Korg Forums

[Anukis]

HI people i have an O76. There is a mint O88 for sale here near my house and its not as cheap as ebay in the states but it is a good price.

My only question is does anoyone know how reliable or how available parts will be for the Oasosy in the next say 5 years. I'm hoping in 5 years Korg might release another version of the Oasys. I have done so much extensvie sound design and editng on this thing that the only reason why I'm looking at a second is just for reliability. If something happens to the one I have its a lot of work down the drain. I'm talking about an uncurable fault like with the zero8 I have, its too noisy even after the mod upgrade. And I'll have to change my whole rig almost. Does anyone have any views.?

I know that Korg will never announce or give indication to what they will release but I would feel very stupid if I bought this and something was released very soon afterwards. Its a very bad catch 22. Because this O is cheap say 4500 USD but I don't know if I need to buy a second.
Thanks
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Korg Oasys 88
Korg Oasys 76
Jupiter 80
Fantom G8
Fantom G7

[Sharp]

I see no reason why the OASYS will not last as long as any other KORG keyboard. If I was looking for a backup the only thing I would buy is the Motherboard.

I'd buy one new and leave it sealed.

Regards
Sharp.
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[Kevin Nolan]

I usually purchase a second version of each synth I intend to use over the long term. So I purchased a 2nd O88 from Digital Village recently. The point for me is - if an instrument has the capability to deliver real innate quality _and_ I find I invest years of effort to learn it and integrate it into my work flow, then I had better be prepared for the long term. Hence my 2nd OASYS will not be used until my first one becomes faulty.

But I'm particular (peculiar??) that way - I stick to instruments for the long haul - my SY99 for example still delivers superior results than even my OASYS (to date) for actual compositions because it has incredible dynamics that deliver spectacularly when playing it, _and_ a huge 57,000+ library of sounds - hence I have a second SY99 too because I use that instrument so much. To me, even more important than the instrument is the skills and work practices developed over time on a given instrument - these are important and why I never jettison or sell any instrument from my setup.

So if the OASYS is equally important to you, and if you can afford it, I believe it’s the right thing to do buy it. I don't want to sound like I'm saying that likely (my 2nd OASYS has pushed my finances to the limit, believe me).

Concerning the release of new instruments - you cannot stop that abut you cannot beat yourself up for planning your own work environment now. That said I don't believe Korg will ever release an OASYS 2- OASYS was useful to them to deliver the M3 and M3 expanded (remember they picked our brains very well through their survey where we thought they’d deliver OASYS updates only to find them emerge in M£-Expanded) . OASYS was a useful experiment for Korg and we cannot complain because we got a stunning instrument out of it – but that does not mean Korg ultimately valued the concept innately – they didn’t – and will not be releasing an OASYS 2. When Korg can find the resources to provide the workstation-users dream sequencer upgrade into M3-Expanded but not OASYS, that's very telling, and exposes the (lack of) worth to Korg for the OASYS. This is not a gripe – I’m totally happy with OASYS – but it’s a valid observation that points to there never being another workstation like it again, from Korg at least.

I also believe that the workstation concept as exemplified by OASYS is largely dead. The workstation was always the jack-of-all-trades solution and now each component of workstations can be acquired better for cheaper. The SV1 reveals a better strategy for catering for live musicians, at least to the extent where the generic pianos found on the likes of the Motifs, Fantoms and even OASYS are not as good; while dedicated DAW's, sample libraries and the likes of Komplete 6 relegate the workstation concept to a 2nd class tier. It just so happens that OASYS is exceptional in what it delivers workstation-wise - but I suspect it’s the last. And remember, OASYS was essentially a financial failure.

So IMO purchasing a 2nd OASYS will insure that you can retain such quality for decades to come, even if one of them fails.

That said, one of us should ring Korg support and enquire for how long they are likely to have spares; and to find out what spares are available. And - if you wait about 2 or 3 years and be patient you're likely to pick up a good condition OASYS for a lot cheaper than the asking price today.


The bottom line is - if OASYS is very important to you, I recommend buying a 2nd one - but that doesn't have to be straight away.

Good luck with your decision.

Kevin.

