How Will Akai Respond To Maschine Studio?

[Cyko]

Found an interesting article by Greg Savage on the subject. It's cool because he supports his view with numbers and not subjective info: worfklow,features, sound, ease of use etc.

Maschine Studio vs Akai Mpc Ren

I'm interested in hearing what everyone thinks

[Majestic Mastermind]

Imho, Akai should have stayed in their dedicated hardware lane and not try to compete with software. That was their edge..nobody could complete with that. And as far as I know the legacy MPC's ( MPC60, MPC3000, etc. ) are still selling online. They could have still been making money off that.

They should have just upgraded their current hardware line with better and more advanced effects and easier way to integrate with DAW instead of making their new MPC's dependent on one.

I like the idea of limiting yourself within one box/device. It makes you more creative and able to focus more on the music and every piece of the device.

[Cyko]

They are still selling, but there's an even smaller market for those pieces. If akai went back to that, they'd be even further behind. I'm sure they realized this which is why they are trying embark on this new market

[SoulGhost]

It just comes down to the person.
I love Akai but their biggest problem is they don't listen to their customers.
If Akai REALLY wanted to crush the competition would make the next MPC a standalone/interface.
But to me,they still make solid products and as a long time user i feel more comfortable with the
workflow.

At the end of the day though,Akai is still the prototype.(to me)


Peace

[jahrome]

I find that 'discussion' a joke. It is far from an actual discussion especially when the individual that posted it is moderating responses. lol Your comments must be approved first.

Here are my comments in its entirety waiting for moderation:

Your comment is awaiting moderation.
After reading and re-reading your blog, I am not convinced you took the ‘fan boy’ out of the equation. Your ‘facts’ are merely opinions. And it seems you are more interested in seeing which product receives the most internet hype and come to a conclusion based off of that.
Personally, it looks as if you created an MPC talking point by listing pros and cons. Then as the pros list appeared longer, you attacked several points from a different angle in order to place them in the cons list. That is my opinion.

But….let’s have a discussion regardless:

1. You wrote: “Can Akai really comeback from the devastating blows they’ve suffered over the years?
Between 2004-2008, the Akai MPC 2500 and 1000 were the premiere sampling drum machines being sold new on the market. They were not perfect but were easily head and shoulders above the MPC 2000/2000XL, which probably generated more sales than any MPC up to that point.

During this time, the only challenge to the MPC line was Roland’s MV 8000 and 8800. Roland did what every other challenger to the MPC line has done….gracefully bow out. MPCs are still here.


2. You wrote: “In my opinion, the 1000 and 2500 would have died if it weren’t for the JJOS.”
Your opinion aside, the guy that wrote the JJOS also helped write the software for the MPC 2000XL, 4000, and of course the 1000 and 2500. So it is odd you seem to praise this individual in the same paragraph as talking about Akai’s lack of software quality control.


3. You wrote: “Then, there was the financial crisis, which put them out of commission.”

Akai has had financial issues for as long as the internet has been main stream. They were selling 9 kg (20 lb) steel beasts (aka MPC 60, 3000) for $3000-$4000 to a niche market. They have restructured, come under new management and/or owners several times (as opposed to going completely out of business like so many hardware manufacturers). But they have never been out of commission. There has been a new MPC released approximately every 3 years since the late 80s.


4. You wrote: “Can the MPC series keep up with Maschine?”

It took Native Instruments approximately 4 years for Maschine to get to 1.8. And it has been 1 year between 1.8 and the paid update…2.0. Maschine 2.0 biggest features are multicore support, side chaining, a mixer, more sample content, additional plugins, and basically more of what already existed. But a dozen of these improvements already exists in the MPC Software 1.5.

Akai MPC Renaissance and MPC Studio has received 5 updates within a 13 month period. Each update came with user requested features and important bug fixes. And although still virtually new on the market, it contains features that still doesn’t exist in Maschine after 5 years of updates.


5. You wrote: “It’s bug ridden!”

Are you talking about Maschine or the MPC Renaissance? Since you signed an NI NDA you know very well that numerous bugs existed in Maschine 1.x. If NI hasn’t purged posts in their heavily moderated forums, anyone can read for themselves. 2.0 also has bugs. I found several bugs within minutes of using Maschine 2.0. Battery 4s, NI’s flagship drum sampler, doesn’t even work in Maschine.

