On 2005-04-04 13:16, Man-Machine wrote:
But do you think a dozen more knobs explain the $600 difference? Also, the Micron has a keyboard which is even more expensive to manufacture than a dozen knobs. ...
not the knobs dictate the price - it's the specialized controller electronics in extremely small quantities (from an industrial point of view) and the programming.
A similiar controller has been sold by a German company for at least 500 Euro, and it's possibly even the same hardware in the ASB boxes.
A while back I've had a (single DSP) Motorola 56K based synth on a Lagoon card. 8 part multitimbral 32 voices... comparing those 'voices' to Mini or Profit 5 is simply kidding
Any of of my Casios sent (for example) through Warp's CD100 or Interpole wins hands down against that stuff.
Yep, I guess the production numbers could justify the prices a little better. I think that Creamware numbers are a tad smaller than Alesis'
I also forgot to take account that these ASB do have new techonology inside: the next generation hardware. The R&D needs to be taken into account when pricing.
Maybe, these will catch on and sell enough units to drive the prices a little lower later on.
_________________
L8ter Oscill8ters!
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Man-Machine on 2005-04-04 18:40 ]</font>
why not an external empty midi controller for the user that have already Minimax or other emulations?
good work guys!
...but don't leave the "pulsarians" alone
I agree with this - if they sold the empty MIDI controllers as well, I for one would buy them. Would make it a lot easier to tweak Noah parameters live!
Not a bad marketing move, these units look a bit pricey but at least they are something simple enough for a wider audience to understand. A lot of musicians find computer technology irritating and un-musical, and aren't interested in delving too deeply into it.
On 2005-04-04 18:41, Liquid Len wrote:
Not a bad marketing move, these units look a bit pricey but at least they are something simple enough for a wider audience to understand. A lot of musicians find computer technology irritating and un-musical, and aren't interested in delving too deeply into it.
Exactly my thoughts. Anyone who enjoys their Creamware dsp card might be better served by a separate controller and the plugin form of these synths, but there are definately people out there who just want things 'to work' without having to worry about playing computer tech and having to learn SFP's intricacies (judging by some of the posts here in planetz in the last few years).
I think CWA is going to sell a ton of these things, and here's why.
My brother says that one or both of two factors make a product sucessful: if it's cheap, or convenient, or both. Scope was never cheap or convenient. Noah wasn't too expensive, but it wasn't very convenient the way its interface worked without a computer to display its plugins. However, these new gizmos are (reasonably) cheap and VERY convenient. I think there are only two things working against them: lack of OSX support and 6-voice limitation. But that shouldn't be too much of a problem, considering it's still MIDI compatible, the original MiniMoog was monophonic, and Ohm Force's MiniMonsta can only do a few voices before it maxes out your CPU. So I think it's going to do very well.
To play the devils advocate, I think that US$999 is not 'cheap' but merely 'average', and if they're not VSTi-compatible then they're not convenient. That is unless you're talking about for live use - but then for that they should be rack mountable. With some clever engineering you could keep the current design and make them both table and rack compatible. Maybe they are. More info needed.
Then again, a new Prophet-5 for $1000 ? Could be a winner...
MSRP prices tend to reflect actual 'street' prices less and less as time moves on. Case in point: Alesis ION is also $999 msrp but usually goes for $750-799.
wouldnt it be soooo wicked if this integrated into the host pc as a VSTI?!!? kind of like the new virus ti. Then the new units will take off like rockets!! wishful thinking though..hehe...
On 2005-04-02 13:47, CW Frank wrote:
Hello PlanetZ,
(...)
While some of you will love these news, others will be disappointed not to see a successor for today's DSP boards. Take my word that the ASB boxes are no statement that we neglect a future for our DSP platform. Just the opposite. In the ASB boxes, we use a new DSP that provides a lot more power.
(...)
Best regards!
Frank
These are great news, Mr Frank Hund; it indicates that the code rewriting for the new DSPs is on the work, and it indicates that there are some serious chances to soon exceed the few limits of our current Creamware DSP boards.
I am curious of the model of DSP used in these new boxes, and probably a lot of PlanetZ people are curious about that too.
I think these ASB are a good idea, but as CW DSP cards user, I would REALLY appreciate controllers only versions of these boxes, in order to control already bought Minimax/Profit plugins. And I propose the name ACB for the controllers only version.
There was a controllerbox for Minimax, which they were toying with at last Messe, but I don't think that was a line product... I guess for the rest there's midibox.org eh :>
I think these are great ideas, definitely going to get one of each =P
For those who want "controller-only versions", what stops you from using any of the multiple MIDI controller boxes already on the market? If you have trouble with the knob assignment, you can either use a little paint, or do like me, tape a paper sheet under the controller (I have a Doepfer Pocket Dial), and note down what each knob does. I use one sheet per track, and this makes it fairly easy to pull out a track's sheet 6 month in the future and prevents having to remember/thinker with stuff.
The idea of providing "ACB" is to use the factory lines used to produce ASB... In order to have dedicated plugin controllers. Of course, most of general purposes midi controllers can do the job, but 1) it's cool to have a controller dedicated to a plugin 2) if the price is low (lower than minimax controller mentioned above), I think many CW cards users might be interested, then CW makes money...
Look at the little Korg MS-20 dedicated controller... I think there is a market for such thing. Korg seems to sell them fine. Of course they also come with all that software included...
I try to talk to people about how good CW products are and convince them to give it a try but I noticed two main problems: pricing and marketing. They say that they're products are too expensive and obscure to fork the money. I actually agree with them and remember before I jumped in a while ago. While doing research on CW products I had the hardest time finding reviews, hands on access to the products, decent soundbytes, etc. It was a gamble for me to fork over 1K for a soundcard + some software but I did it anyway. Luckily I didn't regret. I lot of people are more reserved about their money than I am and won't make a bold move this...
