Randelph wrote:
Korg seems to be going more of a Casio route, investing primarily in the lower cost end of the market. Which is why their reluctance to spend more money on the Kronos and get basics like the M3 sequencer features, an excellent Editor/Sample manager, etc., is puzzling. With a flagship like the Kronos, that's priceless advertising for all their low cost products. And having an outstanding integration with DAWs would give a lot of software based folks a reason to invest in hardware.
Indeed.
I´ve got the same oppinion.
And we all know the power of forums like this to help people make buying decisions: get something like the XF that's cheaper, has excellent corporate support, a decent well-rounded sample set, excellent editors & sample managers (both from Yamaha and 3d party), and a reputation for quality hardware and good DAW integration; or take a gamble that the Kronos, which is a superior sound generator in most cases, will deliver on Editor and DAW integration, the OS continuing to be upgraded to its implied promise (M3 sequencer, larger fonts within some screens, etc.) and that the quality of the board itself is on a par with the XF.
Forums like this one tend, in the very end, to perfectly reflect the truth in all its dimensión, as well as give a real idea of "pros" and "cons" about the products, and the oppinion and grade of satisfaction the end user has related to them and the support of the company.
When we see people focused on things like demanding more support from the manufacturer (here Korg) in areas of the product like improving the Sequencer area and to provide better Editor to ensure a proper DAW integration, is not only because the product needs this features to get its full potential vs the other competitor companies, but also because Korg *
has already improved those areas* in
previous and
forthcoming products, so its possible for them to do the same for the Kronos series, and what its more important, not let down its actual user base, giving an image of lack of support and futher development for this particular product to potential costumers eyes.
What I'd like to know, is how profitable the Kronos has been, and is projected to be over its product life. Can they invest another $500,000-$1,000,000 (just guessing here) in the Kronos platform and still see a decent return on investment? d be wondering about the future of workstations!!!
Of course they can.
Konos is selling well, as expected.
The question might be, if they´d want to do it, or if they rather prefer to make no move and include all this requested features in the next model the´ll produce, following the Krome route, which has already every *basic* feature requested for the Kronos:
(Better Sequencecer editing capabilities, better GUI, bigger fonts, what it seems to be a better Editor, etc.)
Given past and recent precedents, IMHO we can expect the answer.
Regards.
D.
