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Vive Open Labs (formerly R.I.P. Open Labs)


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Even though I purchased a Receptor instead, I was a fan of Open Labs; and I'm sad to see them go under.

 

Open Labs Heads To The Auction Block; Did Windows Kill The Company?

 

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Edit: Open Labs is under new ownership and is still open for business. (More here.)

 

Would it be possible to rename this thread "Vive Open Labs (Formerly R.I.P. Open Labs)"? I tried, but I wasn't able to do it. Thanks.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

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Seems weird to blame Windows....especially when the economy has cracked and the Open Labs boards were premium priced items from a small company. I see them from time to time on stage - not often, but there.

 

I know Apple is selling scads of stuff to college students and the other Apple-bitten consumers, but I don't see musicians porting over to Apple in droves. Am I missing something??

 

I might 'tho, see if I can find out when/where the auction is, do a little vulturing maybe.

 

nat whilk ii

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I know Apple is selling scads of stuff to college students and the other Apple-bitten consumers, but I don't see musicians porting over to Apple in droves. Am I missing something??

 

Who told you that musicians do actually make any money?

:lol:

 

Money can be exchanged for goods and services!


-Homer Simpson's Brain

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I don't understand all the hate for Open Labs, I thought it was a great concept, although it was priced out of most project musicians budgets. What would be better at this point is an "Airbook" style windows based laptop that is so light and unobtrusive that it can be included as part of any MIDI controller rig for a quick and portable setup with no drives to fail. :idk:

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I think the main problem was that it was an idea whose time had come and gone.

 

It made sense when Windows machines were difficult to configure, but these days, Windows is pretty much as easy to deal with as a Mac; and if that's still too scary, companies like PC Audio Labs, Rain, ADK, etc. will configure computers for you. There's no need any more to pay a premium for people to create a bundle for you.

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It made sense when Windows machines were difficult to configure, but these days, Windows is pretty much as easy to deal with as a Mac; and if that's still too scary, companies like PC Audio Labs, Rain, ADK, etc. will configure computers for you.

 

Configuration (and maintenance) isn't the only thing, though. With an Open Labs system, you could take one piece out of the car, set it up at the gig, turn it on, and start playing. No USB cables, no looking for a place to put the computer, mouse, and keyboard - it's all self contained. There are certain users for whom this can be a big advantage.

 

They were nice folks. I'm sorry to see 'em go.

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There's no need any more to pay a premium for people to create a bundle for you.

 

 

You're looking through the lenses of being the editor of EQ and the result of being surrounded by reasonably knowledgeable people in technology and audio. I still talk to many, many people who do NOT want to do any degree of custom soft/hardware configuration to any type of computer, but do want the advantages of using one for recording, composing, and live sound. For them, a pre-configured, self-contained system is exactly what they need, but like you say: there are plenty of service-based companies that can do it for them nowadays.

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I have to agree with Jeff on this one.

For most of the people I know,

whether in the music industry or not,

even just installing windows is way

beyond their level of ability or understanding.

 

Many people even have a problem with installing

a program and have to get someone else to do

it for them!

 

And as for hardware, adding some more ram or

a new audio or video card ... way too technical.

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I still talk to many, many people who do NOT want to do any degree of custom soft/hardware configuration to any type of computer, but do want the advantages of using one for recording, composing, and live sound. For them, a pre-configured, self-contained system is exactly what they need, but like you say: there are plenty of service-based companies that can do it for them nowadays.

 

The thing is that those people have almost as hard a time finding someone to set up their system for them than they would setting it up themselves. Dealers used to do that sort of thing (Sweetwater used to do it, maybe they still do), but it's pretty rare any more. And that kind of buyer doesn't know about forums like this where they could ask. And when they do, most of the answers are along the line of "you can do it yourself."

 

Also, it's hard to get someone pay for such a service if once they've bought the stuff, but if you buy a whole turnkey package for a fixed price, the sticker shock is buried in the cost. I've tried to offer myself up as a paid consultant (including setup) but the usual response is "thanks, but I can find what I need to know on the Internet" - probably from the likes of folks like me.

 

And how do you charge if you do the job? Most systems can be set up in an about an hour, so you charge a hundred bucks. Can't make a living like that unless you have a steady stream of clients. And then, you own that computer. Anything that goes wrong and your phone rings.

 

There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who do it themselves, and those who don't.

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You're looking through the lenses of being the editor of EQ and the result of being surrounded by reasonably knowledgeable people in technology and audio. I still talk to many, many people who do NOT want to do any degree of custom soft/hardware configuration to any type of computer, but do want the advantages of using one for recording, composing, and live sound. For them, a pre-configured, self-contained system is exactly what they need, but like you say: there are plenty of service-based companies that can do it for them nowadays.

