SteveStrummerUK


 
I've found the new Cakewalk controllers on sale at GAK here in the UK:

• A300 Pro is £209 = approx US$340
• A500 Pro is £249 = approx US$405
• A800 Pro is £309 = approx US$503  
   

I thought they wern't released until April, I guess they are taking pre-orders. Prices are much higher that the Eridol keyboards the PRC 800 is £179 and the PRC 300 £129 on the same site.
 
I just noticed the CME keyboards on GAK's site, they have a couple of 76 and 88 key models with 9 faders, 8 knobs on the UF series and 9 faders, 17 knobs, ribbon controler, breath control input etc. on the VX series. Further investigation is called for I think, I really do want more than 61 keys. Anyone have one of these?

Oh no. $500 for the 800
 
Thats way to high for this board. Oh well, I"m sticking with my Axioms.

gtgarner


Oh no. $500 for the 800
 
Thats way to high for this board. Oh well, I"m sticking with my Axioms.

They are not released yet and that price includes the VAT. I would guess it will be closed the the PCR-800 price when they are released.

Still no aftertouch on the keyboard?  Buy an Axiom.

There are a small number of Best Buy stores that have an true music store inside of it

 In defense to this post , I live in Westchester NY  , And the best buys here is like a Zoo.. So when I think of best buy I think Im at the Bronx Zoo, Everything is a mess the employee's all have that A--- Yo attitude .. Haiti might be in better shape then our best buy here..
 Maybe other best buys are not like this but my bestbuy is Gross..and a joke , So when I hear best buy I Allready have a perception about it.. Guitar Center its ture most employee's dont care either , What ever happen to customer service.
 Selling CW everywhere Imo will flood the market with everyone trying to be a producer, there for taking away from our tight knit community .. I see no benifit from our side . bigger pockets mean more empolyee's and more salary , more opionins, more things to go wrong, It could be a good thing but I feel it will hurt producers , Hopefully then I can buy Imax camera's at best buy soon and I can produce movies with equipment bougth from best buy, how would the movie producers feel. thats my Opinion.. Selling everywhere hurts Us not CW.. there is no benifiet for Us whats so ever, to be able to buy from bestbuy cause your Lazy to go to a music store well I hope the music bus will be profitable in years to come.
 

gtgarner

Fret Wizz

smoochy
".... the recording industry has always relied on having gear the other guys don't..."

 

Not sure I agree with that statement.


I reckon it would be more correct to say :

".... the recording industry has always relied on having talent the other guys don't..."

BINGO!!!  you hit the nail on the head with that statement

ok... I'm going to bite one more time... cause obviously you guys have never done a session with some one other than yourself using the gear...I'm speaking on a purely gear orientated view here now.  assuming that the talent is in place.  two identical studios with one major difference.  one has an ssl console and one with a macki console in it(now remember we're recording a band hear not a commercial for Cheetos).  the band has left it up to their producer and or engineer to pick which one would give them the best chance of success....other than that the studios share pretty much the same setups.  the cost is a couple of hundred more to use the studio with the ssl console in it.  they all talk it over during coffee before making their decision... how much time during that coffee break do you think they spent on discussing which studio they were going to use?   ok... same scenario... two identical studios... this time both are exactly the same.  one belongs to you and the other belongs to the guy that used to go to you for his recording needs.  which one does he choose.  yes anyone can get this stuff that's true... at any music store... but when the Pepsi company's rep, who would never consider walking into a music store,  is walking through best buy one day and asks himself...hmmm why do i need this idiot when i can do it myself?  and the truth is the software is so good now he probably could.  i taught my daughter how to use the groove clip player and within about 5 minutes she was playing stuff that you'd hear on any dance floor in country.  now here is where i would like you to see my point.  and i'm by no means insulting any one hear by saying it... but it is the truth... any idiot can use a pc... i include myself in that statement.  the difference between us and the average idiot is the software we use.(i know it's a pretty broad statement so please don't come back with the talent statement again)  one of my buddys is a very successful production guy who does commercials for a lot of different companies.  he is a very talented musician as well but none of it comes into play when doing commercial work.  once in a wile a company will want their own custom jingle but for the most part he's taking video and mixing it with an already written song... altering it in some way and shooting it back to the customer... he's actually completed projects like this wile flying from Edmonton to Vancouver... now yes he's a very talented musician but that doesn't come into play wile doing that sort of work.  and it's the software that allows him to do that.  software that the average person doesn't have or even knows exists.  so speaking on an "entirely gear orientated point of view" it certainly does matter what you have that the other guy doesn't.  hey like i said i'm out of the rat-race now so i really don't care which direction all this is going and i know that talent will always win out in the end, it's just my view on all this fantastic new gear/software that's available to us.  anyways the genie is out of the bottle so their is little anyone could do to change it if they wanted to... you young guys are in the driver seat now... all i was getting at is... please don't drive the bus off a cliff cause you got a good deal on a set of brakes!  or if you like" don't throw the baby away with the bathwater" just because it would be easier and cheaper. on a final note... absolutely people come to us because of the talent and previous successes, but they also come to us because of the mystical powers that reside in our abilities.  the gear is definitely one of the tools we use to conjure up that magic.