So if you actually took the ‘fan boy’ out of the equation, you wouldn’t have even mentioned the MPC Renaissance in a bad light as far as bugs. The MPC does have bugs. But Akai has been very good at keeping the updates flowing on a regular basis to improve the software.


6. You wrote: “Imo they owe the chopping credit to Propellerheads, RECYLE set the bar for that…”
Recyle set the bar for chopping in any product to include Maschine. But it took NI 5 years to get it right in Maschine with the 2.0 paid update.

MPC Renaissance had this functionality out the gate. NI recently implemented overlapping slices in 2.0. This feature was in fact ‘borrowed’ from the MPC Renaissance MPC Software….all the way down to the way the GUI is designed. Instead of taking this feature to another level, NI even copied the MPC Software’s ‘limitations’ in that you can’t overlap slice start points. Basically…NI got caught cheating because they failed to write their own name on the test.

This leads me into the next point of discussion…


7. You wrote: “What Native Instruments Did Right”. They capitalized on Akai’s situation. They took everything that made the Mpc great and made it modern – That simple!
Not so fast. They didn’t achieve this. Maschine’s sequencer is no where close to matching any flagship MPC past or present. Maschine is missing missing MIDI sequencing functions found in MPCs over 25 years ago. 2.0 still has some of the same limitations.

So while NI has improved Maschine (MIDI file import was just added), no one that has actually used both products can honestly claim NI has matched the MPC Rensaissance/Studio’s MIDI sequencing capabilities.
8. You wrote: “I remember seeing videos of Akai’s staff talking about how hard they worked on the pads, getting to trigger right etc. Um, Roger Linn gave you blueprint for that (Mpc 60/3000)! Maybe I’m missing something?”

The ‘blueprint’ was not good enough. Even NI used the
‘blueprint’ but made the pads more sensitive. Akai sought out to make the MPC Renaissance pads more sensitive and responsive than any hardware MPCs. They accomplished this in the MPC Renaissance.


9. You wrote: “Marketing……”

As I alluded to earlier…this seems to be the entire foundation of what you want to discuss. Never mind how the units function.

So I must ask…have you personally spent any significant amount of time using both units? In most forums across the internet, users tend to use one or the other, and form their opinions based on limited familiarity with either model. But there are small collective of guys that actually own and use both products to include Maschine Studio and the 2.0 software.


Conclusion…..let me know when you want to discuss using the products instead of what is trending. For any Maschine MK1/MKII owners reading this….ditch your model while you can and go with the Maschine Studio. You do no get the full experience of 2.0 without it. You can reach me via email or my website and receive a prompt response should you have any questions or comments.

[Cyko]

I think you bring some interesting points to the table.

Ps - most sites moderate comments to avoid spam. It's a norm these days.

[ultra auris]

yea I dont think they delivered a very good product with the new mpcs. Software is very questionable to me. Quality of the developers behind it, is in question, to me also. I have a mpc studio that I was given to test out, and the first one had a failed usb port (no big deal maybe just bad luck). Its a nice controller but imo has very sub par software behind it. The new machine is considerably better on both hardware and software. I still prefer real mpcs anyway so it really doesnt matter to me.

[GFY]

i literally created an account today just to tell off every dumb ass who put the words mpc and maschine in the same pissing match, as if theres even a contest. It seems a lot of people are completely groove deaf and tone deaf because the mpc surely out performs any competition hands down.. thanks for taking the time to let them know ; not to mention they've been around decades longer than a lot of these new audio companies and there still here. so yea there not listening to anyone except themselves because they obviously know what the majority of others don't. timing is everything

[GFY]

a good theory to live by with equipment is to allow yourself several days with new gear to not only explore its capabilities but ensure all the proper drivers and compatabilitites are in order. i know it may actually seem like work but do some critical listening to the sounds of the drum machines kits and effects from the standalone software of machine .. listen for transient information when you chop your kits up and then go listen to the mpc.. if you still don't hear it quit making music

[GFY]

god dude u made my day i was so mad!

people are strange ~