Akai has destroyed any faith I ever had in the company with the Ren for several reasons:
1. The MPC 5000. This should have been the ultimate MPC, but it's specs in many respects were inferior to the 4000. To add insult to injury, they released a very buggy OS 1.0, and then decided to fix some of the bugs with OS 2.0 and then they completely abandoned it. There hasn't been any further bug fixes in 4 years.
2. The MPC's have always been standalone hardware devices. The Ren is something completely different. It cannot operate without a computer. It is, in fact, a computer software program with a dedicated midi control surface/audio interface that pretty much serves as a "dongle".
3. The Ren's software is lacking in some very basic DAW features, and it has plenty of bugs. They have announced a bug fix, 1.3, in February, but the fact that this thing isn't rock solid makes me very cautious. Akai isn't known for making software programs, especially programs that host 3rd party plugins. Right now, the Ren is their newest hottest product. How long before they abandon development of this like they did the 5000?
4. The price is ridiculous. Maschine is about half the price of the Ren, and Native Instruments has definitely committed to developing
Maschine. I know that
hardcore MPC fans/users love the midi controller in the Ren package, but there is no way that anyone could convince me that the Ren gives you more bang for your buck than Maschine. We are talking about something that is really a computer program. I can think of better ways to spend $1300 when it comes to computer software.
I've really lost faith in Akai. I can't believe that instead of fixing the bugs in
the MPC 5000 and making it rock solid, they researched, developed, manufactured, and distributed
the MPC Renaissance. To add insult to injury, the second bug fix for the Ren will be available in a few weeks while MPC 5000 users have been waiting for 4 years for a new OS.