 

 

But that's why I mentioned companies like PC Audio Labs, Rain, ADK, etc. If you tell PC Audio Labs what software you want to run, they'll test it for you. At that point, a laptop or desktop becomes just as plug-and-play as an Open Labs box, assuming you can hook a single USB cable from your MIDI controller to your computer - but even then, PC Audio Labs will have already made sure the drivers were happening so that when you did plug it in, it worked.

 

You do pay more for something like a PC Audio Labs computer than you do for a Toshiba Satellite at Office Depot, but not as much as a custom box made by a small company constrained by economies of scale.

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But that's why I mentioned companies like PC Audio Labs, Rain, ADK, etc. If you tell PC Audio Labs what software you want to run, they'll test it for you. At that point, a laptop or desktop becomes just as plug-and-play as an Open Labs box, assuming you can hook a single USB cable from your MIDI controller to your computer

 

But he's not going to find out about places like PC Audio Labs or ADK from his friendly local Guitar Center store. Of course he may not find out about Open Labs there either, which may have been part of what was ultimately OL's problem.

 

Those of us in our "advanced years" (Jeff, that includes you) have seen so many products that seemed like a good idea come and go. It's almost never that it was just a bad product, but rather something that had a small market that doesn't grow very fast. I like to use the Kurzweil Notebender keyboard as an example. There are only a couple of dozen players who can really make enough use of it to own one, and after they sold (or gave away) those, there was no reason to make any more.

 

Others are overcome by the computer horsepower explosion. As I look over at my mouse pad, I'm reminded of a program that you were pretty enthusiastic about when it came out - Digital Wings for Audio. It rendered multitrack mixes in the background so that the computers of the day didn't stumble over playing a screen full of tracks when overdubbing. It's a really cool looking mouse pad, even today.

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I'm not sure that I have a right to have an opinion on this because I may have completely misunderstood their market. But I kind of thought that their marketing and their price points were developed to extract x-incremental thousands of dollars from record company advances and development deals before the money had a chance to wrinkle.

 

Maybe that's a little harsh.

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But he's not going to find out about places like PC Audio Labs or ADK from his friendly local Guitar Center store.

 

 

Actually, he will...both MF And GC carry PC Audio Labs computers, and Sweetwater offers the Creation Station line of computers (which I believe is a house brand). zZounds and B&H carry the Rain line, etc. Whether the store can offer support or not is irrelevant, because the manufacturer is bundling the cost of support as part of the price.

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It's possible that the demise of Open Labs says more about how picky we keyboard players are about keyboard action and controllers than it says about whether a PC-based keyboard was a good idea.

 

An all-in-one unit like the NeKo is only as strong as its weakest link. If you don't like the action, or the number of keys, or the feel of its faders, or the look of its monitor, then maybe you're going to consider other options.

 

On the other hand, I can see why the company lasted the better part of a decade. The strength of an all-in-one unit like the NeKo is that it's easy for a keyboard player on the go: you grab it, you take it with you, you plug it in, you play. Simple.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

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I think Muse Research probably had the better idea with the
.

 

Yeah, but what happened to the one that came before the Receptor, the Manifold Labs Plugzilla? Not enough, too soon? Their biggest problem, it seemed, was in maintaining the anti-copy protection with plug-ins, so they couldn't get the big names on board soon enough to reach critical mass.

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I think Muse Research probably had the better idea with the
.

You still get the portability but you're not tied down to a particular keyboard

controller, monitor etc etc etc .

 

The guys at Muse Research are industry veterans with years of experience and connections to call upon. At least one of them was involved with E-mu's E-IV, to which the Receptor has been compared.

 

Their experience seems to have served them well, in terms of understanding what musicians want, in building a product to match those needs, and in making alliances with partners and marketing their product.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

Receptor owner

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At least one of them was involved with E-mu's E-IV, to which the Receptor has been compared.

 

 

The guy from E-Mu is Bryan Lanser. He was my boss at E-Mu when I was a product manager there.

 

I don't know if anyone saw this, but after the OpenLabs sale, they threw a party. A deck collapsed and a lot of people were hurt.

http://futuremusic.com/blog/2010/08/02/the-collapse-of-open-labs-victor-wongs-deck/

 

Pretty strange.

 

Mike McRoberts

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It's possible that the demise of Open Labs says more about how picky we keyboard players are about keyboard action and controllers than it says about whether a PC-based keyboard was a good idea.

But I thought that they used Fatar keyboards just like (almost) everyone else.

 

Didn

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I don't know if they were Fatar or not. But what I'm getting at is that while Fatar action may be acceptable for two or three of your five keyboards, it may not be what you want in an all-in-one solution.

 

Personally, I'd want an 88-note Kawai graded AWA Grand Pro II action keyboard if I were going to have an all-in-one solution. Someone else might be fine with Fatar action -- as long as it's 76 keys -- but they've got to have touch-sensitive, motorized faders. And another player might demand a height-adjustable monitor. And so on...

 

The NeKo's form factor may have been a tough sell for an all-in-one. In fact, any all-in-one might be a tough sell, other than a less expensive ROMpler workstation.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

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