OPen Labs SoundSlate..Shown With Fantom G..Sweet

6 Dec 2009, 21:34

Hey Guys & Gals.. I just got an email from Openlabs debuting their new (Single Racks mounted) Vst/ recording beast.. Look at the Keyboard Workstation their using to Pimp their new product..

http://www.openlabs.com/soundslate.html

I've been debating as to which OPen labs system to get. I got my G7 as a Poor mans Neko.. But, their new Dbeat http://www.openlabs.com/dbeat.html
ultimate MPC/ meets a DAW is hard to pass up as well.

Good to see some free pub on our Fantom G. Roland, now you must deliver the goods for the Fantom G.

I will say this.. The day for $2k-$3k Worskations are over IF:

- Roland, Yamaha, & Korg, Kurzweil keeps using the same Ol (Small minded) technology..
Outdated motherboards, memory, drives..

-These Workstations should be right their with a current Mac/PC hardware technology. Drivers,memory choice..S

-No longer can you justify your cost, with 10 year old technology. Folks will not continue to Drop the bucks the bucks when their Daw can deliver the goods.

-Why continue doing the same things as always. I know you tried to make a difference with the Fantom G.. But the G's :
-Screen should be touch screen..
-The sequencer should be Cakewalk
-The audio recorder should record to both memory and internal & External hard-drive...
-Built in Firewire..
-Able to playback the top vst-sample libs..Like: Spectrasonics (Trilogy, Stylus, Atmosphere), Native Instruments( B4, FM7-8, Absynth Whew!!!) Albino, Rapture.. Dimensions Pro..The last two vstis are your own products (Cakewalk) and part of the killer Roland-Cakewalk V-studio.. Being that the V-studio integrate a full Fantom G sound engine. So, we all know that you can integrate Cakewalk with the fantom G.

As a long time Roland customer (Juno 106, Jxp3, JV, 880,990,1080,2080,Fantom G) Don't take so long to change course. YOu kept the roland V-studio (Vs-880,1680,2480) around far too long, when the industry was going DAW..
Roland just look at Openlabs.. That can and could be you. You have Wayyyy More experience and all the tools to do what they do and even better. Just do it! already.. !!!

JJD Media Production

Re: OPen Labs SoundSlate..Shown With Fantom G..Sweet

7 Dec 2009, 01:21

The days of the OpenLabs SoundSlate are counted if:

- I personally would not buy a Windows machine because it can catch a virus and destroy my work, or refuse to start, or have software issues.
- $1500 buys me a MacMini with almost the same specs + Apogee Duet + Logic Studio.
- Having an all-in-one piece of gear, which you just switch on and work, is still very attractive to those who actually buy them. This is why the Fantom-G is still very successful.
- Having to deal with several different applications and multiple plug-ins, each of which has different interfaces and controls, for many people is harder than operating a hardware workstation.

Re: OPen Labs SoundSlate..Shown With Fantom G..Sweet

7 Dec 2009, 01:58

LOL @ Poor Man's Neko.

Following this logic - Neko is a poor man's studio.

As for viruses, Artemiy, your adversion to PC's preceeds you.

Re: OPen Labs SoundSlate..Shown With Fantom G..Sweet

7 Dec 2009, 02:00

dbijoux, I have just been though many issues already, and not once. If not a Mac, the Fantom-G is more stable and easy to use than Windows. And for most musicians, "switch on and work" is what's crucial.

Re: OPen Labs SoundSlate..Shown With Fantom G..Sweet

7 Dec 2009, 02:04

Re: OPen Labs SoundSlate..Shown With Fantom G..Sweet

7 Dec 2009, 02:30

Good Points.. I use both Macs and Win based PCs for DAWS.. Win based PCs are fine and very fast.. The problem comes with uses wanting to download illegal software that are riddled with spyware and sometimes viruses.
Please don;t assume that Macs are trouble free.. They are not.

As with Openlabs, they actually wrote an and use OS (Linux) that sits on top of Windows..This makes their machines bullet proof. You can go outand use the Openlab machine like standard win based machines, but, your core work is done using the Linux shell.

My point is this.. You say Fantoms are selling well, I disagree. Here in Motown I'm one of the few Producers who uses the Fantom G. Most use the Motif, and have a Neko, Miko , or are planning to buy an Openlabs product.

Today companies cannot ask for $2k-3k for a machine that's not as robust a Mac mini...I also, disagree with you about arrangers (users) not wanting to use several different vstis.. I have been seeing a steady migration towards the vsti from both new-comer and old pros.

I hope that Roland (Korg, Yammy) don't stay on the "Old" Workstation" train, like they did with their virtual Studio boxes.. Computers (mac & Win based) machines are not going away. Software is becoming more aforadale everyday, even from stallworths like digidesign, who's new business model is to demolish the current hardware workstation, as is Apple's Logic, Yammy's own Steinberg's( Cubase & Nuendo)..

Well,, Roland has Cakwalk, and it's very cool DAW Sonar. We say use it!! There is no more "Them or us) Keyboard workstation users vs DAW vsti users.

I do agree with you that Openlabs may not win..Soon, somebody like Apple will sell an already loaded keyboard with integrated Mac OSX, loaded with virtual instruments for a ridiculous price. They will do it just like Wallmart. Just to kill all and any competition..
Well it was good to see our fantom G in an add ..

