Need advice on 2nd Oasys

CfNorENa · Post by **CfNorENa** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 7:23 pm

danatkorg wrote:I realize that you're speaking with tongue in cheek.

Just being silly, really, after a long day at work -- and in any case I agree with you: very, very hard to know, from the outside, what's going on inside any complex organization...

Kevin Nolan · Post by **Kevin Nolan** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 8:06 pm

Dan -

Your comments are reassuring, and I hope you're right. I tried however several times to get the OASYS HD on ebay sites and other places but they are not available - hence my sense of worry. But its reassuring that the time spans you indicate will apply to OASYS.

My other comment about Korg not valuing OASYS was also a bit sweeping and I withdraw it and apologise - we users are a temperamental bunch (OK I’m a temperamental git) – but I for one wish the synth corporates would let us know a bit more about their motivations - I realise that is not possible because of the competitiveness of the field - but however you, Jerry and Korg R&D loved OASYS, Korg corporate seemed a little 'chilly' on it.

While I'm on it (and which sparked the comment about Korg not valuing OASYS) - I think one of the most powerful attributes of OASYS is this and karma-lab forums - and though I know you and Jerry value these forums hugely - and that they are not official - I wish Korg would just 'muck in a bit more ' and at least voice their thanks / approval of these forums. After all – it’s the exquisite nature of OASYS that in part sparked such a healthy community with a hugely positive vibe – you’d think Korg (corporate) would take note of it, nurture it, use it and evolve with it? Even Microsoft developed mechanisms of harnessing / engaging on-line communities though on-line gaming - surely it’s time for new avenues of communications in the ‘twitter’ age?

This is not a gripe specific to Korg and these forums - you see it a lot on other forums too. Some how, I think both Korg and the users could each gain more if there was a stronger bind between the manufacturer and the user base, beyond consulting with top pros like Jordan Rudess.

Anukis - sorry for hogging the thread - go get a 2nd OASYS.

Kevin.

danatkorg · Post by **danatkorg** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 10:17 pm

Kevin Nolan wrote:Dan -

Your comments are reassuring, and I hope you're right. I tried however several times to get the OASYS HD on ebay sites and other places but they are not available - hence my sense of worry.

I realize that you may have been looking for the exact model of hard drive, and that you may be thinking of this as an indication of the availability of other parts.

Regarding the drive in particular: matching the exact model shouldn't be important, as long as it's a laptop IDE drive and the power specs are similar (I doubt that, in practice, any drives would exceed the power capacity). There are about 1,600 of these drives up on eBay at the moment:

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_trkparms=6 ... p=12&_sc=1

- Dan

MrT-Man · Post by **MrT-Man** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:33 pm

Now that SSDs are getting cheaper, I think a lot of us would really appreciate an official Korg SSD retrofit kit. It would be awesome if we could take our Oasys into the local service center, have an SSD installed with the old drive cloned onto it, & then benefit from greater reliability and faster boot times.

I'm less worried about the motherboard than I am about the hard drive, and the long boot time (relative to other synths, albeit not relative to a computer DAW, which might be a more fair comparison) remains one of my few pet peeves.

I wouldn't think this would involve a lot of engineering work or cost to Korg, but what do I know... I realize that for whatever reason this may not be feasible or practical from a business/logistical perspective...

danatkorg · Post by **danatkorg** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:35 pm

MrT-Man wrote:Now that SSDs are getting cheaper, I think a lot of us would really appreciate an official Korg SSD retrofit kit. It would be awesome if we could take our Oasys into the local service center, have an SSD installed with the old drive cloned onto it, & then benefit from greater reliability and faster boot times.

I'm less worried about the motherboard than I am about the hard drive, and the long boot time (relative to other synths, albeit not relative to a computer DAW, which might be a more fair comparison) remains one of my few pet peeves.

I wouldn't think this would involve a lot of engineering work or cost to Korg, but what do I know... I realize that for whatever reason this may not be feasible or practical from a business/logistical perspective...

An official Korg kit is unlikely to happen, for various reasons.

I can't recommend that users try this themselves, but I imagine that it could be done by people who were reasonably tech-savvy.

- Dan

RC-IA · Post by **RC-IA** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:51 pm

danatkorg wrote:
Kevin Nolan wrote:Dan -

Your comments are reassuring, and I hope you're right. I tried however several times to get the OASYS HD on ebay sites and other places but they are not available - hence my sense of worry.
I realize that you may have been looking for the exact model of hard drive, and that you may be thinking of this as an indication of the availability of other parts.

