Beat Thang

[Platypus Beird]

well ive worked in bike and skate shops my whole life... this kind of thing happens in that industry all the time.. (at least i suspect this is whats going on with the damn thang)

say i ride pro bmx or im a pro skater.. if im up there popularity wise and skill wise and i have a cool idea for a bike company or team or whatever.. my sponsor or another company hears about my idea and sees how much of a gem i am might help me back my own company... im huge anyway and kids will jump on that ish no worries.. they get a cut out of what im making since they are fronting it and i get most of the creative control (though not all of it since someone else is fronting it) and i still get paid but who knows how much... image is everything a paycheck is another..

several smaller companies being under one umbrella company.. the umbrella has all the money to help out these smaller guys.. but everyone stays happy kinda.. if the little guy flops he hasnt spent TOO much on the idea because big guy fronted a lot of the money.. in the same respect big guy knew what he was getting into but isnt SO pissed because he wouldnt have spent the money if he didnt have it... the big guy also has the resources that the little guy would NEVER have with minimal start up.. like just from a connection standpoint...

i never assumed they were doing the work themselves.. they are probably marketing it on their own and making the site and all the super wack shit.. zoom probably wanted to make a new badass machine and the kangs might have been in on it from the beginning but you bet your ass zoom wasnt going to put the grills and the screw mounts for wearing your drum machine on your head all on their own (creative control/marketing).. thats the kangs input.. there is no insult to anyone in any shape or form in this next statement.. but for the last two years ive been watching tutorials and people playing live on youtube and 90 something percent of the videos i see of people making stuff have been nerdy/loner/stoner/socially awkward white kids/doods.. im not saying thats everyone out there but thats what ive seen.. and its worldwide not just US..

does anyone on this site make anything that the beatkangs are standing for?(jiggity southern RAP beats)

my only thing is... why the fuck are the beatkangs doing this? why didnt dj shadow or dilla or shit even NERD or someone actually established and with a NAME (even though your average radio listener has no idea who those people are)... the kangs did some of this and some of that but i had NEVER EVER heard the KANG word before the THANG..

(this said and done i still wanna play with one) (nohomo)

I don't know when you worked at the bike shop, but if you were around when that whole Bam Margera pink trucks, wheels, decks and hardware was all those little kids wanted? I was working in a bike shop/skate shop and that shit was mad annoying! there would be a fresh ass enjoi board chillin and they would cop this pink and black deck that 5 other kids bought earlier that day...hilarious

I feel you on the Youtube thing, I don't know when hip hop stopped being about paying dues? I commented on this dudes vid on the MP forums and the guy was like, "oh, I just started" !!!! what? you JUST started making beats and the first thing you do is make a video? that shit is ass backwards man, stay in the basement and come out when you're fly...FUCK

anyway, I don't doubt these dudes did the Zoom stuff, even the sampletrak maybe? it has a pitch wheel too...AND I don't doubt that Zoom fucked them and stole their ideas, or didn't pay them and they went to Akai and then Akai stole their ideas. BUT I agree that their actual demographic is probably mostly nerdy white dudes in high school and college and that they would have done better to leave the machine being annonymous, or have Black Milk or Exlie or another hot underground producer cosign it...but that's my marketing coming education leaking out

[iG9]

Yeah I knew they'd worked with Zoom before. In fact that's the only time I've ever heard of them and I thought it was odd the Streetboxx had a BK logo on it and they were acting like there was already a Kang rep they were counting on when afaik their rep was made by Zoom. Maybe not though, who knows? Maybe they are the undisputed "Kangs" (haha) of the greater Nashville area or some such. Anyway their first machine was well received. And even though it seems likely they aren't necessarily working with Zoom. Why no Zoom logos? Maybe cause Zoom is known for putting out low-endish gear? Who knows...

[timfromtexas]

i wasnt calling out the doods in youtube videos.. i was trying to point out not only do these guys look and sound odd.. they seem to be advertising to the wrong crowd if they wanna sell a lot of machines..

it might be better for zoom to NOT put their name all over it.. but better for the kangs to have someone make it for them rather than filling the bill right off the bat..

and yes i work in a sporting goods store and we still have old ladies coming in asking for "the bam" stuff... not just bam its "the bam"

this stupid thing needs to just come out already so either everyone is right or everyone is wrong.. i think they should have come out with two models (unless i missed something about whats actually coming out) something in the 500-1000 range and one in the 1000-1500 range or something.. from what ive seen its easier to sell the higher end one on features when there is a less expensive unit to compair it to.. and for people who are unsure or wanna test the waters you have the cheaper one..

[Olby]

I mostly agree on everything said earlier. See Zoom will always stay in the low-end gear category because none of the serious players are going to put out a gear that is specifically made only for a small market segment.

Akai only in the recent years started to give more attention to the hiphop producers, but they never claim that the MPC is only made for hiphop. You can produce any type of shit on it just like on the Roland gear. Now look here, even on sp-forums not everyone is making hiphop so in my opinion it is stupid to make something only for a specific purpose when you can do all kinds of music on it.

