Korg on top of the(ir) game?

[Bachus]

Here we are, its 2016, and it seems that Korg is the top seller in many cattegories...

Even after the release of the Montage, the Kronos still seems to be the top pick for many...

The Pa4x, is leading sales in the arranger market, which is a huge thing worldwide...

Even the 6 year old SV1 is still popular because of its high quallity and impressive formfactor...

I think the King Korg is under rated right now, as its probably the strongest VA synth out there...

And then there is the Korg gadget ipad app, leading the field, when it comes to professional ipad apps...



So with all these products going strong, where can we expect to see some real innovation with Korg?

Will 2017 be the year of a Kronos replacement... Thats adds new features, new ui, new synth engines to Korgs strongest concept? Or are we happy with the Kronos where it is at?


I think the SV1 is up for an update, same formfactor, but better acoustic piano's and organs... And maybe even an integrated version of the Kingkorg, so it can become a full competitor of the Nord Stage 2

[Bald Eagle]

If King Korg had a control surface like the System 8 and a better keybed that would be something. I'd get one tomorrow.

[GregC]

So with all these products going strong, where can we expect to see some real innovation with Korg?

Will 2017 be the year of a Kronos replacement... Thats adds new features, new ui, new synth engines to Korgs strongest concept? Or are we happy with the Kronos where it is at?


I think the SV1 is up for an update, same formfactor, but better acoustic piano's and organs... And maybe even an integrated version of the Kingkorg, so it can become a full competitor of the Nord Stage 2

I am all for a Kronos replacement within the next 6 months. This is strictly my business opinion, they should show dominance vs sitting on the Kronos as is.

I am very happy with the Kronos as is. But thats not the point for me. I know Korg is capable of a feature rich, super powerful w/s. So lets have it sooner.

[eli125]

maybe before yamaha comes out with a new arranger it will be a master update on the pa4x like streaming etc. im shure if yamaha comes out thy will have more than 2 GB sampling so maybe will start here

[fcoulter]

Here we are, its 2016, and it seems that Korg is the top seller in many cattegories...

Even after the release of the Montage, the Kronos still seems to be the top pick for many...

Will 2017 be the year of a Kronos replacement... Thats adds new features, new ui, new synth engines to Korgs strongest concept? Or are we happy with the Kronos where it is at?

The Yamaha Montage basically did not challenge the Kronos at all. The Kronos is a workstation, the centerpiece of a studio and live performance gig. The Montage is a very nice performance synth.

In fact, there's nothing out there that even remotely challenges the Kronos in its niche. (It's an interesting question about the size of that niche. Yamaha is apparently betting there's not room for more than one keyboard in that niche.) As such, I don't see any reason for Korg to massively improve the Kronos. They're already top dog.

I could see an evolutionary set. As the hardware becomes harder to find, moving to a faster CPU or a wider system buss might happen. But it will still be called a Kronos. Just as the amount of HD space has increased over time, the Kronos 3 could have a larger SSD. But I think the changes made will be evolutionary, and quite possibly available as a software upgrade to your existing unit.

It might be possible that certain upgrades wouldn't be free. But the sounds available for the K2 also cost money for the earlier Kronos owners.

[GregC]

Here we are, its 2016, and it seems that Korg is the top seller in many cattegories...


I could see an evolutionary set. As the hardware becomes harder to find, moving to a faster CPU or a wider system buss might happen. But it will still be called a Kronos. Just as the amount of HD space has increased over time, the Kronos 3 could have a larger SSD. But I think the changes made will be evolutionary, and quite possibly available as a software upgrade to your existing unit.

It might be possible that certain upgrades wouldn't be free. But the sounds available for the K2 also cost money for the earlier Kronos owners.

I am a 5 year owner.

The hardware improvements are tangible and more obvious. But I doubt they (CPU) can be easily user installed.

Thus I think Korg should do a major OS revision plus the components. Incremental low cost improvements are not as exciting to me. The programming is where Korg is genius. Thats what I would pay for.

