Official statement on the status and future of the OASYS

[lcmorley]

IC,

Bad idea! What do those of us who paid for them get? That's not fair or appropriate.

I knew I would get that response.

Just being sarcastic.

[AnthonyB]

If memory serves me right, the first Yamaha Motif, although popular, didn't go down too well when the MOTIF ES was launched - very soon after. Those original owners were "wishing" for the features that the ES had (more EFX Blocks, 128 poly (62 on original) 175mb Rom (85 on original) and loads of other stuff, and the ES didn't cost much more money either.

Yamaha did some sort of an upgrade plan for current Motif owners wishing to upgrade to ther "Wish-list" Motif ES, not sure what it was now, but some sort of big discount for original Motif owners i gather. If KORG release an OASYS II with "Wish-list" features, similar to a "Fantom-G-like" sequencer,/NEKO-like "VST''s,(or should I say more "OPEN" - such irony?/Sample reading from Disk/ and lots more Then I would hope to see some sort of a upgrade path, and not just see my "Oasys" fade away....


(assuming there will be a sucessor to the O that is.)...

PS: That said, i didn't/don't want to see an OASYS II - but an OASYS 1 - with those "wish-listed" features implemented into the current O. is someone Really "listening"?


Tony

[StephenKay]

PS: That said, i didn't/don't want to see an OASYS II - but an OASYS 1 - with those "wish-listed" features implemented into the current O. is someone Really "listening"?

Of course people are listening. I bet they're even really listening. However, listening and wanting to do something doesn't equal being able to do it. It's really a question of resources, man power, and Korg staying in business. And producing a major update (such as the sequencer) takes many man months of engineering time that likely cannot be justified in terms of cost, even if the few thousand OASYS owners were to pay for it. I'm sure some people here wouldn't care if Korg goes out of business as long as they get their sequencer upgrade for the OASYS, but Korg's upper management aren't going to allow that to happen, as much as some of us related to engineering would like to produce a sequencer update. And even if it has been said that "Korg is fine etc.", you don't have to be a genius to figure out that people are buying less workstations over time, the market is shrinking, and in particular at this time of global economic chaos, a new expensive workstation is not the highest item on most people's lists - and Korg can't stay in business selling $249 upgrades to 20% of the people who own a product that only a few thousand bought in the first place. I don't like it, I'm not defending it, but I'm trying to be realistic about it.

RE: "OPEN"
We've had this discussion before, but I think it's safe to say that Korg never meant by "Open" what most people here seem to want it to mean. By "Open", Korg meant "open to be expanded by our engineers in ways that most of our other products are not" - and it fully lived up to that idea, I would say, even if there was never an EXf released. Designing in the ability to have something added and then not adding it is not a sin, or a failure, or a promise that must be "made good on", or anything else - changing market conditions made it such that, whatever plans may have originally existed for EXf, it wasn't realized during the time the product remained viable. But on all other fronts (except the sequencer), I would say Korg expanded the functionality of the OASYS in ways that none of their other products were ever expanded.

"Open" has never meant to Korg "open to third party development" (IMHO). They are not an open source company in any way, shape or form, and based on what I know, would never allow any part of the OASYS to be opened up in that manner - so I'm just trying to save you some time from agonizing over that aspect as well. Perhaps there was some idea to involve 3rd party effect designers, but if so, I never heard anything about it and I suspect the marketplace was too small for any of the large plug-in guys to really care. Just my two cents.

It would be cool if (for example) I could release an update to KARMA for the OASYS myself, at any time - but impossible. Any modifications requiring changes to the interface has to fully involve the Korg engineering team, and their proprietary in-house development tools. So sadly, those kinds of third party things are just not going to happen, the way I see it.

[Daz]

Deutsche : http://foren.musik-meyer.net/korg/index ... 52&start=0&

[Synergy]

PS: That said, i didn't/don't want to see an OASYS II - but an OASYS 1 - with those "wish-listed" features implemented into the current O. is someone Really "listening"?
Tony

This is what your attitude supposed to be according to the Irish Act.

I'm humbled and awe inspired by the heart felt supports from the folks at Korg for all these years. It is regretful that I could have paid a full retail price for the Oasys so that the dedicated men and women at Korg could put a bread over the table and then some. Although it takes a real man to swallow his own tears, I say I'm mighty grateful to the folks at Korg that the pure extacy I get from every dollar I spent on the Oasys indeed far suprpasses that of an owner of the M3 or a penny donation I've made for the orphans somewhere in Africa. Therefore, I hereby declare on behalf of all the owners of the Oasys that if Korg ever decided to reintroduce all new redesigned Oasys all over again, our wallet will be ready to be wide open than the Open Architecture could ever be. I thank you and God bless.

ps: where can you find a lowest price on a bag of potato?
lad; there is one but you don't wanna buy from the Ethiopeans for they are leeching off our economy.

[Davidb]

Everything has its time,no one product stays in production for more than 5 to 7 years, keyboard wise.......but.........

.....I feel, like some have said already that the one feature that was requested for has never been properly addressed.THE SEQUENCER ISSUES.

I think the community that has invested into OASYS would have been less vocal if Korg were to have given an explanation as to why the seq never got an upgrade like the M3.Its not as if the M3 was 5 years after the OASYS.The technology inside the M3 could not possibly be better suited to the sequencer update...or was it?..... was it a system problem with OASYS?....was the architecture too different to implement the changes?......was the screen on the OASYS not capable of drag and drop etc etc.? Im sure someone from Korg could explain that to us... I for one would have been happy with that,its the silence which was deafening. ...

