Having written about the iControlPad just a little while ago I thought I'd check on the Akai SynthStation25
Keyboard again to see what was happening there, and couldn't resist a little photoshop joke at the same time.Akai's announcement of their SDK was great news and I'm beginning to hear rumours that the hardware could turn up next month. So here's another round up of retailers to see when the thing might appear.
DolphinMusic in the UK has changed the availability status of the Akai SynthStation to "Reserve Order Now or Call for ETA", which could be interpreted as some kind of movement. The price quoteed is still £79.99.
Amazon have the SynthStation
listed as 'temporarily out of stock', which doesn't tell me anything really.Musician's Friend in the US still has the Akai SynthStation25
And lastly Music123 now says Akai SynthStation25
So could we take this as some evidence of movement? Perhaps. I'll keep checking.
As I said before, I am sure that at least part of the delay is due to Apple's change in the pinouts for the iPhone 4 which must have caused a lot of discussion at Akai.
There's been no updates to the SynthStation app since it was released, which is a shame as I think it could do with some work, and they are now offering the SDK, which might get some developers interested in incorporating it, but without actually seeing the hardware for real and being able to test it there may be a real lag on apps using the SDK. Line6's MIDI Mobilizer
seems to be more of an option at the moment simply because the hardware actually exists!Tweet
I received a message from Sweetwater.com last week that said that the "hard ship date" from Akai for the Synthstation 25 is on or about October 15.
ReplyDeleteI've received so many of these e-mails with dates that have come and gone that I'm reluctant to put much faith in this delivery date but I'm still keeping my order active!
Pierre
I honestly wouldn't understand why Akai would keep pumping money into a product that is already incompatible with the very item its supposed to work with.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe people who would buy this in 1 year would like spending time looking for an old iphone just so they can use it. This thing simply doesn't have a future. But if they have ever produced some units, we might see them pop up on ebay or places like that..
Maybe they're looking for a way of getting it to work on the iPhone 4, but how I've no idea.
ReplyDeleteHow have other manufacturers dealt with the revised pin-out of the latest Apple hardware? Have they disregarded it or are there versions of their interface that work with different pin configurations?
ReplyDeleteI noticed they took out a full color, full back cover ad for it in the latest US Sound on Sound. They'd bought that very prominent spot for the APC40 for many previous months. I assume they wouldn't just throw that money away...
ReplyDeleteAlso notable as the first super prominent ad like that I've seen for an iPhone app / hardware in a music gear magazine.
Anon, Is it possible to get a picture of that Ad?
ReplyDelete