MIDIMINDS

djjhart@aol.com

There are a small number of Best Buy stores that have an true music store inside of it

In defense to this post , I live in Westchester NY  , And the best buys here is like a Zoo.. So when I think of best buy I think Im at the Bronx Zoo, Everything is a mess the employee's all have that A--- Yo attitude .. Haiti might be in better shape then our best buy here..
Maybe other best buys are not like this but my bestbuy is Gross..and a joke , So when I hear best buy I Allready have a perception about it.. Guitar Center its ture most employee's dont care either , What ever happen to customer service.
Selling CW everywhere Imo will flood the market with everyone trying to be a producer, there for taking away from our tight knit community .. I see no benifit from our side . bigger pockets mean more empolyee's and more salary , more opionins, more things to go wrong, It could be a good thing but I feel it will hurt producers , Hopefully then I can buy Imax camera's at best buy soon and I can produce movies with equipment bougth from best buy, how would the movie producers feel. thats my Opinion.. Selling everywhere hurts Us not CW.. there is no benifiet for Us whats so ever, to be able to buy from bestbuy cause your Lazy to go to a music store well I hope the music bus will be profitable in years to come.

Respecting your opinion, I don't think your position is thought through. 

Using your examples...    I could give you all the hi-def video equipment in the world, that wouldn't give you the ability to film/capture a blockbuster movie.  Certainly, it does nothing to help you with the issues of cinematography, lighting, angles, etc....

Likewise, access to tools does not summarily give some pimply teenager the ability to produce a hit album.  Conversely, it might give some young upstart the right tools needed to realize some great musical ideas seeded within them.  There is a HUGE learning curve that comes with even engaging the music industry, let alone engaging it successfully.  Best Buy (or Guitar Center, Sam Ash, etc.) doesn't sell that.

The onus is on the experienced community to ignore/filter inquiries that CLEARLY reflect when a novice musician is trying to work AROUND learning the basics/foundation of the industry.  Once they have shouldered that responsibility, we should embrace as the next generation of US.  :-)

Back to the equipment....

How does the board play?  (i.e. - action, construction quality, joystick playability, etc.)   I don't have the luxury of demo'ing one locally.

once again... and i can't stress this any more than i already have.  i agree with you 100%  talent will always win out. and if they had no choice i'm sure that a top notch engineer could make anything sound good.  the point here is there is a choice. you'll get no argument from me... again... i'm talking strictly about the gear aspect.  we are assuming here that all the most talented people are in place.  which studio do you choose.  your an engineer about to record a top notch band.  it's up to you... which studio do you choose.  the one with the ssl or the one with the macki.   and i'll even take it one step further... you have never used an ssl or a macki... which one.  if your like most you would have chose the ssl.  you don't don't know if it would be better but just the word ssl screams quality to you....    the second scenario... you are as good as anyone with video/audio.  you have your own studio but there is one down the street who has a good rep.  which one do you choose?  and ya... you better believe that the pimply teenager who is fresh out of media school will give you a run for your money.  every generation that comes after us will be a little smarter, have new and better ideas and be just a little more hungry then the ones before him.  that's kind of how this argument started in the first place.  i was feeling a bit jaded because these younger kids were one up on me in terms of ways to use daws other than recording bands. the young will always out do the old... that is the way of things and that is the way it should always be... otherwise we'll never get to retire...lol  and to some extent we all have chosen the gear we use out of reputation.  if we haven't then why do we all have what we have?  i chose my toft board purely out of it's reputation.  luckily for me it was well deserved but it could have gone the other way.  i'm sure you have used or chosen gear simply because of it's reputation as well.  was the reson for the beatles success based on the gear they chose to record with?  no? as a logical human being i'd say no as well... so then why does every gear slut on the planet want to recreate it?  the answer is because they percieve it to be the formula for success.  weather it is true or not.  i'm sure that the guys who used the gear were dreaming of better gear then what they had but still hear we are all these years later and that same gear is more coveted than ever... why is the name "fairchild" associated with quality?  i have no idea... the fact is there are compressors out there that lay it to wast.  most of us in fact will never even touch one let alone use one so why?  but i can tell you if my studio had one i would have no problem attracting the majority of interest of all the local engineers, producers and every other guy in the city interested in recording... and all because it's a "fairchild"  i'm sorry but i do think that perception, weather real or imagined, is every bit as important as talent or ability.  when someone asks you to do something you have never tried before do you say "ummmm maybe"  or do you say "absolutely... no problem"  as that feeling of "man i hope so" engulfs you.   there is always a level of bull shi% that surrounds doing stuff like this.  a perception that you know what your talking about.  and with out that perception(bullshi&)  you'd never even get your foot in the door.  man i go on and on don't i?....  i think i'm getting frustrated with these forum things.  there great for figuring out problems and stuff but their not really a good substitute for sharing a drink with a guy and discussing points of view.  all the subtleties get lost. and they start sounding like arguments rather then discussions....

