Big news from Korg

[leonh]

It can be boring for some people when they have the best workstation in the world it is like I have money to burn what I can buy and is better than Kronos hmm nothing there so of course if new ! workstation comes out with better screen polyphony ect we will buy not to do better music but because we can .
Thing is no proper company will discontinue product which sells as hot cake or put new model for sake of it so enjoy your Kronos nothing is coming you already have the best workstation .

[studio460]

Apparently it's going to be a DIY board for hacking the Prologue synth.

http://cdm.link/2018/04/korg-bringing-d ... uperbooth/

Could that really be it? Is that "big" enough to be something "really big?" I think the newly surfaced Korg Analogue Instagram account reported in the CDM article could be telling. Maybe instead it's a new super-synth (i.e., non-ROMpler) to compete with just-promised offerings from more boutique-ish manufacturers like the DSI X and Waldorf Quantum?

[billysynth]

There seems to be a sociological synthesiser cycle occurring with an increase in the manufacture of 1970s/80s hardware synths and a move away from workstations.

Only Korg and close behind, Yamaha, offer work stations. Not sure how long this cycle will last before the work station cycle comes back. Bit like economic cycles of boom and bust.

Given Korg lead the way, and that there still is interest in work stations, this forum and others clearly show demand for work stations, I’d hope Korg continue to work in this space providing more advanced feature sets for a next generation work station.

The Oasys/Kronos Generation has had a good run, Kronos being a souped up Oasys, same blood line, introduced in 2005. Thirteen years for this generation has been a good run and getting a little long on the tooth.

It’s time for the next generation work station...deliver it now please

Billy

[tatun2010]

The only thing that would make me sale my K2 73 and buy a new korg workstation is a flawless machine. It never happened to me but everytime that I see in kronos Facebook groups that someone posted a "system startup failed" or a "reinstall system" screen I think about to get a motif, a fantom or to buy a triton extreme.
That issue scares me to death... It's a nightmare.

[GregC]

There seems to be a sociological synthesiser cycle occurring with an increase in the manufacture of 1970s/80s hardware synths and a move away from workstations.

Only Korg and close behind, Yamaha, offer work stations. Not sure how long this cycle will last before the work station cycle comes back. Bit like economic cycles of boom and bust.

Given Korg lead the way, and that there still is interest in work stations, this forum and others clearly show demand for work stations, I’d hope Korg continue to work in this space providing more advanced feature sets for a next generation work station.

The Oasys/Kronos Generation has had a good run, Kronos being a souped up Oasys, same blood line, introduced in 2005. Thirteen years for this generation has been a good run and getting a little long on the tooth.

It’s time for the next generation work station...deliver it now please

Billy

Cycle is a fair word. I like to discuss Korg keyboards into the future in concrete terms and options/possibles:

Today:
- Korg has 7 separate work stations to buy
- 14 'pro arranger' models one can buy
- the Grand Stage, Vox Cont, D1, SV-1
- 18 different analogish synths to buy
- a gaggle of soft synths and IOS apps

I think thats a full dance card. Selling that stuff is Korgs priority
for the rest of 2018. No distractions. There is a fair chance there will not be much change going thru all of 2019. Lets call that "Plan C ". ( today=2019)

My Plan B is a K3 in 2019. Not 64 bit. A K2 with current components ,
improved polyphony, 1 or 2 more engines. Not a monster w/s. A nice
w/s for $3600 to gradually phase out the K2. Think low risk product transition.
A safe product move for Korg.

Plan A in 2019. Thats what you suggest. I like that.
An Alien monster hybrid w/s that is exciting. Alien will have full analogue and many newly imagined w/s features. A new UI. New file system. 64 bit. Quality components. Tear up the the diagrams from 2005. Forget retro.

Plan A for Alien destroys all other boards with its architecture. Its hot blooded, with alien DNA, an ugly challenge to program and control but so what.
Yes, it plays nice with your DAW. $4400. USD.

[GregC]

The only thing that would make me sale my K2 73 and buy a new korg workstation is a flawless machine. It never happened to me but everytime that I see in kronos Facebook groups that someone posted a "system startup failed" or a "reinstall system" screen I think about to get a motif, a fantom or to buy a triton extreme.
That issue scares me to death... It's a nightmare.

yes, I read those FB posts, too. Keep in mind, many of the new K2 owners on FB have transitioned from other less complex boards , they gig regularly, occasionally.

When there is a 'system failure ' with their K2 we never get the full story. Did they buy the K2 used ? Did they buy a Kronos used on the cheap with someone doing DIY ? Is it a demo with intermittent problems ? Did they drop it ? Was their a power failure ? Did they have/use a UPS ? Is it a midi crash as they USB/midi other boards ? etc, etc, etc

IOW, I think most of the FB K2 folks ( with crashes) that gig are going thru their Kronos learning curve. The K is touchy with power. Its been said 1000 times here. There might be some used and flawed K's on the used market that should be removed from sale and shipped back to Korg. You can't control folks that
decide to sell a used K that is problematic. I am opposed to sticking a problem on someone else that has not been fully disclosed.

You should not be scared by reading those FB posts. They are incomplete.

I don't perceive any overall flawed components with the K2. I think its stable.
Problems are mostly due to learning curve. I agree there is an occasional intermittent K2 problem. This is called a " One off".

