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Music and Recording Reviews

Review: Open Labs NeKo XXL Gen5 DAW Keyboard Workstation

REVIEW: I’m a big fan of Open Labs’ music workstation instruments, so I was pretty excited when they announced the rebirth of their XXL model this spring, which was not available last October 2008 when I bought the NeKo TSE (previously reviewed for Music Industry Newswire). The XXL is not technically their flagship, if you ask anybody at Open Labs (OL) about that; it’s a special-purpose version of their NeKo designed for those with more professional needs. This means, specifically, it has all their control surface options (except the DJ panel), and most importantly it has faster multi-core Intel processors, more audio I/O, and hardware word clock I/O. Since the audio hardware is based on the M-Audio Delta 1010 series, it is “ready to rock” with Pro Tools 8 MA Edition, out of the box. It also comes outfitted with four 1TB hard drives (think system drive, audio drive, sample drive, back-up drive), and all the rest of their fifth generation software package.

Open Labs XXLThe first thing I found when taking it out of the box is that they still pack the unit very well with the spongy type of foam, not the brittle stuff that breaks into dust when you try to take the item out of the box; this means it absorbs shock better, and can be re-used in the future. So, it’s very well packed to arrive safe and sound, and to protect the LCD touch panel.

OL is still a bit stingy on the documentation, but I will address that in my minor quibbles a bit later on.

Ins and Outs
The short run-down of the hardware specs of the XXL are:

AUDIO: (1) High performance audio I/O card with low latency including 24-bit/96kHz professional 10-in/10-out: (2) mic/instrument preamp inputs (with phantom power 48V), (8) analog line inputs, (10) analog line outputs, S/PDIF digital I/O (coaxial), (1) Word Clock I/O, (1) headphone jack with volume control. MIDI in and out. Sustain and expression pedal inputs.

SYSTEM: Windows XP SP3. 2.8 GHz Core2 Quad Intel processor. 4GB RAM. One dual-layer DVD-RW (SATA) drive. Four 1TB Western Digital SE16 SATA (3GB/sec) drives. DVI video port. 15-inch touch screen. Four USB 2.0 ports (2 internal, 2 external). One FireWire 400 port. One Gigabit Ethernet port.

NeKo XXL Back Panel

Control This
What sets the XXL apart from the other Gen5 (fifth generation) OL keyboards, is the extra panels, which means it has the new Bump MP drum panel, the mixer panel with display, a QWERTY keyboard (useful for shortcuts in most recording applications), and the new Alpha II Panel which has a wide LCD display (scribble strip, if you prefer) with assignable buttons and encoders. Missing from the XXL, but found on other Gen5 models is the DJ panel, which appears to be missing here due to lack of internal space because of extra cards and cooling.

(Note: on their Web site, they refer to the Bump MP as “Bump MP,” then “BumpMP,” then “Bump-MP,” so I’m not entirely sure which is definitive.)

It’s all a bit to take in and get a grasp on (pun intended). The one thing which threw me at first, is that the dedicated keyboard transpose buttons found on the Gen4 NeKo instruments is no longer found on the XXL (thanks to different, better panels). On the non-XXL models, the DJ panel (fader, knobs, and buttons, below the touch panel) can take over this chore. With the XXL I discovered the only way to do this is to use the Alpha II Panel (top-right panel), and use the menu key to switch to the Reaper DAW preset, and then the up/down and reset transpose buttons work from that pre-set.

Apha II Panel and Bump-MPHowever, there is no standard pre-set on the Alpha II Panel for virtual instruments, which there should be. Of course, there are presets for bundled Reaper DAW, the bundled Ableton Live 7 DAW, and Riff. (To clarify: the default transpose buttons on the Alpha II Panel work while in Riff, which is the default environment for the XXL. It’s only when you leave the Riff environment, go to Windows, and launch a stand-alone application outside of Riff, where they do not.)

Since Ableton Live is a whole subject in itself, I’m not going to cover that product at all here, but suffice it to say that the XXL’s many controls are very well mapped to the Live environment so you can do some pretty amazing things with it.

Similarly Reaper is a wonderful DAW, which has some notable features for working with everything from one screen. It’s got a little bit of a different mindset than Cakewalk or Pro Tools, but if you want to do a lot of audio recording, it’s dead easy to learn, and OL have many great tutorials and – again – all of the Gen4 and Gen5 keyboards are pre-set to control Reaper elements.

The mixer panel (top-left of XXL), has 9 faders, with four banks; and 16 knobs, as well as an LCD display where 8 of the knobs have scribble strips that change based on the presets (meaning, you can create a pre-set for Sonar, or Pro Tools, if you wish). The system is pre-set to work with both Live and Repear, and Riff. The sliders have LEDs at top and bottom which get brighter depending on the position of the fader. The faders were designed to work with the MiKo layout, apparently, as the blue LEDs are to the left of the faders, so while seated at the XXL, they are not clearly visible when the faders are either close to bottom or top.

The Big Wow
Probably the most exciting thing to me about the XXL, personally, is that it is the first true (no B.S.) “all in one” recording product ever built, by anybody, period. Full stop. Right now, I can boot up the unit in under 100 seconds, and be running either Pro Tools LE (M-Audio edition), Cakewalk Sonar Producer Edition, any virtual instrument in stand-alone mode and – finally – Gigastudio. One of my (perhaps silly) dreams for many years was “Oh, I wish Tascam would build a keyboard instrument to run Gigastudio in standalone mode… just like my Triton Pro Extreme or Kurzweil. Sigh.” Well, folks, now I can. And, may I say, big freakin’ wow, baby. The OL XXL has GSIF2 drivers, so I can load up a whole passel of Giga sounds, and the updated GS4 interface actually works on the 15-inch touch panel.

