Official statement on the status and future of the OASYS

[OysterPearl]

I have mixed emotions to this anouncement.

1. It was indeed unfortunate to hear about the end of the journey of Oasys. I had recently invested a bulk money when I heard about this announcement. I do not like to fact of it's price market worth getting dropped (don't confuse with 'value' part of it - which is supposed to be subjective) by 70% right just in a few months of time.

2. I also recently purchased a Kurzweil PC3X. It straight beats Oasys down in the department of Strings, Pianos (playability and 'character') and Orchestral. Had I tried my hands on PC3X earlier, I would probably have not purchased Oasys as it covers most of my musical needs. However - together they both DO complement each other overall and make a great combination.

3. I never intend to use hardware sequencer, so I don't care what Oasys sequencer is worth for it's sequencer and didn't bought Oasys for it.

4. I convince myself looking at the 'technology integration' that Oasys has achieved and me being one of the few owners to own this integrated machine.

5. I need to learn a lot about Oasys and hope to recover my investment through some differentiated music which non-Oasys owners cannot make, or can make at much higher cost and lead times.

6. I very much want KORG to provide some outstanding strings / orchestral / ethnic / popular music sounds to stop me moving away from KORG products. I have recently concluded after using MANY KORG products (O1W, Trinity, Triton, Oasys) that KORG ethnic and accostic / popular music sounds are garbage as compared with other manufacturers, who have made significant progress over the period. E.g. Last KORG keyboard which provided good quality Strings was O1W and it's got worst with each new board after that. Same is true with Saxophones, Accordian etc.

However, having a strong technical background, I appreciate KORG for bringing up this great board as I can understand what it takes to accomplish such levels of technology integration to convert it into usable products in real life.

Thanks KORG and wish you guys the very best to retain me as your loyal customer in the coming years - you will have to really work hard and free to mature Oasys sounds to make it happen!

** And I expect all those sounds very much FREE of any charge. For sequencer I might pay after reviewing at it's worth, if at all you guys decide on it. But for my friends on this forums please provide a sequencer update if you can (that beats competition for years to come), as some of them are dependany on hardware sequencer.

[OysterPearl]

> 5. I need to learn a lot about Oasys and hope to recover my investment through some differentiated music which non-Oasys owners cannot make, or can make at much higher cost and lead times.

And KORG, if you can -- please explain to me how this can be accomplished given the current keyboards that are there in the market from Kurzweil, Roland and Yamaha(not the basics of music and theory which I've got a good handle since may years now). If you cannot explain, I must conclude that I bought a dated keyboard in the current market and wasted my money, which I still like what I purchased (for unknown reasons!).

[pegnafroy]

Last KORG keyboard which provided good quality Strings was O1W and it's got worst with each new board after that. Same is true with Saxophones, Accordian etc.

Sorry, but...... hahahahahahahaha

The Korg Trinity have many and better strings, accordions, saxofones, brass, synth, piano, e.piano, and so on, than the 01/w.

Indeed, the 01/w have 32KHz samples loaded in rom, so that board sounds so warm. That's is the colour that many like on the 01/w.

The Oasys is finish, so take it easy, make some music with it. I wish that i could be in your position, coz i don't have an oasys.

Desde Santiago de Chile.

Froilán

[Mike Conway]

I also recently purchased a Kurzweil PC3X. It straight beats Oasys down in the department of Strings, Pianos (playability and 'character') and Orchestral.

Here is a snippet of

OASYS Strings

Some of those are Karo. The Tremolo, Section and Pizzicato parts are OASYS and they rule, in quality. You can hear their quality in even small demos, like my

V'GER Song


I have not been impressed with any of the PC3 orchestral/string demos (compared to the OASYS) and I went through a lot of them. Doesn't it only have 64 megs of ROM? The riches of the OASYS (with more than 20 X that amount, with EXs3) are often buried, because there is so much there.

I've been dying to post demos from my indie movie, EXILE, but here are a couple of old scenes where you can hear the music behind:

Hijacking and Crash scene (All OASYS, except for Virus TI, starting at 3:35.)

