Rumors of Oasys II?

MarkF786 · Post by **MarkF786** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:16 pm

I've heard rumors from a couple of friends in the music retail side that an Oasys II was in the works. Their details were extremely vague (and questionable) but it was odd that I heard it from two unrelated people.

Has anyone else heard about a new Oasys?

As many of you know, I sold my Oasys to prepare for a move, and I'm waiting to buy back in. Ideally I'd wait until the new Oasys II is released, if and when that happens.

Mark

sirCombatWombat · Post by **sirCombatWombat** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:24 pm

I'm sorry to say, but I hope not.
I will be completely happy with my OASYS for many years to come, but a second version would certainly mean diminishing development resources for the first one.

And it took some ten years from rumor to finished product on the OASYS.

Daz · Post by **Daz** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:28 pm

An Oasys II wouldn't surprise me, and I suspect would probably be forward and backward compatible with the Oasys "Classic", as it would just be freshened hardware running the same OS. Much like the Korg MS2000B or the Elektron MachineDrum mkII (the Oasys of drum machines!)

Daz.

MarkF786 · Post by **MarkF786** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:04 pm

Daz wrote:An Oasys II wouldn't surprise me, and I suspect would probably be forward and backward compatible with the Oasys "Classic", as it would just be freshened hardware running the same OS.

Yup, that's exactly what I heard, a refresh in the hardware: dual-processors, more memory, and a 24-bit 192-kHz interface. Maybe Korg is running out of motherboards (and they need to keep a stock for service), which makes it an opportune time to release a new version.

They can easily make it backwards compatible (and for the old Oasys, forwards compatible). The new Oasys would just have additional polyphony, slightly better sound quality, and be able to load more EXSs at once.

Mark

Daz · Post by **Daz** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:06 pm

LOL ... I am guessing it won't be a free upgrade for existing users

On a more serious note ... if it were true it would mean more Oasys sales and therefore a brighter future all round (presuming the software platform is essentially the same on both).

Daz.

Daz · Post by **Daz** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:11 am

Vadim · Post by **Vadim** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:52 am

OASYS II???
it's the most UNLOGICAL, Stupidest assumption i ever heard....

MarkF786 · Post by **MarkF786** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:59 am

Vadim wrote:OASYS II???
it's the most UNLOGICAL, Stupidest assumption i ever heard....

Huh? Did you get hit on the head or something? Still traumatized by the ordeal with UPS?

Daz · Post by **Daz** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:05 am

Vadim wrote:OASYS II???
it's the most UNLOGICAL, Stupidest assumption i ever heard....

Why ?

thekeymaster · Post by **thekeymaster** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:30 am

Well I've been pondering this for a while now,I nearly started a thread on the subject about how much do we think the OASYS would benefit from Dual or even Quad core processing.

Now don't get me wrong I am in no way dissatisfied with the OASYS it still is THE workstation for me,I haven't mastered it all,I probably never will but even with being 90% satisfied with what it does (sequencer is the 10% which could be improved) I still wonder what could be achieved with upgraded hardware?

I suppose its a sorry state of affairs when we have one of the best synths ever to be released and Korg still see us wanting more but I would welcome an improved OASYS because for me that proves that it has been a success and there is a need for an even greater more powerful beast than we have now.... imagine running a 32 part combi or song with 32 insert effects,2 master and 2 total,plus audio tracks,Exi's,tea,biscuits,cake and a partridge in a pear tree!!!!

Yeah ok getting carried away but c'mon folks it's nice to speculate what could be done with modern hardware.

billysynth1 · Post by **billysynth1** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:17 am

Hi Gents -
Excuse my ignorance, but, does 'forward compatible' mean existing Oasys owners upgrade to the new mother boards?? ( dual or quad or whatever comes out - if it comes out lol )

Billy

MartinHines · Post by **MartinHines** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 5:31 am

I am not convinced Korg will release an OASYS II.

They obviously could, with a reasonable amount of development effort, use a more current (and available) motherboard and CPU. However, would they really do that, simply call an upgraded motherboard and CPU "OASYS II"? I don't think so. In my mind, that wouldn't be that different than increasing the hard drive size and calling it the "OASYS II".

From my view, Korg would really need to make some significant changes to the product to justify a name of "OASYS II". These significant changes would require a larger investment, which would raise the question "is it financially worth it, is there a market for an OASYS II"?

If Korg were to release an OASYS II, I would think it:
-- would need to be priced lower (around the $5,000 price point)
-- have multiple hard drives, or some mechanism to load more sounds
-- would need to have a redesigned sequencer/audio recorder

When I think about it, I don't think an OASYS II will ever happen -- the market just isn't big enough, especially since most of your target buyers already own an OASYS.

Daz · Post by **Daz** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 5:45 am

billysynth1 wrote:Hi Gents -
Excuse my ignorance, but, does 'forward compatible' mean existing Oasys owners upgrade to the new mother boards?? ( dual or quad or whatever comes out - if it comes out lol )

Billy

Backward and forward compatible means all the new software works on the old hardware and all the old software works on the new hardware.

Daz.

Daz · Post by **Daz** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 6:06 am

I agree with you Martin, I think the "II" makes it seem too dramatic, maybe just a discrete "rev B" would be more appropriate. If it were to happen I imagine (as I said previously) it being something more of facelift than a radical new version. Maybe the 88 would have the RH3 keybed for example. The processor might be upped to the kind of Core Duo doodah you'd find in an iMac (rather than a Xeon or Core Duo Extreme) yielding a bit more poly. The OS would just change by the same kind of increment we've seen so far. OS 1.4 with some new EXi/EXf and some desirable but not major tweaks to the environment.

Lets face it ... that's what everyone else is doing in this industry

Anyway, wildly speculating is terrific fun even if we are all totally wrong. At the very least we're keeping Dan entertained with our uninformed attempts to guess what he's planning

Daz.

Daz · Post by **Daz** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 6:43 am

Daz wrote: Lets face it ... that's what everyone else is doing in this industry

I should clarify ... that is not supposed to be as dismissive as it might sound. Having just spent the last two years totally reworking the platform on which our product sits, after a decade of it changing only incrementally, I know full well why companies don't do rework things in every product cycle. It's just an enormous challenge both technically and commercially.

Daz.