so once again all of us have way to much time on our hands... but the way i figure... if we're all debating pointless subjects such as this... that means sonar must be performing good.  which is a good thing for all of us regardless of where we got it from.  i propose we discuss Einstein's theory of cloth shopping next.

well there you go... what the hell are we spending all this money for.  when all we need is  1's and 0's , a box of cheerios... and a big freeken diamond...  and all this time i thought i needed all this crap.  does the box turn into a desk... kind of like Kramer's coffee table book?

thomasabarnes

Selling CW everywhere Imo will flood the market with everyone trying to be a producer, there for taking away from our tight knit community ..

This statement strikes me as greedy and arrogant! It primarily takes talent to get the work. What are you worried about? If you have the talent, you can surely beat out a beginer Producer. It sounds to me like you're trying to have a monopoly on who gets the work in the business. This is America, supposedly the land of opportunity, but it seems like you dont want others to have the opportunity, and that really angers me.

Selling everywhere hurts Us not CW.. there is no benifiet for Us whats so ever, to be able to buy from bestbuy cause your Lazy to go to a music store well I hope the music bus will be profitable in years to come.

 
The Guitar Center nearest me is more than an hour drive away. The Best Buy is about 15 minutes. The most obvious benefit for me is convienience, saving some money that would be spent on gas.
I'm a 100% service connected disabled vet which means I have a limited and fixed income. I welcome the opportunity to save some money whenever I can.

Whether it's best buy or the music store is only half the battle Thomas. It's long way to being a producer from Sonar LE or Music Creator or even Logic for that matter. It's the quality of merchandise and correlation of correct accesories and the support during the learning curve that will make a Best Buy artist the real thing. Here's a small example. I went to get a 9V wall wart for a keyboard the other day. First I went to Frys ( 10 miles away) and their "adapter" section had been raped. I bought a universal type that did 9V and it was junk, the changeable tips wouldn't stay on. I went to Guitar Center they didn't carry the Roland brand so I got a Live Wire edition 9V adaptor. There was 10V adapter in the 9V box. I took them both back, returned one, exchanged the other. The new 9V volt adaptor from Guitar Center didn't fit the nine volt plug on the keyboard. It was labeled 9V. I metered it and it was putting out 13V. Wrong label on the wall wart. All my other 9V wall warts fit. Finally went to another music store that had the Roland adaptor and it worked. Now if Guitar Center doesn't carry the right adaptor and the substitutes are all wrong and the universal alternative is junk. What difference will it make make who sells what? 

so once again all of us have way to much time on our hands... but the way i figure... if we're all debating pointless subjects such as this... that means sonar must be performing good

LOL True!!! 

seems like the drum pads have been improved (look like ones on the fantom) ....is it the case Seth ? anyone from cake ?

it don't bother me but all my friends (jazz piano players) are hoping for a long time the 88 version too !!

thomasabarnes

Whether it's best buy or the music store is only half the battle Thomas. It's long way to being a producer from Sonar LE or Music Creator or even Logic for that matter.

 
Correct Crg. So I don't see why djjhart@aol.com is so worried and has an attitiude that strikes me as selfish (as he writes "Selling CW everywhere Imo will flood the market with everyone trying to be a producer, there for taking away from our tight knit community .. "). Why care where you buy something from as long as what you buy works as intended. Also, sorry you had to go through what you went through just to get a freakin adapter.
 
mick@itc:
 
These A PRO controllers are released until April, so no one except maybe Cakewalk employees and other insiders could comment on them as far as hands on experience is concerned

Ahhh, none at the show?  Bugger!  I'm interested as I have a PCR-500 on order to replace my M-Audio controller (hard with ACT) and thinking of cancelling if the A-500 (sh1tty name) is significantly better (from a non-baker viewpoint).  The bakers are great guys but would love to hear aboput any warts.
 
Mick

mick@itc:

Ah I see what you mean. Someone may be able to get their hands on one at the show.

Hey bitflipper, were you able to get your hands on one of these new controllers at NAMM? :)
 
Or maybe a Cakewalk emplyee can make a comment. :)

mick@itc:

I remember that Robin Kelly of Cakewalk made some comments about the A PRO new controller in post 5 of this thread>

I was looking for that comment he made, but was looking in other threads, doh.

He says he really likes the new controllers.  I think I may get the A 800PRO.

I'm waiting to see what the price will be.