Looks cool- imagining either one with Dan's vArranger...

ControlBlade

StudioBlade

They have a controller too

ControlTouch

Yeah I have seen these b4 - VERY expensive

Cool...

I am really waiting the Microsoft Surface Pro releasing in France

I think you will be "underwhelmed" Dan....especially with the tiny amount of freespace left for user programs and data after the OS.

I think most folks will HAVE to opt for the 128gig model which is well of $1100 out here...makes it non-competitive with hybrid laptops, that will perform better....

I will only use vArranger LOL 128 GB is enought I think
and will only install the sounds I will use for gigs
I don't like having computers on stage, i feel not so comfortable.
but the surface pro will be good for me, because it own SSD and is not sensible to moves, and it's only a tablet that I can put in front of me

The screen is small, but.... it will go very weel with my new KORG MICRO KEY 37 keys :p

I am playing many hours last night with only vArranger, the Korg 37 keys and the future vArranger virtual synth.

Amazingly stable and imperceptible latency

(still very basic sounds for now...)

And you don't need an audio interface.

Just plug and play

The sound with ASIO4ALL or WASAPI is simply perfect. Maybe better than usual arrangers.

The return of the MS...!

I still think we are a generation or two before any of these things approaches the ease of use and sonic integration that 'closed' keyboards have.

One thing that is the reason you pay for a closed arranger (or WS) is that somebody else, someone with superb ears and years of experience has voiced it so it all works together seamlessly. That's priceless, as far as I am concerned!

Definitely agreed Diki . I was on rehearsal last night at church and playing some styles I had created myself for the choir and a visitor from another church asked me how I made all that music and could start and stop and loop and transpose and even play different chord progressions in the sequence . He had no concept of an arranger keyboard and was amazed at what I was able to do . Especially the way I could link separate sequences via multi pad to a style and drop them in and out at will all within the key I was playing in . This kind of flexibility and capability is beyond the realms of probably any workstation including the studio blade

The blade series have been out for a number of years and basically are designed to allow computer based musicians to load all there software inside one package with keyboard integrated; they make no concessions to easy play home arranger keyboards. (With their severely limited capabilities (as Spalding explained in his post although perhaps not intentionally)

It would however be interesting to see how vArranger or Live styler could be set up on it though, just remember the owner would have to set everything up from scratch, but it would mean they would have a totally personalised instrument.

Wersi have had seamless integration of Organ/Arranger software and computers for years, so I don’t know where Dikis comment comes from.

As to Lionstracs well it was a small concern (With very limited resources) which tried to make an arranger add on to a workstation that everyone could use as they wished, unfortunately no matter what features he added (That had been asked for with more in the pipe line) they were constantly slammed down by the same people that wanted all these features, so Lionstracs went back to just producing computer based workstations which professionals are happy to use.

Bill

with 4 or 8g memory and 1+t hard drive I remain curious like Bill. Don't know enough about it, but I think Varranger in particular may be all you need + the base model Controlblade (price of a psr950). No speakers, but not limited to yamaha styles/sounds only. And the cost of vArranger of course.

An arranger is almost ENTIRELY about the soundset. Unlike WS's, everything HAS to be available instantly, already balanced and ready to go.

This is what Dom forgot, and what anyone who wants to use software instruments for arranger use is well advised to remember. The better hardware arrangers (and that includes modern ones for as little as $1000) have soundsets that currently, no software soundset can even approach. Yes, each individual sound can be FAR better. But taken as a whole, consistency is almost non-existent. Modern arrangers can have thousands of sounds, and usually, none of them need any work before you can use them. It's hard to find a VSTi that can even do the entire Capitol GM soundset, only 128 sounds and a few kits, without major rebalancing and EQ'ing.

That's what you are paying for...