Akai MPC 5000 Q/A

[Eswerve]

I actually had a chance to sit down and mess with one at GC today. Nobody way in so i just messed with it for about 1/2 and hour. Although i couldn't sample my own stuff, i had fun with it. I thought it would just be sort of a joke but it is very usuable, fairly intuitive, and it does have features that i never thought i'd applicate on an mpc until after using it. The grid feature is a big one. Although i sort of felt like i was using software, which isn't a bad thing but often makes me think, why not use just software-mv is a good example, but all the good stuff was still there. Not that it's for me but i was suprised that it was very usuable, and easy to use if you are familar with mpcs. I was hating on it when i first heard about it, i'm not convinced it for me, but it seems much more of a legit product after sitting down in front of one. And it's not ridiculous large either, like i thought. Just a bit larger than a 2k.

3D, that's a good update. How was the synth? I was also worried about the size, as my 4K is big and heavy. Does it look sturdy though? Like it'll take a beatin' like the classics?

 

[3D Beats]

3D, that's a good update. How was the synth? I was also worried about the size, as my 4K is big and heavy. Does it look sturdy though? Like it'll take a beatin' like the classics?

Honestly, i didn't have enough time to really get into the synth. I was mostly messing with the grid edit and getting used to that.

The size did suprise me though. I thought it was a 2500 at first without looking. Not that it's the same size, it is bigger, i just thought it would be much more sizeable. It's probably smaller than a 4k actually, though i can't say that for sure without them being side by side. Build quality, it seems to be about exactly the same as a 2500. It defineatately didn't feel cheap, and it also didn't have "tank like" feel of the older mpcs. It felt good, all the buttons felt nice, pads felt like any mpc i've touched where the pads weren't broken in, so a bit stiff there. But yeah, it felt good to me, i thought it would have been bigger and felt cheaper so it's not bad.

Another thing is compared to say an MV, i think the screen won't be a problem long term. Having a more regular screen will mean if it does go bad, it probably won't kill your wallet to replace it. It's basically an LCD screen but with the colors inverted, so it looks great but isn't overly complicated.


Sorry, i'm no expert on this machine, i was just surprised that it would be something i would use. I wouldn't consider buying one as the extra features arn't important to me, but it's a good piece and if i had money to spend, i maybe would consider one. But even a 1k has everything i need so it's purely a money issue, where i was assuming before i played around, i wouldn't touch it because it was just too much. The new features don't take away from the integrity like i would have thought.

 

[BxJaze]

It's definitely wide but not as "thick" as a 4k. lighter than i thought it would be too. I love the screen, and the pads are phenominal (to me, anyway)

now this damn ProjectMix is another story.....but if you've ever owned or seen a ProjectMix, the 5K is about the same in dimensions....maybe a taaaad less wide than the PMix.

 

[3D Beats]

It's definitely wide but not as "thick" as a 4k. lighter than i thought it would be too. I love the screen, and the pads are phenominal (to me, anyway)

Yeah, i really couldn't say it's smaller than the 4k, but yeah, it's not big. And it's defineatly thinner by a good amount then the 4k. But yeah, basically, like i said, i overlooked as a 2500 at first glance. I think it was because the MV series has been the only new machine outside of this that is going above and beyond the "traditional" sampler. So i was thinking it would be alot bigger. Not MV big, but a decent amount bigger. One thing that will probably keep me from an MV more than anything else is the size. I haven't seen one opened up but i don't understand why it is so damn big. I think size alone swayed me a good amount on my perception of it, that's why i brought it up and i'm bringing it up again.

It really is layed out well and compact in the right ways (no large areas that are empty) but not crammed at all. I didn't feel like anything was too close, too far away, etc. For me, space is a premium, i have to sit on my desk right now to use my asr 10 . This might not matter to other people, i mean, if you have an mv, this is small, imo.

And again, i was really surprised how it really followed the mpc lineage because on paper, it seems much more like a box crammed with what it can fit. Sorry for the long post, i know most people wouldn't be turned off by something as simple as size. Once again, i really have to say i'm impressed with the thing because i really dogged this when i saw the documentation for it and felt akai lost it's way. It's not a classic mpc, it is a progression of the series, too much for me personally, but it's still a dope piece i shouldn't have hated on until i got infront of. I'm still a bit shocked i like it.

