No doubt the Abacus and Ikarus are great boards, but it's pretty scarey to me when a boards OS is Windows. Does that mean the board is subject to all the same bugs as the standard Windows program? Do you get freeze ups, and that dreadful "fatal blue screen"? Waiting for it to power up wouldn't be a problem for me, but with a hicup in power and the board has to completely reboot, that makes me nervous. With boards that don't have Windows, typically you're settings go back to where you were last at start up, and it doesn't take long either.

Squeak

Squeak,
I doubt that any OS freezes much if you run it as the factory sets it up. It's when you introduce third party software to an O/S that creates incompatabilities. If the O/S is dedicated to the single tack of running ONE kb ... I'd trust that it can do that as well as an internal keyboard O/S.....is there really much difference? All the newer digital gear is computer driven anyway, right?
Who knows?

Hi all,
Nice with this discussion!
I was also wondering about the bootup time. And yes, most of the keyboards/synths are computerbased today when more and more functions gets implemented.
I heared that there is a vocal processor for the Ikarus/Abacus and from what I understand it is an expansion board. Do you know what effects does it have? How does it sound?
Best regards,
Christian

To UncleDave and Squeak,
Yes, I confirm that the my Wersi OAS system is stable even after running some third party (music related)software.There are cases I had a blue screen but that was when I was experimenting with things i should not touch (being myself a software developer..) i think in the latest versions a lot of critical files are protected.Of cource I do not connect my keyboard to the Internet(though it is possible) and I do not install any software like games/utilities and other memory resident applications.Standard Hard Disk maintenance is essential (Scandisk/Defrag) and I have also a complete copy of my hard disk just in case the intrnal hard disk fails but I have not used it yet.Have in mind that this is a standard (qood quality) hard disk.
As a matter of fact I have upgraded the inernal PC from Celeron 700Mhz that was originally to a Pentium 4 3Ghz HT.This did not make a noticeblae difference in everyday use but I did it to be able to run sof synths in the background.The Icarus comes with an Athlon processor and the rest of the OAS systems with P4 2.4 and higher.
To Christian:yes there is an optional card for vocal harmoniser processing that can be installed in any OAS model.I use it too but I can recall now exactly how many 'programms' it has, but they include duett/trio/quartet with different harmony variations ,effects like gender change,'Mickey Mouse' and what I consider more usefull a mode where the harmony information is derived directly from the notes played (left hand split ).It is possible alos to assign any track af any SMF to the Harmoniser.The wet/dry FX and EQ as well as selection of output are progrmmable.The important detail here is that,being intrgated into the system,the whole proccesing is in the Digital Domain and the final sound is converted to analog only at the output.
Of course Harmoniser settings are programable.
There is a 'sof-button' on the touch screen to activate/deactivate the harmoniser fuction on the Microphone 1 audio channel.

Hello Cosel;

I see that you have the Abacus keyboard. I would be interested in your experience with your Abacus, both the Pros & Cons. The Mp3 Demos from Wersi's website give one an idea of the potential of sounds and styles. But of course the compressed Mp3s are not the best format to determine sound quality. Can you give me an indication of how their other sounds and styles compare on your keyboard [ Long wave SS & Long wave GM, Oas-X1, OX-7, wersi sound libraries, others ]. I am most interested in the quality and realism of the sounds (solo instruments /accompaniments ( ex do they have that" Live band/performance feel"? Do any voices & accompaniments stand out as spectacular? How do both the guitar voices and guitar accompaniments sound ( ex guitar struming,rhythym guitar picking, slides, finger scraps etc..) How do they compare to Tyros mega voice guitars & Pa1x guitar accompaniments? If you are not familiar with these, they are failrly realistic sounding.

I don't know if you are using the Oas 6.0 but if you are, I am curious as to how the Real drums sound now that there is tempo change capabilities. And what does Wersi mean by tempo adjustments "within some limits"?

