Official statement on the status and future of the OASYS

[kenackr]

Hey IX,

If you actually want someone to read your very long post, it would help greatly if you observed the normal convention of making paragraphs and not running all your text together.

I for one, get dizzy just looking at it.

You still have the ability to edit your post and make it so people can read it. I won't until you clean it up.

What's the point of responding if people won't read what you write?

Ken

[supermel74]

The whole idea of "open architecture" is a joke. Large companies like Korg and Roland almost never come through with their promises in these matters. Does anybody remember the Roland Varios? Lol. Of course it's a much more expensive lesson learned for Oasys owners.

[pantelispp]

O MY GOD!!! BUY A CHEAP SOFT SEQ AND IT WILL B E FAR BETTER THAN ANY WORKSTATION..! Cmon! KORG SHOULD MAKE SYNTHS FOR LIVE GIGS ONLY....
LOTS OF RAM AND HORSE POWER..! GIVE ME A SYNTH WITH 100G OF RAM TO LOAD MY SAMPLES..IN A GOOD PRICE..!
AND STOP PROMOTING s**t!!!

[Charlie]

The whole idea of "open architecture" is a joke. Large companies like Korg and Roland almost never come through with their promises in these matters. Does anybody remember the Roland Varios? Lol. Of course it's a much more expensive lesson learned for Oasys owners.

I agree - there's not one OA-concept in the market meeting customer's expectations. But I disagree on the lesson learned: the Oasys is simply the best sounding piece of hardware I ever bought and offers potential and fun for many years to come! If I had known in 2006 it will be discontinued in 2009 AND what will be released until then (LAC, MOD7, Karma 2.0, EFX-Presets, USER-GEs etc.) ... I would gladly have bought it!

[Rocness]

The whole idea of "open architecture" is a joke. Large companies like Korg and Roland almost never come through with their promises in these matters. Does anybody remember the Roland Varios? Lol. Of course it's a much more expensive lesson learned for Oasys owners.

I agree - there's not one OA-concept in the market meeting customer's expectations. But I disagree on the lesson learned: the Oasys is simply the best sounding piece of hardware I ever bought and offers potential and fun for many years to come! If I had known in 2006 it will be discontinued in 2009 AND what will be released until then (LAC, MOD7, Karma 2.0, EFX-Presets, USER-GEs etc.) ... I would gladly have bought it!

Yea and don't forget ex3 (Brass and woodwind),Karma (catalyst) Karo sounds and Sharp's Oasys Assault . Not bad

[Diesel-X]

Hi Guy's,

Though it caused me considerable pain, I had to sell my Oasys 76 in the end.

This is the only Workstation I've ever liked and still prefer AND I don't intend to buy any other workstation, period! except a possible future updated Oasys .. Korg take note, that this is the only workstation that I'll ever consider buying again if Korg ever releases an updated Oasys with some enhancements, Korg if your interested as to what would make me part with that amount of money again having previously done so (by partial mistake not realising how hard the sequencer was to get on with) then take note of the following small improvements that I needed from the Oasys to make me happy for many years:-

1. A much easier and more user friendly 'humane' sequencer that doesn't need a degree in rocket science which kills the desire to concentrate on your music creation and workflow.

2. If a future Oasys version is released, then an internal SSD drive to completely annihilate the Oasys boot time making it more instant on a power-up, would be a most welcome thing indeed for almost instant switch-on and play (2.5 inch 9.5mm size SSD's are currently up to the capacity of 512GB by Toshiba with Pure Silicon having already produced a 1TB version at this form factor size. Of coarse a new Oasys would benefit from one of the faster lower capacity sizes like the '250GB OCZ Vertex Turbo series' which is a fast MLC type NAND SSD that is almost performing to that of SLC class NAND SSD)

3. Naturally any possible future Oasys would hopefully incorporate the now more powerful 'multi-core' 64bit capable processors.

4. The Oasys has a truly fantastic design, from the very desirable looking hard metal edges to the great and familiar layout of controls, to the impressive and robust touch screen.. Therefore I hope that this would not change in a possible future version as the design is truly classic, timeless and spot-on. (Maybe a wide screen version touch screen to display an enhanced sequencer track view would be nice though)

5. Firewire connectivity.. Come'on lets pipe those audio I/O channels along with MIDI I/O straight into a MacBook Pro/Laptop (some kind of integration with DAW's, i.e. Logic Studio, would be a real bonus)

There's no doubt a few more small tweaks that may be welcome, but I thought I should mention the main ones.

[Davidb]

The whole idea of "open architecture" is a joke. Large companies like Korg and Roland almost never come through with their promises in these matters. Does anybody remember the Roland Varios? Lol.
Of course it's a much more expensive lesson learned for Oasys owners.

A more expensive lesson for sure, I get your drift.

But, even when every OASYS user can understand, foresee and accept that an "open architecture" phylosophy doesnt mean a "forever architerture" product in the end, its not smart nor fair not to upgrade the plattform to the current standards shown in their own company models before its left discontinued.

IMHO thats what all the buzz wast about, and not if the "open architecture" concept nowdays is a valid one or not.
Thats another question.

Regrads
David.

[John Hendry]

I did not buy an Oasys because I compared it too much to a computer and thought it's CPU would be updated with other features almost immediately. We all make mistakes and mine was not buying one new when they came out and I had the cash to do so. Errr! It is by far the best sounding synth ever made. Korg reintroduced the Wave Drum and I am sure Korg will replace the OASYS with something even better...but it will take time. I just hope Korg realizes some/enough people will pay for perfection and not hold back with the quality of the next OASYS or whatever they name it.