So I thank Korg for the OASYS and all the efforts made by everyone involved but you made glaring mistakes in not touching on the one area that the users have created more threads on in this forum and what has been discussed more times than any other feature on your BEST product you have ever made.

I hope you take note and recognize why some, myself included make sure you know this could have been so much better.
The OASYS workstation warranted a sequencer update.

Valid arguments to me, thekeymaster,
my oppinion is the same as yours.

Thanx for sharing them.
The main issue in this regard is this, precisely.

After seeing the excelent work Korg made with the M3 eXpanded, many of us thought that, other things apart, the OASYS workstation warranted a Sequencer update as well.

Maybe not as deep as the one in the M3 was, maybe, due to technical problems as you rightly point out, human resources, time consuming, complexity, etc, etc.
But seeing it completed and released for the M3, which wasnt claimed to be upgradable to begin with (and which could take so much work to do, apparently, as it coululd not possibly be better suited for a sequencer update than the big O), left us thinking the OASYS could have as well, at least, some kind of Sequencer revision/ update at some point.

It never came, even when it was requested for lots of users from the very beginning of the OASYS plattform.
In beetween, Korg said nothing in this regard (and in any other, for that matter).

As you state, things could have been done differently, and even explained; for the best keyboard Korg ever made, (and the more expensive one, too), and its users.

[SoulBe]

Deutsche : http://foren.musik-meyer.net/korg/index ... 52&start=0&

Hi,

for all those who cannot translate german:

at the end it´s of course the same statment like Jerry´s.

But they also say, that it makes them sad to have to annouce that the Oasys project is stopped by Korg until further notice, sound developing will go on for a short time and the latest OS updates will be the last at first and that the decision wasn´t easy for Korg but necessary due to economic reasons to have the possibility to launch sucessful projects in the future. They also say, that the Oasys project was carried more by enthusiasm than economic thoughts ..

All in all to me as a native speaker it sounds more apologizing but that´s just my opinion.

SoulBe

[Davidb]

I don't like it, I'm not defending it, but I'm trying to be realistic about it.

And you are, Stephen.

Thank you so much, as usual, for your great and very detailed answer.

[AnthonyB]

Thanks Stephen

I suppose you could look at it this way: suppose the "Economic Chaos" happened 4-5 years ago, then we probably wouldn't be seeing the wonderful expansions, and sounds we have now (only the M3 owners that is (J/K). So we should, perhaps, count ourselves lucky for this? i think so.

Re: """""I'm sure some people here wouldn't care if Korg goes out of business as long as they get their sequencer upgrade for the OASYS, """"

Not me


Tony

[Daz]

Thanks SoulBe for translating some of the highlights of that for us.

Thanks Stephen for providing a little more insight, it helps to put things in perspective. Personally I feel that Korg have done themselves and us a disservice by posting such a brief and impersonal statement.

Daz.

[Davidb]

Personally I feel that Korg have done themselves and us a disservice by posting such a brief and impersonal statement.

I´m with you on this one.

[AnthonyB]

[After seeing the excelent work Korg made with the M3 eXpanded, many of us thought that, other things apart, the OASYS workstation warranted a Sequencer update as well.

I honestly think the "Roland Fantom-G" played a part at this time in korgs thinking, in that the M3 was good" but """""""look what Roland have releaased - Mouse, huge screen, Sequencer to Die-for, We need to respond to that"""" - and respond they did.


Tony

[SoulBe]

you´re welcome Daz,

I felt I had to share it with the community because the german statement felt more "personal" and "eye to eye" to the community of Oasys users.

SoulBe

[zolhof]

Thanks SoulBe for translating some of the highlights of that for us.

Thanks Stephen for providing a little more insight, it helps to put things in perspective. Personally I feel that Korg have done themselves and us a disservice by posting such a brief and impersonal statement.

Daz.

+1

thanks SoulBe! and thanks Stephen, once again you prove how such a nice guy you are

I paid A LOT for my O (in the middle of the crisis) and was disapointed at Korg with such generic statement

[jerrythek]

Well, the corporation is a bit formal, being Japanese and such. But I helped craft the message, to be in the spirit and personality of the company and our leaders.

What you all may be missing is that many of us on the front lines are still here. Have always been here and will continue to be here.

We have been living through a very difficult and emotional time coming to these decisions, and a very difficult and emotional time "steeling ourselves up" for the ensuing reactions from you all. Stepping outside of the corporate formalities for a moment...

Do you not think that this pains us, as the architects of the project? No one who dreams of, develops, births and supports a product likes to see its path change. We certainly know the feelings of everyone here and we knew what we were heading into... To be perfectly blunt I've dreaded logging in each day to see what would ensue.

This doesn't mean for a moment that I question, or disagree with the decisions that were made, because I don't. But I surely regret that they had to be made. As does everyone who works on the project - there are no callous, or uncaring members of the team. We're all human, we're all musicians who care about the gear we make and use, and we all feel a great responsibility to our customers and friends.

But the situation "is what it is".

OK, that's about as far as I should step out of my "role/job" for now. But please don't think for a moment that we are insensitive to how you all feel.

Regards,

Jerry