 

[DiaboliC]

dude the size of the Mpc3000 MV8000 Mpc 60 and mpc 4000 and 5000 are the reason why these are the most wanted gear

the **** wants a lil box the bigger the more comfy it is for me imo

 

[3D Beats]

dude the size of the Mpc3000 MV8000 Mpc 60 and mpc 4000 and 5000 are the reason why these are the most wanted gear

the **** wants a lil box the bigger the more comfy it is for me imo

I don't know what you are trying to say at the end exactly but getting personal and calling me a name over the size of box, come on man, how old are you man? That's middle school **** man.

Since you didn't figure out what i was talking about, i will clarify...I explained how i was impressed that akai was able to fit all of the 5000's features into something that small, while still managing to keep it well layed out and intuitive.

I never said i felt that anything, except the MV series was too big. I'm not the only one in the world who thinks that or wouldn't want because of that fact. But it doesn't matter, i have my own oppinion, you have yours, end of story.

 

[jahrome]

Does the 5k come with the Phono pre like the 4k? Compared to the 4K, if you've used one, is there any reason to make the jump? I don't need the hard disk recording or the storage options and it seems like I can add the ADAT and 8 out option for a lot cheaper than upgrading to the 5. How are the sample editing functions? Slicing? Does it still create prog/seq with the auto slice? Has that fuction gotten better? Is the time stretch/pitch functions any easier to use or integrated into the sample/slice menus?

It gives you the option of creating a program when you manually or auto chop samples. The Patched Phrase function is the closest thing to creating a sequence with the chopped samples but you cannot edit the MIDI notes. Overall..the sample ediiting features of the MPC 5000 is nearly identical to the MPC 2500 with some small improvements like UNDO.

 

[Bananasass]

First of more power to you Jahrome, as this is a great thread, very informative.

So to start things off, I will address the reported "52 bugs".

Akai just recently released the MPC 5000. Some retailers will only have 1 or 2 units. Others won't receive them for a month or so.

Akai released the first MPC 5000s to beta testers. OS 1.0 was presented 7 March 2008 (nearly two months before the MPC 5000 shipped to stores). The beta testers found approx 52 bugs. OS 1.01released 30 April, corrected these bugs. The MPC 5000 started to ship the first week of May. If you happen to find a retailer that actually have one in stock, it will most likely have OS 1.01 installed.

Right, except Akai made the error releasing a pre-1.0 version on their first batch of MPC-5000s. It was a beta version that should have never been released. They've mix-up the release candidate with a beta version. Things like that can happen and I don't blame them.

The people I do blame are those that keep insisting the MPC-5000 is bugfree (or got shipped bugfree if you like), as this is or at least was clearly not the case. OS 1.01 is pretty good, but also has a couple of minor bugs. I do consider the 'bug' issue to be solved though as it was mainly, like I said as mix-up of versions.

Akai did rework the effects which include various filters. The MPC 5000 also has an additional Filter/LFO for each pad. These are far superior than the MPC 60/1000/2000XL/2500/3000. They appear to meet or exceed the MPC 4000 in terms of specs.

They did not really rework the effects actually as they wanted to make sure it all stayed true to the MPC-4000 Akai signature vibe. It's also why the specs are almost completely the same as the MPC4k.

If you don't like the MPC4k then it's 100% certain that you won't like the MPC-5k effects... In my subjective opinion both are great, even though the MPC5000 in general disappointed me a bit.

But there are some that believe anything higher than 500 ppqn isn't really useful.

Don't forget we're talking about per quarter note resolution, the higher this resolution the more accurate it becomes, but also the smaller the differences it really makes as we wouldn't hear the difference anyways.
It really takes a really good ear to even notice a 96 ppqn error of 1 ppqn size, let alone 1/16th of an error. Swing or no swing, I definitely would agree that 960 ppqn is overkill, as you can make it swing with quantize off in lower resolutions as well anyway.

@3D Beats;

So i was thinking it would be alot bigger. Not MV big, but a decent amount bigger. One thing that will probably keep me from an MV more than anything else is the size.

I can understand where you are coming from, but in this case bigger is better does apply.. at least a tiny bit. These devices are meant for studio purposes only and although there isn't an immediate need to make the device twice as small, it still gets better cooled this way.

Sadly though and this is true for both the MV-88 and the MPC-5k, both machines use somewhat old and bigger hardware as well... I mean, they could at least have gone for DDR2 Ram instead of hard to get PC133 or PC100 DDR1 DIMM memory.
At least the MV's HD is reasonably fast and the MPC-5k's one is about as fast (a bit less fast because it has less memory to (ab)use).