[Ksynth]

They should consider a much more powerful CPU to allow greater RAM access.

The cost of an Intel i7 6th generation is about $200 to Korg I would guess.

That is not a huge part of the retail point. Perhaps even less with a laptop version CPU.

[GregC]

They should consider a much more powerful CPU to allow greater RAM access.

The cost of an Intel i7 6th generation is about $200 to Korg I would guess.

That is not a huge part of the retail point. Perhaps even less with a laptop version CPU.

they would have to reprogram the OS to 64 bit .

Software development is , by far, the most expensive part for cos. especially when it is specialized and device specific.

[Jan1]

I would not count on a KRONOS successor in 2017, it is a bit soon after the 2015 refresh, and there is no competition challenging the KRONOS.
A follow up to the KROME (2012) is more likely.

I wonder why KORG have not bothered to release a hybrid groovebox with all the analog expertise and talent they have onboard.
Why not combine the best of both worlds in a groovebox positioned one step above the current Electribe featuring proper controls?

[Ksynth]

They should consider a much more powerful CPU to allow greater RAM access.

The cost of an Intel i7 6th generation is about $200 to Korg I would guess.

That is not a huge part of the retail point. Perhaps even less with a laptop version CPU.

they would have to reprogram the OS to 64 bit .

Software development is , by far, the most expensive part for cos. especially when it is specialized and device specific.

Given the number of software developers and actual programs available to code I don't see this as a huge deal for Korg.

In fact I'd say its mandatory. They can do a deal with Intel who can probably help in a big way with codes.

There is a lot of slack in some companies with software development people.

[Ksynth]

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms973190.aspx

[GregC]

They should consider a much more powerful CPU to allow greater RAM access.

The cost of an Intel i7 6th generation is about $200 to Korg I would guess.

That is not a huge part of the retail point. Perhaps even less with a laptop version CPU.

they would have to reprogram the OS to 64 bit .

Software development is , by far, the most expensive part for cos. especially when it is specialized and device specific.

Given the number of software developers and actual programs available to code I don't see this as a huge deal for Korg.

In fact I'd say its mandatory. They can do a deal with Intel who can probably help in a big way with codes.

There is a lot of slack in some companies with software development people.

I use to work for a software development tool co that is now owned by Intel.

So I have seen a zillion presentations on software development costs. Especially since the Kronos is a specialized device.

And if it was that cheap to slap together components and include off the shelf code, we we would see many competitors. I don't expect any inside info from Korg to better explain their inside costs.

[BasariStudios]

I am all for a Kronos replacement within the next 6 months. This is strictly my business opinion, they should show dominance vs sitting on the Kronos as is.

I am very happy with the Kronos as is. But thats not the point for me. I know Korg is capable of a feature rich, super powerful w/s. So lets have it sooner.

They did already 3 times, they will soon again...replace the ends with FiberGlass now.

[jimknopf]

They did exactly the right thing all these years: update content and be successful with the same synth, becoming and staying the benchmark for all others up to now.

But I agree with Greg: January 2017 would be the perfect moment to announce a real successor and keep the clear allround synth overall conceptual dominance - over anything Yamaha, Roland, Kurzweil and Nord have to offer - for more years to come.

The three key things will be
- more DAW integration and
- ease of use (sample management etc.) and
- quality and amount of gig ready and/or recording ready presets through different genres

It will not be convincing just to deliver the next hardware generation.

[Bachus]

They did exactly the right thing all these years: update content and be successful with the same synth, becoming and staying the benchmark for all others up to now.

But I agree with Greg: January 2017 would be the perfect moment to announce a real successor and keep the clear allround synth overall conceptual dominance - over anything Yamaha, Roland, Kurzweil and Nord have to offer - for more years to come.

The three key things will be
- more DAW integration and
- ease of use (sample management etc.) and
- quality and amount of gig ready and/or recording ready presets through different genres

It will not be convincing just to deliver the next hardware generation.

I also hope such a new key will be backward compatible with the kronos...