MV 8800 vs Open Labs D Beat

Good luck. I tried getting a DBeat demo to compare the two machines. I got no response from OL for over a month, and I understand now the company is going through a foreclosure.

I am sorry to the folks at OL, but even if they get through this one, the customer support is simply not there, and you need that for a machine that expensive.

At any rate, here is my rundown of the differences (if you were to completely ignore the customer service and product availability issue):

DBeat has these advantages over the MV:
Plugins
24 bit recording

MV has these advantages over the DBeat:
fader automation
superior drum pads (from people who have tried both)
plenty of stock in case you want or need another one in the future

As far as the OS's are concerned, if you like Windows, DBeat gets the obvious edge. If you prefer a dedicated OS, the MV's is simple but rock solid.

I talked with the new CEO from Open Labs yesterday for about an hour. The company is going through a financial restructuring and management change. As I understand it the sales department will be completely overhauled and from the tech support side, they are bringing in some top notch personnel to shore the department up. The tech manager, Mike Corley is top-shelf.

From what I was told and further research, the previous management of the company forgot about the customer relationship.

Of course now we have to wait and see what happens.

Thanks for your comparison.

I have to say, the prospect of the D-Beat seemed very promising. But who wants to pay 4 - 5 grand on a newly designed workstation that has no customer support. That when you have the MV going for so cheap right now in comparison. On the other hand I'm sure there's alot more you can do with the D-Beat than the MV 8800.

I was able to negotiate an academic discount since I teach at a university. The D Beat price was reduced down to about the original cost of the MV 8800. Open Labs made an announcement today concerning their restructuring.

Now that seems like a sweet deal!! And a sound investment.

I'm actually very interested to read about their big announcement.

"A Word From the New Owners of Open Labs"
http://www.openlabs.com/blog/?p=1074