2 Minute Trailer

All orchestral sounds done with the OASYS. (loaded with Karo Strings)

Here's me playing around with an ORCHESTRAL piece, while showing the sounds I used.

Note that I use my voice to vocode the chorals. Actually, there's a much better example of that,

HERE. (This has to be seen, to be believed.)

Does the PC3 have audio input? I know you can't load samples, which seems like an important omission with only 64 megs. Those two abilities are something I use much of the time. You have both units, so not a problem.

While it surely could be improved, the sequencer is hardly "crippled". I use the OASYS sequener, which I love better than any other hardware sequencer, for my work. The way it quickly accesses audio, multi-records and busses inputs,FX and tracks are things that the Fantom G and MV8000 can't touch. I agree with others that it could use a few extra features, like Move Clock, Velocity/Gate percentage, etc, but it is still best for someone like myself, who plays more than edits. Sysex mixdown is a dream.

I render each song to a .wav file, mastered through those ultra-clean FX, without leaving the OASYS environment. Others have pointed out the limited number of tracks, but few know that the sampler can open all Song Audio files, (no bouncing necessary) allowing a track, per key, if you want. (That's with a single oscillator program.) Compare the 24 audio tracks on the Fantom G, to the potential 172 (the poly limit), with filters, on the OASYS. With patience and knowing some workarounds, it is the kind of beast that only a few know about.

Kudos to Roland, though! I love the sequencer on my old Fantom (which I finally got back, from Arizona) and I think the G is a huge step in the right direction. It sends a clear signal that the sequencer is the centerpiece of a workstation. Even Korg got that message, judging by their quick reaction with the M3. Still, if it had the OASYS' number of inputs/outputs (I use the OASYS as a mixer), processing speed for sound files, RAM, bus architecture and........ahem.....sounds, it would be a true Goliath. I'm actually looking forward to the next generation G. (GS? GX? G-whiz?) But, I'm currently very happy and don't see certain OASYS abilities being superceded, for a long while.


Certainly the angry posts are about the sequencer. As for other updates, they are plentiful and will take years to get into. I tutor a couple of guys, who have OASYS keyboards. Neither of them have MOD-7 or LAC-1. I showed them some sounds and they couldn't believe what they were missing! I imagine there are a lot of others out there who don't, either.

[mdh]

We constantly get ideas/suggestions/requests for more features for the OASYS, but we cannot promise that any of these can be delivered. The current world economic situation affects us all, and we have to adapt our plans and channel our resources to best navigate these uncertain waters. We are proud of the OASYS and all that we have achieved with it, and thank all of the users and owners who shared in our vision of this superlative keyboard.

As always, we will announce further support only when it becomes available.

Hi Jerry, thanks for waiting a day to post this

Can we still buy the plugins like LAC-1, MOD-7 etc. from the usual spot for the foreseeable future?

I'm looking forward to the new toys you guys come up with. Hopefully one will plug into the ethernet port of the O and stream

[OysterPearl]

KARO strings are great; I own a license of it, no second thought about it. However I had to spend quite some money in addition to the Oasys price tag to get that quality, which I was expecting out of the box (or at least after tweaking raw Oasys strings).

[OysterPearl]

Mike, GREAT music, thanks for sharing!! I'm sending you a pm to learn more about it..

[OysterPearl]

Just to explain my point about the Strings sound on O1/W, listen to these Strings on O1/W (12 years old technology). I will be greatful if KORG guys or anyone in this community helps me reproduce this sound on Oasys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtNj-qqW ... re=related

[zolhof]

I promised I wouldn´t touch this topic again, but it has nothing to do with beating the dead horse

I´m here to defend O´s orchestrals sounds, they´re top notch IMO Even without Exs3 or any Karo pack, it´s just a matter of tweaking

here´s a short demo I made using Oasys for brass, timpani and strings + Symphobia fore some strings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40tntsFZseM

I was very pleased with the result!

