Akai Professional product specialist Andy Mac paid a visit to sonicstate to give an in-depth demo of the new Akai MPC Renaissance.
The MPC Renaissance retails for about $1,300. Details below.
Features:
- Fuses legendary MPC production with the processing power of your computer
- Vintage Mode changes output sound character to MPC3000, MPC60 and more
- 16 backlit genuine MPC pads, 16 Q-Link controls, and adjustable backlit LCD screen
- Classic MPC Note Repeat, MPC Swing and MPC transport controls
- MPC SOFTWARE for Mac or PC with 64-track sequencing capability
- Two XLR-1/4” combo inputs and dedicated turntable input
- Four-channel US B 2.0 audio interface and two-port US B 2.0 hub built in
- Up to eight pad banks?more than any other MPC ever
- Two MIDI inputs and four MIDI outputs
- Stereo 1/4” out, stereo assignable mix 1/4” out & S/PDIF I/O
this man is just saying numbers
With NI Maschine out there, and soon Ableton Push, not to mention all the non-computer dependent MPCs on the secondhand market, I expect this will be a miserable failure for Akai. Hope they get a good rev share deal on the Push.
$1300….for a controller. WHAT? Instead, for that much you could get a second-hand MPC5000 AND an MPC 2000 with money left over for a nice lunch.
Lets take a outdated hardware device and turn it into a controller and charge 1200 dollars. WOW!!!
I am a Maschine user and won’t be changing to the renaissance but I do like the more substantial controller with built in soundcard and USB hub (NI take note). The idea of being able to plug a turntable straight in is well thought out and was a great feature of the mpc5000.
shamelessly cashing in on the MPC name… its too bad akai has to resort to that kind of bullshit
Exactly what MPC users want.
If $1200 is too much for you, take your music more seriously.
it´s not that 1300$ is too much. it´s the fact that you are getting a controller for that price. get it?
IT’S A CONTROLLER!!!!
How Many controllers do you have that have 2 headphone jacks, phono inputs built-in xlr and line inputs and outputs, 4 midi out and 2 midi in? Yes its a hybrid-mid controller/ audio device that requires a computer. I own Maschine and the Akai Renaissance, and yes the Akai crashes at times as did the Maschine when it first arrived. Maschine took I believe 3 years before they added most of the features that users had been requesting. Yes I hope Akai gets it together and fixes the bugs and lets see where it stands 3 years from now. As far as making beats the Akai is a lot more user friendly, not pages to go through to find things. The sequencer is tighter in the Akai software, easier to layer samples, chop and edit in the Akai, the workflow I find is much faster in the Akai a solid more versatile controller. The Maschine software is better in other ways such as komplete integration and after many updates stability. I have Ibanez and Gibson guitars, neither one plays itself nor does the Maschine or the renaissance, its the person on the Maschine. They both are great for making beats, both have 16 pads and both are hybrids. Make
Music nor war!
They are both great products.
Guys, this is NOT a controller. This is controller + software + sounds + audio interface (+ usb hub). Deal with it if you compare it with Mashine or Ableton Push which are clearly not audio interfaces so you still have to buy one. That’s why MPCren is more expensive.
sh!t usb hub you say! now i gotta get me one. just hope they have that 12bit grittyness.
RIP Akai
There is still a huge market for MPC’s.
This will be a hit for Akai
I still think the best example of hardware/software integration is a virus TI – it can be used either completely standalone (without a PC) or inside a DAW as a VST. Akai should have gone this route IMO.
Agreed!
i’d be more interested if it didn’t have a pointless sound card that didn’t drive the price up so much. i’m interested in mpc as software, but i get my sounds from apogee devices and do not need the pointless and redundant sound card. it’s too bad that the other mpc devices from akai were a second though.
also, i don’t need usb hubs.
i suppose i’ll see what akai does for people in my boat (hopefully nothing like a rebranded mpd32, because i find that line to be garbage), while i continue to use my maschine and await ableton push.
Just get my Ren yesterday, no troubles by installing. No crashes when i use it as standalone. It works great. Get a nice punch. Hardware is top and software works stable if you are not loading tons of plugins. Im pretty happy :))))))))))) This thing is allready a monster and very comfortable.
Love it. Im using it on iMac 10.6, still use my mpc 1k.
People try it out by yourself, the ren is not just a controller
Cheers from Switzerland
Forget to mention, the ren is not overpriced. If would works as standalone without the computer it would cost about 3 – 4 grands for the same features.
Thank you Akai! Keep the good work
not overpriced? the way it works – you compare the gear in question with other competing products and ascertain the differences in price and features. only unique feature ren has is the audio interface which many wish it didn´t. (only beginners in music don´t have an interface yet, so this is redundant)
and yes, ren is a controller, live with it. the fact it has an mpc sticker on it does not change this fact. mkay?