 

[jahrome]

@Bananasass
I am not sure what you meant by the MV-88 and MPC 5Ks hard drive speed...but I assure you that the MV is much slower when it comes to loading and saving projects..from my own personal experience.

As far as bugs, I have no intentions on getting into anymore bug debates but I will restate the obvious. When the MPC 5000 made it to stores, Akai had an OS update ready for download which it it clearly stated in the users manual. Anyone not liking this practice can simply choose not to buy an MPC. I also have to add that in all these MPC and Music Production forums...the only people talking about the 52 bugs are the people that don't own the 5K and those that will never purchase one.

 

[Bananasass]

@Bananasass
I am not sure what you meant by the MV-88 and MPC 5Ks hard drive speed...but I assure you that the MV is much slower when it comes to loading and saving projects..from my own personal experience.

I own both machines and I found the MV-8800's harddrive to be clearly faster. Don't forget that the MV can deal with much larger projects, so yeah if you're comparing projects that aren't about the same size I can see how you'd think that the MV is slower... it's not though.

As far as bugs, I have no intentions on getting into anymore bug debates but I will restate the obvious. When the MPC 5000 made it to stores, Akai had an OS update ready for download which it it clearly stated in the users manual. Anyone not liking this practice can simply choose not to buy an MPC. I also have to add that in all these MPC and Music Production forums...the only people talking about the 52 bugs are the people that don't own the 5K and those that will never purchase one.

You are wrong about that as well... the 52 bugs were there because they released the MPC 5k with a beta OS instead of the correct (and with obviously way less bugs) release candidate. Blame Akai for this mistake, not the people that received a machine that did not even work properly out of the box...

Also.. apart from the fact that there was no special mention of a mandatory OS update in my manual, who reads manuals anyways? Sure I do, but usually not the first day. Having said all that, there were 3 pretty nasty bugs in there and people that complained had all right to do so in my opinion.

 

[jahrome]

I own both machines and I found the MV-8800's harddrive to be clearly faster. Don't forget that the MV can deal with much larger projects, so yeah if you're comparing projects that aren't about the same size I can see how you'd think that the MV is slower... it's not though.



You are wrong about that as well... the 52 bugs were there because they released the MPC 5k with a beta OS instead of the correct (and with obviously way less bugs) release candidate. Blame Akai for this mistake, not the people that received a machine that did not even work properly out of the box...

Also.. apart from the fact that there was no special mention of a mandatory OS update in my manual, who reads manuals anyways? Sure I do, but usually not the first day. Having said all that, there were 3 pretty nasty bugs in there and people that complained had all right to do so in my opinion.

I have found that the MV-88 is slower when loading projects of any size when compared to the MPC-5000. In fact, you can wait minutes for a project to load in the MV-8800. I am talking projects that are the same size. The MV is simply slow which is not the case for the latest MPC. I will add that the MPC 5000 appears to be slower than the 2500 when loading.

Whether you read the manual or not...it does state to visit the site for the latest OS update. In fact, when you purchase any music production product (hardware or software), the first thing you should do is to check for any OS updates, firmware updates, driver updates, etc. I don't need a manual to tell me this. This is something that has been common practice since the late 90s at least. It's your choice if you don't do this. Nobody around here received an MPC 5K before the OS update was available so I can't see your complaint with Akai. If you do have a complaint, simply send your MPC back. That is the logical thing to do...what I would do for sure if I was unhappy with a product and their company. I found several bugs within hours of use which wasn't a surprise to me since I am fully aware of the nature of these products. That is the big difference between me and the average user around these parts. I know what I am purchasing. Trying to be the first to buy an MPC is like being the first to get an X-box or PS3.....if you didn't know....now you know.

 

[Bananasass]

I have found that the MV-88 is slower when loading projects of any size when compared to the MPC-5000. In fact, you can wait minutes for a project to load in the MV-8800.

Are you sure you have owned or still own a MV-8800? I have big projects of over 115mb that will load in under 30 seconds... really perhaps 'your' MV is broken.

Whether you read the manual or not...it does state to visit the site for the latest OS update. In fact, when you purchase any music production product (hardware or software), the first thing you should do is to check for any OS updates, firmware updates, driver updates, etc. I don't need a manual to tell me this. This is something that has been common practice since the late 90s at least. It's your choice if you don't do this. Nobody around here received an MPC 5K before the OS update was available so I can't see your complaint with Akai. If you do have a complaint, simply send your MPC back. That is the logical thing to do...what I would do for sure if I was unhappy with a product and their company. I found several bugs within hours of use which wasn't a surprise to me since I am fully aware of the nature of these products.