[danatkorg]

Just to explain my point about the Strings sound on O1/W, listen to these Strings on O1/W (12 years old technology). I will be greatful if KORG guys or anyone in this community helps me reproduce this sound on Oasys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtNj-qqW ... re=related

To be honest, while I agree that the 01/W strings have a pleasant character (and were very good for their time), they also sound a little dated at this point. No wonder - the 01/W was released about 18 years ago, in 1991!

On the OASYS, I would suggest trying I-A003 Stereo Oct Strings SW1, or I-C003 Arco Stereo Strings. If you would like them to be brighter, try adding the Stereo Exciter/Enhancer (effect # 014) to the IFX chain, after the Stereo Parametric EQ. Remember to activate the chain from IFX1 to IFX2.

Hope this helps,

Dan

[danatkorg]

Can we still buy the plugins like LAC-1, MOD-7 etc. from the usual spot for the foreseeable future?

Yes.

- Dan

[EJ2]

Just to explain my point about the Strings sound on O1/W, listen to these Strings on O1/W (12 years old technology). I will be greatful if KORG guys or anyone in this community helps me reproduce this sound on Oasys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtNj-qqW ... re=related

To be honest, while I agree that the 01/W strings have a pleasant character (and were very good for their time), they also sound a little dated at this point. No wonder - the 01/W was released about 18 years ago, in 1991!

On the OASYS, I would suggest trying I-A003 Stereo Oct Strings SW1, or I-C003 Arco Stereo Strings. If you would like them to be brighter, try adding the Stereo Exciter/Enhancer (effect # 014) to the IFX chain, after the Stereo Parametric EQ. Remember to activate the chain from IFX1 to IFX2.

Hope this helps,

Dan

I have to agree. The O's strings are superior. I also find the O1W's strings dated and not quite the calibre of the OASYS.
Cheers,
Eric

[Kontrol49]

I disagree slightly here,I don't think any machine that utilises PCM data,can sound outdated,merely the only thing that dates them is the sample Quality.

The Oasys,has superior sound Quality which adds clarity to the sound detailing but I wouldn't say the sounds were more up to date or fashionable to use in a song any less than a String sound from the 01W,Trinity or any other synths for that matter,after all a synthesizers sound is only a means to an end.

In terms of Pads and Washes,the 01W knock spots off the Oasys in this department,and this is why I think the strings sound more warmer,the lo fi samples make all the difference to the ambience,the Oasys's clear sound Quality and sterile filters make them far too clean to add any Body or depth to the character of a Pad,This is one aspect of the Oasys I dislike.I still tend to use either the 01RW or the V synth GT for atmospheric washes,no matter how much I try to use the Oasys for this purpose I've never coaxed anything pleasing soundwise in this department(even using the AL-1 or LAC or HD-1)
I've always bought Korg stuff mainly for the combi type evolving washes,but the Oasys seems less able to deliver.

[danatkorg]

Wow - to each his own, I guess. Lower bit depths, lower sample rates, small loops, etc. all date older samples to me (ROM or RAM).

[Kontrol49]

Lower bit depths, lower sample rates, small loops, etc. all date older samples to me (ROM or RAM).

Exactly my sentiment,its all subjective and psychological that something sounds older or not,we all hear things differently,and our ears become accustomed to what we think is fresh and new,the more I use newer cleaner equipment the more bodied and warmer the older digital equipment sounds,something that filtering and equalising the newer samples can't achieve.

What we use to record our sound onto also has an effect on what we find outdated in terms of hearing perception,Like those who swear by analog tape warmth as opposed to digital medium,a means to and end and personal preference

nothing is ever outdated by sound,much of what we have today is simply recycled from past products,the future is always dictated by the past,we just get better at its design philosophies and components and bringing the sound to its true clarity.

Why if a sample set can sound dated?do Korg still replicate the Wavestation and M1 in software form if only to improve the sample clarity.

How much further can we go in terms of bit depth and sample rates?Will the Oasys sound dated one day??Between the Oasys and the M1 is a larger Mb of PCM and sample rates,They still create the same types of sound a Rompler can manipulate.