Openlabs MIKO: PC-in-a-synth for $1,999

time to ebay all your crap and spend twice as much on stuff that does the same thing!
 

hey, at least Neko try.

I'm not loving their industrial design somuch.

I've recently listed many of my synths and external equipment up for sale -- I've found new joy in my 300-in-1 electronics kit as a sound source.
 

It's fugly.
 

Amazing... they've taken all that functionality and put it in just one box... that's freakin' huge.
 

Forget the funky blue case and buy a computer instead. I upgraded the MIKO specs to 2GB RAM and a 250GB second HD and the price jumped to $3,489. Basically, all they've done is housed a PC in a keyboard-shaped shell.
 

Uh...hello? Dave Smith? Poly Evolver? That's bluer than blue.

There were also a couple of cheapie Yamaha offerings in the late-'90s.
 

I like how there's a Presonus Firebox interface inside of it in the bottom left corner.
 

hang on....there's room for a mini keyboard near the front of my laptop, do you think I could get this hacksaw and......(message ends suddenly)
 

The Roland EM-2000 keyboard was dark blue.

Sorry to be the spoiler but I think the Miko is totally cool and unique. It's a new class of instrument - heck it's a high-def multimedia synthesizer and entertainment center - too much fun! It IS 2006 isn't it? Time for something futuristic to drop in. It'll take artists a little time to catch up and figure out all the next ways to put this baby to use. It'll make a dandy Reason or Ableton Live workstation, and the video aspect is icing on the cake.
 

Does it have a battery? I wanna take it to the cafe to websurf.
 

And once the computer inside is outdated you just throw the junk away. Nice.
 

This is the second device we've seen in a month that has a Presonus Firebox wedged up in it.

It says a lot about the Firebox and not so much about these manufacturers, in my opinion. Go buy a Firebox for your PC and you're halfway there.
 

A candy ravers dream machine! What a POS, but hey it runs Windows XP so now you to can experience spyware, virus threats, crashes and all the other crap that comes with Windows in YOUR studio - Windows XP Haha what a JOKE

I can't wait for their publicity stunt of setting one on of these on fire - so contraversial!

So I guess I'll be selling all my old analog "crap" and getting a Openlabs Dil.. sorry Milko..I mean Miko, nah fuck it I'd rather have a Yamaha CX5m and YK10 controller
 

Can I view my porn on it?
 

saw it at NAMM this weekend - impressive piece of hardware if you need to cart around a PC based music system a lot. Just plug in the power cable and you are ready to go. Though others seem to think that it is merely a computer system in a keyboard box, I think that that is exactly what Openlabs set out to do - take a rack full of stuff and put it in one case that you can easily carry and quickly setup and use. Designed for the professional on tour or carting to and from the recording studio.
 

I kind of figured that they would start trying to put full on computers into keyboards again *(i.e. Fairlight, Con Brio etc.) I wonder how it will work out this time. If it never sees the internet or any other sketchy programs, I could see it almost being semi-reliable, After all, even Macs crash sometimes.
 

The price of $1999 includes the 15" LCD color touch screen and an AMD Athlon 64 3200 processor, plenty speedy. If that is not enough, you can upgrade to a dual-core 3200+ for $500.

BTW..you guys should add up the cost of "putting one together yourself", It comes out to more than what they are charging.

As for it just being a computer with some parts, it's obvious you guys don't know much. Try making all this stuff work together without conflicts. The amount of software, middleware and drivers needed takes many, many hours to write. Any knowledgeable programmer will tell you that. Plus, they have all the control surfaces that they designed, which again, all work together.

As for it doing the "same thing"...sad, sad, sad that you are brave enough to post that. But I do have to award you to being at least able to post online in a blog, since you don't understand the simpliest thing about the MiKo, which is the form factor and how that ergonomics makes everything better. No style points for you...my friend

So...I guess this product is for people who are interested in making music and not blasting companies online, knowning that they can't do better...but they sure can talk big.

And if you could do better, I'm sure Open Labs would be glad to pay you a lot of money to go teach "them idiots" to "do things right".
 

SH101 came in blue as well as red
 

No Mac OS? Forget it.

Is the screen a Lemur? No? Waste of time, then.
 

also the yamaha CS1x came in blue
 

does it take vsts ?