Slate Raven

[jeid]

Wonder what the price would be in the UK

 

[JeffTD]

1920x1080? That's... abysmal. 2560x1440 is the only way to go with a 27" monitor; we just swapped one of the 1920x1080 27s out for a 2560x1440 because of how much more real estate you get; not willing to sacrifice that by any means.

 

[MatrixClaw]

Kinda disappointing that they chose to exclude the monitoring section for the final release. That's what made it stand out to me... I mean... I guess you get a $1000 price-break, but I feel like you could just buy a 27" touch screen monitor and dock your Pro Tools mixer window on it and get a lot of the same features for a whole lot less.

Obviously, the Raven is more catered toward music production, but I don't know that the features are worth an extra $2000... I suppose you'd really have to try it out to see for yourself, and I'll definitely reserve my final thoughts on it until I do, but I think this price point, without the analogue section, is going to be a very hard sell to most people.

 

[Sloan]

Kinda disappointing that they chose to exclude the monitoring section for the final release. That's what made it stand out to me... I mean... I guess you get a $1000 price-break, but I feel like you could just buy a 27" touch screen monitor and dock your Pro Tools mixer window on it and get a lot of the same features for a whole lot less.

Obviously, the Raven is more catered toward music production, but I don't know that the features are worth an extra $2000... I suppose you'd really have to try it out to see for yourself, and I'll definitely reserve my final thoughts on it until I do, but I think this price point, without the analogue section, is going to be a very hard sell to most people.

the other stuff is on the FLAGSHIP model, the MTX i think. this is the smaller one.

 

[MatrixClaw]

the other stuff is on the FLAGSHIP model, the MTX i think. this is the smaller one.

I know, but the original prototype that was released at NAMM had it:

Original price was $3500, though.

 

[superfreak]

With that kind of money I can get an Intel Core i7 Haswell mixing workstation w/ 27" 2560x1440 WQHD IPS Panel + 10-Point Capacitive Touch, like this:

ASUS ET2702IGTH All-In-One/

 

[MatrixClaw]

^And have $700 left over!

Or you could just get a 46" monitor!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824638068

Still, the 27" Acer ain't too shabby of a deal, either:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009439

Though, Steven did reply to me on Gearslutz and said:

Hi Matrix. Most people we surveyed in this product category already had a speaker and headphone solution and found the monitoring section redundant. The larger MTX has a monitor section because this console is commonly replacing large format desks that served also as a monitor and headphone solution.

Regarding 'buying a 27" touch screen and docking Pro Tools', I'm sorry to report that besides the fact that consumer touch screens that use projective capacitive touch technology are going to be laggy and unresponsive compared to the RAVEN, you will also have NO MULTI-TOUCH in Pro Tools, let alone the specialized RAVEN software that integrates 100mm multi touch faders into Pro Tools as well as a host of other features.

Many other DAWs can utilize multi-touch, though. Seems like Pro Tools is, once again, behind the times, if it can't utilize it. I guess if Avid has no ambitions to integrate this themselves, then the Raven is definitely a contender... I mean - This thing is the price of two Avid Artist series controllers, so it's not like it's really outrageously priced, if you look at it purely on how many channels you get (24 vs. 16 with the Artist control at the same price), but to me... it seems like you're paying $2500 for a kickass software package more than you are for an innovative piece of hardware.

I could be completely wrong though - I mean, we're all just spouting off speculations at this point, really. Though, if Slate sold the software this thing is running and allowed you to use your own touch screen, I bet it'd be a HUGE success. $2500 for a touch screen monitor that only controls Pro Tools (so far - though the fact that it needs to support your DAW specifically seems pretty disappointing...) is pretty steep for most people. It's the added analogue path, with digital control, that really made this thing cool to me. Oh well. Unless this thing really wows me when I finally get to test it out, I can't see myself paying that kind of cash for it... maybe once they hit the used market and drop significantly in price... We'll see!

 

[Slate]

I think it would be a huge failure without the proprietary hardware. Because in order for the workflow to be 100% efficient and seamless, the hardware needs to WORK. It needs to respond. It needs to be ready for pro use.

Projective capacitive consumer screens are not meant for this type of work. The best one we could find, Lenovo's newest, had an extra 10ms of lag more than our RAVEN.

When I'm doing fader rides, that ain't gonna fly.

More video coming soon.

Cheers,
Steven

 

[HOFX]

Could be very tempted and keen to try one....although, the local Australian price will be more like AUD$3500, which then makes one wonder if that money would be better spent elsewhere, eg mics, computer, new Slate virtual analogue EQs...

If in 12 months time the price drops to under AUD$2000 (in line with most hardware falling in price the older it gets) then, yeah, I'd be in.

And then there's the whole question of Reaper support...or would this finally push me over to Studio One?