Inverted314
BOOM BAP OR DIE
Yes but when people bought the MPC 1000 they weren't gambling. Akai already had a rep from the MPC 60/3000/2000Xl/4000 that made people want to buy a MPC 1k and spend that much money for one.
Just got Beat Thang Virtual
- Thread starter saintjoe
- Start date
Yes but when people bought the MPC 1000 they weren't gambling. Akai already had a rep from the MPC 60/3000/2000Xl/4000 that made people want to buy a MPC 1k and spend that much money for one.
slik da relic
New member
u can say that... but Akai is one those companies that knows they dont hafta cram every feature inside... thats how they "nickel and dime" us... spend $1000 on the 1000... u want more features? spend an extra $800 on the 2500... why do u think the JJOS is so much more popular than Akia's own OS? Beat Kangs are actually cramming alot inside for the price... i commend them for that.
da relic
da relic
Inverted314
BOOM BAP OR DIE
Sure. Im not arguing with that I'm just saying I think their marketing killed them.
slik da relic
New member
its true that their marketing has influenced some people out there... but the machine isnt even out yet, and they got lots of time to push this... i just seen a 1 page ad in the new XXL with Jeezy on the cover, so they are advertising it... and ive been waitin for Roger Linn for the longest... im still waiting.
da relic
da relic
kcsherrell@mac.com
Resident Beatsmith
You see, I sat quiet just reading your posts until this one! Do you really think any producer worth a squirt of piss gives a flying rats a$$ about what piece of gear Just Blaze or Timbaland is pimping at the moment? Everyone knows they get paid for that ish!
What I and other producers care about is what other producers like us are using and why and if it is good enough to help us out! You see, I would pay more attention to Deranged if he said a piece of gear was he truth and I would check it out because I know he doesn't get paid for that ish! I know he has to be careful about what pieces of kit he buy's and makes sure they are worthy before just buying them!
Just Blaze and other big name producers get paid and that immediately ruins their credibility with me and others about what they advertising! If you truly believe in something you will pimp it for free!
Just look at RZA, I have heard many people in the know who say he doesn't even use the MV8000 or 8800, he just gets paid to say he does and than goes back to his MPC4000!
I say, who gives a sh!t about the name! The Beat Kangz are trying to do something that could make a big difference to many producers and I say good luck to them and thank them for giving it a go! I don't care what they call it if it works and helps my setup get better or more efficient, I will cop it!
ONE
Inverted314
BOOM BAP OR DIE
I agree with all your saying but that wasn't even the point of my post.
As a new company trying to compete with companies that have been doing it for years marketing is make or break. Nobody knew a damn thing about Open Labs until they released a Timbaland edition keyboard. Like it or not you have to agree that promotions help sell products. Go to any established website of music equipment and I'm sure they will have a devoted section of artists that use their gear? Do I care? No. But other people certainly do. For some people, what their inspirations use is what they feel they have to use. That's why everybody wants to know what Dilla used. Everybody wants to know what synths Lil Jon used, etc. etc. etc. and it all carries out to promotions. Thats why many people buy MPC's in the first place is because
Dilla/Pete Rock/Boon Doc/insertyourfavoritesampledproducerhere uses one. Not because they want to learn how to play the drums. FL studio wasn't even that hot until dudes found out 9th Wonder used it.
Just my $.02
V
kcsherrell@mac.com
Resident Beatsmith
Now, I agree that obviously having people on your products helps your image, but I think it has more to do with you being serious than anything and getting your name out there. I mean, its like this, I see Pete Rock in a mag, I am going to read it, but that doesn't mean I will buy it. I see some dude there, I won't even read it! That's what advertising and having popular people sell your stuff does for you!
Now, if on youtube or something like that, someone actually sees Pete Rock, or Just Blaze or whoever using a piece of gear and its obvious that they really use it and are not just pimping the product, than I think that makes a big difference! Than people say, well shoot if so and so uses it than it must be dope and will probably get one if they can?
Still though, its all just about getting people to look at your stuff, get their attention, than your stuff better sell itself! I will admit that if see a piece of gear and its grabs my attention, I will check it out, but when I check it out, if it isn't good, I will not buy it. PERIOD.
I think the Beat Kangz are just doing what they can to get people to notice them and their products! Why because it is different is it wrong? You may not like it, but that doesn't mean others won't? I hope they knock it out of the park with the Beat Thang! If they do, we all win! You can't even imagine the pressure that the big companies will put on a small start up like this! They will do everything they can to disrupt, discredit, and ruin anything that can even begin to creep into their profits!
