Well I hope something revolutionary is going to happen in keyboard cuz I don't want to spend $3000 on 10 year old hardware.
I mean come on, Korg PA1XPro has 62 voice polyphony, WHAT??? yes, and its 2003 for goodness sake, Yamaha Tyros has 96 MB Waverom, its ok (Although I think Yamaha should have installed a total new waveset instead of re-using the old sounds, they sound rather artificial ), but these days comparing to the pc industry I would say 512 MB is normal, You only pay about $80-90 for 512 MB SDRAM.
And they could have made these arrangers expandable with sample ram or expansion cards, but no, there arent any decent expansion cards for todays arrangers.
So I really see a bright future for the software (Arranger) synths.
Talking about softsynths, Why wont Roland or Yamaha create a virtual XV-5080, or Motif, that would be nice.
They probably wont else nobody wants to buy a real XV or Motif anymore LOL.
So many things are possible, but sigh, nothing happens.
C'mon Roland, Yamaha, Korg, Wakeup!!!
We live in 2003 and I don't want to see arrangers with 62-voice poly and 10 year old hardware showing up anymore.

Greetz ,
Marcel


[This message has been edited by Wazza (edited 09-01-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Wazza (edited 09-01-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Wazza (edited 09-01-2003).]

Wazza,

It probably won't be Roland, Yamaha or Korg that will launch the first PC arranger. Look what happened to IBM after they introduced there open MS-DOS PC. An open platform is not in their interest. It will probably be another consumer electronics firm that has no share of the keyboardmarket yet. And once sales go skyhigh many others will jump in too.

Jos

OK Jos, I see your point but :

Most musicians prefer 'hardware' to play on, instead of Windows-based stuff.

As stated before some brands try to develop PC-based keyboards/synths, but only very view people have one.

You talk about the low hardware-costs of PC-parts. The 'standard' PC hardware is not good enough for serious musicians. E.g. Hi-Q (DSP) soundcards cost > 500 Euros.

What about the so needed software ?
Imagine that the Native Instruments synths have an average price of 150 Euro's.
What would the price be of a Windows/Linux based 'arranger keyboard' software ? (300 - 600 Euro's ?)

A good quality keyboard (the masterkeyboard) is always needed (500 Euro's ?)

Add these prices to the PC-hardware....

Until now only a very few Virtual-synths on PC impressed me. Most of them sound toy-ish.

Don't forget the PC-concept is still based on IBM 8080 architecture (mid 80's)
Why not Motorola 68000 like Apple uses ?

You could be right in your predictions, but Wersi, Openlabs and Lionstracs did not realy succeed introducing.......

Let's wait and see and in the meantime I stay with my SD1 .... (My grandpa's wise words : "De tied zal't leern mienjong !"

Roel

Roel,

The attempts to develop a PC-based keyboard where not serious enough yet. Any hobbyist could build one. But it is something else to get it in the shops for the right price. You need a firm that already has there products in all PC and audio shops.

A Yamaha YMF754 XG chip would do nicely in an entry level model. I doubt manufacturers of soundcards and mainboards pay more than $5 for that chip. If you want better quality sound you will have to pay extra.

As for the software, I would sell a licence for OMB for one dollar for each sold machine. If they sell a million as I predicted, I'll still be a millionaire.

The keys would add about $100. Just 61 simple touch sensitive keys. Prices for masterkeyboards are extreme because of the low volumes that they are sold in. You can't compare the prices of those.

Your grandpa was a wise man. Indeed we just will have to wait for a few years.

Jos

It will be cool if they can make a keyboard that configured as a computer. No sounds. Just OS and global controller. And those different kinds of synths, arranger, and workstation even the classic one will be available in software form in a CDROM. Imagine you can have a a collection of synths in CDs. If you want Motif you can buy a Motif CD. Or if your tired of your Motif load your Triton CD...,XV5080....DX7...Korg MI, PSRs or even your favorite classic analog. No need to worry of buying another keyboard, just buy a your favorite keyboard in a CD and you'll have your dream come true, Owning thousands of different synths not worrying of where to put them or stacking them. I guess this idea will make major manufacturer to lower down the cost of their dedicated synth.

Hey Roel,
can you share your grandpa's wisdom in plain old english?
Thanks,
Andrea

Hi All!
The future is here:the Wersi OAS instruments are here for some years now and every year the whole range is updated to new standards.
I have been playing live my Abacus for more than 2000 hours as a professional musician enteraining a variety of audiences from around the world and yes! there have been some 'embarassing' minutes waiting my keyboard to restart BUT it was mainly power failure or user (me!) error. I have now an APC surge filter/UPS with me and I am more carefull not to try untested converted styles in front of an audience.
I carry only one device which includes the vocal harmoniser and the programmable mixer -so I have actually saved mixer settings for different venues I play during the week - and setup time from my car to 'ready to start playing' is 10'-15'.
Please note that the sound generation and manipulation in the Wersi OAS is done by 12 32bit SHARC DSPs and the output D/A is 24bit.The total sample pool is 100s of Mbytes stored on the Hard Disk and SoftSynths can be used also live.The operation is a breeze :color touch screen,200 Advanced Total Presets,programmable buttons & sliders which are controlled by special controllers and not by the Windows PC.So the system is much more than a PC with a keyboard and a sound card.
By the way:The latest specs are Pentium 4 2Ghz,512MB DDR,40-80GB Hard disk and OAS version 5.0. Take a look at http://www.organfax.co.uk/instruments/wersi/gigapiano-gp1000.html or http://www.organfax.co.uk/instruments/wersi/abacus.html

Cosel,

The specs are right but the price is to high.

Instead of converting a top model arranger keyboard into a PC and add 50% to the price, I'll rather have a PC turned in to an arranger keyboard and add 50 % to the price.

That would be a much better deal!

Jos

I think that it would be very interesting to have a pc based keyboard with a good key action, HD,cd burner, flexible device(Windows) which one could make function with any soft arranger, software synth, and sequencer.
But don't you think that this would mean the end of the keyboard's market?

Stam,

There would be a lot less arrangers and workstations produced by Yamaha, Roland and Korg. The total market including PC arrangers would be a lot bigger but mainly dominated by firms that don't produce keyboards now.

Yamaha and Roland are ready to get a new share of the market. They already make sound chips and software that can be used in PC based arrangers. They could sell that for use in PC arrangers made by other companies.

Jos