (to change the length, etc.) just hit the sample button and go into edit mode as opposed to slice mode and hit the corresponding pad/slice you need to adjust. It's been that way since maybe 1.5 possibly 1.1. That's why folks stopped duplicating pads to chop, it became redundant. The only destructive features in the sample edit mode are the ones in the audio menu (truncate, fade-in, fade-out, revers, etc) as far as I can tell. Can you elaborate on this, maybe I just don't understand what you mean.
4. I agree that they should allow more than 32 slices in split mode but you can also just use Grid mode if you need more slices. Its not as controllable as split mode but it still works.
9. This is silly. The Ren software running fine on a 64-bit OS has nothing to do with the Ren and everything to do with the OS 32-bit compatibility layer. So Akai gets no points for getting the software "to work" on a 64-bit OS. Those points go to Windows/OSX. As for remaining players. Other protools almost every other major DAW has a 64-bit version. Ableton has the 8.4 beta out now that is 64-bit compatible and ONLY loads 64-bit plugins (no bridge). It just makes no sense to release an application without 64-bit support right out of the gate in 2012 (I said the same thing about Maschine with no multi-core support so there is blame on both sides). Besides protools must not be all the important to Akai as they haven't even bothered to release an AAX or RTAS version of the software.
I'm not a fan of the MPC, I find the workflow to cumbersome (for me). I don't like having to tell the software to do something, I like to move a knob and do it. I don't like paging around multiple menus. Maschine 1.5 was a bit disconcerting to me as they added quite a bit of paging around to to the software to accommodate plugins in 1.6. its still better imo than what i get with an MPC. That's just my opinion.
I'm definitely not knocking Akai for having a very beta-esque 1.0 release, software is tough and right now they are just building a foundation. Maschine while rock solid now, was a mess when released, it wasn't buggy as is being reported with the MPC software but it was also less functional out of the gate so I'm cutting Akai some slack. Let's see how they do with their updates. That's the real test. We'll also have to see how Akai plans to roll out these updates. Will they charge when they add major features? Will they release updates regularly? That has been NI's strengths so far.
Any word on how good the MPC Ren sound bank is compared to Maschine's? I know its larger but that says nothing about quality. Maschine has quite a decent library of the music loops, one shots and drums. And now it also ships with NI Massive which is a good synth.
Maschine has:
1. No Tracks
2. No mixer
3. No MIDI import; MIDI capabilities are useless
4. No proper song mode
5. No time stretching/pitch shifing
6. No pad/track mute automation
7. Can't save individual drum kits
8. No full screen sample editor
9. No full screen sound/program editor
10. Barely adequate hardware
11. No dedicated sequence edit mode from hardware
12. Can't load a folder full of sounds to RAM then quickly map to pads
13. No 4-band parametric EQ/ Limited Filter types
14. No easy pad layering
15. Lack of dedicated buttons for most used tasks
Maschine has:
1. No Tracks
2. No mixer
3. No MIDI import; MIDI capabilities are useless
4. No proper sond mode
5. No time stretching/pitch shifing
6. No pad/track mute automation
7. Can't save individual drum kits
8. No full screen sample editor
9. No full screen sound/program editor
10. Barely adequate hardware
11. No dedicated sequence edit mode from hardware
12. Can't load a folder full of sounds to RAM then quickly map to pads
13. No 4-band parametric EQ/ Limited Filter types
14. No easy pad layering
15. Lack of dedicated buttons for most used tasks
AND YOU HAVE NO BEATS !!!! AND WE ALL KNOW YOU BOUGHT THE MASCHINE JUST TO DISSECT IT . TO BUILD THE REN ! just kidding dont report me lol
When's the MPC Studio coming out? That's more comparable to the Maschine in my opinion in terms of price point. The Ren is just a different machine with the audio interface built in and the high price point. People can compare it to the Maschine, but when it comes down to it, AKAI is going to have a tough time convincing people that it is $700 better than the Maschine + an $700 dedicated interface IMO (for example, you can get a Duet 2 for less than that). I'm more interested in the Studio vs. Maschine comparison since those are on equal price footing.
When's the MPC Studio coming out? That's more comparable to the Maschine in my opinion in terms of price point. The Ren is just a different machine with the audio interface built in and the high price point. People can compare it to the Maschine, but when it comes down to it, AKAI is going to have a tough time convincing people that it is $700 better than the Maschine + an $700 dedicated interface IMO (for example, you can get a Duet 2 for less than that). I'm more interested in the Studio vs. Maschine comparison since those are on equal price footing.
When's the MPC Studio coming out? That's more comparable to the Maschine in my opinion in terms of price point. The Ren is just a different machine with the audio interface built in and the high price point. People can compare it to the Maschine, but when it comes down to it, AKAI is going to have a tough time convincing people that it is $700 better than the Maschine + an $700 dedicated interface IMO (for example, you can get a Duet 2 for less than that). I'm more interested in the Studio vs. Maschine comparison since those are on equal price footing.
I own a NI Machine V1 and just got my Ren yesterday. It feels $1200 more expensive than Machine. At first I was just going to get the MPC Studio but I am glad I jumped the gun and just got the Ren. I have only spent a few hours on it so far but once you touch it for the first time and you bang out your first sequence it won't take that much convincing. And AKAI is not paying me or giving me free gear to say this, but if anyone from AKAI is feeling generous I could use a MPC studio for when I travel to other studios
It's a response to your entire post. I have not seen the Studio nor am I interested. MPC Ren all day....
Thank you for chiming in with a tangential response that didn't address my question.
mecaudio - thank you for your response. I don't have the space or need for a Ren, so I was wondering about the Studio. Hope some more info about it releases soon - however, Sweetwater is showing the ship date in Feb 2013 now.
Thank you for chiming in with a tangential response that didn't address my question.
mecaudio - thank you for your response. I don't have the space or need for a Ren, so I was wondering about the Studio. Hope some more info about it releases soon - however, Sweetwater is showing the ship date in Feb 2013 now.
I wish there was a block option so i can ignore all of Jahrome's responses. If anything I been pushed more not to buy a Ren because of this. Sure its cool to be enthusiastic but its plain irritating that I have to wade through posts just to get some information.
Yes we know you like the Ren alot, however, wouldn't it be nice to actually have a Ren thread without your input and have a sensible discussion?. I know it sounds impossible but wouldn't it be great.
AKAI's Marketing Dept to Jahrome: Yea, look... ignore all Studio and Fly questions....PUMP THE REN PUMP THE REN.... BEAT THE REN INTO THEIR HEADS...brush off vintage mode and talk about EVERYTHING ELSE and PUMP PUMP THE REN..
BUT the REN is the BEST.........in the world Jahrome says so.........
When I say that..I speak for myself. The Ren is always going to come out on top for me because of the controller. What can talk features all day. But what feels familiar...comfortable to work on....simply make sense....
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Don't wear white.