[Ultimate Dj]

...hey if you got that kind of money get a MiKo! (and than send it to me )




puravida
dj

[Denis]

That's also what I did. I had an Oasys 76, but bought a second hand (in "mint" state) Oasys 88 when I learned that it was discontinued. I'm now using the 88 keys, and the 76 one is stored, as a backup. I'm now so happy to have the two of them. I've got the 88 keys for around $4500 in Japan via eBay, and was amazed to discover that it was nearly new and unused! Must have been (very) lucky...!

[Charlie]

Honestly, I simply trust Korg to have spare parts for the time I'm likely to use the Oasys. I find it hard to believe it will "fall apart" anyway. At least no quality synth I've bought in the last 25 years failed substantially. My Roland D50 or Ensonique TS10 or Korg M1R are all working well.
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[Kevin Nolan]

Charlie -

There are four critical differences between the OASYS and other synths of old -

- Moving part - the fan and Hard disk
- Off the shelf PC mother board and other computer parts perhaps otherwise manufactured to have a 3-5 year life span
- Touch Screen which if fails is fatal
- The O88 key bed has already exhibited consistent enough problems (the springy noise) to be of concern.

I actually own dozens of synthesizers new and old and all of them without exception, has developed a fault of one kind or another (small and large scale). The OASYS is, IMO, more vulnerable than most synthesizers for the reasons outlined above - and - because it is a serious investment and lilkely to be more important to a typical setup than your average workstation, then any sizable fault will set the user back even more.

For these reasons I believe it a real imperative to contemplate acquiring substantial parts.

And while I have found Yamaha to be absolutely incredible for parts - I can still get new parts for the CS range from Yamaha-Kemble and Yamaha Japan for example; I have personally found both Korg and Roland to be significantly poorer at providing / stocking spare parts.

Quite telling is that on several occasions over the past few years I have asked on this forum for pointers to spare parts but none from Korg who drop in on this forum sought to ease our plight by offering pointers. That worries me. Yamaha engineers I have gotten to know casually of the years are clearly aware of Yamaha's renowned stockpiles - so I'm not convinced Roland and Korg in particular are good with retaining spare parts.

Perhaps you will dispose of your OASYS in a few years but I've committed for the long haul and I'm simply not prepared to take that risk if the OASYS is to remain important to my work. I recommend all who intend to use their OASYS for more than a decade to actively think about acquiring spares now. There's no way, for example, that the OASYS fan alone will last a decade and I am already convinced mine is louder now than when I purchased my OASYS (and I hoover both my music rooms and all music instruments surfaces once a week).


Kevin.

[Sharp]

Hi Kevin.
That's one really big disaster your planning for there. Ask any repair man and he will tell you that the majority of their time is spent fixing faults, not replacing them with new parts.

I think the most important thing anyone can do to protect their investment is to buy a UPS.

Regards
Shrp.

PS: Hopfully though you won't be able to say to me in a few years time,”Told you so”.
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[danatkorg]

[danatkorg]

[CfNorENa]

[Kontrol49]

Korg UK are usually on the Ball with Spare parts,Had plenty off them to repair broken or damaged machines I've bought secondhand.

Roland are more of a Headache,had a right game sourcing parts for the JD800 which cost me significantly more money as I had to replace the whole Keybed assembly due to Roland changing the Assembly part way throught production and they no longer stock the parts for the older assemblies.Spares for that machine are becoming rarer,decided to ditch the synth and buy the JD990.

I've always worked on the same principle of having two of everything,but normally going for a secind option of a rack version,(with the exception of the Tritons)

I can sympathise with someone buying a second Oasys to have as a gigging spare whilst retaining one at home,but on the premise it will go bang and simply be a spare parts source?I just couldn't justify the cost!

[Davidb]

[danatkorg]

[Charlie]

@Dan: Thanx for your reassurance.

If I'd play live with my Oasys I definetly would get a second one. Not for the reason of spare parts but for having a back up in case the original one fails.

Kevin, perhaps I'm too optimistic - but I find it hard to believe my Oasys will develop a problem within the next 10 years that can not be fixed somehow by Korg. Given current speed of developments it is already daring to look that far - therefor I doubt I'll use my Oasys as the center part of my setup for much longer than 10 years. (Might have been longer if Korg would have kept up developing sounds-engines for it )
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