From mskremote@yahoo.com Fri Jan 06 23:51:33 2012
Subject:Re: Midi Controller to VB3

Fox,

In answer the question:

the Hammond will still be functioning just fine in 10-years (just as it
has for the past 50)...where do you think that laptop/controller rig
will be in a decade?

I agree that with continued care and maintenance involving replacement of caps and dexterity with a soldering iron a functioning Hammond today will still be functioning in 10 years time. 

The laptop controller rig will have moved on to the point where the laptop is a big and as thick as the selected screen, 6" for a mini tablet up to 23" for a desktop use, have a processor with 4 times the processing power as is the case today and have solid state storage. What this means is that latency will be near zero and our VST's (which are just software) will still be running provided they have been ported to 64 bit.

The Nord Stage 5 will be closer to today's midi controller with all tweaking done on an attached tablet running a Nord App and able to load 3rd party VST's.  The Stage 5 will in effect be a quality controller with an internal VST host module.  However there will be a host of competitors offering similar controllers with built in solid state RAM, from M Audio through to Roland etc. VST's give new bands the opportunity to create unique sounds for their songs rather than stick with the limitations of the range of sounds in a piece of hardware.  This is already happening with music composed and recorded wholly in the studio using Pro Tools or similar, midi controllers and laptops let you take the identical sound on the road.

I can't wait!!

Cheers

Mark   

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