Just for the sake of clarity, no such comment can be found in my manual, hence why I and other people complained in the first place.

Yes, I agree that it makes sense to figure out whether or not there is an OS update out, but it's still fair to expect the machine to at least work out of the box... which was not the case.

That is the big difference between me and the average user around these parts. I know what I am purchasing. Trying to be the first to buy an MPC is like being the first to get an X-box or PS3.....if you didn't know....now you know.

Trust me, from the way I see it, you are a very average user. I also knew what I expected the machine to be just like you... I've tried it out in a store even and wanted to try it out some more thinking the device might be suitable for what I had in mind. I haven't actually sold my MPC5000 yet nor will I.

Also, it's funny that you should mention PS3 and Xbox here, as you seem to be a MPC5k fanboy trying to start a 'console war'.

I am one of those guys that has both the 'ps3' and the 'xbox' in this case. The MV is sort of like the PS3, better specs, better features, more features and so on, the MPC5k is more like the Xbox... a lot of hype, but ultimately it simply can do less than the PS3. Obviously it's possible to enjoy both the PS3 and Xbox and same goes for MPC5k and MV8800.

If you do have a complaint, simply send your MPC back.

For the money I've spend on it I expect the product to work as advertised... I and others had full rights to complain. Also, if I can get things done by complaining instead of sending it back (and give up on it), I'd prefer to do the first.

 

[jahrome]

Just for the sake of clarity, no such comment can be found in my manual, hence why I and other people complained in the first place.

Are you sure that you own or use an MPC 5K?

The majority of the people that complained about the OS of the MPC 5K do not own one. There was a huge thread about this in the MV forum as well as this one..none of those people actually own one. And if you do actually own an MPC 5K and experience the things you and others claim...why not take it back and still use an MV?

Yes, I agree that it makes sense to figure out whether or not there is an OS update out, but it's still fair to expect the machine to at least work out of the box... which was not the case.

Anyone spending thousands of dollars on music production gear should be smart enough to know that they should check for the OS update..especially when the manual states this on the opening page. This is not a jab at you but just a simple reality.

Trust me, from the way I see it, you are a very average user. I also knew what I expected the machine to be just like you... I've tried it out in a store even and wanted to try it out some more thinking the device might be suitable for what I had in mind. I haven't actually sold my MPC5000 yet nor will I.

Sorry but I am far from an average user. That is why I don't buy stuff and complain about it in an internet forum. I know exactly what I am doing when I spend my money. Yes..I owned an MV but didn't care for its workflow. From time to time..I check it out to see if any OS upgrades improves what I don't like about it....since it hasn't changed..I don't own one.

For the money I've spend on it I expect the product to work as advertised... I and others had full rights to complain. Also, if I can get things done by complaining instead of sending it back (and give up on it), I'd prefer to do the first.

Actually, you don't sound like an intelligent buyer. You have obviously spent numerous hours in these forums. The MPC 5Ks manual was available for months prior to it's release. You had all the specs and info about this unit a long time ago. Having access to all this information and knowledge/experience with the MV-8800 and you made what choice? You knowingly spent money on a machine with less features when you had access to another with more and better features? As we keep doing the math, you are not looking good as a smart consumer.

So to sum this all up...you are upset because you spent thousands of dollars on a machine that you had to install the latest OS before using it..which was already available for download prior to you purchasing it. You are upset because you didn't have the knowledge to check for an OS update or even read the first page of the manual telling you to do such. Even after all this typing and weeks of use, you still haven't found the part of the manual which states to check for an OS update? If you can comprehend these posts, you can certainly read the manual. In fact, that is the #1 rule in these forums. Read the manual before asking silly questions.

Now if you have any questions about the MPC5K...even if the answers are found in the manual..I will be happy to answer them for you. I have threads in several forums for your enjoyment/education.

 

[Bananasass]

You don't seem to understand my complaint at all. I don't care if I need to install an OS. I just would have liked to KNOW this beforehand. The manual I have does not state anywhere that I had to install some kind of OS patch. I've said this before, you know.

For the money I've spend on it I expect the product to work as advertised... I and others had full rights to complain. Also, if I can get things done by complaining instead of sending it back (and give up on it), I'd prefer to do the first.

[..]

Actually, you don't sound like an intelligent buyer. You have obviously spent numerous hours in these forums. The MPC 5Ks manual was available for months prior to it's release. You had all the specs and info about this unit a long time ago. Having access to all this information and knowledge/experience with the MV-8800 and you made what choice? You knowingly spent money on a machine with less features when you had access to another with more and better features? As we keep doing the math, you are not looking good as a smart consumer.