And if we are speaking about the demographics in my opinion Beatthang is targeted at beginners as none of the serious producers out there would use beatthang to produce music if they have those serious big-time players like Roland and AKAI. It's just plain simple whether you are black or white young or old if you are pro you are going to use advanced, functional gear, shit, I couldn't imagine Dre or other big time players using the Beatthang - thats ridiculous. If you are a beginner you could cop a Beatthang (i guess it will come with lots of already made loops and patterns) and get started.

The only thing I also don't understand why they couldn't find someone more popular than Beatkangz I am not hating on them but they could find at least someone with more known name like the Heatmakerz. I too never heard about them before the Streetboxx.

[iG9]

if you are pro you are going to use advanced, functional gear

I hear what you're saying but overlooking their marketing campaign we don't really know what its features are or what the machine is capable of. Also, I don't think targeting it to rap producers is any more limiting than targeting to techno kids really. People who follow this type of gear know you can use it for whatever, so unless it won't go above 90BPM I don't really see the problem. Anyway we shall see...

[ellaguru]

yes.
w'll see.
the design is horrible. but...

[balazs]

damn that one beatkangs video is so damn corny. Its like giving a group of 8 year old girls a camera. If zoom is putting these guys on they fucked up. I would like to see zoom put out a new version of the sampletrak.

[ellaguru]

I would like to see zoom put out a new version of the sampletrak.

i like this machine very much. i failed buying one last week, but i stopped myself. i think that basically is the same of sp-303 beast wich i got. the both don't do sequencing in line like sp-404 does. one good thing indeed is that sampetrak samples patterns and it got a pitch function.

[Olby]

Also, I don't think targeting it to rap producers is any more limiting than targeting to techno kids really. People who follow this type of gear know you can use it for whatever, so unless it won't go above 90BPM I don't really see the problem. Anyway we shall see...

i didn't say that producing gear for rap dudes is not good. I said that if a gear producer is trying to aim at one small market segment it is just plain stupid (whatever the segment is rap/rock/pop/techno/trance etc. etc.). Imagine how well the sales would go if they simply would put out a sample/drum machine that could do all they claim and cut out that childish youtube videos and improve on the visuals and the name. other than that let's just see how well the final unit performs and what features are included (although i can mostly guess what they will be from the info they already released).

I agree with juxt - they would better release an excellent sampletrak than going down to creating this THANG thing

[Platypus Beird]

I mostly agree on everything said earlier. See Zoom will always stay in the low-end gear category because none of the serious players are going to put out a gear that is specifically made only for a small market segment.

Akai only in the recent years started to give more attention to the hiphop producers, but they never claim that the MPC is only made for hiphop. You can produce any type of shit on it just like on the Roland gear. Now look here, even on sp-forums not everyone is making hiphop so in my opinion it is stupid to make something only for a specific purpose when you can do all kinds of music on it.

And if we are speaking about the demographics in my opinion Beatthang is targeted at beginners as none of the serious producers out there would use beatthang to produce music if they have those serious big-time players like Roland and AKAI. It's just plain simple whether you are black or white young or old if you are pro you are going to use advanced, functional gear, shit, I couldn't imagine Dre or other big time players using the Beatthang - thats ridiculous. If you are a beginner you could cop a Beatthang (i guess it will come with lots of already made loops and patterns) and get started.

The only thing I also don't understand why they couldn't find someone more popular than Beatkangz I am not hating on them but they could find at least someone with more known name like the Heatmakerz. I too never heard about them before the Streetboxx.

what beginner is dropping 1000-1200 on a first beat machine though? not many, they'll go MPC 1000/500, FL, Reason, Live maybe, 303/404/555 before they go to something that expensive

[Olby]

I mostly agree on everything said earlier. See Zoom will always stay in the low-end gear category because none of the serious players are going to put out a gear that is specifically made only for a small market segment.

Akai only in the recent years started to give more attention to the hiphop producers, but they never claim that the MPC is only made for hiphop. You can produce any type of shit on it just like on the Roland gear. Now look here, even on sp-forums not everyone is making hiphop so in my opinion it is stupid to make something only for a specific purpose when you can do all kinds of music on it.

And if we are speaking about the demographics in my opinion Beatthang is targeted at beginners as none of the serious producers out there would use beatthang to produce music if they have those serious big-time players like Roland and AKAI. It's just plain simple whether you are black or white young or old if you are pro you are going to use advanced, functional gear, shit, I couldn't imagine Dre or other big time players using the Beatthang - thats ridiculous. If you are a beginner you could cop a Beatthang (i guess it will come with lots of already made loops and patterns) and get started.

The only thing I also don't understand why they couldn't find someone more popular than Beatkangz I am not hating on them but they could find at least someone with more known name like the Heatmakerz. I too never heard about them before the Streetboxx.

what beginner is dropping 1000-1200 on a first beat machine though? not many, they'll go MPC 1000/500, FL, Reason, Live maybe, 303/404/555 before they go to something that expensive

where did the price come from ? I thought that they haven't decided on the price yet.

[timfromtexas]

there is a quote either on their site or another site saying something like the MSRP is 1299 and itll retal for like 999 or something like that...

[iG9]

(boom tick boom boom tick)
"IT'S GONNA COST YA!"

[Olby]

pffft.. for that price I better get another MV8800.

[ellaguru]

i emailed them to know what te price was...
they said exactly like that: "999$, for you..."; i answered them:"yes, but, what is the price used and in mint condition?"

....i still wait for an answer to come....