Hi,
I am a new member here and also currently researching to find out if the Oasys is the board for me. I currently gig with 3 keyboards (Yamaha S-90, Trinity Plus, Roland D-50), a drum machine (MPC2000XL) and a laptop (Macbook Pro with Ableton Live and Logic’s Mainstage). I’m looking to scale down my setup so that I can gig with less gear. I have some questions that I hope you guys that own the Oasys already can help me with.
1) How stable is the O/S? I was in the local store which has an Oasys running version 1.02 which is quite an old version now. I was really digging the sounds and having a blast going through Combis and Programs until the Oasys got stuck on one Combi and wouldn’t unfreeze until I powered it off and then on again. That particular Combi was not using Karma (or I had turned Karma off for it). I was playing some fast riffs, moving the vector joystick when it froze and a note stuck. This is something obviously that won’t work for me at a gig. Anyone have this happen periodically when just playing it?
2) I’m hoping that Karma will be able to let me do a few things that I can’t currently do now. I want to use it for some basic background tracks such as drums/perc, perhaps a bass line and maybe some rhythmic part or pad to fill in the other stuff I’m playing. It looks like it can do that with ease and what it was built to do. Most of those patches seem to start Karma when the keys are pressed. Is there a way to have Karma initiated via a foot-pedal? Can Karma be stopped as well via a foot-pedal (either as a toggle or as separate footswitches)?
3) When using Karma in the way that I describe above, do you run into many polyphony issues, particularly when playing piano?
My main needs are stability as well as the Karma stuff I mentioned. I have other questions but I believe that I can get the answers by reading the downloadable manual so I’ll start there rather than bugging you all about it.
My only other concern is the Oasys’ piano. I did not like the response on the FF dynamic. As I played it in the store (it was the smaller piano loaded), it did not go with me as I played harder – at least not like the S-90 that I currently use for piano. Perhaps it can be tweaked but I just didn’t have time to try tweaking while I was in the store (I only had 1 hour). The other part of it that I was not fond of was the release. It doesn’t seem to have the ring that the S-90 does which feels more natural to me (Oasys sounds more ‘plinky’). Perhaps that can also be tweaked.
I’m hoping to get rid of my current 3 keyboards and the drum machine and mainly gig with just the Oasys, a controller keyboard and my laptop. My preference is the 88-note version of the Oasys so that the S-90 can disappear from my setup. I’m a little concerned about polyphony though when playing ballads that may require more piano and damper pedal. I may be able to work around the polyphony using the laptop to handle some of the additional parts with Ableton Live but there are gigs that I do where I’d like to only take the Oasys and nothing else. Some gigs I do don’t allow for much setup space. If I still need the S-90 for piano, I’ll probably get the 76-note version of the Oasys but I’d prefer to get the 88-note and have that ability to show up at a gig with just one keyboard. The 76-note version wouldn’t give me enough keys to do a single-keyboard gig I don’t think.
Sorry for the longish post. I really love the sounds on the Oasys and feel that it is the first keyboard that's come around that may be able to do what I need. The past 10 years has seemed to me to be more rehash of the same thing when it's come to workstations which is why some of my gear is old. I appreciate your help.
Fernando
Please help me with my decision on a new Oasys
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thekeymaster
- Senior Member
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- Location: Stoke-On-Trent,England
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Hi there Fernando,
Ok I'll do my best to help you out a little,
OS stability.
Well in the 2 and half years I've had my OASYS I've only encountered 1 crash,that was an earlier version of the software as well,it froze on me so I would say its pretty stable.I'm not gonna say 100% because I've had glitches from many workstations in the past so nothing is totally immune but the OASYS has been pretty well behaved considering how complex it is.I think you will be ok with this.
KARMA
Yep you can trigger KARMA via a footswitch.Global settings let you swich KARMA on/off or to Latch it on/off or even have control of KARMA's RTC's.You dont need to trigger it via keys.
