Beat Kangz Beat Thang Available July 17 For $1,500

Atlanta-based Rowdy Electronics, through a joint venture with Nashville’s BKE (Beat Kangz Electronics), has announced that the Beat Thang will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on July 17, 2011, as a limited edition, with a suggested retail price of $1,500.

Producer Dallas Austin will be co-hosting pre-release parties with Best Buy in Nashville, Atlanta, New York and Miami to demonstrate the Beat Thang for industry VIP’s.

“We’ll be showing everyone how you can sing into it, play keyboards into it, put beats into it – anything,” he says. “We’ll also have a few for pre-order because once we hit the release date, it’s anyone’s guess how many will be available to the industry. We only produced 1,000 units and the buzz is running pretty hot.”

Features:

  • One octave pad layout with 8 banks so you can bang out beats or play the keys.
  • 16 tracks so you can create patterns that can be performed and remixed on the fly.
  • 16 layers of velocity sensitivity for emotive performance.
  • High Quality Sampler & waveform editing. Onboard sampler & resampler.
  • Edit sample start and end times. Process samples using features like normalize, reverse and resample.
  • Easy to use Realtime Sequencer. Create patterns in real time using quantize, swing, individual bar lengths, tap tempo then string them together in SONG mode.
  • Mixer with built in FX Change track, pad and pan levels.
  • Add 24bit reverb, delay, flange, phaser, pitch shift, old record and many more.
  • Add BANG with onboard mastering.
  • Export your songs as .wav files or save them to your Beat Kangz Playa Thang equipped iPhone or iPod Touch.
  • Rechargeable internal battery.
  • Pitch and Mod wheel.
  • 2 high speed SD card slots.
  • 256 MB Ram Stock.
  • Connects seamless with Beat Thang Software.
  • Rugged all metal chassis

The Beat Kangz originally announced the Beat Thang in 2009. Since that time, The Beat Kangz have released a virtual Beat Thang and several software add-ons.

68 thoughts on “Beat Kangz Beat Thang Available July 17 For $1,500”

  2. Well at least it's not vaporware anymore. It's just $500 overpriced and crippled in distribution. Who goes to Best Buy for musical instruments? Shoulda partnered with Guitar Center. Then it woulda been taken more seriously.

  8. fail…its worh about 600 bucks at the most..not one person will buy this junk..i smell bankrupt in a month.. did i say fail..great luck lame asses!!!!

  10. Everybody's talking trash without actually saying anything about the gear, which is bull.

    Are you just hating it because it's a hip hop machine? It's cool that these guys are finally getting their dream out the door.

    I hope they do well. You're not going to see something like this come out of Roland or Yamaha.

    This and the Tempest are two of the coolest boxes in years.

  11. I'm not terribly interested in this product, but I agree with your sentiment — why is everyone so down on this?

    Also, I just discovered the other day that the Best Buy at Union Square in NYC is a) open 24 hours a day and b) has a suprisingly good music equipment selection. Sounds like fun to me!

  12. Did you just completely ignore the rest of the post where specs and price were listed? Or even watch the video? Pretty sure this is not about it being a "hip-hop machine".

  13. The reason folks are so pissed is due to the fact that they not only hiked the price up from over nearly two years back (it was meant to sell for $999 SRP), but also lacking some basics i.e. outputs…

    A proper letdown especially for Hip Hop heads (like me), which it's aimed at…

    If you've alienated your target audience, you're done.

    Proper POS!

  14. MPC500 or MPC1k w/ any OS Akai or JJ would murder this thang. I think i Paid $350 for my 500 and $550 for my 1000. 16 tracks? What a Joke. The iPad would beat this Thang down. lol

  15. Not sure if you watched the same video that I did.

    Some of the specs on this look pretty good.

    256 MB Ram? Can you even upgrade an MPC to that? 32GB in the twin card slots is good. The pad layout looks like it would make a lot of sense for basslines. Rechargeable battery is good. Big color screen – very nice. The one thing I don't like is the number of outputs.

    Everybody wants to complain about all the new gear these days, without actually trying it out.

    They are going to blow through those 1,000 boxes just like the Teenage Engineering guys did with the OP1.

  16. I bought the BTV a year or so ago hoping to get the discount on the hardware when it arrived. Now the price has been jacked from 999usd to 1500. Thanks Beat Kangz for looking after your existing customer base with a limited edition. Your boutique drum machine has just cost you a customer.
    Ihave Maschine, Octatrack and got Spark yesterday and preordered Tempest afetr Namm. Sorry your piece is overpriced. I would have dropped my hardearned but I won’t be ripped off by your marketting people. Expect an email tp vent my disappointment.

