Open Labs announces Timbaland Special Edition NeKo

Open Labs has announced a companion to the Timbaland Special Edition MiKo - the new Timbaland Special Edition NeKo, an all-in-one production studio powered by Windows XP, capable of running virtually any Windows XP compatible software including a variety of DAW software, virtual instruments (VSTi), virtual effects (VST) and other music applications.

"Timbaland wanted the ability to work on his music from home on a larger unit and still be able to travel easily with his MiKo. This was a fantastic way for Timbaland to achieve this by utilizing gear with matching specs and software," said Victor Wong, Founder and Chairman of Open Labs. "By introducing this model we are able to provide the features that most people are looking for, while reducing the price over $1,000 from the NeKo LX model."

The Gen4 models are now equipped with Intel Core2Quad processors and a version of Translator, specially written for Open Labs by Chicken Systems, enabling users to easily convert and manage many different file types within the Open Labs environment.

Open Labs believes in the "out-of-the-box" experience – meaning with a little knowledge anyone can be ready to play and record instantly. Included in the preinstalled software is REAPER from Cockos, a DAW with unlimited tracks, which records audio-midi and integrates all of the user's Karsyn presets in an easy to use drag and drop format.

The Timbaland Special Edition NeKo features E-MU's new Proteus X2 Streaming Sound Module v2.5 with over 10,148 instruments, including the new Ensoniq Urban Legends Sound Library that contains the sounds from Ensoniq's ASR/EPS/MR/ASR-X/ZR instruments. These sounds were specifically requested by Timbaland, and are only available in the Timbaland Special Edition units, an Open Labs exclusive.

• E-MU Proteus 2000
• E-MU Mo'Phatt
• E-MU Modular System
• Ensoniq EPS /EPS 16+
• Ensoniq ASR 10
• Ensoniq ASR-X
• Ensoniq ZR76
• Ensoniq MR61
• ARP 2600
• ARP Axxe
• Roland JD800
• Roland Jupiter 8
• Roland JX-8P
• Roland TB-303 Bass Line
• Roland Juno 60
• Moog Memorymoog
• Mini Moog
• Moog Taurus Pedals
• Sequential Circuits Prophet 10
• Sequential Circuits Prophet 600
• Elka Rhapsody
• Mellotron Mark II
• Korg MS20
• Solina
• Oberheim OB & X
• Hammond B3
• Rhodes Electric Piano
• Hohner Clavinet
• Yamaha CP-70
• Wurlitzer Electric Piano

Running within the new Proteus X 2.5 environment, these keyboards are reborn inside the Timbaland Special Edition NeKo providing choice of instruments, ease of use and represents a value of over $60,000 if the actual keyboards were purchased individually.

When combined with the new Open Labs sound library V4, the Timbaland Edition NeKo contains over 35-gigabytes of premium sounds, constituting 28,074 presets. The street price for the bundled software and sound libraries is $3,564, which includes $487 worth of Open Labs Special Edition plugins, optimized by the software developers for use with the NeKo.

The Timbaland Special Edition NeKo will start shipping the second quarter of 2008. The estimated street price is: $4,799.