Yeah, I'm aware that it may look like that, but I am the owner of an entire studio and therefore I also bought the MPC5k... sort of wrongly thinking it would be a nice replacement for one of my MPC4ks that went out of order a few weeks ago. (This is my personal opinion when it comes to my personal experience.)

Off course I did research the product before buying, but I did not once found anything on a mandatory OS update. As said before I'm not mad or frustrated at all about this.. just dissappointed and I would just liked to have known.

None of the Akai people I spoke to during my research ever mentioned this problem even though they must have been aware of it. Time is money and in this case it simply costed me money, mainly because I did not have a piece of gear ready for usage for my customers... That sucks if you encounter lots of bugs trying to get things to work before you even realize that it off course may need an OS update.

Lets just say I did not expect this to happen, even though I am smart enough to figure things out eventually.

I also honestly do not understand why I am not allowed to complain about things that I have bought according to you.

Anyone spending thousands of dollars on music production gear should be smart enough to know that they should check for the OS update..especially when the manual states this on the opening page. This is not a jab at you but just a simple reality.

It does seem like a jab at me, as I simply did not expect getting a piece of gear that did not work out of the box. Would I eventually have checked for an OS update? Off course!! But that's not the point here at all.

The majority of the people that complained about the OS of the MPC 5K do not own one. There was a huge thread about this in the MV forum as well as this one..none of those people actually own one. And if you do actually own an MPC 5K and experience the things you and others claim...why not take it back and still use an MV?

I do own one, otherwise I wouldn't complain. Not that it matters, but I never saw the thread on the MV forums. Also.. and you seem to have a somewhat limited view on this or something no jabbing either, but I simply use BOTH machines. Yes, the MV is my preferred weapon of choice, but the MPC5K has some neat and useful features as well.

Let alone that my customers might be interested in Akai's latest and greatest obviously.. (but to be honest here, cats here usually prefer gear they are used to over spending lots of time figuring out new gear).

 

[Focused]

I agree with Jahrome. I havent been using mpcs as long as some folks. I bought my first mpc brand new in 2002.. but even still I know enough about this type of equipment now to research bugs, recalls, and OS updates well before I purchase an mpc/mv or whatever else. There is no reason to complain about this sort of thing today if you have years experience using mpcs. An experienced mpc user knows to wait a while before purchasing anyhow. Complaining about akai here doesnt help your cause anyhow, Complain to people that have the power to change it. Neither Jahrome nor anyone on FP have that ability.

 

[jahrome]

@Bananasass

For the record, I am not trying to insult you or anyone else. Also, I am not trying to convince anyone of buying this MPC or any other product on the market. I am just stating simple realities.

You are a studio owner. But the equipment you purchase for your studio are the same type of things in bedroom studios across the nation/world. If you have several MPC 4000s and actually use them, it would seem that you should know first hand to check Akai's website for an OS update. Again, that update was already available to you prior to you receiving the MPC 5K. I have purchase numerous music production hardware and software over the years. All of them required OS updates to fix certain issues. With this knowledge, I know to check for the latest OS update. You couldn't have done much research on the MPC 5K if you didn't notice or realize there was an OS update already available or forth coming. I did...which is the reason why I installed the latest OS prior to using it...and I was among the first people in these forums to get one.

In addition to that...your customers should be interested in the music and not the latest drum machine which has far less features that what you said you have already.

Focused is very correct. The right people to complain to is Akai. Register your MPC and get technical support from them which is also in the manual..or come here and I (or WE) will do the best we can.

In the end...we will have to agree to disagree. But my advice to you is to do more research before you buy anything else, read the manual, and check for an OS update for any products you buy....and keep using the MV and MPC 4K since you are convinced that they have more features and are faster. Doing otherwise is counterproductive to your business and workflow.

Anymore MPC5K questions?

 

[Bananasass]

Lol, I think you still don't get it or don't want to get it.. I did do a lot of research but I did not find any information on a OS update yet, bear with me I probably was one of the first to buy. That together with not having a manual with some kind of extra information mentioning a 'mandatory' OS update... I don't see how you can not see why I wasn't too happy about how Akai dealt with this.

In addition to that...your customers should be interested in the music and not the latest drum machine which has far less features that what you said you have already.

