Some answers here:

Tony: thanks for your comments. I am offering my view as a regular player that may help others like me.

Fran: I think I didn’t use the correct word: my MS used to “lock up” (not crash) almost every time I played it with OS 3.0. My CPU was an Athlon AMD single core 3200+ and 1GB RAM and usually I had to turn it on twice because it didn’t load all the drivers on the first attempt. Instead of upgrading all the PC components I downgraded to OS2.8 only adding 2GB RAM and it kept very stable ever since but only using very basic stuff like MP3 player, Giga sounds and some VSTi manually from the screen (I don’t know how to add VSTi sounds to the regular MS panel yet). From previous experiences I prefer not to modify anything as it has already been set because I’m afraid the whole MS will stop working and now it is an important part of my organ console. So far I’ve been waiting for a newer OS and a neutral reviewer as I think James is in order to start thinking about a hardware upgrade.

Esnareyou: my statement you quoted was very clear:
2) I am not impressed by the demos yet. Excellent sound but that’s expected from any VST or Giga sound.

Everyone knows Giga sound and VSTis are miles away in superiority than conventional closed arranger sounds. No one, that I remember, ever said in this forum the MS had a bad quality sound. As a MS owner who’s not been able to use it as an arranger I expect to listen and watch a video demo using together all the features you describe (“play back VST's, do synthesis, sampling, multitrack recording, and do much more”) and styles. James has done an outstanding job learning to load Giga sounds (in one day!) and the video has an excellent audio but he will need a couple of weeks more to learn the rest and show the most important features. Wow! Those human voices are incredibly good but, from my viewpoint as a MS user, just playing some Giga voices does not show much about this instrument yet.

Dom: good from your part explaining those bugs on previous OS. I suppose the PCI express VGA is not installed in my MS. Is it only available from Lionstracs or are there generic compatible ones I can buy in any computer store? Good news for me if I get the OS4.1 for free.

James: Thanks a lot for your reply. I was about to send mine when I found your answer but I will post it anyway.
Great! There are no crashes and lock ups while you are learning and the risk is increased.
You are right, my opinion of the video is biased because I own a MS an that is what I tried to explain to Esnareyou. Keep your good work on this. You should know how important it is for everyone here.


Victor

A question for fellow Mediastation owners. I'm exploring COMBI mode and I've come up against something I cannot figure out.

In COMBI when you put say... Strings on the left transposed +12 and and a Trumpet on the right ( all giga sounds). When you save and exit back to the main screen the keyboard faults to two piano sounds, one for the left transposed +12 and one for the right.

Why ?

I have to press the save button again or jump to another mode and back again just to hear the COMBI sound I made working normally but this does not solve the problem permanently. Changing to another combi and bank again, chances are it will default back to the piano sounds.

Yet the few sounds that were in COMBI mode already work normally.

So why don't my sounds work all the time ?

Regards
James

It is normal, I have just created some new COMBI patch and are full forking.
COMBI work with the first 8 midi CH, from CH 1 to CH 8.
When you are in EDIT mode, you are eiditing this 8 midi channel, you wil lose the al midi setups of the last combi patch.
When you exit, just select one atother COMBI patch and then recall again your last created patch.
In this way we initialize again the all 8 midi channels.
The Global keyboard transpose have nothing to do with the layers transpose.
When you change the gobal transpose, will also setting the new transpose for the COMBI and for the all other sounds engines.
Try it, you will see that is working.

Vargo
on your MS is not installed the PCIexpress VGA card and also you have the mainboard without the PCIexpress slot.
PCIexpress VGA is available only from my company, because have embedded the LVDS interface board for the 8.4" display.

Note also that OS 4.1 is working now with the new Jack MP ( multi processor DSP) and NOT work with a single core CPU, min need a dual core.
So..IF you decide to upgrade to OS 4.1 you need:
Mainboard K10N78
PCI Express VGA
CPU AM3 dualcore
thats all.
regards

correct
on groove we use the last generation of ATX power supply, with 14Cm Fan LOW speed.
The CPU fan on the quad core is the same that you see on the picture, 10Cm Fan and is running from 650 to 2500Rpm, totally LOW noise.
On the groove system you can hear more the HD heads that the CPU and ATX fan.

On MS is installed one 8Cm fan 3500 Rpm, make more noise BUT is one aceptable compromise.

Some VST are using only midi channal 1. or OMNI mode. in this case you can use it only on 1 track of COMBI.

That is all.

Hi all.

This thread shot up so fast with more replies in a very short space of time and this morning it was down to 10 in the list dropping fast, the only interest now is the size of the cooling fan, funny old World hey! What is the real size of the market for the MS, is it worth all the fuss and trouble, is it better to just buy a T3 and let someone else do all the work and just accept the styles and sounds, at least you don't need to worry about a copyright trial and there is no fan in the T3, it doesn’t produce that much heat, it’s more sustainable, less power outage. You know we all appear to be worried about how the people we play to, will they notice the difference in the new KB, if they say the performance was brilliant and the KB sounds fantastic how they would know when even we can’t make up our minds. I heard James on the MS playing a bagpipe sample and there is no doubt, the Audya bagpipe sample doesn’t sound anything like that, how much was the sample to buy and how many times will we use it. I played the Audya sample to my 9 yrs old granddaughter on Saturday and said what instrument was that and she said a bagpipe, she didn’t say a cheap crappy one. I am beginning to question what we are striving for, we will see this week on the Audya, it will either be a complete letdown or a nice surprise, or just another day at the office. I think this is a case of who’s got the fastest and classiest looking car. Most of us are tone deaf and we don’t know it, and most playing to audiences that are tone deaf, we are asking them how it sounded to them, would you ask a blind man to drive you home!
Just my thoughts for the week, BTW the more a look at the wiring inside that MS the more I think I will stay away, it looks like a loose connection nightmare and the photos so far only show ¾ of the keyboard, I do like the wooden supports.


[This message has been edited by Tony Hughes (edited 03-21-2010).]

We all are wayting for more information from JAmes, espescially on the styles part and the Vst part of the mediastation.

Please go fight your war somewhere else.

Bachus,

Appears you said this to some else recently. I have just made what I thought was a set of valid statements, don't just answer in this way, makes some contra input and a valid counter argument to what I said it was not all about the MS, it was about our own and others perceptions of how KB sound. I take you have a MS.

Hi Tony
Once you have heard and tried the quality of VST instruments (Or even Akai samples) hardware boards just don't cut it, (Your always dissatisfied knowing that there is something cheaper and far better sounding out there) I have been using VST since the late 90s (All this latest SA & DNC was available in VST almost 10 years ago, with the latest ones designed specifically for live play sounding really excellent) and the only reason I moved from a computer based system to a combined system, (Wersi Abacus) was because it gets rid of all the cables, and now sits comfortably in the lounge. (Before everything had to be in a separate room)
You will find all the connectors are self locking, and you will have no more problems then the connectors in your hardware board dropping out.
Regards
Bill