I doubt that there will be a rackversion, because Korg would have to sell it for a much lower price and would make competition to their keybed-versions.
I also doubt that rack versions of a synth are the future ... in my opinion sooner or later we will have keyboard-controllers with laptops/pc´s and future will be software versions of synth.
Imagine to carry a Kronos/Oasys, some EWQL libraries, a Jupiter 80 and and and as vsti with you ..... in a laptop. The technologie should be there, the willingness of companies to develop those products may not be there by now but lets see ......
The problem is that what Kronos promised ran up against the brick wall of what was.
I for one would get a M3M-style (non-rack) Kronos to hook up to my proven and non-squirly older boards in a heartbeat. Hell, put it in the same case painted black; (please) keep all the pads, sliders and knobs.
Even tho I really, really, REALLY want one, I won't buy a Kronos keyboard when there's the distinct probability that it could be flawed right out of the box. (thank God for Krome's timely apperance)
And my (our) reluctance is Korg's brick wall. Kronos - for all it's potential dominance - probably hasn't done nearly the numbers Korg hoped. Brining out a module without the keyboard would mean that they've surrendered to the reality of the Kronos keyboard being a non-starter rather than a game-changer.
Myself, I think a Kronos-M or Kronos-R would be pretty popular. I would prefer an M (desktop) rather than a R (rack) but I think either would need to include a true up-to-date full-featured editor (64-bit) and possibly the OS update to add piano roll edit to seq-mode and fix any other known bugs.
In studio, well, for me there is no reason to have a module if you work with DAWs. A decent sample library (Kontakt, or I personally like Sampletank, Soniksynth and samplemoog) can do the job easily.
Anyway Integra 7 looks good, but, pay attention to SRX limitation: you can not use all at time, just 4. Yes... Roland is still using 1990 technology on this.
Actually the price of such a module from Korg does not have to be low at all.
If you look at where the I7 is at price wise, it is the same price as a Jupiter 50.
So Korg could price this module (Kronos-R) the same price as a Kronos 71.
For those of you that are familiar with the Oasys, it might be till hell freezes over that we see such a brilliant control surface as what the Oasys has. (In terms of both ruggedness and functionality...)
So for me I would rather use the Oasys as my main keyboard and augment with suitable synths or Racks.
That is why currently I have the Oasys as the master and my Radias, Motif, Roland XP80 slaved. When everyting is setup properly, the fullness of the sound is amazing!
Still can't decide between the Jupiter 80 or the I7.
Music is food for the soul.
iMac 24"-Logic9 Pro,Behringer X32,Roland VS2480CD,Korg Oasys88,Korg Radias, Yamaha Motif XS8, Roland Integra 7,Roland XP80,Roland VPro Session,Fender USA Strat, Gibson Les Paul USA Studio, Ovation Custom,Fender Jazzmaster Base,Roland GT6, Line6 PodXt Live. TC Helicon VoiceLive 2, Marshall JVM 410H 1960CABS. Fender Princeton Chorus.
A Kronos rack is one thing, but i don't see the Integra as a Kronos competitor. I thought the OP was thinking about Korg creating a "best of" module of their old sounds. I'd rather see Korg look forward than backward, synthesis-wise. The Roland module must be interesting for anybody who like their sound, you really get a "best of" from Roland. Their SN stuff is great but i'm pretty sick of those JV sounds. But, i never liked them, if i did i would probably love the idea behind the Integra. But i loved my Acura Integra in the 90's
Blink
System 1: Korg Z1EX with UA Apollo Twin X and M1 Macbook Air. System 2: Korg Trinity V3 with HDR, DSI Mopho DT, Korg 01/W Pro, Soundcraft NotePad-8FX.
I'd definitely buy if Korg developed a product similar to the Integra 7, which I'll soon buy.
Start from a Kronos Rack and subtract (Karma, sequencer, sampling, MOD7, VA's) and add PCM samples from previous Korg workstations. Essentially, it would be the best of Korg PCM waves plus wave sequencing. Given the price of the K61, this rack would be easily priced at $1,500 or so and should sell in a large number.
