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Since the introduction of the Akai MPC Renaissance and Studio, many have complained of how buggy the software is and I’ve experienced many of those bugs. I’ve found workarounds to help me with my goals and I thought I should share some of my ideas with you. These workarounds are suited for mac users because I don’t have a windows setup. This may help windows users too but not sure mac and windows users have the same issues. Akai has not given a date for version 1.4 but until then maybe this can get you through rough times. I’m going to cover working with 3rd party plug-ins and how to get around some bugs.
Software Keeps Crashing
I get frustrated while in the middle of making a killer beat and the software crashes and I lose everything. I’m sure this has happened to you and like some, you have given up and either sold your Akai Ren/Studio or stuck it in the closet until Akai fixes the bugs. The problem with software MPC is that everybody uses different operating systems. Some use Mac OS Lion, Snow Leopard, or maybe Leopard. Even though the OS is from Apple, those Operating Systems are a little different from each other. So, I’m going to focus on Snow Leopard because most of my plug-ins work with it and I’m afraid to upgrade to Lion.
If you want to use a 3rd party synth, Re-sample the synth and set it up as a key group. This may not be what some people like but this is my solution. Another option is to make a basic beat in the Renaissance/Studio export tracks and dump stems in DAW. Once inside DAW, you can add synths and finish beat.
3rd Party Effect Plug-Ins
The way to deal with 3rd Party effect plug-ins is don’t use them in Akai MPC Renaissance/Studio. Once you start using more than a few 3rd Party plug-ins it will crash the software. I lost many beats dealing with these issues with the MPC Renaissance/Studio. If you want to use Waves, UAD-2 etc, export your tracks and dump in DAW and use effect plug-ins there. This seems like a lot but this is the way I go about things to avoid frustration. The previous versions of the MPC software were worst than the current 1.3.1 version which by far is the most stable one. Let me know what you think.
Conclusion
Some will think this workaround is ridiculous to do. The Akai MPC Renaissance/Studio should work out the box but currently the MPC software is buggy. The Native Instruments Maschine was buggy when it was first released and it took a year or two to work out the bugs so don’t crucify the Akai team yet. I say give them a chance until they drop the ball. Who knows if I’m the only one dealing with this. I have not had a problem with the Akai plugins.
Check out my Review of MPC Renaissance and also Making Beats With Hardware or Software.
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5 Responses
Hi Drew hef. I’m sorry to hear your troubles with the MPC Software. Are you running Mac or Windows? The reason some of your plug-ins are not showing is because those plug-ins might be 32bit and 32bit plug-ins won’t work in 64bit mode with MPC Software 1.4. You will have to switch to 32bit mode to use those plug-ins. I did a post on it here http://sonicboombap.com/akai-mpc-software-1-4-missing-vst-help/. Anyway, I don’t use 3rd Party plug-ins in MPC Software for the very reason you are complaining. Hang in there.
yes, i am having all the exact same dilemma’s j, i just downloaded version 1.4 and its 64 bit, so no plug ins of mine even work and yes the akai plug ins are so awful. That want the mpc software to be your go to only D.A.W, those guys are nuts for thinking that. It’s been 9 months since i got this and it still is not handy at all, at times it has excited but then crashes soon as i save…
yes, i am having all the exact same dilemma’s j, i just downloaded version 1.4 and its 64 bit, so no plug ins of mine even work and yes the akai plug ins are so awful. That want the mpc software to be your go to only D.A.W, those guys are nuts for thinking that. It’s been 9 months since i got this and it still is not handy at all, at times it has excited but then crashes soon as i save… https://soundcloud.com/digitalhustler
Thanks Fred. Hopefully Akai fixes the bugs soon. I save constantly like you also and I’m afraid of a crash while I’m saving a project. So far I’ve narrowed down 3rd party plugins for my issues. For the time being I use Akai plugins for mixing but their synth plugs sound awful. I would love to use some of my 3rd party synth plugins inside the MPC software without crashing. So far Logic comes in handy to finish everything. Also, I will stay in touch with you about remixing beats.
Hey J. , thanks for posting this article. I work with the MPC ren. a couple of weeks now on Mac. I can say that I really like the machine and the typical MPC workflow. But I have to admit that I sometimes have problems too. Crashes, loosing project files, samples that drop of, q-links that are flipping, … I don’t stop saving after every minor change 🙂 I hope AKAI is hard working to get these bugs out and improve the application because it’s worth it!
By the way … if you like to share some beats for remixing – be my guest 🙂