MPC Thread : MPC Live - MPC X - MPC One (Part 1)

Haha I wasn’t getting defensive :wink: I don’t work for akai, if this thing sucks I’d rather find out now :wink:

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I second that :stuck_out_tongue:

I wasn’t questioning the unit jus the rep, and actually want to know answers to a few of those questions so I can “find out now”. :slight_smile:

EDIT - he kind lols and shrugs saying we’re not going to stop supporting it, so don’t worry about things like difficult to replace batteries… but I’m sure nobody actually believes that pitch. :blush:

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Did he say, no streaming from media, all samples have to be loaded in the memory? Sad. Here the OT still rules!

Only the idea of “…if battery replacement is needed, we will have a solution…” is for me THE reason not to buy a LIVE now.

From a 1k $ instrument I expect to have a user-replacable battery pack from the beginning of delivery and a guarantee of a replacement option for the next 10-20 years. We have also to consider the second-hand market. Who buys a used battery driven unit, knowing nothing about the battery status, and risking to have an expensive door-stop any time.

Everybody, who is experienced with re-chargable devices knows that after a certain number of re-charge-cycles the capacity of battery packs drop. This may happen after 2 to 4 years, if the unit is used much. And then what? Depending on an “… we will have a solution …”, or an expensive Akai-replacement-service, or running the unit by power-supply only?

AFAIK there are options to guarantee easy going battery support without special servicing required, also by third party manufacturers, … so Akai, think about this, please.

Yep … RAM, recording quality in 16/24 bits etc. is not an in-depth specification only interesting to the boffins :smiley:

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unusual gaps in knowledge there - not helped by the fact he’s been on his feet repping the busiest buzziest product in the hall, probably constant traffic all day - his voice is shot, he looks knackered. i would be too!

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Also…

Q. is audio compressed ?

A. errrr dunno I’ll have to ask the techs !! (Almost head In his hands)

Everyone - Ok cheers for your time :slight_smile:

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I don’t want to sound rude but who gives you guarantee for 10-20 years that there will be replacement option for the battery? What company/product? Apple, Samsung, sony …?

wow!

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I think Andy’s done really well with the new MPC range to be honest. He’ll know from experience that you have to be really careful with what you say to a lot of these questions he’s getting so he’s playing it safe. No big deal. He’s sort of damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t to be honest as I guarantee you he’d be getting it in the neck for years if he answered something incorrectly. Akai Dan’s reputation is still in the shitter!!!

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The OP-1 2nd hand market is very strong. TE didn’t make it particularly easy to change the battery either but there are solutions. I think it’s fair to say that MPC Live will be more successful than the OP-1 in terms of unit sales so would be an almost certainty that there will at least be a 3rd party solution to all of this available in time.

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Your remark is absolutely okay and not rude at all, in any sense … :thumbsup:

Your example with Apple, Samsung etc. is very good … and it is excellent to show that all of this business strategy is not technically driven, but only to keep sails happy. Sorry, if the following is a kind of philosophical :wink:

Those companies want us to “dispose” expensive devices after 2 or 4 years at minimum and “buy” their new products. Sails fills their pockets and empties our wallets. That’s not because our once purchased products are out-dated, to bad to make a phone-call, or broken otherwise, it’s hype and business taking advantage from hype.

For me this is not acceptable, particularely, if we talk about professional units or a music instrument. My main complaint is that there is absolutely no technical need, to built units, having such a predictable end-of-life. There is no technical reason not to use a “standard” energy-cell design, and allowing to operate a unit as long as the user likes. Have we ever opened a “battery-pack”? If yes, it’s interesting to find inside allmost very common cells … only the package-form and the electrical contacts are special. There is also no need for a highly increased price-tag, if a user can replace the battery, if needed. I own a MPC 5k and there have been ports to upgrade the unit with more RAM, with a CDR-drive. A MPC Live could as well have a port for a battery. The Live is not a paper-thin electronics-device, forcing the engineers to use special gel-batteries or special cells.

I buy studio equipment, gear, and instruments to be operative for a long time, which needs not be live-time or centuries (like Strativari violins), but definitely not for timeframes less than 10 years of use.

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Akai Dan would have known the answers :slight_smile:

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Hopefully you will be right

… but TBH … I don’t like this attitude of "… buy first … and trust us that we might come up with a solution … ". Particularly Akai was not convincing in the past :wink:

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People’s Op1 batteries are still great after 4 years. Akai should be no different. And I’m pretty sure that they’ll have something in place over next couple of years for battery replacement. And if they haven’t and it dies in 5 years then there’ll probably be plenty other battery cell options around by then. And worst case that there isn’t, 5 years of extensive portable use is pretty good for the price looking at anything else similar on market. Just plug it in after that…

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You are optimistic … why not … but I compare this attitude - well this is extreme - to a person, selling me a car and telling me, the fuel-tank is full, but if it’s empty, the engineers might have come up with a solution for a refill.

Well, I expect a replacement concept is to be communicated at release time. The guy asking the questions only asked, what had been asked in the forum. I think it is not the most important question to place first, but also not something, which should be ignored by the technicians. If a unit is designed, electrical engineers should consider “solutions” from the beginning.

But it also maybe that the rep of Akai was just not well informed :wink:

I can change a non user-removable battery in under 10 mins and I’m a novice diy electronics / solderer. granted for non-diy heads having to give your unit to a local repair store or to a friend to do is not as ideal as a user replaceable battery but it defo shouldn’t be a deal breaker.

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I understand your concern. The battery life was one of the things that stopped me grabbing an Op1 sooner. Now I just wish I hadn’t let it worry me and got in on the action earlier :wink:

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Absolutely … I have changed batteries myself too without beeing an electronic head. What I don’t like is that with the Live or other quite large boxes there is no need to make things “complicated”.

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No guarantee or anything like that, but did a quick check for some reference and you can still find new batteries for 1999 iBook G3, perhaps even earlier…

“‘Rihanna’ acapella, clip launching, time stretching … sky is the limit”. Best comment ever

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