Your dead right DPort. I was looksing at an AMS catalog last night, MPCs and SPs are the entire sampler section. Personally I hope this thing (even if it sux) makes enough waves to wake Akai and Roland up. Step up the build quality, customer support, and post purchase support. As things are they seem to just roll out a new model instead of an OS update. Straight greedy corporate bullshit. I doubt it will be but I hope this thing is awesome.

i laughed when they said they areent trying to make money off the culture...the stupid company is called beat kangz? the name it self is a total stereotypical hip hop name. there whole aprroach is pure fail, i was reading the comments on the youtube thing and people were sayin shit like "its worth the price just for the LIGHTS!"? i think the bpm light on the 404 is too much, now im gonna have siezures while i make beats on the "beat thang"? who the fuck talks like that anyways? ive been listening to hip hop since i can remember, and lots of my friends are into hip hop, no one talked like this unles mocking the fuck out of hip pop. i wont support it just for the way they talk. hahahah HATE HATE HATE HATE.

regardless the beats they are using to demo it are ridiculous and i would never go for that sound...no grime like grime off an sp.

the only thing i'm gonna knock is the marketing ad, exterior design of the casing, a bit flashy and the name. on paper though the specs looks good and interesting, i would like to see and hear what can come out of this box, it's still about the user...

wow, this is personal,

BEATKANGZ

We are going after Akai because they came to our studio, blew smoke up our a$$, got us to trust them and then tried to steal our idea with the xr 20. They Even jacked some our sounds so its very personal. They took food out of my son's mouth at a time we were really struggling just trying to make ends meat....... So now its war. It was either 187 or find a way to build a machine. They should be glad we found a way to do it where they could at least not have to die. This aint no game to us. A man who has just had his dream stolen and has no money to provide for his fam is a very dangerous serious person.
Imagine having one of your best songs stolen by a major artist when you have a baby on the way....

We are not trying to offend anyone (Except Akai) but we aint gonna pretend to be anything other than who we are. Hell yeah so "Mo Bang" ya damn right!! That was kind of a joke at the time but we are getting a kick out of shaking things up... hell we might name a button "fug akai" just to give people something else to chat about at 4am in the forums) There are plenty of machines and companies that use conventional language and conventional marketing. We aint them and this is a new Thang. Dont get it twisted this WILL be a pro machine.... just crazy names

Sorry for the Rant but it's been a long time coming!

AJA

Sure ... but it will be a 'pro thing' aimed at 14 yr olds?

No offense to 14 yr olds...



I don't believe this ... it seems it's very much the other way around if you go by documents you can find on the net.

I wonder if they truly can pull a 'fug akai' button kind of thing... I doubt it. Akai will sue for sure.

donno - seems like a bad idea to mention wanting to "187" anyone in your competition, in your corporate documents.

Totally.. yeah, that's one of many things why I did not took it that seriously at first.

mega lolz @ hematurge . yea the demo beat looks mad wack.and i dont need a seizure when makin beats. but i kinda want one , just cause it has a grill.

to me it looks like they took a lot of features of an akai.. cheapened it.. lit it up... made it look hip hop... gave it an image.. chewed it up pooed it out and will make accessories for it..

are there any price points released yet?

anyone care to wager?

they said for what it does it will be affordable...

those zoom boxes are somewhat cheap.. (and somewhat useless?)

well if it acts like an akai and is cheap whats that make it price point wise?

^to me affordable would be 599. to start , that is not only affordable, its fair.

but i really hope its cheaper. and if its in the 800 to 1000 range fuck them.

I dont think im gonna cop one but im getting anxious to check this out.

haha it does have a grill!

word, i'm not gonna cop one either, i'm content with what i have now, plus i have to cash to spend. but it is interesting to see and hear what can be produced out of this box. a sampling drum machine thought up by beat makers. but damn, i hate the name, lol... nice to see a namm video demo of it... not the one they have now but an actual one from namm...

i am very curious about namm '09 and what it will bring to future namm shows. for one thing if this product is anything it7s a warning to quit making so much gear (hardware) that needs software to work fully. i'm not dissin' software. i just can't believe that gear needs the pc on and connected to use these days.

i may buy a beat thang, but i doubt i'll beta test and i sure as hell won't pre-order. i hope it does well though. also their marketing strategy is actually brilliant imho. hate it or love it, you sure have seen it by now. how does it go "there's no such thing as bad publicity"???

let's just see what all happens, i have high hopes.

and for the record; if a linndrum 2 and a beat thang are side by side and priced comparable; i would take the ld2.

Beat Thang is a terrible name, but remember the Linn Drum II was going to be called the Boom Chik originally

i have a feeling the Beat Thang will be built pretty cheaply, and will require a few newer models until it is capable of standing side by side today's samplers. of course this is all complete conjecture!

i also don't understand why they are maintaining such a focus on hip-hop culture....as a beat machine it could be used by so many different styles, yet it's a fucking ugly blinged up pseudo-MPC. seems they're isolating people who could use its features for more than just crunk beats

i read on their website that those fools in the video (attacking walls, kicking over bins, ) are getting bankrolled by some real estate magnate. i would love to have heard their business proposition to him....