(Ahem: of course, Gigastudio is now a defunct product, but those of us long-time users still like it. And, although I have also become a convert to Native Instruments’ Kontakt 3.5, it would take a year or more of my little free time to convert my vast legal sound libraries, and I’d lose many of my key-switching capabilities.)

With the touch panel, I really love virtual instruments with stand-alone modes, like the Arturia CS-80, where the on-screen ribbon controller responds to the touch panel! Some virtual keyboards, like Native Instruments’ Akoustic Piano, is made for a touch panel, since you can just tap the piano you want to load, and then the environment to play in. Very cool. Manipulating samples and elements in NI’s KORE 2 system is equally elegant by touch.

Rock and Riff
When launched, the XXL opens into the Riff environment, which is OL’s own custom live workspace environment. This is very cool, and shows that OL has really matured from repurposing other folks’ applications (like Karsyn, based on Forte) to building their own solutions. At first glance, it seems to be a fairly simple grid setup to create custom song-sets, each of which can contain instruments, FX, and routings. At second glance, it’s clear a lot of thought has gone into Riff in making it a very deep system for playing live, and for creating your own custom “instrument” for when you boot up the XXL.

For example, you can create custom buttons, dials, sliders and other controls to manage individual instruments, or groups, which can vary per song. Riff is perhaps the most powerful thing about all of the fifth generation OL instruments (Gen4 gear can be upgraded to the Gen5 software), and might be easily dismissed when jumping right to an installed DAW. It’s a little confusing in some ways relative to the prior starting point of Karsyn, as found on Gen4 OL products, but once you play with it a bit (or use the live training support option included), it really starts to get under your skin of how cool it really is.

Open Labs Riff 1.2

As one example, you could create a song grid, with all your songs by name and color code on the touch panel, and you could group different buttons around a core song. So, in the context of a single performance you could easily jump between groups of instruments, splits, effects chains, patches, mixes and so forth with one button. Further, you can create custom controls for each set-up, like on screen toggles, sliders, dials and whatnot, so if you want to just control the filter on your bass line, you can do it by adding just the single element you want to see/control on your screen. I didn’t see a couple of things on first or second glance, but I’m hoping they add a joystick type x-y controller and side-to-side virtual ribbon controller type element, as these are superb control surface options for virtual instruments.

Initially I found the default set-ups a little disappointing relative to Karsyn on the TSE, because very few of the bundled instruments showed up in the drop-down menus for Riff; for example, Truepianos is included, but didn’t show up in the menu for “keyboards.” So, there are no default Riff set-ups with Truepianos. After I had installed Native Instruments Komplete 5, I went into the “add” menu, and found I could drag any of the installed instruments into the categories, or make new categories. Now my “keyboards” drop-down menu has Truepianos, and the Native Instrument keyboards and B4. Now if I want to make a new song setup, they are right there.

Because this is still fairly new (version 1.2 of Riff literally came out days before my unit shipped, and the tutorial videos on YouTube still show the earlier version), OL hasn’t yet had time to build out the amazing instrument set-ups that came with the TSE workstations. So, most of the set-ups are built around just a very few of the bundled on-board instruments and sounds, and you can no longer launch them from the OL GUI, where previously the GUI would launch special set-ups of Karsyn and E-MU’s Proteus X2.

Luckily Karsyn is still included (for now), which is still kind of easier to use for just launching a newly installed VST, since it has a nice menu of “newly installed instruments.” So, you don’t need to make a song, or edit one, you just click load, and it’s playable. OL will be discontinuing Karsyn at some point in favor of Riff, but for the transition, it’s nice to have. In speaking to one of the OL support folk, it sounds like there are some really wicked things planned for Riff, and for a nascent application it has some truly inventive ideas.

Open Labs NeKo Front

Sounds on Board
On the subject of sounds on board, I was more than a little surprised to no longer find any version of E-MU Proteus X2, even the free Proteus VX. I’m not sure if OL had a falling out with E-MU, or perhaps E-MU chose to discontinue licensing the X2 software now that X3 has come out. Luckily, I already owned a legal copy of Emulator X2, and upgraded to X3 which doesn’t require a dongle anymore, so with X3 loaded and all the libraries I had purchased for X2 (classic keyboards), I now have the same sound sets from the TSE, minus the Ensoniq ASR-10 sets. For anybody migrating as I am from the TSE to the XXL, you will want to go buy the Proteus or Emulator X3 from EMU, or at least download the free Proteus VX, so you won’t be going “hey, what happened to….”

OL does include several E-MU sound sets from Digital Sound Factory that work with the included Cakewalk Dimension LE, which are sounds from the venerable E-MU Proteus 2000, MoPhat and Virtuoso modules. However, these are fairly old school in quality (small number of samples per patch) versus today’s modern ROMplers or the some of E-MU’s extensively sampled vintage keyboard libraries.

Basically, Cakewalk’s Dimension LE is the new “standard” library playback engine on the OL Gen5 instruments, replacing E-MU’s Proteus X2. This, actually, is not a bad choice, since Dimension uses the same sfz format as Wusikstation (also included with OL products, as before), and the OL MimiK key cloning application. However, you will want to upgrade to the “Pro” version ($99-$149, depending on Cakewalk’s variable pricing on their instruments) for any key cloning efforts (cloning hardware or virtual synths), since Dimension LE doesn’t have all of the ADSR and editing tools needed to properly replicate many of the instruments you may wish to clone. Of course, if you are using Cakewalk Sonar, you may already have the Pro version.