For now there is the new Wave Drum to remind us of Korg’s cycle of improvement. So don’t get made if it costs less than the first OASYS. The cpu and many other computer related part prices are much less expensive with much R&D costs already spent…so hopefully Korg puts the difference into the expressive nature provided by poly AT needed for complex sounds.

John^^

[kenackr]

Hey John,

Has the Wave Drum actually hit the stores yet?

Couldn't find it with a search on Guitar Center's site.

Korg's website is lacking in information like price, preset name list, etc, but their blurb makes it sound pretty darn cool!

It would be a great addition to my Drum Kat system which is getting somewhat long in the tooth.

Ken

[John Hendry]

Hi Ken,

I have read it’s going to be around $600 and I came up with $550 based on the BP and cost in Europe, but it will not be in the US stores till January 2010 I was told. You can buy one now for $3, 299.99 used on EBay;-) Good way to start the year as I have wanted one since the day they came out and was REALLY surprised to see it reissued and improved at a much lower cost than a used one IF you could find one. Glad I lost the bid for one on EBay @ $2,400! How Korg could hide it so well to create a nice surprise Xmas present to the World is amazing. It kept the price up and that can’t hurt the sales of the new one. The Orig weighed 17 lbs, more than an M50! That’s weigh too heavy.

I was really bummed I had to sell my Roland V-Drum kit a year ago even through I'm not a drummer. I never played it much due to a lawsuit and no time and a peculiar personality that is all or none, but it was there for friends to use. Now that the new Wave Drum is out I can buy 4 with the cash I got for it and to me since it is a hand drum that is a much better trade off and at 4.5 lbs I will take it everywhere that has a plug and a PA. Really impressed from what I have seen on UTube. I carry a skin head every where I go just in case a circle starts up.....


John^^

[synthguy]

The cpu and many other computer related part prices are much less expensive with much R&D costs already spent…so hopefully Korg puts the difference into the expressive nature provided by poly AT needed for complex sounds.

Amen, brother. I've been harping on poly aftertouch keyboards for more than a decade, and it's about time KORG jumped on this first. The expressiveness of poly AT - thank God I own an Ensoniq - is unmatched.

What will become of the OASYS? Will it be divvied up between two or more instruments to make them price friendlier? Will there be an M4 with a true OASYS HD audio engine, including true wave sequencing and Karma III? Will it include an organ model, or will that be left to an organ instrument with waterfall keys and a wooden cabinet? Will a Radias II emerge with a five octave poly pressure keyboard, the AL-1 synth engine and Radias fully variable filters?

Or will it be an all-in-one instrument once again, which I hope?

If nothing is forthcoming by next summer's NAMM show, I think I'll save my pennies and sell my car, and buy a used OASYS as soon as I can. I love my M3 and Radias, but I want to own the best electronic instrument ever made before I depart this realm.

[ksounds]

As long as Korg sells the CX3, I doubt they will include a fully modeled organ in a sub-$4000 workstation. CX3 sales would likely diminish if the same functionality was found in a workstation priced like the M3.

[lewisjalexander]

It's sad to hear the oasys was discontinued.. Had I have known this then I would have considered another workstation. bought mine in april this year. not been used much. mainly now due to a flaw in a screen reader resource I coded for the OASYS. no longer works with the oasys so it's sitting here.

I wish korg mor than any other company would speak to blind and visually impaired musicians and composers like me and ask us what we need. it doesn't take all that long to implement a screen reader architecture to a linux based OS. mind you the same could be said to yamaha and roland etc.

A touch screen is all well and good to a fully sighted person but to me it's a major disadvantage when navigating the OS etc. fair enough the OS does have a certain reliance on controllers etc which is good.

my major niggle is the lack of a USB port to interface with a mac. this to me would have been a huge advantage.

anyway My oasys is going to be for sale. check out my post on the oasys forum listing.

[sasori]

Well, clearly I'm getting this information late. Looks like Korg is pulling a SEGA.
I read some re-assurance from jerrythek that Korg will carry through financial troubles.
Who cares? I paid bank for this 88 key behemoth and now its abandoned after 3 years. That really wasn't the song your salesmen were singing back when they were duping us to pay an outrageous amount for a largely impractical workstation. Meanwhile, you were all about the sequencers in your cheaper keyboards; We're stuck with a complete s**t sequencer, a ribbon controller that's got no feel and whatever lame sound banks come our way that also get released for the PC.
Soon, Korg will be selling off its DVD sets for nothing, just like what happened with the EIII disksets.

GFY, Korg.

[sasori]

Well, clearly I'm getting this information late. Looks like Korg is pulling a SEGA.
I read some re-assurance from jerrythek that Korg will carry through financial troubles.
Who cares? I paid bank for this 88 key behemoth and now its abandoned after 3 years. That really wasn't the song your salesmen were singing back when they were duping us to pay an outrageous amount for a largely impractical workstation. Meanwhile, you were all about the sequencers in your cheaper keyboards; We're stuck with a complete s**t sequencer, a ribbon controller that's got no feel and whatever lame sound banks come our way that also get released for the PC.
Soon, Korg will be selling off its DVD sets for nothing, just like what happened with the EIII disksets.

GFY, Korg.