Regarding the drive in particular: matching the exact model shouldn't be important, as long as it's a laptop IDE drive and the power specs are similar (I doubt that, in practice, any drives would exceed the power capacity). There are about 1,600 of these drives up on eBay at the moment:

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_trkparms=6 ... p=12&_sc=1

- Dan

i had a problem with my HD, i think it was a seagate in the OASYS, and was replaced by a western digital (same specs) by the authorized center near me, and it was just fine. the HD is probable the easiest part to find with RAM

Hedegaard · Post by **Hedegaard** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 8:37 am

I thought I'd contribute some knowledge to this thread about spare parts e.t.c.

Its true that Yamaha have a better conception about availability of spare parts, their shelf-life of said parts, the openness of the service manuals and generally easy to get a copy of a technical diagram e.t.c

With regards to Korg's service manuals, the authorized service centers are compelled to sign individual agreements with Korg, that the information in service manuals are not to be released to the general public.
The service manuals are generally kept for a great deal of years and will most likely never become totally "extinct".

Gaining access and acquiring the service manual for the Oasys was a headache to say the least. However, I cannot divulge any more information in this regard, because of my professional position.

However, when comparing Yamaha to Korg, is that Korg built the finest musical keyboard on the planet of the era. Its the culmination of decades of synth design brought together into a single product.

How many Oasys's were released? about 6000? That means, that for the rest of time, we all belong to a very specialised group.
Therefore in time, it will be one of the 6000 members that will make some changes (such as installing a SSD HD) or making hardware changes e.t.c so the amount of time it takes to see something "new" for the Oasys will be spread thin and far apart.

Someone, somewhere, sometime, will successfully port a new motherboard, with new CPU e.t.c to the Oasys when the need is greater to do so than currently demands.
So we shouldn't worry "too much" unnecessarily.

mdh · Post by **mdh** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 1:05 am

Hedegaard wrote: Someone, somewhere, sometime, will successfully port a new motherboard, with new CPU e.t.c to the Oasys when the need is greater to do so than currently demands.

I believe that's called "buying the OASYS 3"

I'm mostly concerned about the CMOS battery and the moving parts; when they die - and they will, eventually - I will call up Korg support and they will tell me the best way to get suitable replacement parts. You don't make a $10k instrument then leave the customer high and dry when it comes to support - there would be rioting on the streets and people would get hurt. In the history of this forum some owners have testified to the support they have received from Korg when necessary, so my faith in them is well justified.

Hedegaard · Post by **Hedegaard** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 5:01 pm

mdh wrote:
... You don't make a $10k instrument then leave the customer high and dry when it comes to support....

Its only an instrument for 10K, not a sports car for 100K.....

jayS · Post by **jayS** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 6:35 am

Is there a specific reason that an IDE SSD wouldn't work?

Maybe I'm missing something here.

http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&so ... CC0QrQQwAA

ldascanio · Post by **ldascanio** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 7:53 pm

jayS wrote:Is there a specific reason that an IDE SSD wouldn't work?

Maybe I'm missing something here.

http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&so ... CC0QrQQwAA

Yes...
Most of the modern drives have a SATA interface (Serial-ATA). This connector is more recent that the one supported by th Oasys motherboard.
You need to look for a drive with a PATA interface (Parallel-ATA)

Rgds.

jayS · Post by **jayS** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 2:11 am

I guess that's a good reason.

How about

http://www.compuplus.com/Drives-storage ... 42630.html

?

Or something similar. I would imagine that there are others out there, this is just what a quick google search returned. I'm a computer geek, but some of this older tech is over my head.

Sergievsky · Post by **Sergievsky** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 3:18 am

I'm not sure getting a 2nd unit and storing it for backup purposes is such a good idea. I know that I get problems with a lot of my gear when they haven't been used in quite awhile. I thought most electronic gear are like that...they need to be used.

Hedegaard · Post by **Hedegaard** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 7:44 am

Sergievsky, it depends on how you store it. Ideally under dry conditions and sealed to protect against humidity.
Electronics that are stored amongst dust and humidity will cause the solderings to ionize and particles of rust and clogging ventilation holes e.t.c is usually what causes failure after storing items for a long time.

ldascanio · Post by **ldascanio** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:48 pm

jayS wrote:I guess that's a good reason.

How about

http://www.compuplus.com/Drives-storage ... 42630.html

?

Or something similar. I would imagine that there are others out there, this is just what a quick google search returned. I'm a computer geek, but some of this older tech is over my head.

There are not common in most computer stores but there are a few of them around. The one you found should work properly.

Rgds.