[benny ray]

With what Greg said for me I would have to be sure that a used Kronos was taken care of really well. Buying one used and investing that much money is something that I would have to think long and hard about.

The only way I would buy a used KRONOS is that if I knew it has been taken care of well but having said for me buying a new KRONOS makes more sense for my investment.

[ITguy54]

There seems to be a sociological synthesiser cycle occurring with an increase in the manufacture of 1970s/80s hardware synths and a move away from workstations.

Only Korg and close behind, Yamaha, offer work stations. Not sure how long this cycle will last before the work station cycle comes back. Bit like economic cycles of boom and bust.

Given Korg lead the way, and that there still is interest in work stations, this forum and others clearly show demand for work stations, I’d hope Korg continue to work in this space providing more advanced feature sets for a next generation work station.

The Oasys/Kronos Generation has had a good run, Kronos being a souped up Oasys, same blood line, introduced in 2005. Thirteen years for this generation has been a good run and getting a little long on the tooth.

It’s time for the next generation work station...deliver it now please

Billy

+1

Add to that a modern fast and powerful processor that can deliver Dexibell like polyphony, the Mono/Poly softsynth engine, external monitor support, an additive synthesis/resynthesis engine, a Yamaha designed real hammer, triple sensor action on the 88 key model AND continue to sell the K2 for a much lower price.

[tatun2010]

The only thing that would make me sale my K2 73 and buy a new korg workstation is a flawless machine. It never happened to me but everytime that I see in kronos Facebook groups that someone posted a "system startup failed" or a "reinstall system" screen I think about to get a motif, a fantom or to buy a triton extreme.
That issue scares me to death... It's a nightmare.

yes, I read those FB posts, too. Keep in mind, many of the new K2 owners on FB have transitioned from other less complex boards , they gig regularly, occasionally.

When there is a 'system failure ' with their K2 we never get the full story. Did they buy the K2 used ? Did they buy a Kronos used on the cheap with someone doing DIY ? Is it a demo with intermittent problems ? Did they drop it ? Was their a power failure ? Did they have/use a UPS ? Is it a midi crash as they USB/midi other boards ? etc, etc, etc

IOW, I think most of the FB K2 folks ( with crashes) that gig are going thru their Kronos learning curve. The K is touchy with power. Its been said 1000 times here. There might be some used and flawed K's on the used market that should be removed from sale and shipped back to Korg. You can't control folks that
decide to sell a used K that is problematic. I am opposed to sticking a problem on someone else that has not been fully disclosed.

You should not be scared by reading those FB posts. They are incomplete.

I don't perceive any overall flawed components with the K2. I think its stable.
Problems are mostly due to learning curve. I agree there is an occasional intermittent K2 problem. This is called a " One off".

It's nice to read those words, Greg. I agree that we only see half of the story.

[KK]

Add to that a modern fast and powerful processor that can deliver Dexibell like polyphony, the Mono/Poly softsynth engine, external monitor support, an additive synthesis/resynthesis engine, a Yamaha designed real hammer, triple sensor action on the 88 key model AND continue to sell the K2 for a much lower price.

An apple turnover with that ?

[ITguy54]

Add to that a modern fast and powerful processor that can deliver Dexibell like polyphony, the Mono/Poly softsynth engine, external monitor support, an additive synthesis/resynthesis engine, a Yamaha designed real hammer, triple sensor action on the 88 key model AND continue to sell the K2 for a much lower price.

An apple turnover with that ?

I'd prefer cherry, but thanks. If Korg decides to update the K2, they might as well go all out. And how will Korg know what customers want unless we tell them?

[GregC]

Add to that a modern fast and powerful processor that can deliver Dexibell like polyphony, the Mono/Poly softsynth engine, external monitor support, an additive synthesis/resynthesis engine, a Yamaha designed real hammer, triple sensor action on the 88 key model AND continue to sell the K2 for a much lower price.

An apple turnover with that ?

I'd prefer cherry, but thanks. If Korg decides to update the K2, they might as well go all out. And how will Korg know what customers want unless we tell them?

Korg host the site with an arrangement with Sharp.

They haven't responded to anything for several months, on the Kronos forum.

No harm in trying I suppose. But I would not have any expectation of any action.

Korg has the market place thoroughly figured out and likely their thought process in new products is well advanced. Its tuned to meet the goals of their organization and management. Thats the way most cos operate.

[robbie50]

http://www.korg.com/us/news/2018/0501/




rob

[franksaraceno@msn.com]

Bit off topic - but there's only one software release in past 2 years since I bought my Kronos 2. Korg hyped this iteration of kronos as a progressive worksatation that can grow with software updates. Guess What, Nothing from Korg cause their too busy making ipad apps. They screwed us once again. DAW integration is non existent. And they will rebrand the kronos one day and once again make our investment worthless. Funny they were right about one thing - this is the last workstation I'll ever buy.

[marc1]

Korg hyped this iteration of kronos as a progressive worksatation that can grow with software updates.

Where did you get that idea from??

Guess What, Nothing from Korg

That's not exactly true. Jack Hotop from Korg just recently hinted in another thread at some new program banks from the Triton which will be available for the Kronos soon. And maybe there's something else...

But then again, we Kronos owners are not entitled to anything. The Kronos has seen some significant software updates over its lifespan and it's a good product as it is. If that's not enough for some, then...