BOTTOM LINE: If its good, its good! I for one expect it to be good and I hope I am right!
ONE
slik da relic
New member
remind me to email them... and tell them to call their next machine the "ABC 10,000"... theyll win half the battle this way.
da relic
da relic
saintjoe
SoundsAndGear.com
don't know what to tell ya man, websites working fine for every one else, getting tons of traffic, maybe check your flash player or somethin?
you were talkin about the name being "beat thang" so I said look at the "mo phatt" it was created for the same genre, it was specifically for urban music, and it's still being used today.
akai and roland aren't doing anything different, that's why I think this will sell.
as far as producers...so what? lol....timbaland endorsed a miko, does t hat make it the best piece of gear to have?
when it comes down to it, folks will NOT care about the name, will NOT care about the marketing, and will ONLY care about the machine and how it works.
I just don't see someone saying "yeah, the machine is dope, and it does what I'd want...but I just don't like the name, or how it looks, or the dudes that made it...so...I'm just gonna wait for someone else to make the same thing with a different name and proper english" lol
nah man,
it's true, people want to see the new lindrum and many are waiting for it...but there are more people than you think waiting for this thang...wait and see.
saintjoe
SoundsAndGear.com
hahahaha lol
dude... folks were using fl WAAAAAAAAAAAAY before 9th and peeps were checkin for open labs before timbaland came out with his.
folks that really care about the gear...they know about this stuff before "name brands" even get involved, now if you're talking about the general population then yes, that's where celebrities and such come in
but folks that spend all day every day talking about and researching gear, don't need that.
I've been watching openlabs when they first started, at least 4 years ago I think, they were a small company and had freaking rackmount stuff as well. Timbaland came along years after they were already doing stuff with folks like prince, madonna, etc.
I will agree it helped get them in touch with a new community, but to say no one knew about it before that is not accurate...maybe just say YOU didn't know about it before that.
Like it or not, their marketing has people talking about it, and I guarantee, everyone, even those that don't like it, will be checking out the gear when it drops.
mission accomplished lol.
I just want to see something new man, everyone always coming out with the same stuff that does the same thing, but the little things Beat Kangz are adding show they are in tune with producers.
It may not have everything that everyone else does, but the stuff it does have sets it apart from everything else.
say it terror
New member
openlabs products make no god damn sense. they might as well charge double what they're charging. it's just a luxury item. if you can't afford to drop more than 10k on a keyboard with a screen then you SHOULD NOT BE BUYING OPEN LABS PRODUCTS. all non-rich who bought that **** got conned.
the linn drum will never come out ever ever ever.
in regards to the name. yeah the e-mu had the mo phatt and it was kind of ridiculous but they were already an established company. look at the mo phatt and i see a corporate company trying to put an urban twist on a product. when i see the beat thang i see a couple of people who may or may not know what they're doing.
does this thing have a step sequencer btw?
the linn drum will never come out ever ever ever.
in regards to the name. yeah the e-mu had the mo phatt and it was kind of ridiculous but they were already an established company. look at the mo phatt and i see a corporate company trying to put an urban twist on a product. when i see the beat thang i see a couple of people who may or may not know what they're doing.
does this thing have a step sequencer btw?
slik da relic
New member
negative publicity = good publicity
does anyone knows if the hardware can resample?
da relic
does anyone knows if the hardware can resample?
da relic
Inverted314
BOOM BAP OR DIE
I agree with this but I just can't help but think that there are many people who are so turned off by the name that they don't even LOOK at the machine to see what it does or has. Would you check out my new DAW Sounds and Sh1t? Dudes don't want a Daewoo flatscreen, they want a Sony. The new Hyundai Genesis can compete with BMW M3 but the majority of people won't even look into it because it's a Hyundai. It doesn't matter how good or how much better it is if your not marketing it right. It seems to me like their whole potential client base is MPC/Roland users. But why are they going to trade their MPC for this thing? For $1000 you can buy a Powerbook and a MPC 1000, or better yet, a MV8000, or better still, a MPC 4000. Granted I'm not talking about new stuff but that's not going to change anybody's opinion if the 4000 is in the same range. So now this is their competition. Not the smaller stuff. What are the specs on this thing? Cause it seems their whole selling point is the portability but it looks like it's as big as a MV8000 and weights twice as much. Is the battery replaceable? With the MPC 500 you can just pop in some fresh AA's, what if the battery dies on this? Can I put in a new battery? It's cool how it has two SD card slots. My MPC has room for a hard drive...