    Cheers

  17. Well, kudos to these guys for pulling it off, I guess. I'm not sure there was really even a market for it two years ago when they started the hype… but I guess there are people that will be into an over-stylized MPC alternative?

    I mean, really – you can sing into it and sample your voice?? I was blown away by that feature on the SK1 in 1985. You could get an Octatrack for the same price as the Beat Thang, which seems infinitely more inspiring as far as sampling goes. But I guess it's not as glowy and tron-like (via 2009 aesthetics)? I'm sure it would look dope behind the BEP at the superbowl or something.

  20. I really like the built-in rechargeable battery, that is a big deal to me. But the rest of the spec does not hold up to the price. Maybe $500-$700 would be about right, for me at least. I'm not an MPC guy though, the korg esx/es1 are more my thing.

    I do think they will sell their 1000 pretty easily, good luck to them.

  21. REALTIME SEQUENCING OF TRACKS: MPC 500 – 48 Tracks (CF Card, 6AA Batt, I use rechargeable 5-6 hour life), MPC 1000 – 64 Tracks (CF Card, Hard Drive, (80 GB HD in mine) MPC = Rock Solid Midi Sequencing/Timing, iPad – 8-16 Tracks (16-64gb Storage, 10hour Batt life, Card Reader,Cloud Storage, Thousands of quality Apps, Midi and Sequencing Capability)

    I'm just stating the facts. I do hip hop and hate to see people waste their money on a night light.

  22. It'll sell out, no doubts. Especially with Best Buy as a distributer. MPC's are still only 16bit while this, effects anyhow, are 24bit. A bigger screen too. And that grill ~ outta sight! I guarantee it will become, if nothing else, a collector's item.

  27. I'm hating it cuz it's overpriced for what it does. I have no problems with Hip Hop, but that's part of your problem is calling it a "hip hop machine". That severely limits it. It's like saying a piano can only do classical. And the marketing? I'm not talking about the video which is just overglossy fluff like everything else these days, I'm talking about having it exclusively at Best Buy. Why? Shouldn't you want people to get your product everywhere?

  28. They've already alienated and lied to there existing customer base by not notifying them of there pre order.

    I preordered more than 9 months ago and have never heard anything since. . Existing or initial customers were told that it would be avail at a discount to there BTV at 999 less what they paid for there software with dongle. Fucking liars and marketting gurus..

    At the initial price announced over a year ago they would of sold 10.000 of these boxes .

    The only thing that's gonna be a game changer as they would say for me now is the Korg Kronos.

    1500 for a mobile beatbox.. Kiss my arse.

    Cheers

  29. Looks like a fun machine. It could be a good stand-alone sampling/sequencing unit for people who don't have these bases covered with other gear already.

    Good luck to them.

  30. I'm really surprised that in the era of the iPad, this device is being made. It's not that it's a horrible concept, but it's totally out classed by tablets and laptops half its price. Those that use and love the MPC, will not give them up for this. Those that don't own an MPC, but might like to would probably go for an Octatrack or Machine before this. It's like someone repackaged the QY70, but got the Beats by Dre guys to market it. But then again, this is probably not the point. The point is to sell the 1000 they made and get out quick. They don't seem interested in musicians as they are in hip hop fans that want to play producer.

  32. Octattrack is a totally different style of programming to this thing, this is meant to be a riff on the MPC. Its not really a competitor for the octattrack.

  33. ok… then buy an mpc…

    the software was trash. The GUI lacked common sense and it was missing features that would have been obvious to anyone with experience making "beats". The company is dishonest… about the feature set before release, about the hardware, about future updates, etc.. The Beat Thang is a flashy turd with no substance, created by a company who thought flashing lights were better than a stable os…

    Aiki, buy an MPC2500 then… or maschine…

  34. HEY GUY, THIS BEATTHANG LOOKS FUCKING RETARDED.

    MASCHINE IS THE COOLEST AND BEST WORKING BOX EVER, AND ITS PRICE POINT IS ON TARGET.

    FUCKA BEATTHANG

  35. I can't stop laughing. It's worse than I ever imagined it could be.

    The Beat Thang is like the mutant offspring of a Roland SP-404 (2005) and MPC500 (2006) at three times the price. Sure it has modern amenities like USB and a nicer display… but TWO outputs and a stereo input? For $1,500?? That's ABSURD. Have the Kangz ever seen a hardware sampler before??
    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-31BHObYbHfU/TazOjuytH8I…
    http://www.dv247.com/assets/products/gallery/4855…
    http://www.beatkangz.com/images/stories/products/…

    Side note: I went to their website and on the home page they're bragging about the NEW features just added to the virtual BT: sample slicing and timestretching. Finally they're up to speed with the Electribe-S from 11 years ago!

