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What if the 4th icon is an electric piano library?

And if the 4th icon is AcousticSamples Kawai Pro software I win because by game show standards I did not talk all around it and named the specific product that, meeting the criteria of the previous three, actually exists as an independent piano software plug-in and is not some hypothetical sampling made by Kawai (i.e. "in-house" "a fourth software maker" or "Kawai's own") for the VPC.

............. .............

If anyone has previously suggested AcousticSamples Kawai Pro and not specified it would be "the 4th" icon I trump them too.

Hmmm...not sure our marketing budget would stretch to prizes, however I'm hoping to have a batch of miniature VPC1 keyrings made.

Here's my answer for the 4th icon and VPC1 keyring competition:

Alicia's Keys

James...
It's 8:30 a.m. here in the U.S. on Wednesday before NAAM begins. Perhaps you've not filled in that 4th icon because it represents Kawai's own virtual piano or piano set; info that would not be revealed until tomorrow. Stands to reason since Kawai does not sample other piano brands in its own DP's. A Kawai Virtual Piano or pianos in the box would be a great product to include with this new controller, and it would also make a great stand-alone seller. Why would Kawai approve some other manufactuer's virtual piano sample of their own piano (such as Acoustic Samples EX Pro), when they could do it better themselves? Can't wait to find answers to this mystery. Key-chain or no key-chain; I'm betting the action on this new board will set it apart from every other controller. That and great virtual piano software will make this a much desired product!

OT?

Irrelevant to the upcoming announcement perhaps, but it still makes you think: how impossibly cheap could on an onboard computer capable of running e.g. Pianoteq actually become for a DP manufacturer now and in the future...


http://www.itworld.com/hardware/337460/10-weird-and-wonderful-raspberry-pi-hacks

I've decided to build a small home theater PC at home to use it with my TV two weeks ago. I've used an existing HDD, so I bought a miniITX case with Foxconn motherboard, Intel Celeron dual core CPU and 4GB of DDR3 RAM. All for a total of 170 Euro. And that is a big retail store which is famous for higher prices. If I have gone to a garage type reseller, I could have paid probably about 120 Euro. I've already tested it with Pianoteq and Vintage D - it works flawlessly.

Now, imagine this being used by a big manufacturer such as Kawai, etc. They don't need a computer case, they'll put some small SSD drive and they can negotiate huge quantities for some ridiculous prices. We're talking here about 100 Euro or even less. Put some Linux on top and with almost no hassle you'll have ready for playing Ivory II, Vintage D, Pianoteq, etc. What they need to do is integrate it into their controller.

So, why aren't they doing it?

A better DP computing platform IMO would be ARM or MIPS with SDHC card and Linux (like the Raspberry Pi TheJourney was pointing to above but you might need a bit more processing power). Intel/AMD solutions are expensive, complex, require chipset support, are too tied to PC hardware, and Windows has too much overhead and isn't an RTOS, so you need a ton more resource to satisfy a real time dependent application like sample playback. Get a Chinese manufacturer to make the board for ~$50.

Why don't we see this? It is a mystery, but the technology is perhaps too new for their old engineers to embrace. I suppose we need to give them a few more years. Meanwhile, keep rolling your own high end DPs at home while the product vacuum exists, the VPC may help in this regard.

Dewster: kickstarter.com ? ;^)

Greg.

Everyone can do the electronics and the embedded PC. And even though PC with Windows is not RTOS, I can still assemble one where it will boot and play for years without a problem Only the thought it uses Windows will bother people Believe it or not ATM-machines in Bulgaria run Windows XP

The real problem is key action. Nobody does it right except Kawai, Roland and Yamaha, that's why they do whatever they want to do. Nord obviously got it right with sample uploading but they don't have good actions.

So, let's kickstart the action-thing, not the computer stuff

I have sold now my CA51 and as a provisorium I have got an old Kurzweil with a Fatar keybed from a friend. This is a weighted one is not very good but still gives a very enjoyable experience to play. You can buy such a MIDI controller complete for around 400 EUR - this particular old one is even with aftertouch! (Not polyphonic). Production costs (with case) must be around or below 50% of it, perhaps some 200.