Other bundled sounds/instruments include Lennar Digital Sylenth, which is one of the better analog sounding virtual instruments, and is ideal for those who want a wide range of arpeggiated patches (hint: try stopping the arpeggiator on the more interesting patches to just play them normally). Purity and Autogun are included along with the aforementioned 4Front Truepianos.

Boom Shaka Boom Boom
One of the very cool things in the sound department is the custom collaboration between OL and FXpansion, for a customized version of Guru, the drum machine slash drum sequencer. With the combination of the new OL “Bump MP” control surface and Guru, you have a very usable setup for those who may have grown up with a venerable Akai MPC. But, wait, there’s more!

One of the truly cool things about the Bump MP set-up, is that OL have added one unique thing to the otherwise standard 4×4 (16) drum pad layout, which is a “last played” button (a 17th pad). This lets you instantly play something like a hi-hat using two buttons, as the extra pad does whatever your last pad did. As someone who was first on the block with a Linn9000 back in the day (my band-mate at the time, wrote the manual for the Linn9000), and have owned several MPCs (I have a MPC3000 and MPC4000 now), this is really useful and works.

Guru is a great choice as it works either in a MPC style of recording, or closer to an Ableton Live (more about that in a minute) mode. If you haven’t used Guru before, it’s a bit like how you have multiple pad banks on the MPC, but think multiple virtual MPCs which in turn have their own multiple banks. It’s a little confusing at first, but like most things, once you get it, you go “ooooh!”

To quote OL’s promotional materials: key features of the Bump MP include: (16 plus 1) fully assignable pads, note repeat, fixed level fader, transport controls, chromatic mode, hold, pad tune, multiple groove preset and eight engines with 24 patterns per engine. This also allows up to 512 step sequences per pattern.

Minor Quibbles
Open Labs are still a little stingy on printed documentation supplied with their products, which amounts to an 11×17 getting started color sheet, a support sheet, a contact sheet, and an upgrade card for the bundled Live software. A couple of the numbers and arrows for the back panel are wrong on the getting started sheet, for the MIDI jacks and the expression pedal, but those are self evident when looking at the back of the unit. If we’re going to be forced to print out our own manual, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to perhaps include a 3-ring binder with the Open Labs logo printed on it, and then put the videos onto a proper DVD disc, and quick start sheets for ALL the bundled Open Labs applications like Riff and MimiK. I’m sure I’m not the only one that thinks it’s ridiculous to assume we’re going to keep flipping between a PDF and the Riff environment on a 15-inch LCD to learn to use the thing.

Of course, to mitigate this (in my opinion) lacking, the NeKo XXL comes with Open Labs’ “Platinum” support, which includes hands-on training of Riff and MimiK, in lieu of the documentation, so this really can be considered a premium replacement for old-fashioned how-to printed materials. I do like to point out that even Roland has returned to providing printed docs, which they tried to get away from, as with the launch of the V-Synth GT, which had limited printed docs, and a getting started sheet that looked like something from a 1980s VCR set-up guide. With the Fantom G series they brought back a proper manual, quick start guide, and jump start sheet, to which I said hip-hip hooray when I took the Fantom G6 out of its box. I’ll keep mentioning this in every review I do for products with no manuals, as it doesn’t save trees for me to have to print out the sheets from the manual, when they should come with any music gear that costs over $2,000.

But again, OL do provide arguably the best live support option in the industry where they will schedule a time to walk you through the set-up, customization, and use of the apps that come on the XXL; for their core customer base, this is a better option than printed materials, except for us dinosaur music types who still like to read docs for stuff while watching TV to separate the brain activities. But I digress. The live support is exceptional, and is worth about $600 if taken alone. And in the first couple of months, you can upgrade to extend that support.

I found once I put the XXL on the Standastic stand, where my NeKo TSE had been (see photos), was that the piano black finish actually works pretty well with the black rubber surrounds with the different panels, making them look more integrated than the white finish of the TSE models. On the other hand, I was a bit surprised to see what looked like minor resin snail trails below the clear coat finish, in the area right below the pitch/mod wheels. You can’t see this unless it’s hit with a ray of sunlight, or with a flashlight, but it does, unfortunately, still reveal the fact this is a bespoke product and not a mass produced workstation from the “big boys” in Japan or Europe. So, a little surprised that a $6,800 instrument has a paint finish a little closer to Earl Scheib than Chip Foose; but only a detail nut like me will likely even notice it. Not a deal breaker, and the free 28-inch LCD display they included as part of their summer promotion, sure didn’t hurt.

While OL does not provide install disks or recovery disks for any of the bundled system OS or applications, a very usable copy of Acronis OEM edition is included, which lets you create full working back-ups of your set-up, and put those back-ups on your hard drive (or external media). It’s a good idea to do this before you start to install anything. Then when you have the first batch of things installed do separate back-up of that. And then, when you have everything installed, do a separate back-up there. Do, a second back-up of everything, and then you can do “incremental” back-ups to that “working” back up image. Thankfully, that fourth 1TB drive is ideal for this practice.

