Don't know if this is news (it was to me!) Looks good
V-Box

Definitely good news to me as well. No more need to bring my laptop, if ever.

How fast the loading/reading time from the USB flash drives (containing the VSTi samples) would determine if the V-Box is up to the task of live performance.

I wonder how much this would cost.

Interesting post.

€399

I take it that this would be a "pioneer" product and as VSTi and VST plug-ins get better and better, this would give dedicated sound modules a good competition in the market...especially since this would cost less than a top-of-the-line sound module and can also offer comparable good quality VSTi.

Well it's not the first, Muse Research Receptor seems to be a similar product, there may be others too. The V-Box seems to be the smallest and most affordable though.

Muse Receptor

Thanks for the link. I find the Muse Receptor a bit larger for my taste to bring though...and it costs a heck of a lot more than the V-Box too...but it does have a 160GB hard drive in it...well that means a lot of storage space for VSTi samples...and maybe it even has some smaller "heat-sinks" installed for the internal processor and other chips that may heat up considerably during long hours of use.

I guess the equivalent of the Music Receptor would be the V-rack with some added connectivity and features.

But I could probably live with the V-box. I do hope the V-Box's internal processor is powerful enough to handle a couple of more simultaneous VSTi and plug-ins running though. And I hope too it does have some form of heat dissipation solution so it won't break down due to heat easily when used for long hours.

Says in the V-box website link you posted that these are set to be released sometime Q4 of 2008? A special slightly discounted introductory price by them perhaps would be welcome though

True! I'm always nervous about being an early adopter though, I think I'd rather wait and see some users reports, particularly on stability/reliability!