JJD Media Production

Re: OPen Labs SoundSlate..Shown With Fantom G..Sweet

7 Dec 2009, 02:47

As per my experience, my Windows computer under medium workload worked well for under 6 months. After that is starts up slower, applications launch slower too, you may need to install various system software to clean RAM and that wonderful registry, etc. and finally you find yourself spending half an our a day just fixing something. In 90% of Windows systems I have ever seen, people start their day by reading various messages and reconfiguring stuff. There *are* cases when Windows works well, but this is rare.

I've had zero problems with my Mac in four years. Enough for me as a user to say it's way, way better. And as a programmer, knowing what's inside makes me sure Mac is years ahead in technologies as well.

Now, I did not say that ALL musicians prefer a hardware workstation as their center piece of gear, I said MANY. Once again, on the Fantom-G, you just switch it on and work. There may be less possibilities in the absolute sense, but by far not all musicians even get close to the limits of the G's sound engine.

Also, just judging by the amount of posts here, the G is a very popular product, on par with Fantom-X at least. And Roland US once mentioned sales numbers which are comparable to the X as well. So no it's not a niche product - unlike stuff from OpenLabs.

Also, "Linux on top of Windows" sounds a bit scary to me

You can't do this technically, run an operating system on top of another. You can only do this with a virtual machine like VMware or Parallels, and OpenLabs site do not list any of this stuff anyway - could you please show me if I am not right? Maybe you're confusing it with Receptor? This one indeed runs Linux and all VST's via a Windows emulation layer called Wine.

Re: OPen Labs SoundSlate..Shown With Fantom G..Sweet

7 Dec 2009, 08:14

We are in a age where people demand a lot from products.The other day i used a friend Neko live .I was blow away .For me the Neko would be perfect but its price is little high. A keyboard and a mpc in one u cant go wrong .The type of music i play it make my job easy .Everything in one unit .

Re: OPen Labs SoundSlate..Shown With Fantom G..Sweet

7 Dec 2009, 10:49

@ Artemiy

I wouldn't say that Apple is years ahead in technologies. Mac OSX is simple said nothing more than an extensive developed Linux version... There main strenght is simplicity and intuitiveness. They just know, unlike Microsoft, what a consumer expects from an Operation System. But they are spoken in technologic terms not lightyears ahead on Microsoft.

+...

Apple's hardware is always outdated. For example: they just introduced a new iMac with GPU's (Ati 46xx and 48xx series) which are already used in Windows PC's for at least 4 months! And you allmost can't upgrade them. Apple just want you to buy a new Mac...

Just my two cents...

Re: OPen Labs SoundSlate..Shown With Fantom G..Sweet

7 Dec 2009, 11:04

RolandFantom, Mac OS X has a kernel which in part derives from BSD UNIX, not Linux. Both BSD and Linux are UNIX systems, but the kernels are different. And Mac has a realtime microkernel at the low level as well. So I know when I talk about these technologies because I actually worked as a UNIX administrator and system developer for some time

Believe me, Windows cannot be proud by having UNIX elegance of process control, memory protection, data access speed etc... this is what gives OS X the stability and security advantage.

As about hardware, 4 months is not that of a difference, because if you look at Apple's enclosures and how much hardware features they have and how elegantly they combine them in the box, you'll understand that they spend more time than most companies actually doing the design (engineering, technical design) part. And after 4 years, my 1.83 GHz dual core system with 4 GB RAM doesn't tell me it's running out of puff, despite several upgrades of the operating system.

Re: OPen Labs SoundSlate..Shown With Fantom G..Sweet

7 Dec 2009, 11:17

So you still can run for example Omnisphere with low latency when using 8 parts at the same time...?

Re: OPen Labs SoundSlate..Shown With Fantom G..Sweet

7 Dec 2009, 11:26

Never measured Omnisphere, but I can run 5-6 instances of MASSIVE with built-in audio interface, and more if I use Fantom-G as an interface. I am not talking about raw power for running a lot of stuff on my iMac, this would of course be better on a more modern system with 3.0 GHz dual or 2.33/2.66 quad.

Re: OPen Labs SoundSlate..Shown With Fantom G..Sweet

23 Dec 2009, 11:45

Guys I'm here.

Since I use to work for Roland and now I work for Open Labs I know certain things.

Open Labs does make a lot of custom software to make these units stable and perform very well.
Things like M-Fusion, RIff, Open Labs Shell and a music optimized version of XP.

The Fantom G is a Fantastic workstation keyboard and was designed to work with a computer. Why not have it work with the best music computers made?

http://www.youtube.com/openlabsinc#p/c/A4C625C9D98DE268/7/jLK2_wJaDss

So if you want to ask any specific questions please feel free to contact me.

jimstout@openlabs.com

Jim Stout
www.jimstout.tv

Re: OPen Labs SoundSlate..Shown With Fantom G..Sweet

23 Dec 2009, 11:57

Jim, you are biased now, we don't believe you

Re: OPen Labs SoundSlate..Shown With Fantom G..Sweet

23 Dec 2009, 12:30

Mac uses PC hardware now. A Custom built PC (fine tuned for music applications) cost about $1600.00 and a comparable Mac Pro $2400.00. That is OK. I know those who build the custom PC's and built mine as well. Bullet proof! Great systems that work for years. Easily upgradeable (for me anyway) I don't mind digging in and setting up new hardware, etc.

The Mac / Logic support site has post of plenty of customer frustrations regarding software and hardware integration, etc. Mac - Not perfect. Good, but not perfect.

PC...if you know what you are doing saves you money and works awesome and is very flexible.

Go Open Labs!

www.songsforthemaster.com