Finally, the smallest of quibbles: I’ve noticed a bit of lack of attention to detail in various Open Labs materials this year, which was not the case last year, such as the mis-labeled items on the welcome sheet with the XXL. Throughout the OL Web site, they refer to the Acronis back-up software as Acronus, sequencer is mis-spelled often, the Bump MP panel can be called Bump MP, Bump-MP, and BumpMP (um, which is it?); MIDI is often called Midi, etc. When I went to register the DBeat hardware product, there was no option for that product on their registration page. Finally, when I got the XXL, the included upgrade postcard had a link to the Ableton site which did not exist; I had to point this out to support, and then the Ableton site was updated a couple of days later (didn’t anybody check that – the card had to be printed before being sent to customers?).

So, somebody in marketing or management hasn’t been keeping track of the team as best they could, which has not (thankfully) affected the products, but it does show some cracks in the plaster from their growing pains, which I hope will be better addressed moving forward.

Real People Real Support
One of the best aspects of any OL instrument purchase, perhaps, is the support. You can actually work with a live person to show you what to do, explain how to solve a problem specific to your work-flow, and train you on the features built-in to the OL products. Saturday appointments are available, too. In some parts of the country, you can even have a guru come to you on-site. This is rare in the music industry outside of the professional studio services trade (e.g., the folks who install your $100,000 mixing console).

All OL products are pre-set with optional dial-in support, meaning if you have an Internet connection, you can have a tech access your machine remotely to tweak something.

Wrap Up
Overall, this is one of the coolest pieces of electronic music gear I have purchased brand new since that day I walked out of Guitar Center with my Sequential Circuits Pro One oh so many years ago. The more I use it, the more I discover I can do, and beyond the geek-factor, I do find myself being inspired again to actually make music rather than admire the technical facility or possibilities of “what it’s possible to do,” which is the bane of many virtual instrument collectors.

With the mix panel, you can tab between banks of faders, with the Bump MP panel you can play drums more elegantly than keyboard, and I don’t have to stand-up to wham on my MPC. The built-in DAWs give you choices “out of the box” as to how to record music, and since it’s a Windows XP computer under the hood, you can literally run any application that runs on a standard PC.

FIVE STARSCertainly, it’s not inexpensive, but it’s far more than a keyboard, a PC, some drivers, and a touch panel bolted into a custom case, which is the mis-conception of the “laptops or die” crowd. If you look inside there are numerous custom circuit boards, intelligent engineering in the layout for cooling, it’s quieter than you expect, even with the fans at full speed (I chose to use the NeKo on a 100-degree day in mid August, with 70 percent humidity, and only one fan on in the corner in my home studio, and the XXL got warm, but I was fading from the heat before it was).

If you want to replace a wall of hardware with something more elegant, and if you want to retire all the wires between your notebook, audio interface, keyboard controller, etc. with one “all in one box,” look no further than an Open Labs MiKo or NeKo. With the XXL, you have one system that can run all the best Windows-based DAWS with no additional hardware, and the Riff and Bump MP solutions are true value-adds that are remarkable on their own.

To loosely quote Ferris Bueller, “If you have the means, I highly recommend it.”

Summary:
Music Industry Newswire rating: FIVE STARS.

Open Labs NeKo XXL: SRP(US) $6,899. Dimensions: 46″ (W) X 20″ (D) X 7″ (H), Weight (base configuration) 46 lbs.

More information: http://openlabs.com/nekoxxl-overview.html

Download manual: http://openlabs.com/downloads.html

PROS: Exceptional do-it-all platform with flexible audio I/O based on mature M-Audio Delta hardware. Compatible with all Windows-based applications, including Pro Tools LE (M-Audio Edition) without any other hardware. Great bundle of applications and sound tools to get started. Superb tech support (Platinum level) included which comprises training on the hardware and software. Forever upgradeable as new hardware and software is released (as long as company is in business, of course). Many Gen3 product owners upgraded to Gen4 software. Even my Gen4 TSE can be upgraded to add the Bump MP module for about $700, with all the software (check the sales dept. for “today’s price”).

CONS: Missing some of the wonderful sound sets of prior editions, including the extra Wusikstation expansion packs and E-MU premium sample libraries of the TSE series. No printed manual or user guide other than quick start sheet. (PDF manuals and tutorials are on hard drive, Web site, YouTube, etc.)

Article and images Copr. © 2009 by Christopher Simmons, all rights reserved. Article originally appeared on MusicIndustryNewswire.com.

Categories
Music and Recording Reviews

Review: Open Labs NeKo TSE Keyboard Workstation

REVIEW: The concept of the so-called workstation keyboard is certainly not new; with a wide range of current such products on the market from big guns like Korg, Roland and Yamaha, stretching back in time to the Korg M-1. These products seek to fill the needs of the “one keyboard does all” set-up, for composing, comping, or touring, and may include ROMpler sound sets, virtual analog, drum sounds, on board sampling, multi-track MIDI sequencing, built-in FX; and more often these days, some level of audio recording capability.

The Timbaland Special Edition NeKo from Open Labs is a truly unique instrument, part keyboard, part PC DAW, part virtual instrument player, part DJ performance control station. It is perhaps, the ultimate expression of the workstation concept, because it finally brings together all the elements needed to play, compose, record and produce modern music; and with the advent of more affordable and more powerful computer parts, the NeKo TSE is one of the most powerful keyboards of any kind ever built.

Open Labs NeKo TSEI’ve been using MIDI gear since it was invented, and this is perhaps the coolest thing since sliced bread, or perhaps since electronic music instruments began talking to each other and learning to do more than make noises all alone. But is it right for you? What other options are out there? Does it work as advertised? Well, as a recent new owner of one of these bad boys, let me tell you the tale of a fateful trip into the land of buying and using such beasts as these.