My customers are interested in gear they themselves want to use, it's how things go. I have nothing against Akai but my personal preference, just like many cats that come here prefer to use a MPC4000 anyways. Seriously though this is not the point nor the problem. Also... the cats here are mainly interested in the different kinds of sound signatures these machines have and off course they are interested in work-flow, possible work-flow issues/ work-arounds and so on.

There is no reason to complain about this sort of thing today if you have years experience using mpcs. An experienced mpc user knows to wait a while before purchasing anyhow.

Contrary to popular belief it really would make sense for Akai to make sure that their products at least work out of the box. Some bugs.. fine.. that happens with a lot of new products, some show-stopper bugs... not fine, they should have delayed release perhaps. That's all I'm saying. Now I did find out rather quick that it was a simply mix-up of release candidates and beta versions, hence why Akai released an update more or less at the same time the product became available. I however wasn't aware of this, nor made aware of this by Akai. Ultimately not a big deal, I know.. but don't tell me I do not have the rights to complain or something. It makes no sense.

Complaining about akai here doesnt help your cause anyhow, Complain to people that have the power to change it. Neither Jahrome nor anyone on FP have that ability.

I never had any such illusions, but because Jahrome mentioned the bugs as if they sort of were no issue or something... Let me just quote my initial post here, as all I said was;

Right, except Akai made the error releasing a pre-1.0 version on their first batch of MPC-5000s. It was a beta version that should have never been released. They've mix-up the release candidate with a beta version. Things like that can happen and I don't blame them.

The people I do blame are those that keep insisting the MPC-5000 is bugfree (or got shipped bugfree if you like), as this is or at least was clearly not the case. OS 1.01 is pretty good, but also has a couple of minor bugs. I do consider the 'bug' issue to be solved though as it was mainly, like I said as mix-up of versions.

It was because of my comment comparing and judging the MV's and MPC5K's internal hardware that Jahrome even bothered to start a discussion here, don't forget that... then he starting saying how I should not complain about Akai and that did not make much sense to me, so I responded to that as well. Then.. no insult taken, he started to say that I'm a 'not smart' customer thinking that I had not done any research on what I wanted to buy....

Anyways, I'm done with this... let's get on-topic for a change.

 

[jahrome]

@Bananasass
I was among the first to buy the MPC 5000..with that said....
No matter how you spin it...your comments don't seem logical too me. You can spend hours in the forums writing paragraphs on MPCs but you can't take a minute to read the introduction? I am sorry but I just don't understand your arguments. How did you do research on a product that nobody owned? The manual was the first and only true first place to start and you didn't read the introduction. So you actually didn't do any research. The introduction states to register your MPC and check the site for updates. But since it didn't say 'mandatory update' your are confused? Check the site for updates means to do simply that. There were numerous threads on this update which included the bug list all over the internet..before you got your MPC. How can you miss these if you actually did research?

I am not interested in debates about whether the MPC 5K, 4K or MV is better. I use the 5K which is why I created the thread. If you want to continue to use the 4K and MV, you can do your research in threads dedicated to those units.

 

[kcsherrell@mac.com]

You guys just spent an hour to get nowhere!

 

[Bananasass]

@Bananasass
I was among the first to buy the MPC 5000..with that said....
No matter how you spin it...your comments don't seem logical too me. You can spend hours in the forums writing paragraphs on MPCs but you can't take a minute to read the introduction?

As I said, there is no special note or something in my manual stating there's some kind of mandatory update before everything will work... all I said.

I am sorry but I just don't understand your arguments. How did you do research on a product that nobody owned?

I talked to some of the Akai promo people banging on the MPC5k on some shows, I've talked to sales people, some beta testers even , hence why I know it basically was a simple mix-up of release candidate versions with a beta version..

The manual was the first and only true first place to start and you didn't read the introduction. So you actually didn't do any research. The introduction states to register your MPC and check the site for updates. But since it didn't say 'mandatory update' your are confused?

Is it really this difficult to understand? Every manual says check the site for updates... I usually do so when I have issues, I'm looking for stability, not necessarily having the latest update. Again, I just expected the device to at least work out of the box. 52 bugs (they told me it were 54 actually) is not exactly what I expected, especially with 4 annoying show-stopping bugs that caused my problems in the first place.

It would only have made sense if they would have noted somewhere that firmware 1.0 is bugged and that you need firmware 1.01.

Also, in the world of software version 1.0 basically means 'suitable for release'... sorry but 52 bugs is NOT acceptable for a 1.0 version. If it weren't a mix-up, they should have delayed the release of the product. I literally had it the first day it was out...

You guys just spent an hour to get nowhere!

I agree.