How do you rate the ergonomics of the keyboard ( ie Ease of use for both live & programing capabilities -sequencing/creating new styles )

Thank you for your input
Regards;
SCP

Hello SCP,
as I said in my earlier posts, I am still using the original Version 3.30 released on 27.09.01!!
I have not upgraded to OAS6 yet due to lack of time but I will probably do it some time in the next month.
So I can comment on the sounds I already have installed and from these the best of course are the Long Waves i.e. the stereo samples from the hard disk.Most of them are very natural sounding with a lot of detail and velocity crossfades (multisamples).Among the best are IMHO the Grand Piano, Accoustic quitar,and most of the Brass & Reeds, including also lots of accodions.Choirs and Human voices are excellent.There are also many full pad sounds.Its difficult to find a 'not good' long wave sound.
Unfortunatelly these sounds cannot be used in the styles/sequences in versions prior to 4.0 so I cannot tell you how they sound in that context.I can tell you that using layering I have very real sounding Big Bands,jazz trios,etc..
The organ sounds come from the built-in OX7 'Organ Expander' that uses a DSP chip to (re)create mainly the sounds of older Wersi models and those of the B3.I feel that the (NI) B4 is much more close to the original.Drawbars can be used in realtime or saved as presets.For GM sounds in this version,an extra sound card was used with about 600 sounds available but these do not come any close to the LWSS.This card is not used anymore after v4.0 so there is no need to say anything else about it.Other sound options are loading AKAI samples ,using soft synths or extrnal MIDI devices.There is no sampler available (yet?).
The ergonomics of Abacus are very good:big touch screen in the center,lots of big user porgrammable buttons for selecting sounds on one side -for styles/sequences on the other and big drawbar-like volume sliders.
A style/seq can be mixed live ,while you play and saved without interrupting you playing.To edit notes or to create style/seq from scratch you have to used either the (factory preinstalled) Cubasis (or any other windows software.I also use EMC Styleworks for initial conversion of styles. Most of the programming is done using Touch Screen and the jog wheel while the the othjer controllers are mainly used for live playing.
I hope I will have my instrument updated soon to answear also your OAS6 specific questions.

Thank-you for replying Cosel;


Have you done much conversion with your EMC StyleWorks software? ( i.e. converting Tyros/psr, Korg Pa80/pa1x, Roland ( g-1000/VA series styles to Wersi) Any conversion problems? Do you need to tweak the converted styles to make them sound right/correct??

I noticed above you were using some VSTi instruments software. Do you or anyone else know of any very good live realistic sounding software modules ( for solos instruments--i.e. saxphone, guitars ( strat/telocaster/ gibson s-57 etc..), clarinets, strings, trumpets, brass, violins,accordians etc.. If so please state the name and/or website.

If I can confirm what you said above, since both the OX-7 & NI B4 are options when purchasing the Ikarus, would you say to just purchase the B4 modules which will give one everyhting that the OX-7 has???

Further I noticed that you made some updates/upgraded you CPU/HD etc.. Does Wesri use propriatary hardware, or can one install any companies Hardware ( i.e. hard drives/ RAM , processors etc..) The reason I ask is, would it be cheaper to upgrade ones self or have buy the upgrades from Wersi. ( i.e. they offer an upgrade from 40Gb to 80Gb HD and from 512 to 1.5Gb Ram)


I look forward to hearing your comments on the new OAS ver 6.0 upgrade. Please keep me informed.

Thanks for the help
Regards;
SCP

Hi SCP,
I have converted styles from various mades & models -especially ones that were made for specific songs-but I use more the SMF to style function to get exact the style for the song I need.Of cource always some 'remixing' is nessecary -particurarly on dynamics.As I mentioned before the Wersi supplied sounds are very very good so my addition of VSTis was done -apert from the experimental side-to cover specific sounds that are not available on my set (e.g.ethnic instruments).All the instrumental sound you are refering in your post are very well covered in the OAS instruments.
The basic Icarus configuration includes a tonwheel organ software module (Creamware?) that is controlled in real time from the front panel sliders.The NI B4 can be installed in addition.I dont know if these options give you the classic 'Wersi-organ' sound apart from the B3.
OAS 3.30 had no restrictions concerning different PC hardware.It requires of course certain hardware components to be present -with the proper activation codes-like the DSP cards etc. I have heard lately that a 'Hardware PIN'soft-button has appeared on newest versions ,so probably they now lock the whole thing together including PC configuration.
In any case I should advise someone to have the instrument upgraded and serviced by Wersi authorised technicians not only to save time but to ensure problem free operation.

Frankfurt Music Messe
according to the Wersi Website:
'fantastic new innovations and a fresh wind will inspire everybody at the Music Messe 06-09/04/05'

Lets wait and see ( and listen!)