The Back Story
Into this arena of “workstation” products, a few years back, came a bunch of folks out of Austin Texas who had the idea to take this multi-purpose keyboard idea a step further, or perhaps reinvent the category, and combine the idea of a workstation keyboard with a PC; then put it all together as a value-add product. These folks, headed by founder Victor Wong, called themselves Open Labs, and their initial products were pricey and yet innovative. Some “got it” right away, and Open Labs has developed a core following over the past few years, in much the same way products like the Muse Receptor have their adherents and detractors.

The initial products included the Open Labs MiKo and NeKo; with the MiKo being a 37-key iteration, and the NeKo being a 61-key (or larger) iteration. These workstations included a quality key action (from Fatar, using the same wonderfully playable actions found in the Kurzweil line), control surface for mixing or controlling ADSR in plug-ins, PC keyboard for data entry, a touch-sensitive 15-inch LCD screen (touch panel), and custom plug-in navigation controls. The “open” part of the equation came in when they chose to use open source and “affordable” applications that run under Windows XP, for sequencing, recording, and virtual instruments.

They cleverly took Windows, put a custom “shell” GUI (graphical user interface) on top of that, and made easy to use “kiosk style” on-screen buttons to get to the most used functions a finger touch away. So, inside the “keyboard” was not the typical circuit board with custom chips and I/O from a music instrument manufacturer, but your everyday hand built AMD or Intel PC motherboard, memory, hard drive, video, and a high quality off-the-shelf audio and MIDI interface with multiple I/O and headphone support.

The whole really was much more than the sum of its parts. Arguably the one downside was the high cost of computer parts at the time. Today, 4GB of high quality RAM is the same cost as 1GB of second-tier memory three years ago, and a multi-core Intel CPU is the same price as what a single core processor once cost; more CPU power means you can run that big reverb along side your dozen virtual instruments all while recording live vocals, and not having it crash. This also includes cost of motherboard, hard drive storage, and the rest. Because of the cost of using high quality parts, and building everything by hand, an Open Labs product could easily run in the $8K range, which put it up there with products like Korg’s OASYS workstation and, well, there really wasn’t anything else like the NeKo or MiKo.

Thanks to the fact they were on to something, a lot of musicians doing good (read: successful) could afford to buy something like this; because they saw the value in the final product and that it did, indeed, fit a need that many recording artists, particularly keyboard players, could “grok.” Artists like Keith Emerson, Sheila E, Dave Cohen, Lil Jon, Jesse Carmichael (of Maroon 5), Karl “Charlie” Steinberg (father of Cubase software), and producer Timbaland (among many others, see: http://openlabs.com/artists.html) all use Open Labs products.

I always thought the product was a good idea, but had been turned off by the high price and the hands-on understanding of the downside to having an overheating Pentium or AMD PC inside a keyboard; I don’t have air conditioning and actually melted a DAW workstation due to the “run hot” properties of the then state of the art Intel Pentium IV. Ironically, I ended up buying a Korg OASYS 88, which I actually hated and sold less than 6 months later.

Enter the NeKo Timbaland Edition
When Open Labs announced the new version of their product, developed with producer Timbaland, I had just kicked the OASYS out of my studio (I was so disappointed with the OASYS, I could write a treatise on it, but will spare you), and so was sensitized to this new version. I put in an order for the 61-key NeKo after sending off some techie questions to Open Labs (who responded quickly and coherently), and had to wait about 10 days as there was already a waiting list.

Christopher Simmons NEOTROPE Records Studio Fall 2008Whether you know who Timbaland (timbalandmusic.com) is or not, it’s useful to know that what he brought to the table in working with Open Labs was the desire for a more streamlined keyboard case decked out in shiny all-white livery, a DJ fader and quick access knobs below the screen, and a special software package that includes the full complement of sounds from the popular Ensoniq (E-MU) ASR-10 keyboard and ASRx beat box/sampler, the EPS (son of the Mirage) and ZR/MR keyboards. Any fan of the defunct Ensoniq products will really enjoy this sound library (more on software, below). This new design makes it more attractive on-stage, but also a little less cluttered from the perspective of a keyboard player. You do lose some of the knobs and sliders, which might not suit a recording studio set-up as well, but considering it’s now about $3,000 less and about twice as powerful, I think it’s a very smart trade-off for most people.

The specs on the new workstation, often called the “TSE” edition, include 2.4GHz Intel Core2Quad (runs cooler than prior generation Core2 or Pentium processors), 4GB RAM, Dual Layer DVD burner, 15-inch touch panel, second video out, 1TB of storage (500MB system, 500MB audio SATA II drives), audio and MIDI I/O via PreSonus FireBox with front and back panel I/O and 24/96 support, sustain and expression pedal inputs, 2 USB ports, 1 FireWire 400 port, and a Gigabit Ethernet port. The whole shebang comes in at about 46 lbs.

Custom Workstation Software
Much like the Muse Receptor, the NeKo TSE has a lot of open-source (or “free”) software on board, but more importantly it has a lot of licensed and rebranded/tweaked software brought together for a seamless “sit down and play” experience. You really could live with nothing more than this one system and the vast bundle of usable sounds and virtual instruments for the majority of gigging, song writing, and recording tasks. Really.

Perhaps most notable is a rebranded version of Brainspawn’s Forte VST synth rack ($129 from publisher), called Open Labs Karsyn in this implementation. Not just a product with a new logo and skin, this version has a wealth of pre-sets based on the shipped software bundle to let you quickly jump to a category from the touch panel, like “acoustic piano” or “horns.” A lot of work has gone into these set-ups, and it really makes this a keyboard you can sit down and play as easily as a Korg Triton. Turn it on, press a button, make music.

