Evolution of Open Labs Instruments
- by Carson Barker, Open Labs Staff Writer
Over the past few years, you may have seen older generations and models of our products, and wondered what the difference is between our older gear and the new. Always topping the charts for customer satisfaction, we here at Open Labs would like to educate our customers on where our company has been, and what direction we are heading, so we've pulled together this general history of our products.
As many of you know, our original product is the called the NeKo, which is a 61-key computer music station. The NeKo had its first debut in 2003, at the Winter NAMM festival, but it was originally called the Eko, which is an acronym for Evolutionary Keyboard, Open systems. Later on that year, we changed its name to NeKo, due to the fact that there was a company called Eko which was reforming that year. Therefore, the name NeKo is a reference to Not Eko. The NeKo Generation I units were first introduced to the market during the 2004 Winter NAMM show.
We began shipping the Generation I (Gen1) NeKos in early 2004. They were offered in single or dual AMD Opteron configurations, and cost up to $8,000 depending on the configuration. These units had a light gray chassis and were packaged with Tracktion 1.0 as a sequencer, and bundled with SampleTank LE1.0, Lin Plug Cronox, RMIII, Da Organ, and Delta III along with a few choice freebies. All in all, there were around 300 presets between the VSTis.
The Generation II (Gen2) units debuted in late 2005, and moved to the equally powerful AMD dual core series processors, which allowed us to lower the price from $5,995 to $3,995. These units would ship until January 2007, and their chassis went to the darker gray that we have today, with the exception of the first MiKos, which were a dark purple. The Gen2 NeKos shipped with Sonar LE, and added Luxonix Ravity, which replaced Tracktion and Sample Tank. These models also dropped the Lin Plug instruments, as there were many more freeware synths added that we believed were just as good or even better. The Gen2 units had around 1,200 presets.
The Gen2 units were eventually upgraded, when the more powerful Generation III (Gen3) units were released based on the Intel Core 2 DUO series processors. The Gen3’s had even more sounds, thanks to the partnership with Wusik, and switched from Ravity to the Luxonix new Purity plug-in. These units featured over 5,000 presets in the box.
Today, Generation IV (Gen4) is still based on Intel's Core 2 series, but the speed has been doubled on all units that are using Core 2 QUADS. Gen4 units have the same dark gray color (unless they are a Timbaland model), and with the EMU partnership, we've added thousands of sounds. The Gen4’s are up to more than 20,000 presets, and switched from using Sonar LE, and Cubase to using REAPER.
We also feature two special series Open Labs products, which are the Timbaland NeKo and MiKo, and the 5-year Anniversary NeKo LUX. Fitted with an arctic white chassis, the Timbaland Special Edition models were designed with famed producer Timbaland's specs in mind. The Timbaland Special Edition NeKos are installed with E-MU’s new Proteus X2 Streaming Sound Module Version 2.5, with over 10,148 instruments, including the new Ensoniq Urban Legends Sound Library, which contains the sounds from Ensoniq’s instruments. These sounds were specifically requested by Timbaland, and are only available in the Timbaland Special Edition units: an Open Labs exclusive.
The second Open Labs special edition product is the 5-year anniversary model NeKo LUX, celebrating Open Labs' five years in the business. Based on the award-wining NeKo LX series, the 5th Anniversary Limited Edition NeKo LUX sets an entirely new standard in performance and style. The 5th Anniversary NeKo LUX has 76 keys, is dipped in 24kt Gold (triple-plated), accented by real chrome-plated end bells, and contains all of the controls and features of the top-of-the-line NeKo LX.
Under the hood, the NeKo LUX packs a punch with 4GB of RAM, 4 Terabytes of Hard Drive, Blu-Ray DVD/CD Burner, 10ins/outs audio with 24 bit/96KHz resolution as well as USB 2.0, Firewire, PCI and other expansion capabilities.
With MimiK software, you can clone any keyboard in the world. Open Labs' keyboard cloning software comes standard with the NeKo LUX.
The NeKo LUX also has 100,000 Preset Sounds, and contains the most preset sounds available in any keyboard workstation. Included is the renowned V4 software library from Open Labs, in addition to the 5th Anniversary Special Sound Libraries.
Though we're only five years old, Open Labs Inc. has built some of the most groundbreaking musical gear ever known to the industry, and has gone from being an innovative idea, to an imperative studio necessity. As our company continues to grow, we will release new products and editions of the MiKo and NeKo, and continue to stay years ahead of the game, all while retaining the highest quality of customer satisfaction.