  36. I can't stop laughing. It's worse than I ever imagined it could be.

    The Beat Thang is like the mutant offspring of a Roland SP-404 (2005) and MPC500 (2006) at three times the price. Sure it has modern amenities like USB and a nicer display… but TWO outputs and a stereo input? For $1,500?? That's ABSURD. Have the Kangz ever seen a hardware sampler before??
    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-31BHObYbHfU/TazOjuytH8I…
    http://www.dv247.com/assets/products/gallery/4855…
    http://www.beatkangz.com/images/stories/products/…

    Side note: I went to their website and on the home page they're bragging about the NEW features just added to the virtual BT: sample slicing and timestretching. Finally they're up to speed with the Electribe-S from 11 years ago!

  37. I can't stop laughing. It's worse than I ever imagined it could be.

    The Beat Thang is like the mutant offspring of a Roland SP-404 (2005) and MPC500 (2006) at three times the price. Sure it has modern amenities like USB and a nicer display… but TWO outputs and a stereo input? For $1,500?? That's ABSURD. Have the Kangz ever seen a hardware sampler before??
    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-31BHObYbHfU/TazOjuytH8I…
    http://www.dv247.com/assets/products/gallery/4855…
    http://www.beatkangz.com/images/stories/products/…

    Side note: I went to their website and on the home page they're bragging about the NEW features just added to the virtual BT: sample slicing and timestretching. Finally they're up to speed with the Electribe-S from 11 years ago!

  38. I can't stop laughing. It's worse than I ever imagined it could be.

    The Beat Thang is like the mutant offspring of a Roland SP-404 (2005) and MPC500 (2006) at three times the price. Sure it has modern amenities like USB and a nicer display… but TWO outputs and a stereo input? For $1,500?? That's ABSURD. Have the Kangz ever seen a hardware sampler before??
    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-31BHObYbHfU/TazOjuytH8I…
    http://www.dv247.com/assets/products/gallery/4855…
    http://www.beatkangz.com/images/stories/products/…

    Side note: I went to their website and on the home page they're bragging about the NEW features just added to the virtual BT: sample slicing and timestretching. Finally they're up to speed with the Electribe-S from 11 years ago!

  39. Ever since my old QY-20's screen went dead I've wanted a replacement (a portable, dedicated sequencer for sketching ideas quickly into MIDI files) with a few bells and whistles too, like decent native sounds & output quality such that it could also be used in a live performance setup (and is not a laptop, because laptop rock is boring as f*ck to watch.)

    I got excited about the Octatrack… until all of the OS hassles became known, which in tandem with the price just made me mad. Then this 'Thang' pops up and for a second I again begin to hope – until I actually watch the video and read the specs. This thing is basically the equivalent of Dr. Dre shilling highly overpriced headphones under the rubric of their "pro-ness" as pointed out by Ben Jarvis earlier.

    Hadn't heard about Spark (much better price, although bigger than I want) or Kronos (not what I want either)…

    Perhaps I should just go back and re-examine the prospect of buying a QY-70.

    [sigh]

  40. Fucking dogs never answered an email from a week ago.

    Bad customer service deserves poor sales. Ignore us at your peril.

    It's been obvious in there videos that they are arrogant pricks.

  41. This and the Tempest are two of the coolest boxes in years. Quoted from another poster.

    Yeh and that's why I have also preordered Tempest from Sweetwater. I'd rather spend the extra 500-1000 on quality over hype. July and August are gonna be expensive but sweet.

    Cheers

  42. This shit is straight gay looking good luck against akai and native instruments. Seems like it’s better to use as a flashlight then to compose a track. Fail

  44. WOW. Overpriced. Let's build something that already exists (as one poster mentioned, SP series or MPC), and put the word "beat" and wear "DRE Beats" headphones in the demo and charge $1500.00.

    Unfortunately as with everyone else, smell #fail

  45. As much as you guys want this to fail…….sorry it's not gonna happen….. Un like most of you in here i ACTUALLY work in the music biz and i when i tell you that EVERYONE in the industry is jumping on this i mean NEARLY everyone! I was at interscope the other day and they had 3 in the studio…. BEP using it, Tricky using it, Okenfold using it, Swizz using it, stevie j using it, krucial keyz using it, even saw jus blaze on it, teddy riley on it, terry lewis on it, jim johnson using it….. drumma boy on it……. Ea Ski on it, JD on it and dallas just did chris brown and lady gaga with it……. basicly most all of the REAL top producers are on it……. sooooo hate to break it to ya fellas but something is happening here and it's far from failure…… None of those producers i mentioned were given this and none of them were paid to use it and i know about 8 major records dropping this year that have been made and are being made on it and the software including alicia's new project……..

    when you actually get a chance to play with it which i have (and none of you have) …… then u are gonna probably going to be feeling pretty silly about your comments, considering they have been made before you have actually seen it in person…… you'll probably still want to hate it because it seems as though some of you in here just get a hard on hating this but you wont be able too….. it's by far the best drum machine to ever come out…… which is why the REAL recording industry is buying it……… and as for the price….. well that actually helps them in the actual music business because not many of you wanna be's will be able to afford it and that is attractive to the serious producers in the game for real……

    It's the ONLY 24 bit drum machine sampler on the market right now and it's portable…… and the sounds are legit…..

