Orange PC-In-An-Amp WTF?

[Gibsonman63]

I always got a lot of tape hiss backing up my best riffs on my TRS-80.

But if you think about it we are progressing back toward...

... Vacume tube based computing. Yes, that would be the perfect combination. Tube amplifier technology combined with state of the art tube processing technology. With the right set of punchcards, you can play anything.

Of course, shipping can get somewhat expensive.

[fyl]

... Vacume tube based computing.

AOpen manufactured for a while a PIV mobo fitted with a sound section using a 6922 dual triode and audiophile-approved components such as Cardas wire and fancy REL Multicap coupling caps...

[Mark Hammer]

Big Z80-powered PC's rule when it comes to vintage tone. A Kaypro is perfect with humbuckers while an Osborne sounds great with single coils.

I'm running my Sinclair ZX-81 with a 5" speaker as practice amp. It might be worth it to try an Imsai, but I'm glad they don't make a 3-channel model. Too damn many octal toggle switches as it is.


Mobos with tubes: Am I the only person who finds the insertion of a heat-generating device in the midst of another device that people strive to keep heat-free a little....um, paradoxical?

[fyl]

Mobos with tubes: Am I the only person who finds the insertion of a heat-generating device in the midst of another device that people strive to keep heat-free a little....um, paradoxical?

You're not: very few people were interested by this silly mobo and AOpen quietly withdrew it from the market.

[jrfrond]

If you do some digging, you will find that this is not the first time Orange has tried this, and the last one was a HUGE flop. Perhaps way ahead of it's time.

The reality is that all digital modeling amps are nothing more than application-specific computers, albeit lacking the MOBO approach.

I'll keep my analog stuff, thank you.

[Steve A.]

If you do some digging, you will find that this is not the first time Orange has tried this, and the last one was a HUGE flop. Perhaps way ahead of it's time.

I just googled "orange amplifier computer" and got twenty zillion hits for the new OPC. If you could provide us with a name or a date it would be much easier to track down. Thanks!

The reality is that all digital modeling amps are nothing more than application-specific computers, albeit lacking the MOBO approach.

Yeah, I think it is more of an FU MOFO approach...



Steve Ahola

P.S. I think that if you are going to use a computer for recording that it all does end up in a digital format. (I never tried plugging in direct- I like miking a cab powered by a tube amp and running it through a tube preamp and then to the digital audio card. It doesn't sound like a damned Line 6 when I do that!)

[J M Fahey]

Hi steve.
To avoid the clutter, specially on a product as heavily advertised as this one, search blocking the last 4 years or more.
orange amplifier computer - Google Search
If in 2004 it was announced:

Orange Amps | Artists | Between the Buried and Me | Present Artists
4 Apr 2004 - Orange Amplifiers are proud to announce the launch of the revolutionary all-in-one Computer Amplifier Speaker – The OPC. The . ...
Orange Amps | Artists | Between the Buried and Me | Present Artists -

and then we heard nothing about it for a few years, I would agree with JRFrond in calling it "a major flop"
I guess no actual working model was ever presented, not even a prototype.
Announcing it in a page dedicated to "buried" artists might explain why it took it so long for it to "see the light"

[bob p]

I think the warmest sound would have to come from the old Pentium 4...

Everyone knows that the reference standard for vintage PC tone will be the 8088-based IBM PC.

Finally! My old PC will become a valuable, highly collectible, vintage amp. Anyone wanna bid on a 360k floppy drive?

[bob p]

it would be cool if you could use that wireless LAN for a cordless guitar hookup to the amp.

[Mark Hammer]

I got a couple of 4lb 180k single-sided drives in my garage. Now THAT'S tone....although a VIC-20 tape interface comes darn close.

[dai h.]

I predict floppy disks will be the "new retro" in the future.

[Mark Hammer]

And 8'" will be hipper than 5-1/4". Diskettes? They are soooooooo 1986.

[bob p]

I've actually still got 8" floppies from the days of CP/M.

[cozy]

I don't understand why these companies (Muse Research included) don't offer a higher end version of their products. None of these specs are too impressive (4GB RAM, dual cores). I would think that especially with the Receptors you would want to have the ability to run at least 20 VST's at once (Muse claims it runs 14). In the long run, I'm happier with my plain old Gateway laptop and Ableton, which allows me to run upwards of 15 VST's, a soft synth and a drum machine. I would think that Muse would be able to boast something better than that, since they went through the trouble of hiring a dev team to build a custom Fedora installation for them. Forget about the OPC, running "Windows 7 Home Premium"; I just did a completely custom installation of Win 7 for my machine, removing any non-audio-essential components; you wouldn't believe the piles of running processes that it keeps for itself by default, and you're lucky to get 6ms latency on a system that has all that excess still installed. The long and short of it is that if you want to get familiar with the cutting edge, either build your system yourself (including OS!) or be prepared to shell out major bucks to a company like ADK to get a top-of-the-line piece of audio processing hardware (which still needs OS tweaking!).

[J M Fahey]

I don't understand why these companies (Muse Research included) don't offer a higher end version of their products. None of these specs are too impressive (4GB RAM, dual cores).......

Dear Cozy, I think you didn't get it.
We're not discussing a Desktop CPU here, but the braindead idea of including one *inside* a working guitar amplifier.
What were they thinking?