So what's going to make me buy the Beat Thang? Is it that I can export my songs and "save them to your Beat Kangz Playa Thang equipped iPhone". Also, am I missing something or is their only one pair of outs.
Inverted314
BOOM BAP OR DIE
That's exactly what I said. I see all this "for musicians by musicians."
I can cook. It doesn't mean I know how to build a microwave.
neverenoughfunk
New member
excuse me all you marketing execs...
but threads like this peaks individuals interest...
i have seen ads for Beat Thang but never peaked my interest until today. i googled "beat thang", read a few articles and it is a half decent product.
another drum machine/sampler/sequencer...
any product is as good as it users...
in other words, in todays times you do not need timbo, dre to endorse your product. you see how long open labs and timbo relationship lasted. all you need today is a few "talented" cat using the product on youtube.
but threads like this peaks individuals interest...
i have seen ads for Beat Thang but never peaked my interest until today. i googled "beat thang", read a few articles and it is a half decent product.
another drum machine/sampler/sequencer...
any product is as good as it users...
in other words, in todays times you do not need timbo, dre to endorse your product. you see how long open labs and timbo relationship lasted. all you need today is a few "talented" cat using the product on youtube.
saintjoe
SoundsAndGear.com
I agree with this but I just can't help but think that there are many people who are so turned off by the name that they don't even LOOK at the machine to see what it does or has. Would you check out my new DAW Sounds and Sh1t? Dudes don't want a Daewoo flatscreen, they want a Sony. The new Hyundai Genesis can compete with BMW M3 but the majority of people won't even look into it because it's a Hyundai. It doesn't matter how good or how much better it is if your not marketing it right. It seems to me like their whole potential client base is MPC/Roland users. But why are they going to trade their MPC for this thing? For $1000 you can buy a Powerbook and a MPC 1000, or better yet, a MV8000, or better still, a MPC 4000. Granted I'm not talking about new stuff but that's not going to change anybody's opinion if the 4000 is in the same range. So now this is their competition. Not the smaller stuff. What are the specs on this thing? Cause it seems their whole selling point is the portability but it looks like it's as big as a MV8000 and weights twice as much. Is the battery replaceable? With the MPC 500 you can just pop in some fresh AA's, what if the battery dies on this? Can I put in a new battery? It's cool how it has two SD card slots. My MPC has room for a hard drive...
So what's going to make me buy the Beat Thang? Is it that I can export my songs and "save them to your Beat Kangz Playa Thang equipped iPhone". Also, am I missing something or is their only one pair of outs.
you're speaking about dudes that care about a name, personally I don't. I'll rock a daewoo flatscreen all day long if the budget/features are right.
same with a car. Real car enthusiasts don't get caught up in names, they get caught up in performance, period. Folks that buy strictly on the name don't care about performance, it's second to saying " I have a lexus, or a bmw, or an mpc"
I can only speak for me, on why I want it. I have a 4k, I know what it can do, when I got it, there were plenty other machines and folks saying what I should get.
Some said the 3000 or the 60 because "they sound the best and were made by linn" No go for me, it was stupid because there was no point in having such small memory for me...I had a huge sound library, not just loops, but actual akai cds etc, the 4k was and still is the only mpc that can load those types of samples. I also had tons of keyboards and such at the time, so I needed the 4 midi outs.
I've since sold all my keyboards and modules, most of my stuff is made with software.
The "Thang" appeals to me because I can still load most of my drums, riffs, loops, etc into it, and have no load times via the sd cards. I have to wait for stuff to load on my mpc, on the thang they become part of the machine so you can load them just like the internal sounds.
I also like the ability that it's portable, yes, that's a factor for me...it's no where near the size of the mv, have you seen the videos? It's about the size of a 1k or so.
I like that whatever I work on, via the hardware,I can transfer over to the software and vice versa...
again, these are just some of the things that make me like it, that may not be what everyone else sees or likes.
It still comes down to preference, these are just tools, I'm just saying that Beat Kangz are creating some tools that I'm pretty interested in. I haven't been excited about new gear in a while...because it was all pretty much the same.
Sure it's another sampler, another sequencer, it doesn't have 8 outs, it doesn't have tons of midi outs....
but I don't even need that. I never had the output expansion for my 4k, i run my audio into a daw, I don't run it through outboard gear.
Being able to simply render my beats from the hardware or software into wav files is enough.
