Roland's and Yamaha's plans to surpass the Kronos?

balfi · Post by **balfi** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:16 am

There are rumours going about that both Roland and Yamaha are working on new products to surpass the Kronos. Does have anyone have an inside track on this?

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:23 am

I don't have insight information, but doesn't every (decent) synth manufacturer develop new products or have products in the pipe line which are developed, with the goal to sell them and be better than the competition?

It would be strange if Yamaha and Roland would design a synth that is less good than a Kronos (unless it would be a lot cheaper). I am sure Korg is already busy with Kronos 2, Zeus 1 or whatever they will call it. Maybe they even are thinking about Kronos 3, Zeus 2 etc.

Product development takes years. If Roland and Yamaha haven't already started with designing something better than the Kronos they probably will be a lot behind.

The new Roland JP is different than Kronos, not better/worse and Yamaha Motif is not really groundbreaking. But both have put a synth on the market this year, so I'm wondering if we can have another announcement in the next months already.

RKfan · Post by **RKfan** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:31 am

Do you have a source for these rumours?

I would have thought that Roland would be quite busy with the JP80, but it would be nice if they could combine some of the Fantom G and V Synth features with the SuperNatural stuff.

And Yamaha.... when was the last time they did anything really new (10 years ago) - so they've had plenty of time to think about it. How about a synth with real oscillators.

RKfan · Post by **RKfan** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:42 am

http://www.roland.com/pdf/release_20111003.pdf

I think Roland have lots of other things to worry about at the moment....

Pretty bad news.

Broadwave · Post by **Broadwave** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:58 am

The truth is, that Roland, Yamaha etc had the chance to beat Korg when the Oasys came out in 2005... they didn't even try, and I'm sure the announcement of the Kronos also caught them off guard. They all have a lot of catching up to do.

iixorbiusii · Post by **iixorbiusii** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:04 am

... and you can bet that Korg are already working on something to surpass the Kronos.

I read somewhere that Sony are already working on PS5 and PS6 technologies - the PS4 isn't even out yet...

It's business!

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:05 am

Kronik wrote:The truth is, that Roland, Yamaha etc had the chance to beat Korg when the Oasys came out in 2005... they didn't even try, and I'm sure the announcement of the Kronos also caught them off guard. They all have a lot of catching up to do.

Yes you are right in that ... they could have known the Oasys features would end up in later Korgs (at a reduced price).

balfi · Post by **balfi** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:07 am

Reading that Roland release, it wouldn't surprise me if Yamaha ends up taking over Roland! Industry consolidation often happens in hard economic times.

Maybe my question should have been, if a manufacturer was to create the workstation to end all workstations (within the confines of present technology), taking the best of Korg, Yamaha and Roland, what would be in that machine?

Sina172 · Post by **Sina172** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:08 am

jimknopf · Post by **jimknopf** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:23 am

balfi wrote:There are rumours going about that both Roland and Yamaha are working on new products to surpass the Kronos. Does have anyone have an inside track on this?

There were rumors going on since the announcement of the Kronos.
Rumors of that kind are completely irrelevant.

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:42 am

Sina172 wrote:
Given how Roland has been f*cking up in the last couple years, ESPECIALLY with the VariOS, Fantom-G and V-Synth GT, this is NO surprise to me!
Sina

I thought the V-Synth is/was quite popular tough. But of course not as good as Korg.

JPWC · Post by **JPWC** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 1:32 pm

Sina172 wrote:
RKfan wrote:http://www.roland.com/pdf/release_20111003.pdf

I think Roland have lots of other things to worry about at the moment....

Pretty bad news.
Why am I NOT surprised?!

Given how Roland has been f*cking up in the last couple years, ESPECIALLY with the VariOS, Fantom-G and V-Synth GT, this is NO surprise to me!

They HAD it coming for them.....

Like they're gonna come out with something to rival KRONOS!

That's the funniest thing I've ever heard!

Please!

Sina

don't be daft dude. We need Roland, we need a healthy keyboard market. When Roland rivals the Kronos, then Korg will rival the Kronos.

Bruce Lychee · Post by **Bruce Lychee** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 1:38 pm

RKfan wrote:http://www.roland.com/pdf/release_20111003.pdf

I think Roland have lots of other things to worry about at the moment....

Pretty bad news.

This document doesn't mean much.

Bruce Lychee · Post by **Bruce Lychee** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 2:04 pm

balfi wrote:There are rumours going about that both Roland and Yamaha are working on new products to surpass the Kronos. Does have anyone have an inside track on this?

I don't think either company needs to use Korg as a measuring stick. Personally, I would like to see Korg raise their manufacturing standards to that of Roland and Yamaha. I think Yamaha isn't going to be so quick to cast off the Motif and it's many users. IMO, Roland has more interesting underlying technology than Korg but whether or not they think it is worthwhile to make another workstation is another issue. They seem to be more intent on segmenting their products.

Chriskk · Post by **Chriskk** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 2:31 pm

Some people have no idea. Roland's Boss division alone outsells Korg.

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Roland's and Yamaha's plans to surpass the Kronos?

Roland's and Yamaha's plans to surpass the Kronos?

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