Korg Forums

[tyronediggs]

NI Komplete ($1000) + Macbook Pro ($2000) + Apogee Duet ($500) + Midi Controller ($200) vs Korg Oasys

As you can see, in terms of price -- going the software route is much cheaper, but I want to know in terms of sound quality (bread and butter acoustic instrumental, analog + fm synths, drums etc), which is the best option?

[MarkF786]

A cheaper alternative would be for your to buy a Casio keyboard. You could probably buy one for less that $100.

Mark

[Drunky]

In sound quality there is no comparison. But it depends on what you are looking for. Between the 2 solutions there are some others 100. But if you are posting here I can understand that you are looking for sound quality. Then IMO there is only one choice and obviously is the O.
Cheers
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Kronos2-73 no.201556

[MrT-Man]

Get a really really good pair of headphones, & go to a music store that has both set up. I think the difference will be apparent.

Sound quality aside, some of the other benefits the Oasys would give you are
- more stability
- less (i.e. zero) latency
- less time wasted with computer / interoperability issues
- more direct control surface / ui (not just the knobs and sliders, which you can get with a midi controller, but also the touch-screen)
- sequencer & multi-track hard-disk recording (you didn't factor in the cost of DAW software)
- KARMA

I do like the NI stuff, it's great -- I used Akoustik Piano a lot before buying my Oasys -- but personally, I didn't have an easy time running more than one or two NI instruments at a time, & being able to record them into ProTools without getting some problem or another (to be fair, that's just my own experience -- may have been that my PC was underpowered or misconfigured or something). I finally got fed up of dealing with it, which was one of the reasons I bought an Oasys. I turn it on, it sounds great, & it works.

The NI stuff & Oasys do represent very different ways of working, so definitely try to spend some time with both to see what you're most comfortable with.

[TagPass]

As a user of both NI Komplete and an Oasys, perhaps I can help with some perspective.

As far as softsynths go, I think NI have some of the best, and for the better part of the last several years, all of my production for film, TV and the web have been based around the NI collection, and supplemented with various hardware. Out of the box, Komplete will give you a vast array of sounds -- everything you can conceive and then some! There is nothing you cannot achieve with that package, from bread and butter sounds to the c(k!)ompletely esoteric. The only downside is how much CPU certain products consume (namely Reaktor, Massive and Kontakt), but there are always workarounds. (My machine is a few years old, so may be less of an issue on newer dual and quad cores!) Additionally, all of the NI packages have a certain "quality" about them -- an "NI sheen", if you will. (I hope that makes sense!) I, for one, really like it, but I do get concerned (to a small degree) that NI has made the package so affordable, that many, many people use it, although, as always, some with more success than others.

On the other hand, there's the O. Out of the box, it will also give you a vast array of sounds -- everything you can conceive and then some! There is nothing you cannot achieve with an Oasys, from bread and butter sounds to the completely esoteric. It's biggest upside, to my ears, is its sound quality, which I think is superior to NI. YMMV.

To attest to that difference -- last week I finished up a little video game soundtrack for a client, which was a follow-up game to one I had scored last May (before I had my Oasys). For both, to achieve a kind of "retro" feel, I used DX7 stock sounds with miminal processing in FM8 for the original and in MOD-7 for the most recent. Everyone commented that the new version sounded much "bigger" and "fuller" -- keep in mind, this was a combi created from the exact same sys-ex data I used in FM8 the last time, only now there was a lot more mojo!

Since getting the Oasys, I've actually considered selling the Komplete license, save for a few items I still find either indispensable or excellent compliments to O (mainly Kontakt and Battery... samplers... hmmm!) -- of course I realized that selling the license wouldn't get me enough of a return to re-purchase the full versions of those items, so I might as well hang onto it, and consider all those other goodies, especially Reaktor, Guitar Rig, etc., etc. as value-added "freebies"!

The best solution? I guess it shouldn't even be a question of "either or". Throw an "and" in there and you'll be getting somewhere -- probably ANYWHERE! There is a lifetime of sonic delight there.
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TP
http://www.timpanella.com

[MartinHines]

Unfortunately you won't get much of a midi controller for $200. The keyboard actions in all of the midi controllers are not even close in quality of the actions in the stage pianos and workstations from Korg, Roland, and Yamaha.

Also, NI Komplete (I own it) doesn't include any type of audio recording or sequencing software. If you are considering the computer/software route, I would suggest adding Apple Logic Studio 8 to your list ($500).

If you are buying a new computer today, I would suggest the following:
-- get the faster processor you can afford
-- get at least 2GB of RAM; a 4GB RAM MacBook Pro would be better (an extra $700)
-- if you are considering Komplete and/or any large GB sized sample libraries, you should also get an External FW Hard drive to load and run the samples. Komplete 5, when fully installed with all libraries, requires 65GB of hard disk space (and your $1999 Macbook Pro only has a 120GB internal hard drive)