Polyphony has never been an issue with me but it may have been with other people.One thing I will say is this though,look at your gear now and add up the polyphony
S90 64 voices
Trinty 32 voices
D 50 16 voices
MPC 32 voices
Thats gives you 144 voices of available polyphony with the gear you have.OASYS is 172 voices(HD-1) so you will actually gain ( on paper) in this dept but it is shared between all aspects of the system.Even so its more flexible than you think especially with dynamic allocation.I dont think you will have an issue with it.See what other members say though,they may have a different experience to this than me.
There is another option though,if you use sequences live (dont know if you do) you can utilise the audio aspects of the OASYS and free up polyphony this way by making audio sections of OASYS phrases or drum parts which then allows you to free up the sounds used and use it for what you want to play.
PIANO
mmmm this is a toughie.It comes down to personal taste. I think Yamaha do some wonderful Piano sounds. I like the OASYS piano more than I like my Fantom Piano,especially for cutting through live but I do think it lacks a little in the mid ranges,the bottom and top are fine.Dynamics,well you can adjust this yourself but it depends if you are used to your S90.I cant answer this one for you,you will have to make your mind up about the Piano.
Hope this all helps.Have to say as well,the OASYS will quite easily handle everything you have in your set up with ease and then some,especially with the other engines available to you.The only thing you will have to consider is patience in changing over and the weight of the O88.Then again ,you have been carrying all that other stuff so it will seem like nothing probably.
See what everyone else thinks and good luck.
Ok I'll do my best to help you out a little,
OS stability.
Well in the 2 and half years I've had my OASYS I've only encountered 1 crash,that was an earlier version of the software as well,it froze on me so I would say its pretty stable.I'm not gonna say 100% because I've had glitches from many workstations in the past so nothing is totally immune but the OASYS has been pretty well behaved considering how complex it is.I think you will be ok with this.
KARMA
Yep you can trigger KARMA via a footswitch.Global settings let you swich KARMA on/off or to Latch it on/off or even have control of KARMA's RTC's.You dont need to trigger it via keys.
Polyphony has never been an issue with me but it may have been with other people.One thing I will say is this though,look at your gear now and add up the polyphony
S90 64 voices
Trinty 32 voices
D 50 16 voices
MPC 32 voices
Thats gives you 144 voices of available polyphony with the gear you have.OASYS is 172 voices(HD-1) so you will actually gain ( on paper) in this dept but it is shared between all aspects of the system.Even so its more flexible than you think especially with dynamic allocation.I dont think you will have an issue with it.See what other members say though,they may have a different experience to this than me.
There is another option though,if you use sequences live (dont know if you do) you can utilise the audio aspects of the OASYS and free up polyphony this way by making audio sections of OASYS phrases or drum parts which then allows you to free up the sounds used and use it for what you want to play.
PIANO
mmmm this is a toughie.It comes down to personal taste. I think Yamaha do some wonderful Piano sounds. I like the OASYS piano more than I like my Fantom Piano,especially for cutting through live but I do think it lacks a little in the mid ranges,the bottom and top are fine.Dynamics,well you can adjust this yourself but it depends if you are used to your S90.I cant answer this one for you,you will have to make your mind up about the Piano.
Hope this all helps.Have to say as well,the OASYS will quite easily handle everything you have in your set up with ease and then some,especially with the other engines available to you.The only thing you will have to consider is patience in changing over and the weight of the O88.Then again ,you have been carrying all that other stuff so it will seem like nothing probably.
See what everyone else thinks and good luck.
Neil.
Cake Muncher
Cake Muncher
I just went through this a few weeks ago, finally buying an Oasys last week. I also use MainStage for live use.
For me, it wasn't just about the sounds, it was about the playability. I found it (and am still finding it) to be a very inspirational experience. It won't replace MainStage although I'll reduce my dependency on MainStage for several traditional sounds (flutes, choir, clav) that I can quickly get at with the Oasys and I'll use MainStage for just the more exotic sounds that I need (using plugins like Reaktor and so forth)
It won't replace my Minimoog or my organ, both of which are distinguishably playable (because of their physical feel) but it certainly would replace your other instruments.