Now I will say, I'm anxious to see if we'll be able to render individual stems and not just a whole track.
so yeah, there are options, you can still buy used gear, or other gear, but for me...there's really no other gear like this that I want. I don't want a 1k, I didn't like it, the 500 is a toy to me, the 5k could have been a monster if they would have expanded on the 4k system.
MV....it's decent, but I have at 4k, so I don't need/want it. Though it has some dope features.
So in the end, the "thang" offers me something different than what I can get from anyone else or anything else that I've had personally.
But again, this is just my personal opinion.
say it terror
New member
i'm sorry but i'm going to have to call bluff on your whole post there. if you truly valued performance over a name you would be use software outright.
a name is nothing but a status symbol for a product. the hardware you have is more than likely inferior to available software out there. a lot of people keep hardware because they are comfortable with it and because working in a hardware environment gives a different feeling to working in software. part of this different feeling has to do with working with physical tools and feeling an attachment to them. much like you would feel an attachment to a name that means nothing.
the mpc range is dated. the only reason it is still even being discussed is because of its name and reputation.
again i would like to reiterate that i hope this thing doesn't send the company under as i would like to see them develop more pocket friendly and less gimmicky products.
a name is nothing but a status symbol for a product. the hardware you have is more than likely inferior to available software out there. a lot of people keep hardware because they are comfortable with it and because working in a hardware environment gives a different feeling to working in software. part of this different feeling has to do with working with physical tools and feeling an attachment to them. much like you would feel an attachment to a name that means nothing.
the mpc range is dated. the only reason it is still even being discussed is because of its name and reputation.
again i would like to reiterate that i hope this thing doesn't send the company under as i would like to see them develop more pocket friendly and less gimmicky products.
saintjoe
SoundsAndGear.com
Lol...dude...how do you know what and how I use what I use? Performance is how it performs in MY setup, not on paper man.
Did you miss everything I said? It's PERSONAL, how it works for me, how it performs for ME not you or anyone else. I gave you MY reasons now you say you're "calling my bluff"
please lol.
If you knew me or read any of my websites you'd know that the mpc is on it's way out as well, soon after I discovered ableton live lol.
BUT there is sometimes I just like to make music without turning on a computer....the beat thang can fill that void for me.
so...sorry to disappoint ya bro, but there's no calling anyone's bluff round here.
that's why I kept saying it's personal...I don't care about a name, I don't care what people see when the come to my house, I don't care if I have an mpc or not...if it works in my setup and does what I need, cool. If not, it gets retired....
my keyboards and modules are gone because of software.
I haven't touched my mpc in ages because of software. But there are times I just want to bang out without messing with a computer screen, or vsts, or any of that crap.
so for me...that's the "enticement" of the beat thang if you will.
flexible enough for me to make music without the computer yet it can still integrate with the computer easily.
everything I've said has been based on my personal opinion and I told you that. Only thing that matters it what works for you. I'll be happy with my beat thang and the rest of my software lol
Inverted314
BOOM BAP OR DIE
I'm confused. Your excited because it's new and different, yet it's "just another sampler, another sequencer"
I just don't see what's so new about this thing that can't already be bought in hardware or software form for half the price or better. You know you can get a MC-909 AND a MPC1000 for the same price. I just don't see why anybody would want one of these unless they just wanted to like one to be different. What is the selling point of this thing that will make me, the consumer feel the urge to buy. I'm not biased to hate it, I just don't see what is so innovative about it.
say it terror
New member
if you could understand my post you would realise that disliking a product because of a name is in essence the same as using a hardware product that is more expensive and has less features.
that is the comparison i am making. i didn't feel i needed to be so blunt with spelling it out.
please read my post again if you don't understand.
if you can't empathise and realise that the name and marketing techniques employed by this company will put a lot of people off then i don't know what to say to you. it's called a personal opinion and people have them. people are influenced by different things. if people were to go 100% on features 100% of the time there would be no need for a hardware beat thang because the features it offers nothing new when compared to software.
that is the comparison i was making.
that is the comparison i am making. i didn't feel i needed to be so blunt with spelling it out.
please read my post again if you don't understand.
if you can't empathise and realise that the name and marketing techniques employed by this company will put a lot of people off then i don't know what to say to you. it's called a personal opinion and people have them. people are influenced by different things. if people were to go 100% on features 100% of the time there would be no need for a hardware beat thang because the features it offers nothing new when compared to software.
that is the comparison i was making.