While not the best, I cannot see why a keybed with a better design should cost a multiple of that to manufacture - except perahps real wooden keys, I cannot judge, how much wood cost. But good actions exist without wooden keys...
Now Fatar belongs to Kurzweil...

Have you ever bought an ebook from Amazon? It might cost you almost as much as a 'real' book which is a bit strange when you consider the difference in production costs, but it works on that nice Kindle Ebook reader so you can carry it and several hundred similar books around with you easily to read almost anywhere anytime

But who owns it? Not you... you can't (legally) lend or give it to a friend, you can't resell it and you can't leave it to your children when you die - it certainly isn't your asset or your property: you just have a lifetime lease on being able to access it (or as long as Amazon stay in business or don't cancel your access to their site because of a 'contract violation' on your part)

When your Kindle's non-replaceble battery dies, or you drop and break that fragile E-ink screen what do you buy to replace it? Well, as you have spent several hundred dollars on Ebooks which are in Kindle format the choice is pretty much limited to another Kindle, and so you continue buying more books in that format to use on the new Kindle and therefore become ever more invested in that system. You don't even have the possibility to sell the Kindle with the books you bought loaded as the first system reset will remove all the books and the new user will not be able to recover them (legally) unless they download them again. Therefore if you want to get a Nook instead then you basically need to throw away all those hundreds/thousands of dollars you spent on Amazon books and start again - realistic?

Got an iPhone or an Android phone? Bought any apps for it? When it comes time to replace these with a new phone does the level of liking for the 'other' system or disliking of 'your' system outweigh the cost of junking the apps you bought as they won't work on the other system. If it doesn't then the result is that you carry on buying new phones and applications from the same ecosystem and the lock-in continues - and maybe even buy 'download' or 'app store' gift vouchers as presents to lock friends or other members of your family further into their phone ecosystems

In the world of cameras Sony have just introduced the concept of 'apps' into their latest models whereby the cameras are sold with basic functionality which you can extend by 'buying' new firmware functions. These new functions will transfer to new Sony camera bodies but not to any other brand, and again are not transferable or re-sellable to another user so you can't recover your investment if you want to change brands/systems

Is this new Kawai concept also going to follow the 'Ecosystem' pricing model whereby you buy those piano tones and that funky rhodes sound/sounds you want piecemeal and then find that your only option is to either lose that investment or buy another Kawai piano when the time comes to replace the piano?

Time will tell...

Speaking of Sony - I emailed them a few years ago, asking them to make digital pianos. I expect the first products to start appearing any day now.

Greg.

OK, then I'll email Samsung for some healthy competition

A MIDI controller is not a new concept. We don't know yet how the affiliation with the 4 products is knitted together but the board is still a MIDI controller that plays a lot of things outside of the packaged deal. Aliens might land and eat us all too. I would worry about that before not being able to use the VPC more than a couple years before it joins the ranks of the VCR.

A bookshelf isn't a new concept either, but although a Kindle similarly stores books, it is something different where the storage and the product are integrated and inseperable

It might be that this new Kawai product is something more than just a MIDI controller

Incidentally, I'm not worrying about anything, and may even buy one of these new keyboards myself (as I did with the Sony camera mentioned in my first post - and I also own, and like very much, a Kindle), but I if I do buy one then I want to do so with my eyes open: I guess many people who bought Kindles/iPhones/Android phones still haven't clocked how the pricing model really works on those items

Or we have stuck with one brand like Apple and have been able to transfer our purchases with each generation of product we buy. I have 5 Apple devices in the house and since they are all under the same account I also don't have to buy multiple copies of Apps. I pay for one App and all the devices can use it.

But you bought those 5 Apple devices and you will continue to replace them with more Apple devices in the future because of your investment in the Apple Ecosystem Apps you have bought... QED

I have a ~20 year old VCR that still works pretty good. If it had to be hooked up to a 286 to adjust some vital feature it would have hit the scrap bin / landfill long ago.

A really nice controller could easily last that long, and Kawai / MS / Apple / USB might not even exist at that point. So thanks, but no thanks, not until we get a computing platform and interfaces that have a bit more staying power. Until then I'll do my best to avoid buying anything that doesn't have all parameters adjustable via the front panel.