I don't know enough about KARMA to have an opinion as to its value although I have decided to buy the software for my Mac so I can experiment with it more easily as time permits.
D
For me, it wasn't just about the sounds, it was about the playability. I found it (and am still finding it) to be a very inspirational experience. It won't replace MainStage although I'll reduce my dependency on MainStage for several traditional sounds (flutes, choir, clav) that I can quickly get at with the Oasys and I'll use MainStage for just the more exotic sounds that I need (using plugins like Reaktor and so forth)
It won't replace my Minimoog or my organ, both of which are distinguishably playable (because of their physical feel) but it certainly would replace your other instruments.
I don't know enough about KARMA to have an opinion as to its value although I have decided to buy the software for my Mac so I can experiment with it more easily as time permits.
D
Thanks for the replies Neil and dhjdhj.
I'm hoping to dig through the manual quite a bit this weekend. I'm glad to know that it doesn't crash on you (only that one time). Also nice to know that KARMA can be triggered with a footswitch.
Interesting points about the polyphony. I hadn't really thought about adding it up before. I'm still a little bit concerned though because of the theoretical max of the Oasys and the real-life when you're using actual Combis and Progs. I'm sure that it will be okay though.
I do use sequences but I'll probably use Ableton Live for that over the Oasys. Though that may change as it may be desirable sometimes to take just the Oasys to a gig.
With most of the other sounds, I'm totally sold on the Oasys. The piano is the only one where I have concerns. I agree that it is quite subjective and what sounds good to one person may not sound as good to another. For me it is a combination of both the sound and the feel. I'll probably go to the store again and play just with the piano and see how much I can tweak it to see if I can get it to where I would like it.
I have already prepared for some patience in switching over to the Oasys. There will be lots of time spent learning how to best use KARMA for my gigs. I'll probably initially get it set up to replace my 3 keys in terms of sounds. Then finally get rid of the MPC when I'm comfortable with KARMA only. Weight is not a big deal for me especially since it will only be one keyboard. I'll be looking at getting a hard case with wheels or build a small dolly for it. It'll most likely be similar in weight to my S-90 anyway (perhaps a bit heavier).
Thanks once again for your input.
Fernando
I'm hoping to dig through the manual quite a bit this weekend. I'm glad to know that it doesn't crash on you (only that one time). Also nice to know that KARMA can be triggered with a footswitch.
Interesting points about the polyphony. I hadn't really thought about adding it up before. I'm still a little bit concerned though because of the theoretical max of the Oasys and the real-life when you're using actual Combis and Progs. I'm sure that it will be okay though.
I do use sequences but I'll probably use Ableton Live for that over the Oasys. Though that may change as it may be desirable sometimes to take just the Oasys to a gig.
With most of the other sounds, I'm totally sold on the Oasys. The piano is the only one where I have concerns. I agree that it is quite subjective and what sounds good to one person may not sound as good to another. For me it is a combination of both the sound and the feel. I'll probably go to the store again and play just with the piano and see how much I can tweak it to see if I can get it to where I would like it.
I have already prepared for some patience in switching over to the Oasys. There will be lots of time spent learning how to best use KARMA for my gigs. I'll probably initially get it set up to replace my 3 keys in terms of sounds. Then finally get rid of the MPC when I'm comfortable with KARMA only. Weight is not a big deal for me especially since it will only be one keyboard. I'll be looking at getting a hard case with wheels or build a small dolly for it. It'll most likely be similar in weight to my S-90 anyway (perhaps a bit heavier).
Thanks once again for your input.
