KVR Audio

idfpower · Post by **idfpower** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 5:04 pm

Frantz wrote: The highlights from their history are:

1992 - purchased Numark Electronics
2001 - purchased Alesis
2005 - purchased Akai Professional
2012 - purchased Sonivox, AIR Music Technology, and M-Audio

I don't mind seeing multiple brands under the same roof - it's happpening all over the industry - my main beef with this company though is that after buying these guys out, they've killed them. What's the point of acquiring a brand (even a bankrupt one) if you're not putting out stuff?

I personally don't care about Numark, but Alesis used to make some cool synths. And Akai was a top dog once. How the mighty have fallen...and the weird thing is that ppl were really rooting for them when the Rhythm Wolf was announced... and what an utter dissapointment...

There is a good market for cheaper analog units; even for novelty / "toys". Ppl are working mostly ITB and these fit those moments when you feel like taking a break and fiddling with some knobs OTB, but without spending more than pocket money. And yet, so far only Korg managed to fill the niche (and Teenage Engineering with their latest little synths)... what a world

PS: there's one good thing in all this though - keeping "Venom" at a stupid low price

Without their "policy" I wouldn't have been able to afford one - and it's such a beast of a synth

treebeard · Post by **treebeard** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 5:05 pm

Awesome, It's time for fresh ideas and inspiration.

The Akai Wolf-Gang, code name: Amadeus. A new foray into the world of digitaly-modelled pianos. Using the same proprietry technology which was employed to give the Timbre Wolf its acclaimed accurate concert pitch tuning the Wolf-Gang will blow your house down.

A full compliment of 24 hyper-impotent knobs identical to those found on the Timbre Wolf will have you producing sounds and noises the likes of which your wildest imagination cannot possibly describe.

Too much thunderous bass for your neighbours to cope with - don't worry, each Wolf-Gang comes equipped with our unique "where-wolf filter" to instantly tame the sub 1k frequencies.

Constructed from nothing but the finest pure, real simulated plastics Akai have again spared all expense.

idfpower · Post by **idfpower** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 5:09 pm

treebeard wrote:Awesome, It's time for fresh ideas and inspiration.

They are already ahead of the pack: ave you seen the videos? Every time you press the same key, a different note can be heard ?!?

It's like cramming 88 keys into a 2 octave keybed, yay

On another forum someone called that "random microtonal music"

He was kind of right, you know

treebeard · Post by **treebeard** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 5:19 pm

idfpower wrote:
treebeard wrote:Awesome, It's time for fresh ideas and inspiration.
They are already ahead of the pack: ave you seen the videos? Every time you press the same key, a different note can be heard ?!? It's like cramming 88 keys into a 2 octave keybed, yay

On another forum someone called that "random microtonal music" He was kind of right, you know

Lol, they could argue that it instantly puts a novice on the same playing field as the professionals with years of training and experience. Players of all skill levels sound equally bad using the lucky-dip approach to tuning. Elevated to the ranks of the jazz vituoso's who reply when asked..."Key - what key?, I hear only colours"

She Changed Her Mind · Mon Jan 26, 2015 6:21 pm

That's business; the main companies of today merged as well in the past. By matter of conjuncture. Nothing wrong what that. Business is business. It's the customer who eventually has the last word. No matter what the conpanies say; in the long run the customer will reject or approve to them. Given fact. Like a school of fishes the one will follow the other and there's no way back when that happens; you've to come up with a new business plan or fade away. For it's not easy to swim against the stream. Just like that.

mztk · Post by **mztk** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 7:00 pm

that reminded me of the reason i stopped looking at futuremusic and
computermusic.

treebeard · Post by **treebeard** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 7:07 pm

She Changed Her Mind wrote:That's business; the main companies of today merged as well in the past. By matter of conjuncture. Nothing wrong what that. Business is business. It's the customer who eventually has the last word. No matter what the conpanies say; in the long run the customer will reject or approve to them. Given fact. Like a school of fishes the one will follow the other and there's no way back when that happens; you've to come up with a new business plan or fade away. For it's not easy to swim against the stream. Just like that.

Not neccessarily, business is not universally identical as is often implied. The corporate model in particular aims to monopolize and if successful the customer is left with very little influence if any. Yes, this type of merging has been going on for a long time but it is not a good thing for the customer. Which of course is why they do it.

KBSoundSmith · Post by **KBSoundSmith** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 1:42 am

Those demos were...depressing. Like hiring a drug-addled hooker with AIDS just to have someone to talk to. There was a point in one of them, I think on the Tom Cat, where the person demoing twisted two knobs by the full range of motion and there was no effect on the sound. Tragic.

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 2:04 am

treebeard wrote: The Akai Wolf-Gang, code name: Amadeus. A new foray into the world of digitaly-modelled pianos. Using the same proprietry technology which was employed to give the Timbre Wolf its acclaimed accurate concert pitch tuning the Wolf-Gang will blow your house down.

A full compliment of 24 hyper-impotent knobs identical to those found on the Timbre Wolf will have you producing sounds and noises the likes of which your wildest imagination cannot possibly describe.

Well done. You could have a brilliant future at Akai Professional if you're interested.

Of course, 24 knobs would be expensive. A more cost effective idea would be genuine analog decals of knobs. In fact, you could have 96 knob stickers for a really advanced synth.

Taking it to its logical conclusion, I am envisioning a plastic box filled with sand with 96 stickers of knobs and the Akai logo. It would be more useful than the Timber Wolf. You could shake it and use it as a cool maraca.

Sendy · Post by **Sendy** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 2:09 am

Screw actual physical knobs! Remember those clock stamps they had at school to help you learn to read the time? How about applying this outlook to the potentiometer? Stamp the stamp in the ink, then stamp the ink on the stamp on your Analog Workbook. Then draw in the value you want (just pick one at random, it's not like it has any meaning)... All the while without losing any control over the sound!

You could apply the same "modus operandi" to the notes on the keyboard as well.

idfpower · Post by **idfpower** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 6:29 am

OMG, the whole development Akai team is on this board

You are not supposed to reveal any future plans, remember? What is Akai gonnna show at the next NAMM if you keep doing that? Shush

bungle · Post by **bungle** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 2:06 pm

The very strange thing about InMusic is the ION brand, compared to some of the solid brand names they own, ION should in reality be garbage, they put out a lot of ION crappy products, yet at the same time, with the QCons and such, they actually put out the best quality products from InMusic with that brand name too !!