Hi Diki
Seeing your post in the Medeastation thread, I thought I would mention that you have been able to use VST instruments with styles since OAS 5, (2003) and they have been greatly expanded in OAS 7.
As for Drums, OAS 6 includes the features mentioned below. (Again they have been expanded in OAS 7)
1. 64 slots for User kits which can be loaded or existing ones edited.
2. Individual drum sounds can be loaded in a kit. (This includes Wave samples from elsewhere)
3. General Editing Features for the whole kit include Volume, Reverb and Delay.
4. For each individual drum sound in the kit, the following can be edited, Volume, Panorama, Dynamic, Reverb, Delay.
Tuning of each drum sound can be in semitones and cents
Envelope adjustment for each drum sound include, Attack, Velocity to Attack, and Decay
Filter controls for each drum sound include, Filter Cut and Filter at velocity
All drum sounds loaded can be up to 24 bit resolution.
As a final point have you had a chance to listen to the old demos I have posted? http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum37/HTML/014692.html

I am curious to see what you think, as OAS 5/6 was released during the Tyros 1, KN7000 era.
Enjoy whatever you play

Bill

I honestly think the sound (and potential sound) of the Wersis is far better than the MS (obviously - they've been around for a long time and have the kinks knocked out by now) and can show what a hybrid can do. Amazing!

BUT....... (it wouldn't be me without one of those!) the price point and weight both weigh heavily against the Wersi's, especially in the US, where they are impossible to find, listen to, and service quickly in the event of a failure.

They really are the way of the future, but as anyone that bought a 42" plasma TV three years ago can tell you, being ahead of the curve is an incredibly expensive proposition, and the Neko's, Mediastations and Muse stuff are all showing an interest in this type of product, at a fraction of the Wersi's price.

I think that if Wersi slashed their prices in half, they would quadruple their sales, and Wersi would have the market cornered, but while they stick to their high-end Scala model of 'build the best and you can charge anything you want, because there IS no competition', guys like Lionstracs slowly (too slowly for me!) utilize the same technology at a fraction of the price, and relegate you to obscurity, if you are not prepared to compete.

Hammond, Wurlitzer, Lowery, all these guys ignored the trend towards keyboard synths and workstations for so long, the market just completely bypassed them, and now they are gone or marginalized. Wersi have an opportunity to avoid this mistake, but only if they act quickly. Technology waits for no man, the power of computers continues to leap ahead, and if Wersi wait while others gradually catch up at lower prices, that's going to be hard to recover from.

As to the weight issue, look, I know Wersi's are built like a tank, last forever, yada yada yada, but my G70, at 20.3kg is also built like a tank, and I have no doubt as to it's durability (especially as I gigged a G1000 constantly for 8 years, at least five night s a week, without a trace of problems). Modern construction techniques and modern materials show you don't have to weigh 30kg+ (60lbs or more for the US readers) to be durable.

Arrangers traditionally tend to be the choice of older players, and about 20kg is about the cutoff point most solo performers are willing (reluctantly!) to lug around. Many (most!) would prefer less, but I for one understand about stability and durability. But if others can make durable products at 20kg, why not Wersi?

Anyway, I enjoyed the demos, thought they showed what a mature hybrid system is capable of, but simply can't justify that kind of money and weight for something I can already do at home with a computer, and on the road with a laptop (or iMac) for a fraction of the price. Get it into MS's price range, or lower, and the Wersi is a no-brainer. It's a leap I think Wersi are going to have to make, otherwise they may go the way of the Lowery......

Hi Diki
Thanks for listening. BTW Have you seen the size, weight and price of the organs Lowery are producing these days?
Regards

Bill

Exactly, and are you aware of their sales numbers? You want to play with the big boys, you've got to ship volume.... Lowery sell a TINY fraction of the sales they had in the 60s and 70s. I don't think Wersi really want to walk that path, do they?

Yamaha, Roland, both these guys make boutique organs at exorbitant price and weight, BUT...... they make the majority of money on synths and arrangers more in the affordable end of things. Ford make the GT and the Focus...

Perhaps Wersi think they can grow and prosper with the high-end only, but as technology races ahead, the gap between high-end arranger hybrids and the MS's of the world get smaller and smaller, until you ARE Lowery, relegated to building just a few expensive units for collectors and enthusiasts, while others reap the benefits of the technology that you pioneered in the first place, but failed to capitalize on.....

If that's what they want, more power to them, but talk about one here at SZ, and it's kind of like a McLaren F1 owner trying to post on a Honda Civic forum....

If Domenik can put a hybrid together at that price point, it proves it can be done. Wersi could do the same, and have the HUGE advantage that their software and styles already work.... no promises of 'it'll work after the NEXT update', ad nauseam. Do they REALLY want to abandon the market to hungrier, more economically aggressive companies?

I hope not.....

I noticed on your website's biography that you purchased your Abacus used, at about half price (?) and had to update it yourself a couple of times (it had OAS4 when you got it?)

If you were in a situation of having to buy a new one, would you REALLY be willing to pay that much....?

Hi Dikki
YES, without any hesitation.

Bill

What do you think of the practicality of Wersi entering the more mass market? I think there's no time to lose. Just imagine what would happen to OAS sales if Domenik ever got his act together.....

Difficult to say as Wersi has always been a niche market product.
As to the threat from Mediastation, Wersi management and engineers are fully aware of its potential.

I don't care how advanced a workstation or arranger keyboard is the simple fact that the Wersi, Mediastation, Oasys, and NEKO's price point is where its at will always limit their sales potential. This is true with any product developed for a niche market. Few people require the features these workstations and arrangers have to offer and for those of us that do, price is generally not of great concern.

If Wersi or Lionstracs built an arranger with sampling, synthesis, VST support, sequencing, hard disk recording, vocal harmonizer, and 76 keys that only weighed 30-40 pounds but the cost was $5,000.00 or more, few people would buy it. Case in point is the Wersi Ikarus which has all of these features and yet relatively few people own one. Price point is a major concern and no matter how hard a manufacturer tries, they can't build something of great quality on the cheap.

Even if Wersi or Lionstracs had a stronger presence in the US market sales would not "sky rocket". After selling high end pro audio gear for over 25 years... I've yet to ever see any single product that costs more than $5K be a runaway hit selling thousands of units let alone tens of thousands.

You are right

Anyway, do not forget that the MS is working under Windows XP too, like the Neko.
All the XP software is developed forn one French company and they in some months will try to offer the Windows package too.
Still a lot of OS, task and latency problems but maybe someday they can make some nice too.
here are some shoots.. http://www.lionstracs.com/data/mediastationXP/Msgigastudio.JPG http://www.lionstracs.com/data/mediastationXP/MSXParranger.JPG
http://www.lionstracs.com/data/mediastationXP/MSXParrangerdesk.JPG
http://www.lionstracs.com/data/mediastationXP/MSXPB4.JPG http://www.lionstracs.com/data/mediastationXP/MSXPdesktop.JPG http://www.lionstracs.com/data/mediastationXP/MSXPmenu.JPG

You can then also booting from Linux MS OS partition or by Windows XP partition, so 2 workstation in one. ( double money saved...LOL)