For sequencing and recording, Open Labs has similarly outfitted the TSE with a customized version of the popular Cockos Reaper ($225 from publisher) multitrack audio and MIDI recording application. This suite has a 64-bit audio engine, built-in effects, no track limit, support for both VST and DX plug-ins, and can even support network FX processing to use unused processor cycles on a spare PC you may have on your network. This is no cut-rate freebie recording system, and puts anything found on normal keyboard workstations to shame; and gives more expensive DAW software a run for their money. Of course, you can run any Windows application on the NeKo, whether you prefer Pro Tools, Cubase, Sonar, or whatever. Again, Open Labs didn’t stop at just putting the application in the menu, they went in and set-up some really useful templates, including a quick-start template for hook-up to an Akai MPC.

For those who need to capture their vintage gear and bring that one sound from their Prophet 5, or Matrix 12 on tour, the Open Labs Mimik application provides an easy to use sample and go option. While they don’t say so, it looks to be the same application included with the E-MU EmulatorX2 software sampler, where it’s called SynthSwipe EX2 Automated Sampling. Since the TSE includes the E-MU Proteus X2 instrument, this would make sense. I’ve not used Mimik yet, but have used the E-MU version previously, and it really is easy to use and does work as advertised.

Additionally, the TSE has an application called Open Labs mFusion which is a master controller set-up and management control panel. This is where you can change the DJ slider to send breath controller MIDI data, or assign the faders and buttons as needed.

Sounds and More Sounds
While you may think that Open Labs has simply taken a bunch of free VST instruments off the web, dumped them into a synth rack application, and then called it a day, you would be so far wrong I would need to scold you for your misassumptions.

In addition to the fairly large library of classic Ensoniq sounds, which you can’t get anywhere else on a new keyboard instrument, the TSE includes E-MU’s Proteus X2 instrument, which is basically the Emulator X2 without the sampling capability. However, with Mimik, you can auto-sample hardware and virtual instruments, and this is what the majority of folks actually use sampling for these days outside of professional sound design. Good choices on both counts. Not content with the bundled sounds of the stock Proteus X2 instrument, Open Labs has licensed the majority of the huge archival E-MU library, which alone is worth hundreds of dollars (ahem, I know: I bought them previously to use with Emulator X2).

So, this means you’re getting the E-MU Vintage X bundle of classic synths and keyboards: samples of vintage gear like ARP, Moog, Roland Jupiter 8 and JX8P, Sequential Circuit Prophet 10 and 600, Mellotron, Oberheim OB, B-3 organ, Rhodes and Clavinet, and way more than I plan to list here. And they all sound really good. But, wait, there’s more! For fans of the classic ROMpler rack mount boxes, the TSE comes with the Proteus 2000 (all 1,024 presets of the rack mount box) and Mo Phatt module sounds.

Bundled virtual instruments include 4Front Truepianos (Diamond and Emerald), WusikStation V4 with added libraries (hybrid vector and wavesequencer, sampler instrument), Lennar Digital Sylenth (quite nice virtual analog synth), and Luxonix Purity (I’d likely call this akin to a Korg Triton in software).

Other useful things include Disco DSP Discovery OL edition, Vertigo, Crystal, UltraSonique, Cubix; and more than 40 other goodies to go sonic exploring with. It’s really easy to stack some of the one trick ponies in Karsyn to make entirely new instruments, too.

So, all told it really would cost you a bundle (at least $1,000) to go out and buy all the bundled software included in the box.

Out of Box Experience
I had a little bit of hesitation in choosing to buy the NeKo TSE, since on paper it looked really really good, but dropping nearly $5K on anything these days can be a real deal breaker when there are so many options for music making gear. Luckily my business has been doing really well this year, despite the economy, and I had recently sold my Korg OASYS 88 on eBay, so I started the research phase. This included a bunch of emails off to the Open Labs support team regarding various things, and they had good answers to my questions. Prompt and coherent, as I like to say.

NeKo TSE packingAfter watching the videos on their website (www.openlabs.com) and on YouTube, reading forum questions and answers, older reviews in the major magazines, etc., I ended up ordering one from the AudioMidi.com folks here in California (also always nice to work with). I do buy a lot from the folks at Sweetwater (shout out to Delvin Wolf), but they didn’t carry the NeKo. Apparently others made the jump on this new model the same time I did, so there was a waiting list (the 37-key version shipped first, which is perhaps more popular with the hip-hop/DJ crowd thanks to smaller size).

Getting the box from UPS after about 10 days was a delight as the box was professionally silk screened with Open Labs logos (unexpected quality there), and the packing was very competent for a product of this kind (see photo). Had very much a Christmas morning feel, which is always a good sign. It was not quite as obsessive as some of the Yamaha gear I’ve bought where they must have a custom cardboard factory someplace for all the engineering they put into packing, but far better than a Roland V-Synth keyboard I got where the packing practically had to be broken to get the gear out.

I was a little surprised there were no CD/DVDs, a printed manual, or anything inside the accessory box aside from a hex wrench, a getting started sheet (11×17, color), and power cable. Of course, I then realized that with two 500GB hard drives, the help files, video tutorials and whatnot would be on the TSE, which they were. I still would have liked a small printed manual, but perhaps my dinosaur bones are starting to show on that – in this era of reducing paper waste, and the fact that just about any tech manual is obsolete months after it’s been printed, it’s a good environmental and cost-saving choice.

