Great post.burningbusch wrote:I'm not really following a lot of what the OP is getting at as I don't understand business in the same way he does evidently.
I don't know the inner workings of Korg but my guess is product development MIGHT look something like this:
- Small group specs the product.
- Team is assembled to begin development of prototype (basic OS. basic hardware)
- Prototypes sent to sound developers.
- Product is finalized (OS is locked down as well as core sounds)
- Hand built models are assembled and fully tested.
- Production begins.
- Product ships.
- Features (OS, sounds, etc.) that weren't ready at the time the product shipped but were in the original specs are added over time + bugfixes found by the user community + user requested features not in the specs if possible.
After a certain point the people working on the product begin working on something new. After a certain point the product isn't going to be enhanced. I'm guessing as well that the cycle I outlined above has probably started for a second generation of the Kronos. This does not mean the Kronos won't continue to be enhanced (I have no idea personally), just that some people involved in the development are likely moving on.
So I don't get your basic premise about spending new money and "investing." I don't accept by any stretch that Korg left its users out to dry. Korg has provided the following enhancements via OS updates. Only the Editor was promised, the others were unexpected "gifts."
- Seven additional user program banks
- Ability to add additional 1GB RAM
- Support for connecting USB MIDI class‐compliant controllers directly to the Kronos.
- RAM Multisamples has been increased from 1,000 to 4,000, and the maximum numbers of RAM Samples and Multisample Indexes have each been increased from 4,000 to 16,000
- Software-based Editor
- Ability to add second SSD
- User Sample Banks
- USB Ethernet Support
- Ability to stream user sample libraries from SSD.
The Motif XF has been out longer than the Kronos. Please list the OS updates and enhancements provided by Yamaha.
As far as the future of the workstation is concerned, for me it's how you define workstation. If you mean as Korg has defined it with the Kronos: user streaming samples, multiple SSDs, multiple VAs, numerous physical modeling engines, SST, Set List Mode, KARMA, then yes to me I think workstations definitely have a future.
Busch.
As someone who does NOT have a Kronos, and has been looking in, this has been my observation. I WASTED 6 months of reading endless posts on this forum, I was so excited by the Kronos. My writing all of this is a continuation of that interest as a future purchaser
When I had the Motif XS7, over time I grew to hate the OS when you had to go to a deeper level for file and sample management. Apparently, with the XF they addressed much of that (can't say, haven't used it), by having the Flash RAM and a sample manager. I found it nearly impossible to organize my progams and samples on that machine, and they at least addressed that. But the XS is a big reason why I enjoyed the M3 much more, primarily though because it's more user friendly to me in many ways.
My view on manufacturers tendencies is not only Korg- I've seen them all do it- Kurzweils PC3 took a year or two (not sure) to get their OS up to speed, the Fantom G was heavily dis-honored because of Rolands unwillingness to address some glaring faults, the M3 took over a year? to get their OS and samples up to speed (and even then their Editor was an afterthought), and so on.
My basic comment is I don't understand Korg's approach here. Yes, what you described seems accurate in terms of how companies work, and yes, Korg has made some significant upgrades (some of which I'm sure were part of the internal spec that we weren't necessarily privy to). And yes, it must be a trade-off, needing to get a product to market quickly, and having all the kinks and features worked out.
The point I was making is that, OK, this is how the industry more often than not works. But the Kronos has the potential to be a game changer for Korg. What I'm saying is Korg has a huge opportunity here, and defaulting to standard operating procedure where the enhancements and promised features are put on a slow back burner-
> 6-8 months to finally deliver a universally hated Editor that was promised with the board, for example
> expected features like the M3 sequencer enhancements-
> doing something about the super tiny fonts on some pages-
> and so on for other obvious tweaks/features
doesn't make sense to me. They've got a run away winner with a product that blows everyone else away. Why not break that usual way of doing things and devote the following 6 months after product release to continued full development, instead of pissing off a lot of people and generating a lot of bad press, when most of these things are going to be addressed eventually anyway?
As far as how I define a workstation. I want to be able to use it as a center of sequencer and audio recording, and to be user friendly doing it, which includes having a good editor/librarian/sample manager. Personally I don't like using computers for recording music that much, but for many people it's crucial that a workstation plays well with DAWs, and can interface with 64 bit OSs.
And the larger point here is that we live in rapidly changing times. Many people ask the very valid question, hardware or software, and the Kronos makes a very compelling case for hardware (obviously for live players this is not as much of a question). Korg has the opportunity, if they "complete" their workstation, to bring many many more into the hardware fold. I believe many hardware makers are having trouble justifying the r&d for creating a new workstation given the encroachment of computers, and the thing that is great about the Kronos is most of the work has been done over a period of years, they had the brilliant concept way back in the 90's.
What's needed now to complete the concept so that obvious problems are addressed, it's a more robust stand alone sequencer and audio recorder, and plays well with DAWS. I'm not pretending to know how expensive that is or the return on investment, but if there was a time for Korg to believe in itself, like with the M1, I'd say now is the time.
I would never have thought to ask if the Kronos had aftertouch, I would have on the Krome, but the top end workstation you expect it to have top end things.
