I wanted to show you guys this if you haven't seen it already. This is the Infinty Music Systems X1 ... a heavy 88-note custom controller that can be purchased with a computer inside ala the Open Labs Neko, or as a do-it-yourself ATX-compatible shell. Very cool... even Neko doesn't come as an 88-note yet though I'm hopeful Open Labs will have one at NAMM. The X1 could stand a few more control options but it does have plenty of real estate for outboard devices. I'm not ready to buy one yet (I do like the flame model though) but it's a omen of things to come.

When I think of what Yamaha has at it's disposal with Steinberg alone, including Halion and VSTi's like The Grand, Virtual Guitarist, drum programs, plus V-Stand as an interface and virtual instrument rack... well, it's easy to imagine Yamaha coming out with an obvious VST keyboard. That's not counting whatever else they've acquired - since Kontact is becoming a standard interface then that's probably what Yamaha has it eye on. And Yamaha may be ready to answer the Korg OASYS with an open-system mega-instrument. I think something is coming.

Back to Bandstand: it makes sense that Bandstand would be a slight quality step below NI's other sample programs because they want to sell those too. Had to be a few sacrifices to accomodate fast loads over what beasts like Colossus take. But at 2 GB it still has more actual sample data than any other GM softsynth program I'm aware of. The fact that BS accepts program changes was the big factor for me... I'm getting it.