Fernando
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kenackr
- Platinum Member
- Posts: 521
- Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 9:52 pm
- Location: Corpus Christi Metro Area
fv,
Just to make sure you are aware, the "Oasys piano" program is different from the sampled Stienway grand which forms all of EXs 2. If the store unit only has one gig of ram in it (most in the store come this way), then the Stienway is not normally loaded. You can tell how much ram is in the unit by turning it on and watching the startup screen - it will tell you.
In order to get to the Stienway, you have to go into global: press the global button and then on the screen that comes up press the basic setup dropdown list marker in the extreme upper right corner. When the drop down list appears press the item that says Sample expansion setup.
A smaller window will open and you want to check the box for EXs2 and uncheck the boxes for the others. Now turn the Oasys off with the switch on the left side on the back, wait 10 seconds and turn it back on again.
After it loads go into "program" mode, look through the list of acoustic pianos by touching the selector next to the word keyboards above the name of the first patch.
The program name you are looking for is "St. concert piano exs2". This is as good as it gets IMO for realistic concert grand sound. Every note was sampled at 4 different velocities on a real Stienway.
If you get an Oasys and want to have that piano available all the time, just add the second gig of ram and you can load it without excluding anything else.
If the store unit has 2 gig loaded you can go into global and using the procedure above check to see if EXs2 is turned on or not. You can also see this on the startup screen when the unit is loading.
Just making sure we're on the same page.
Ken
Just to make sure you are aware, the "Oasys piano" program is different from the sampled Stienway grand which forms all of EXs 2. If the store unit only has one gig of ram in it (most in the store come this way), then the Stienway is not normally loaded. You can tell how much ram is in the unit by turning it on and watching the startup screen - it will tell you.
In order to get to the Stienway, you have to go into global: press the global button and then on the screen that comes up press the basic setup dropdown list marker in the extreme upper right corner. When the drop down list appears press the item that says Sample expansion setup.
A smaller window will open and you want to check the box for EXs2 and uncheck the boxes for the others. Now turn the Oasys off with the switch on the left side on the back, wait 10 seconds and turn it back on again.
After it loads go into "program" mode, look through the list of acoustic pianos by touching the selector next to the word keyboards above the name of the first patch.
The program name you are looking for is "St. concert piano exs2". This is as good as it gets IMO for realistic concert grand sound. Every note was sampled at 4 different velocities on a real Stienway.
If you get an Oasys and want to have that piano available all the time, just add the second gig of ram and you can load it without excluding anything else.
If the store unit has 2 gig loaded you can go into global and using the procedure above check to see if EXs2 is turned on or not. You can also see this on the startup screen when the unit is loading.
Just making sure we're on the same page.
Ken
O88, T1, Wavestation, M1r, Pa 4X 76, Proteus 1-3, Morpheus, UltraProteus, K1200, Akai S2000, DP8
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danatkorg
- Product Manager, Korg R&D
- Posts: 4205
- Joined: Fri Jan 21, 2005 7:28 am
- Location: California, USA
- Contact:
Also, the INT-A 000 piano is different from the INT-E 000 piano. The latter uses EXs1 for extra samples, including a fourth velocity zone and damper-off layer. It should be loaded by default in any floor model.kenackr wrote:fv,
Just to make sure you are aware, the "Oasys piano" program is different from the sampled Stienway grand which forms all of EXs 2.
Best regards,
Dan
Dan Phillips
Manager of Product Development, Korg R&D
Personal website: www.danphillips.com
For technical support, please contact your Korg Distributor: http://www.korg.co.jp/English/Distributors/
Regretfully, I cannot offer technical support directly.
If you need to contact me for purposes other than technical support, please do not send PMs; instead, send email to dan@korgrd.com
Manager of Product Development, Korg R&D
Personal website: www.danphillips.com
For technical support, please contact your Korg Distributor: http://www.korg.co.jp/English/Distributors/
Regretfully, I cannot offer technical support directly.
