Oasys future - some positive speculation

[Daz]

Here's an alternative and more positive take on some recent observations. I am not party to any Korg inside information or product management secrets, but I have been a 'korg watcher' for some time and have taken an interest in how they operate (pretty smartly it has to be said and there are lessons to be learned there)

To start with let us look at some observations :

1) Korg have been moving away from using third parties like Yamaha and Fatar to supply their keybeds, and making their own. New products (M3 & M50) all use the new keybeds I believe and so will any other new pieces coming out of the factory presumably. The original Oasys 76 uses a Yamaha keybed. The 88 uses a Korg RH-3 IIRC.

2) When the M3 was released the 73 key version was delayed, and the same is going to be true of the M50. I assume that more 61 and 88 keybeds are made initially, and those take priority because they are the most popular. So the 73 is associated with manufacturing delays or deferrals.

3) Korg often release OS 2.0 updates that bring a raft of new functionality and that update is used to 'relaunch' an existing product. This happened with the Triton, the Karma, the Radias, the M3 (especially!) and from what I understand many of the arranger products. That appears to be one of their strategies, and a very sensible one too.

None of the above observations are too wildly speculative

So maybe the reason for the O76 seemingly disappearing and the reason for the slightly longer than normal silence with regards to Oasys updates is the following :

Korg are going to 'relaunch' the Oasys with a significant OS 2.0 update and the Oasys 76 is being replaced by an Oasys 73. The 73 keybed manufacturing has interrupted the flow of Oasys hardware and the software is taking it's time because it's a big update !

See how that scenario could be what is happening here ?

In my mind that is a reasonable interpretation of events, and possibly more reasonable than speculating that the Oasys is being totally discontinued.

Time will tell ... but the time for gloom is not yet here

Daz.

[curvebender]

Interesting obeservations Daz! And also uplifting!

[Daz]

Thanks

Korg are full of surprises (the Oasys itself was a big surprise, remember) and for the most part those surprises are good ones. Sure the Oasys PCI was discontinued, but not before they had tried to relaunch it with a very significant OS 2.0. IIRC that included all the multi-samples from the Triton and many EXBs and a whole bunch of other functionality. You gotta respect and acknowledge the fact that they generally don't just give up without a fight.

What I wrote also fits with what tri_tonton wrote. No Oasys II, but the current Oasys is not dead either.

Daz.

[Daz]

The 88 uses a Korg RH-3 IIRC.

Fact check ... the 88 is RH-2 and came from Fatar.

[pegnafroy]

Remember the Korg Trinity V3 relaunch, from 1995 when the trinity was released to 1998 when the v3 O.S. and the MOSS-TRI was presented, and the great press coverage at that time.

So, i agree with Daz, since the M1 (when the EX upgrade was launched) to the (i hope) Oasys 2.0.

Desde Santiago de Chile.

Froilán.

[Daz]

Remember the Korg Trinity V3 relaunch, from 1995 when the trinity was released to 1998 when the v3 O.S. and the MOSS-TRI was presented, and the great press coverage at that time.

Thanks P. That is another great example of the 'Korg way'.

The Triton Studio had a similar face lift too, right ?

I can well imagine an 'Oasys XP' that has 2.0 software and Korg's own 88 and 73 keybeds, but no other major differences from the existing Oasys (maybe an Oasys XP logo on an otherwise very similar front panel).

I wonder if the M3 XP is exactly the same as the original M3 hardware wise ? Probably not, a couple of tweaks may have occured. But it is still an M3 fundamentally, and the big change has been with the software and the multi-samples. Maybe something similar is on the way for the Oasys. Maybe the new Oasys XP will not have the Ethernet port covered as it is on ours

Daz.

[Daz]

The Triton Studio had a similar face lift too, right ?

It really did

http://www.korg.com/TRITONSTUDIO/Verion ... lights.pdf (sic)

Lots of stuff was added that we would recognize as Oasys users today. Tone Adjust, HD recording, Auto Sampling Setup, Sysex/Automation recording in the sequencer. That was a big update.

It's not stretching the imagination to think about an Oasys 2.0 with all these goodies from the M3 XP, a replacement of the defunct EXB-DI, new keybeds, plus a bunch more crazy stuff we didn't even think of.

Daz.

[curvebender]

Yes, Korg has done a lot over the years to keep their products at the edge of the market with software and hardware upgrades. Really great if you think about it.

