Ableton Forum

http://www.openlabs.com/index_miko.php

Hello! I have been lurking here for about half a year now and have seen how excited some/many users on this forum get about new controllers that look like they will work well with Live. I have yet to see any mention of this here yet so I figure that is because 1) you all don’t deem it worth mentioning or 2) that for some reason nobody here has picked up on it yet, although you all seem pretty on top of things around here so I am wondering if that is actually the case.
I could see how something like this would be less than ideal to someone who already has a comparable computer, soundcard and controller surface but I am not in that boat. In fact, I have none of the above. I am starting from scratch in terms of getting a Live setup going.
The price of the MiKO has yet to be announced and sure that will have a lot to do with people’s opinions of this thing, including my own, but if the price is right I wonder if this is the way for me to go? I am willing to buy everything separately and play with MIDI to get it right but with my limited knowledge of MIDI something like this has a certain appeal. I mainly plan on using this with Ableton Live and Reaktor using Live for mixing songs and Reaktor for effects and the ability to add synth lines and what not to mixes, which is also one of the reasons why I like that the MiKO has keys.
My guess is that it is going to be like the few, maybe I should say couple, Open Labs products before it and be considered expensive. How I might be able to justify this is by taking resale value into account. I am presuming that something like the MiKO will hold its value much better that a state of the art laptop with a good soundcard and control surface(s)?
Oh yeah, I find the VJ aspect of the NiKO intriguing as well even though I doubt that most of the songs I will be buying even have videos as I am not into mainstream stuff.
Any thoughts?

...or 3) it has already been mentioned here before.

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... light=miko

Missed the short mention that the MiKO got here before.

*Cough* any thoughts about the MiKO whatsoever? *Cough*

i think it could be interesting...i think we'll see more and more controller/computer hybrids in the next few years.

Conceptually good, but if a knob or fader or key get screwed, your out of a rig until it gets fixed. I think a modular set up would be safer in those regards. it is basically a computer with the soundcard, and controls built in for a all-in-one type product. If I had the money to blow, and it worked very well for pro Tools and Live, I would consider getting one. It is rather big though, I think there has been some debate here, and other forums regarding the NEKO line. Does anyone know of somebody who actually uses one? That might tell you something.

And in terms of looks, I think it's too big, and actually ugly, but of course that is just my aesthetic opinion.

I like the idea of a big box with all your stuff in it... however, if I was to get something like that I'd have someone build it for me, to my specifications, and with MY computer inside, and probably save a few thousand in doing so. That way I could also have rollers on it, coz that thing is hea-VY!

i remember a vidio on this forum with somebody smashing and torching a niko while it was playing...

they are modular though. the baseline model doesn't come with a touchscreen, encoders, or faders. so presumably if one of those modules broke, you could just unplug it to send off for repairs and the machine would still work without it

edit: oops, i think i'm talking about the neko workstation, not the miko controller

Having the ability to swap out bad parts is a definate plus. I still have to agree with Machinate about getting one custom built, with your own choice of computer components. Neko is too much cash! With that kind of investment, you could have someone build you a dream synth based on the concept, with your personal use fully accomodated for. Mine would be modular though, there is something to having different parts connect that entice me. Each module could have a DUO core Cpu to enhance overall performance, once all my favorite programs fully supports multi/cual core CPU technologyu. I would get into a car-like debt for that!!! But it would have to be my size, color, with my custom controls, especially for over $3k usd

Thanks for the replies! I still have to wonder about resale value of something like the MiKO compared to a top of the line custom made device or laptop, soundcard, control surface(s)… As glu pointed out above, does anybody actually own a NEKO? Most everyone seems to like the idea behind Open Labs but not the price to get it and it appears that nobody is actually getting it so it is hard to tell how Open Labs resale value actually is. Resale value is important to me on an expensive product such as this that will be used for mixing and that I am going into somewhat blindly because I have yet to try Live and though I do own Reaktor 5 I have yet to use it because it was more than my 600 megahertz computer could handle (did the whole Reaktor Sessions upgrade thing when they had that deal going). Also, I don’t think that this is the be all end all product for what I want to do as I see a lot of different things coming out in terms of both software and hardware in the coming years that will advance things much further than they are currently.
I highly doubt that this thing has any chance of becoming the “club standard” I would like to see something become again but I think that those days are over and that the future is a free for all where you bring what you use and hook it up to a PA/mixer.

To be quite honest with you, I really don't think there are a lot of people
out there who use Nekos (and probably even less will use Mekos).
The people that so use them have money to burn or are the
Richard Devines of the world. That is a very small group.
The main problem is that Neko costs so much. It is essentially
a computer running WindowsXP with integrated keyboard and
controllers, with a price tag close to 3k. People just dont want to pay that
much money for something and be stuck with that configuration.
Much less that fact that it is HUGE. I use 5 different controllers depending
on the type of music I am playing. I love the freedom of just being
able to take what I need. Hell, I have a hard enough time just trying to
find money to keep up with upgrading my laptop every few years, I can't
afford to drop money on something so impractical as a neko/meko.
If openlabs really wanted to comeout with a good product that would sell, thay should build a system of modular controller componenets that allow me to build that setup that I want.

WORD! Too expensive, not modular... all-in-one might be what some people are looking for, but for many, it would be nice to add parts when you need/ or can afford them. THat way you can have a $3000 or $4000 machine, but you made use of the first $1000-$2000 a few years before having to shell out the rest of the $$$ for additional control/ power/ etc...

I think these are some of the reasons people arent' buying.

Edited, I thought this was for the Neko, not the Miko.....

http://www.openlabs.com/index.php
Well, it came in at less than I thought it was going to at $1999.00 introduction rate, which gives me something to think about.
Agree that lots of good things could be said for a modular setup.