If you need to contact me for purposes other than technical support, please do not send PMs; instead, send email to dan@korgrd.com
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tcornishmn
- Full Member
- Posts: 196
- Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 2:19 pm
- Location: St. Paul, MN
I meant to reply a few days ago. Sorry for coming late to the party.
The others have made good points - I'll try not to be too redundant.
I travel weekly or more with my Oasys. I've never had a crash during a performance - my only issue was with a bug that has long since been fixed. I have never, ever heard of a crash when someone was just playing it. I believe all of the bugs have either been sequencer related, or switching between screens.
Gig consolidation: YES! I used to play with a Kurzweil K2600 on the bottom, Korg CX3 on the top, and a rack of modules driven by the Kurzweil. I condensed all of that into the Oasys and have never looked back. The only challenge occasionally is that I run out of physical keys - some times I miss the second board on top.
I've actually done that a couple of times - I've thrown my trusty old Roland XP-80 into the MIDI in of the Oasys and used it for a second set of keys. That works great too.
For polyphony - I think that people tend to work in very different ways and resources affect people differently.
I consider myself a pretty heavy user: 60% of the time I play on a single performance that at all times has the following active: CX3 organ, piano, 2 pads, and a second velocity activated piano for a little more power when I bang hard. I never have sound coming out of all of these - that would be a sonic mess. I use the sliders as a mixing board and fade stuff in and out, but since parts use up poly even when they're muted (my biggest gripe about the Oasys by far), they still count in this sense.
The Oasys has enough power for all of the effects for each part, and enough poly so that I hardly ever run out. The only times I run into trouble are times I'm too heavy with the sustain pedal, which because of my insane amount of layers, would kill any synth.
A piano player commented that he ran out of poly when playing something like Rachmananov, butI think we tracked that down to the sustain pedal operating in half-damper mode, which held a lot of stuff unnecessarily.
I don't think Karma is typically a problem in a live setting for poly.
Comparing to other instruments, I believe the Oasys has more polyphony capability than anything else out there. I suspect it may even have more than your current 3 boards combined.
To the piano sound: I was previously used to the Kurzweil piano which is boxier than the Oasys piano. I've grown to prefer the Oasys piano and it does cut through a mix very well.
I've found the Oasys extremely road worthy. I found it to be light years better than my K2600 - the case would flex a little, and I repaired broken key weights a couple of times. Since then, I've repaired a couple of keys on my PC2 as well. The Oasys even after almost 3 years of gigging is still as solid and rigid as new. Obviously you need to get a good hard case for it.
Good luck!
PS: I think the organ sounds great! The Oasys has a great mechanism for allowing drawbar control during performance use. I think this is one of the best features of the Oasys.
The others have made good points - I'll try not to be too redundant.
I travel weekly or more with my Oasys. I've never had a crash during a performance - my only issue was with a bug that has long since been fixed. I have never, ever heard of a crash when someone was just playing it. I believe all of the bugs have either been sequencer related, or switching between screens.
Gig consolidation: YES! I used to play with a Kurzweil K2600 on the bottom, Korg CX3 on the top, and a rack of modules driven by the Kurzweil. I condensed all of that into the Oasys and have never looked back. The only challenge occasionally is that I run out of physical keys - some times I miss the second board on top.
I've actually done that a couple of times - I've thrown my trusty old Roland XP-80 into the MIDI in of the Oasys and used it for a second set of keys. That works great too.
For polyphony - I think that people tend to work in very different ways and resources affect people differently.
I consider myself a pretty heavy user: 60% of the time I play on a single performance that at all times has the following active: CX3 organ, piano, 2 pads, and a second velocity activated piano for a little more power when I bang hard. I never have sound coming out of all of these - that would be a sonic mess. I use the sliders as a mixing board and fade stuff in and out, but since parts use up poly even when they're muted (my biggest gripe about the Oasys by far), they still count in this sense.
The Oasys has enough power for all of the effects for each part, and enough poly so that I hardly ever run out. The only times I run into trouble are times I'm too heavy with the sustain pedal, which because of my insane amount of layers, would kill any synth.