Once out of the box and on a stand (I’m using the Standtastic 103KSB, seen in the photo) it was a quick shot to plug-in speakers, a second monitor, and start making noise. Thanks to its use of Windows versus a custom version of Linux (ala Muse Receptor), installing virtual synths like IK’s SampleMoog (see photo) or Arturia’s CS80 emulation was as simple as putting the disc in, exiting the GUI, installing the applications under Windows, connected to net for authorization, and done. It took the better part of a day to install various things I wanted to play with like the Korg Legacy collection, some East West instruments, and the now defunct Gigastudio VST instrument.

I really like the front panel (below the pitch/mod wheels) audio controls on the FireBox, for setting headphone and monitor out levels. Having two mic or instrument inputs “right there” at hand is nice, too, without having to remember which input is which on the back or pulling it off the rack to plug something in. The snazzy metal audio knobs have detents so you can actually set a headphone level “just right” and go back to it later. I have been a long time fan of Echo Audio products, and was new to the PreSonus line, but am really liking what they do. Aside from ergonomics, it appears this was a very good choice for “quality” and not just size. Open Labs has pre-set everything installed to run with the drivers (via ASIO), so you don’t have to worry about manually setting anything; and switching from 44 to 48Khz was simple using the ASIO panel.

The Player in the House
One of the things which make this product really fun as a keyboard player is finally being able to treat a virtual instrument as a keyboard. Sure, you may think using a notebook and a MIDI keyboard controller is just as nice, but not as far as I’m concerned. Being able to load up the Korg Legacy Collection Wavestation instrument on the NeKo TSE, and play it “right there” as if the keyboard had morphed into a real Wavestation (I’ve missed mine for years). You can even use your fingertip to move the virtual joystick on screen. Not as fluid as a real joystick, but much better than using the mouse in my opinion. Basically, any virtual instrument which has a standalone mode seems entirely new again when played on the TSE. I had a blast playing IK Multimedia’s SampleMoog on the TSE while writing a review of the software (see photo).

Playing IK SampleMoog on the NeKo TSEAnd, for others without a standalone mode, you’re a few taps away from loading something into Karsyn. I was impressed that Karsyn even has a drop-down menu of “recently added” instruments and “recently used” plug-ins, so when you first install something like Spectrasonics Omnisphere, you don’t have to go hunting through dozens of instrument menus to load it up.

There were some minor problems which came up, which was the pitch bend didn’t “center” properly every time, which I hadn’t run into as a problem since the days of my Oberheim XK keyboard controller with levers in lieu of wheels. Also, I found the final D# and F# keys made a “clacking” sound on release. I determined that the metal case top was a hair lower than it could be, and simply taking off the right end panel and holding the case top and re-tightening the right hand side screws solved that. For the pitch bend problem, tech support confirmed this was an issue that they could reproduce, and a week later they had a firmware update which they installed remotely for me over the Internet. No trouble since.

I requested they consider adding an option in mFusion to route the aftertouch to the mod wheel for those applications which don’t support MIDI aftertouch (many don’t), as it can be strange in this day and age to apply pressure and nothing happen. This is not a problem with the NeKo, as some non-owner forum trolls will assert, but lack of aftertouch support in the virtual instrument being played.

The fit and finish of the case is very nice with the exception of a little area under the left side of the keyboard which looked like it should have been sanded prior to painting, as it has a bit of a coin edge versus being smooth which seems out of place with all the rest of the edges on the case.

The controllers work well, although the notebook PC style touch pad for mousing takes a bit getting used to, and is a bit twitchy on some screens, just like a real notebook. I sometimes felt the touch pad was too sensitive and the select buttons required too much pressure. Generally, I found myself using the LCD panel whenever I could. I may end up adding a Logitech cordless USB trackball, maybe not.

The overall presentation feels good; not quite the industrial grade manufacture of some big name workstations, but way way beyond the built-in-garage hot rod approach. This is a mature, commercial product line and it shows.

Inside the NeKo TSE

Inside the Box
When looking inside the case to add some options (see photo), I was really impressed by the Zalman case fan, high quality power supply, high quality memory, very efficient wire routing and tie down, as well as epoxy glue on some of the connectors to keep them from coming loose in transport (essential for gigging). The glue was a nice touch, as I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to open my DSI Poly Evolver rack mount synth to push the little connector for the front screen that hair’s width needed to make it work again.

For the trolls in some of the forums who complain that the NeKo is nothing more than a PC and a keyboard controller bolted together, it’s worth mentioning the plethora of custom circuit boards inside the case (not shown) which handily disproves that assertion. There is way more engineering in place for this than even I (being a techie guy from way back) was expecting. That’s why it works so well: it’s engineered, not cobbled together.

NeKo TSE upgradesI’ve also customized my NeKo TSE by adding an internal FireWire card (mandatory if you want to use another audio I/O box while the FireBox is installed on the main FireWire bus), adding a mini USB hub inside to mount my iLok and Syncrosoft keys, and I’ve added another 500GB hard drive to use for sample libraries. This was done under the auspices of normal upgrades which won’t void my warranty, but you must be careful here if you don’t know what you’re doing (see added note regarding warranty, below -editor).

My only complaint was the cost of the brackets to mount the third hard drive, which was about $100 for two brackets and some screws from Open Labs. Sure, it’s custom cut premium aluminum, with grommets for vibration, but considering you can buy an entire Antec PC case for that, it was tempting to simply use the leftover parts I had laying about and tape down an Antec bracket I had (actually I did just that while waiting for the parts to arrive in the mail). Still, the OEM part is nice, but it cost as much as the 500GB hard drive, which seemed wrong somehow. Not evil mind you, just pricey.