But one big difference when it comes to the Oasys is the relatively small number of sold units. Granted, none of us know how many have been sold, but it's hardly in the M1/Trinity/Triton/M3-range. Therefore there is perhaps less drive to make an update, or?.. (Then again, Korg have said on this forum that sales of the Oasys have been good, so who knows.)

Having said that, it's obvious that the folks at Korg in USA and Japan take great pride in the Oasys project, so maybe the usual formulas don't apply.

Come to think of it, I myself take great pride in the Oasys!!

[Daz]

I see where you're coming from, but as you say it's a different paradigm.

Korg have a new way to make money, selling EXi and EXs etc. It's almost pure profit (certainly in comparison to selling hardware!)

If there are 5000 Oasys owners and 50% of them buy a new EXi ($249) and new EXs ($149) in 2009, then Korg stand to make approximately 1 million dollars from that. Maybe 25% of that covers the cost of development and sampling ? There are no little PCBs to make or product sitting on the shelf or even distributor costs (Korg sell this stuff directly). Captive market too.

Maybe Korg still have loads of parts (motherboards, PIVs, those big touchscreens) and they have the choice of leaving them on the shelf doing nothing, or to build some more Oasyses with their own cheaper to source keybeds and a few tweaks. Who knows.

Anyway 5000 Oasys sales isn't a bad figure. I doubt workstations sell in the kind of volumes they used to, and that figure is probably pretty good against something like an M3 or Motif.

[curvebender]

I always wondered how many Oasys owners buy the upgrades. To me, it's a total no-brainer! I mean, why wouldn't I want a completely new synth for 249 dollars that integrates perfectly with the host?!!!

[Daz]

I always wondered how many Oasys owners buy the upgrades. To me, it's a total no-brainer! I mean, why wouldn't I want a completely new synth for 249 dollars that integrates perfectly with the host?!!!

Oh yes It's a captive market. It's one of the best commercial situations you can get yourself into. There is still money to be made there, even if it only makes Korg R&D self sufficient, but doesn't make Korg (as a whole) massively profitable. That's very desirable in this economic climate.

Another great thing is that if not many people buy the EXi, its still something you can sell in the future. Maybe in the Z90 rack, a small unit containing all the Oasys EXi, that you just plug into your PC/Mac via Ethernet

[Ultimate Dj]

Thanks Daz and the rest!
I'm very hopeful after all you posted! its great news really...I just wish obviously (like the rest of us) That Korg would just like let us know whats going on! I mean why can't they? Competition reasons? I guess that they have their own reasons! lol
anwyas thnx guys!


pura vida
el che

[MrT-Man]

I don't know how long the current iteration of the Oasys is going to last, or if has been, or is about to be, discontinued -- but either way, there would be zero logic to killing the Oasys software platform for good. I mean think of it, they've already made the investment and spent the money on developing the Oasys OS, and to this day it's still cutting-edge. The only logical thing for Korg to do is to try to reap continued profits from it.

If the current Oasys hardware isn't successful because of how it's priced, or because of the weight of it, or whatever other reason, then it would make sense to release a new version of the hardware that might be more successful... hopefully that's what the plan is.

So, assuming that the Oasys OS continues to stay alive in new products, this implies that there might be many more EXi etc. to come, and hopefully a number of these might be backwards-compatible for us with version 1 of the hardware.

[Stralner]

I don't know how long the current iteration of the Oasys is going to last, or if has been, or is about to be, discontinued -- but either way, there would be zero logic to killing the Oasys software platform for good. I mean think of it, they've already made the investment and spent the money on developing the Oasys OS, and to this day it's still cutting-edge. The only logical thing for Korg to do is to try to reap continued profits from it.

If the current Oasys hardware isn't successful because of how it's priced, or because of the weight of it, or whatever other reason, then it would make sense to release a new version of the hardware that might be more successful... hopefully that's what the plan is.

So, assuming that the Oasys OS continues to stay alive in new products, this implies that there might be many more EXi etc. to come, and hopefully a number of these might be backwards-compatible for us with version 1 of the hardware.

This guy´ from korg tell´s us the best news ever....a promisse we can trust since it comes from Korg...right

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQWu16SW1II

You can also see his videos on Korgs Oasys page/video´s Steve m..ahh something

[sirCombatWombat]

This guy´ from korg tell´s us the best news ever....a promisse we can trust since it comes from Korg...right

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQWu16SW1II

Yesss!

He's Steve McNally, I believe.
After describing the current add-ons, @02:00 he proceeds to shout:

And on into the future we shall go adding more, and adding more, and adding more! As if we are greedy for such things.

This confirms our hopes!
Cheers!