Akai Mpc Ren 1299.00
Just as a controller plus the Akai software 699.00
3 added software packages from Sonnivox 149=450.00
Built-in Audio Device 300-700
Do the Math try to find an audio device similar with the same features as the Renaissance
Wow you people are truly ridiculous. Controller…not a controller…who the F cares? It’s a freaking instrument, designed to give the user as best an experience as possible when writing music. You people with pointless hardware spec fetishes need to get over yourselves. Seriously. A bunch of knobs, faders, pads whatever, controlling something under the hood, sounds to me like every instrument ever built. I can’t believe people are bashing improvements on technology and workflow. Get a life people.
Yeah totally, Akai, Roland, Korg and the like should dictate what musicians use and how. Who are we to have an opinion? Just because something is cheaper to produce for them doesn’t mean we should be thankful just because it is classified as an instrument. It’s exactly this kind of thinking that stifles innovation.
User feedback and competition drives research and development which in turn delivers better products.
Admin: Personal attack deleted. Keep comments on topic and constructive.
There was no personal attack at all, that was directed to everyone bashing this product without a single though about the research and development process that goes into these products, and each point was valid. Thanks for silencing my opinion, I will not be returning here.
Says the guy whos only comment on a possibly revolutionary groovebox was:”just another bass synth”. yes, i come to synthopia for the laughs. So in a way you will missed.
“possibly revolutionary”. What a joke.
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tbh i thought this thing looked pretty cool and i wish i had alot of these features on my quneo 🙁
Let me elaborate. 4 voice analog synth combined with dsp effects, powered with lauded plock sequencer. Plus cv out. See that is a new concept- and yet you defend a controller as an r&d marvel. You are right it is a joke.
I have recently bought an mpc 2500 , and really rate it. I don’t understand why this new akai machine has only a few outputs, I am happy with the MPC 2500.
It is good to be less deppendant on computers rather than more.?
The interface on the ren is pretty usuable. Im running my mpc 1k and the ren on my extern interface focusrite saffire pro 24. At same time i can sample on ren from 1k, i can sample from mac to ren or from Ren to 1k or Mac. I can plug in directly another extern source. All this without using a mixer and without the needing of plug in and out some cables.
Just put the damn DSP in there, and charge 20$ more.
I like the “integration”, but the device of this price should obviously be self -sufficient too. Booting my PC, that seems to get slower by the day, is poison to my workflow.
And the “integration”-aspect would also use from this approach, as the synth would do the sounds and computers cpu would take it easy.
I agree. Depending on a computer is not cool. PCs as such are nothing bad, but with external gear it is easier to get creative and get in the mood. For example, if I had programmed some inspiring patch on my external synth, I would then sure turn to my computer and continue making an arrangement. However, if I needed to open a program first, on many occasions I would skip that step and just watch youtubes. 😉
With gear like MPC Renaissance I expect that I flip the switch and get going. For the price this thing should be instrument not a controller.
Stand alone without a PC would have been a game changer. I understand that software has its advantages but I seriously dislike wasting time optimizing a device to meet my music creation needs.
I agree, it is a bit over priced. I bought one, I think it should be around $899 tops. The controller is WAY better than NI’s machine, thats just cheap junk compared to the MPC Ren. The software is pretty good. It just has that MPC feeling going on… frankly I dont want to have to learn new software. The Ren is for MPC fans. Guess i am biased. Although you could do all this cheaper if you bought GEIST and a MPD 32.
Geist is a great soft, but does not host your plug-ins. The Ren software will be a kind of a daw, when it will work fine. If Akai updates this, it will be the best, the controller is fantastic. It is a great piece of gear, very well built.
hi my name is Emil, I come from Polish (in Europe).
about 2 months ago I bought your AKAI MPC RENAISSANCE, and I’m very happy with it. But after a while I realized that I need the keys. I decided to buy a Roland JUNO-Gi, and I now have a problem.
I would like to use the software and do mpc drums for renaissance and just overdub another track of the bass with Roland, or strings or violin, etc. .. Now my problem is, how do I connect everything with each other, set the teeth were playing well and there was no latency. Now latency is dependent on the renaissance? or the sound card in my laptop?
Hi Emil ! The latency is dependent on the soundcard that you’re using. If you’re using the soundcard of your ren, you can solve that issue with the ren audio settings. Hope it Helps !
I have an mpc already and I’m thinking about purchasing a ren. Anyone knows about the latency of the renaissence compared to other mpc’s like 2500/5000/etc ? The situation is this : with my current mpc I play the pads and i dont feel the latency ! Can the renaissence do the same? Even with all proper settings in buffer syze , great pc, whatever ! I want to know if my performance in real time can be the same… Please help and forgive my terrible english x)