Editorial note: after this story had been published, Open Labs requested I add the following note regarding the warranty: “This warranty does not apply: … b) to damage caused by service (including upgrades and expansions) performed by anyone who is not an Open Labs Authorized Service Provider; c) to a product or a part that has been modified without the written permission of Open Labs.” — which basically means if you don’t know how to install a hard drive into a PC already, don’t mess with your NeKo! As I’ve mentioned in my postings to the Open Labs tech support forum, you should always consult the tech gurus at OL prior to doing anything inside your keyboard, unless you truly know what you’re doing. More info: http://openlabs.com/warranty.html .

Other Choices
There isn’t a lot of competition for this product on the market. The Korg OASYS is a closed system, and suffers from a “let’s make everything new” mentality, which walks away from the huge library of sounds of the Triton era, and while it can sort of morph into a few vintage instruments like the MS-20, it can’t become a Wavestation, or stack instruments in place within “combis” to make hybrids of the various technologies included, and the OASYS recording environment is inferior to most software tools, such as Reaper included with the TSE.

The Muse Receptor (www.museresearch.com) is a versatile instrument for touring and studio use, and works very well, but it’s not a keyboard instrument in the same way a workstation like the TSE is. You “hook up” to the Receptor, you don’t “play it.” The Receptor is also currently hampered by the fact it’s running a version of Linux and can’t easily load many Windows plug-ins without special installers. If you need a dedicated box to run Native Instruments or IK Multimedia’s libraries, it’s a good choice for that, but it still requires a DAW and MIDI controller. I found the built-in synth rack to be versatile, but cumbersome, and it is really setup for those who want to program live sets versus just loading something and playing it.

Similarly, the SM Pro Audio V-Machine (www.smproaudio.com) is a standalone VST player in a box, but adds support for Magix Samplitude 9 SE, as well as a nice selection of virtual instruments. The initial product is more geared for musicians using a notebook, and the box has only a 1GHz CPU, so you won’t likely be recording full on game soundtracks with it, but it’s insanely affordable for what it is.

And, yes, you can simply go out and buy a keyboard controller, a notebook, and a USB sound box for portable composing. In fact, I considered buying a top of the line CME or Novation controller with all the knobs and sliders, along with a PreSonus FireStudio, and a new HP TouchSmart 20″ LCD PC and “rolling my own” type of product along these lines. What I found, however, is that the “value add” provided by Open Labs with the NeKo TSE made it exactly what I wanted. The integration of the pieces (the control surface is pre-set to work with the E-MU sound library for instance), and the huge amount of work which has gone in to the pre-sets and a “clean” install of everything on board. It works for me, and I have no regrets about “should have done blah instead.”

Bottom Line
In practice I’ve had zero crashes, downtime, glitches or problems beyond a personal adventure in replacing the FireBox with a couple of PreSonus FireStudio models as the main audio I/O (another story). I now have both working and can choose which to use, depending on what I’m doing. I’ve also added the PreSonus FaderPort and the monitor controller for the FireStudio, which sit perfectly above the PC keyboard on the top left side of the TSE. For those who need additional controllers like drum pads, the new Korg Nano line is perfect as an add-on to the NeKo.

FIVE STARSAs far as running other DAW applications, Cakewalk Sonar 8 works great, and the only glitch of any kind I’ve had has been the streaming option turned on within Omnisphere, and the screen redraw in most recent update of East West Play engine. However, I don’t consider these to be issues related to the NeKo TSE.

For any keyboard player who wants a real workstation, complete with a vast sound palette, truly usable recording system, and those who also want a great live performance instrument, the NeKo is an excellent and unique choice. Some may find it pricey, but in my opinion it is well worth every penny once you discover everything you’re actually getting.

Summary:
Music Industry Newswire rating: FIVE STARS.

Open Labs NeKo Timbaland Special Edition (TSE)
www.openlabs.com

61-key workstation based on Intel Core2Quad processor, 4GB RAM, two 500GB Hard Drives, dual-layer DVD burner, PreSonus FireBox audio and MIDI I/O. Exclusive sound libraries with 35GB of premium sounds; custom licensed versions of instruments and DAW recording applications. List price: $4999.

PROS:
Good value when all the pieces are priced alone; great integration between instruments and bundled software. Good ergonomics. Great technical support; including remote fixes/updates, prompt email and phone call-back support. They even monitor the tech support forum on their site daily. Extremely playable. It is compatible with all Windows XP applications. PreSonus audio hardware an excellent choice; ASIO drivers seem to work with everything. Upgradeable as technology changes (new motherboard/processors) via upgrade path policy.

CONS:
No printed documentation beyond hook-up sheet; lacking documentation of any kind for certain things like video card settings to enable second display. Bracket for third HD is a bit pricey. A PC build sheet outlining motherboard model, video card capability (resolutions and timings supported), CD/DVD burner specs (in case of firmware update needed); used/open SATA, USB and FireWire ports, and similar data would have been nice to have in the unlikely event the company disappeared.

More information and tech specs on the NeKo TSE:

http://openlabs.com/ .

Article is Copr. © 2008 by Christopher Simmons. All photographs are the exclusive property of, and are Copr. © 2008 by Christopher Simmons, all rights reserved. Article originally appeared on MusicIndustryNewswire.com.