    My advice to you guys in here….. Actually research and play with a piece of gear before you trash talk about it or you just look stupid and un educated…… Just by reading this thread it was obvious that most of you actually make music for a living or are in the prime time music biz and probably wont ever be considering your negative attitudes……

    And no i dont work for the company…… or have any affiliation….. i do electrical work and wire the studios that these top guys record in which is why I KNOW they have it, use it and LOVE it and allot of them have had it for months now…….. So it pissed me off when i read this thread full of BS people talking about something they have no idea about…..

    it's sad really….. and dont worry i wont go tit for tat with any of you in here….. i have actual work to do…..

    Jarvis

    1. Umm! You do not work for them and you ”wire” shit in big time studios??? That,s why you are reading every thread on this forum… Because you suck Aja’s cockadoodle… Wait YOU ARE AJA!!!! Give yourself some electro-shock therapy and forget about your beat thang… And quit stealing… It’s not nice and you do it to too many peeps ;-)) Won’t soon forget!
      These guys don’t even own their company… Black own and operated my ass… David Crabtree, 2 millions in investment… WHITE… You have no credibility, probably why Boom Bap has his own company working on other project… Not wasting his time with thang… Oh the video at Namm 2012! Needless to say they don’t look happy talking to the camera this year…

  47. @Jarvis
    Dude, just from your jockin' tone and your lengthy, almost comical narrative of how anybody who's anybody is using this, shows me you very possibly ARE affiliated with the company. This reads just like the fake account posts at MPC forums last year that were obviously Beat Kang LLC employees. Your insistence on repeatably talking about how in with the pros you are, and what "wannabes" this product's detractors are, also screams of a connection. So even if you are who you say you are, fixing Dre's broken solders or whatever, this sure sounds like a script Aja from BK LLC gave you.

    People have had over 2 years of delays with this product to research it's features. That's not anybody's issue, people have problems with the company's track record up to this point, abd what that might mean for support and the prolonged life of the instrument.

    It's not sad at all that longtime users of E-MU/Ensoniq and particularly Akai MPC samplers don't want a sampler with blinking lights and a corny, childish name. Believe me the specs peaked any gearhead's interest, but the consensus was not in that package, and not from a company that operates their business the way these guys have. Most of what's construed as hate is just people's normal reaction to the Beat Kangz continually making themselves look foolish.

  48. Lol, whatever Jarvis, we are MUSICIANS and this thing is made of cheap Chinese plastic which will fall apart in a year or two and the damn thing doesnt even have a step sequencer. I dont care who they pay to play with one in your studio, its arse!

  49. Wow! $1500!Really?! Pass! Let's see, hmmmm I could use the $1500 and get a limited, albeit glitzy machine OR I could spend the same money and get a powerful laptop, Native Instruments Maschine AND an IPad with Beatmaker 2 and Nanostudio.

    I'm not knocking the BeatKangz guys, but that Thang is way too expensive.

  65. Honestly, instead of talking shit, people just need to try it for themselves and decide if it’s the right machine for them or not. I don’t own one, but I want to. I takes many outstanding features from the MPC series, and builds on them. Here’s what I think:

    Pros:
    – Has more stock RAM than any MPC series.
    – Has a much nicer screen and waveform editor than MPC’s
    – Has a very quick, efficient workflow that makes this thing plain fun to use.
    – 8 pad banks in drum kit mode, 8 octaves in instrument mode. Pretty damn nice.
    – High resolution sequencer, makes effective use of tracks, makes chaining sequences into songs easy.
    – Robust and acoustically pleasant effects section.

    Cons:
    – Expensive
    – Only 2 mod wheels, a pricey machine should have more Q-Link style controls like MPC’s do.
    – Very heavy
    – 1 line in, 2 headphone outs, one stereo out. WEAK.
    – I have large hands, so it felt a little cramped.
    – I HATE NAVIGATING WITH CURSOR WHEELS.

    All in all, it’s a worthwhile machine for somebody looking for a robust, multi-purpose stage unit. And I know people complain about it lighting up, but it’s really nice to have that in the dark. And it would provide good audio-visual feedback for the crowd. Give it a chance. It’s not a bad little beast.

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