The basic concept of the Neko and MS are actually the same. Different OS's obviously. The main difference to point out with the Neko and MS is actually quite simple..., ONE is also an arranger and the OTHER is not
I've always thought that it would be very cool to see Dom and Neko work together..., that would result in an absolute killer (open system) workstation with arranger capbilities
I would give the trophy to Dom though with the control surface! I think the MS's control panel is better. Both units are just built around a computer.., but I think Dom has done a better job with his case. It's obvious the Neko is built around a laptop computer. However, like all the wanna be players and people who think they have to be using something JT's using will eat this thing up.
I'd rather have an MS. What Mysto and Pizzi are using the Neko for is a waste of money really because they already HAD a PC and everything they're doing on the Neko.., they were already doing on their PC set up. I've seen quite a few vids of these guys a while back and I don't hear anything new and special they're doing on this very expensive (fanboy Neko) that they weren't already doing on their previous set up.
**Just to add: I think the control surface on the Neko is just terrible. Its got a huge display (which is great)..., but that laptop keyboard is an ABSOLUTE WASTE OF SPACE. Not only that.., look at the pic on the site in Donny's link. How logical is that layout? It simply isn't. You got all your sliders way up to the far left for example. The whole control surface is just so out of whack because someone at Neko decided this unit HAS to have that large screen and a full size laptop keyboard built into it. There are so many other options out there for keyboard entry..., and considering this is a keyboard I don't see that laptop keyboard being used for extensive word proc., accounting work, or anything that requires any real heavy typing. That huge screen and keyboard just throw the entire layout off. Look at how much more logical the MS's layout is. The screen size is very reasonable. There's not a laptop keyboard taking up a huge amount of space. The MS's screen size also keeps the depth of the board within reason and doesn't put sliders and critical control panels in unreasonable places. Not only that.., how comfortable can it really be trying to see those small LCD displays all the way up to the far left and right when considering the depth of the board?
[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 03-12-2009).]