A piano player commented that he ran out of poly when playing something like Rachmananov, butI think we tracked that down to the sustain pedal operating in half-damper mode, which held a lot of stuff unnecessarily.
I don't think Karma is typically a problem in a live setting for poly.
Comparing to other instruments, I believe the Oasys has more polyphony capability than anything else out there. I suspect it may even have more than your current 3 boards combined.
To the piano sound: I was previously used to the Kurzweil piano which is boxier than the Oasys piano. I've grown to prefer the Oasys piano and it does cut through a mix very well.
I've found the Oasys extremely road worthy. I found it to be light years better than my K2600 - the case would flex a little, and I repaired broken key weights a couple of times. Since then, I've repaired a couple of keys on my PC2 as well. The Oasys even after almost 3 years of gigging is still as solid and rigid as new. Obviously you need to get a good hard case for it.
Good luck!
PS: I think the organ sounds great! The Oasys has a great mechanism for allowing drawbar control during performance use. I think this is one of the best features of the Oasys.
Thanks guys for the comments.
I'm sure that the polyphony will most likely be enough, especially considering the polyphony I currently have. Won't be playing Rachmananov so I think I'll be fine there.
Since I use piano quite a bit, that is why I commented on it. I'll be sure to check out the larger piano (EXs2) as well as the program that Dan mentioned.
I'm getting more and more stoked about the OASYS the more that I watch the videos online and read about it.
Thanks Tom for the additional info. For sure I'll be getting a hard case for it - plus wheels as this board is heavy. Good to know that it is road worthy - although it will be for local gigs mainly.
Thanks again everyone. I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger on this. I'll be spending a bit more time just making sure that I know what to expect and then I'll probably order one.
Fernando
I'm sure that the polyphony will most likely be enough, especially considering the polyphony I currently have. Won't be playing Rachmananov so I think I'll be fine there.
Since I use piano quite a bit, that is why I commented on it. I'll be sure to check out the larger piano (EXs2) as well as the program that Dan mentioned.
I'm getting more and more stoked about the OASYS the more that I watch the videos online and read about it.
Thanks Tom for the additional info. For sure I'll be getting a hard case for it - plus wheels as this board is heavy. Good to know that it is road worthy - although it will be for local gigs mainly.
Thanks again everyone. I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger on this. I'll be spending a bit more time just making sure that I know what to expect and then I'll probably order one.
Fernando
While the organ sounds aren't bad, it's still not as playable .... weighted keyboard (non-waterfall at that) is just not right for anything other than lipservice.
Also, while the sliders do "work", you can't hold them all in your hand in one go and manipulate them by feel.
Now, depending on what you need, it may not matter to you.
The Oasys is definitely going to be my "first" board for most general sounds when I need piano, layers such as strings, choir, and so forth.
I'm also considering using it directly with MainStage so that I can have the "feel" of the Oasys keyboard (Korg, I don't know what you did, but it's a bloody wonderful feel) but want to control some other pianos I have in "soft" form, such as the ModArtt Pianoteq, a phenomonal physical model of various pianos.
However, it will still not replace my organ or my Minimoog.
D
Also, while the sliders do "work", you can't hold them all in your hand in one go and manipulate them by feel.
Now, depending on what you need, it may not matter to you.
The Oasys is definitely going to be my "first" board for most general sounds when I need piano, layers such as strings, choir, and so forth.
I'm also considering using it directly with MainStage so that I can have the "feel" of the Oasys keyboard (Korg, I don't know what you did, but it's a bloody wonderful feel) but want to control some other pianos I have in "soft" form, such as the ModArtt Pianoteq, a phenomonal physical model of various pianos.
However, it will still not replace my organ or my Minimoog.
D
tcornishmn wrote:
PS: I think the organ sounds great! The Oasys has a great mechanism for allowing drawbar control during performance use. I think this is one of the best features of the Oasys.