Korg engineers talk about the Nautilus

hans1966 · Post by **hans1966** » Tue Apr 06, 2021 2:32 pm

Hello Guys, next I invite you to watch these two short videos where two of the main engineers of the company, talk about the details of the Nautilus

I hope it is useful.

regards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp6V_W9HR6A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADiYat0wA2I

meatballfulton · Post by **meatballfulton** » Tue Apr 06, 2021 8:16 pm

Wow, the first video was really strange.

The speaker made it sound like Kronos is yesterday's news and that removing so many features is something that people had been clamoring for! I really liked his quick access button explanation about how removing all the direct access buttons was a great improvement.

Yes, I'm being snarky but it's weird marketing spin rather than just hammering on how they kept 100% of the Kronos sound engine (which is what matters most) and cut the price by 1/3, making it much more affordable to players who simply can't swing paying over $3000 for one.

bpoodoo · Post by **bpoodoo** » Wed Apr 07, 2021 4:13 am

Well I appreciate Korg's effort here to address the sense that corporate isn't listening to existing customers when it comes to new products. I see this as a retrospective rationalization of the decisions they made along the way and why, and to associate faces to the work that was done, to make it warm and personal not cold and corporate. It sort of accomplishes that.

And I have no problem with snarky. I embrace it!

And along those lines, I find the prolific use of Creator and Maker rather blasphemous, especially when these words are capitalized. Did these "Korg Creators" gather up a handful of dirt, breathe into it, and create a Nautilus? Why not call them instead what they are: e.g. designer, architect, engineer, writer, producer, or musician.

I know we can thank YouTube for this. Creator is the grandiose term they coined to use for someone who simply uploads videos. But the usage has become assimilated into the mainstream vernacular in the even more general sense to mean "someone who worked on or produced something that is used or disseminated by others." DoublePlusGood NewSpeak.

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Wed Apr 07, 2021 3:42 pm

It is standard Korg Inc marketing for a new expensive keyboard.

But its its not a new keyboard "product" from scratch.

It doesn't have that "wow " feeling, for example, like Kronos did.

The actual new features on Nautilus is not a long list. The $2699 price [88] also is a reflection to that. There is an effort to keep costs down.

hans1966 · Post by **hans1966** » Wed Apr 07, 2021 9:22 pm

The way I see it, Korg wants to follow the same strategy as Yamaha (Montage / MODX) with Kronos / Nautilus.

Still, the Nautilus is NOT a cheap keyboard, it is even more expensive than MODX, in any of the three version.

bpoodoo · Post by **bpoodoo** » Wed Apr 07, 2021 10:39 pm

hans1966 wrote:The way I see it, Korg wants to follow the same strategy as Yamaha (Montage / MODX) with Kronos / Nautilus.

If so, then Korg needs to also ensure PGC file compatibility between Kronos/Nautilus as Yamaha does between Montage/MODX User and Library files. Not an external conversion/translator program, but a compatibility feature included in the OSes.

The OS and UI interface similarities allow Yamaha to release feature updates to both Montage and MODX concurrently. I'm not sure that would be possible for Kronos and Nautilus. So in that very significant way I don't think it is an analogous development and support strategy. Same marketing strategy perhaps.

Cross compatibility and backward compatibility are architectural and design considerations that need to be considered upfront in the product development, not as an afterthought.

You are the Korg, the creator. You programmed my function.

burningbusch · Post by **burningbusch** » Thu Apr 08, 2021 12:37 am

I'm not a fan of this Montage/MODX comparison. Two different companies with two different approaches.

The MODX is clearly an entry-level keyboard. The Nautilus is not. The Nautilus is mid-tier. Made in Japan, same high-end actions found in the Kronos, quality metal/aluminum construction, internal power, no polyphony compromise (FM engine on the MODX has half polyphony), and a full complement of I/O.

Also, the Montage and MODX are not 100% compatible. If you want to develop sample libraries that are compatible with both, this needs to be done on the Montage. Sample libraries created on the MODX are not compatible with the Montage.

Full compatibility at the program level is achieved when the samples (and engines) are identical, as they are on the Yamahas. Korg, THANKFULLY, did not follow that approach. The Kronos is 10 years old. Many of its samples came from the 16-year-old OASYS. Not that old samples are necessarily bad, it's that they were designed to fit into very limited amounts of RAM/ROM, and are less than what they could be as a result. They weren't created with the Kronos' fabulous disk-streaming in mind.

I would venture to say the Nautilus has more new samples than those shared with the Kronos. There are a TON of new samples. If you have two systems with large differences between the samples, they cannot be file-compatible in terms of sample-playback. The other engines, e.g. CX-3, MOD-7, AL-1, MS20, etc. should be largely compatible. You should be able to load a Kronos CX-3 program into the Nautilus and it will sound identical, except that the drums won't sound right and any KARMA will be lost. For many programs, that's not critical. Combis are another issue.

The MODX is a lesser version of the Montage, nothing more. The same cannot be said of the Nautilus.

Busch.

Jan1 · Post by **Jan1** » Thu Apr 08, 2021 11:40 am

I wonder about something said in the first clip: at 0:15 the engineer speaks of ‘to succeed the Kronos engine’.
Does that mean Korg sees the Nautilus as the successor of the Kronos or does the engineer mean something else, or maybe it’s not translated correctly?

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Fri Apr 09, 2021 12:43 am

Jan1 wrote:I wonder about something said in the first clip: at 0:15 the engineer speaks of ‘to succeed the Kronos engine’.
Does that mean Korg sees the Nautilus as the successor of the Kronos or does the engineer mean something else, or maybe it’s not translated correctly?

yes, its quite a statement. I could read that Korg Inc is mostly or all done developing the Kronos sound engine. Not surprising given Korgs silence on Kronos for 3 years.

hans1966 · Post by **hans1966** » Fri Apr 09, 2021 1:01 am

So is it possible for Korg to possibly release a Kronos 3, or would we expect something totally different?

Liviou2004 · Post by **Liviou2004** » Fri Apr 09, 2021 7:17 am

burningbusch wrote:I would venture to say the Nautilus has more new samples than those shared with the Kronos.
Bush.

I have downloaded and compared the two Voice Name Lists (VNL) from Kronos and Nautilus :
Of course there are many new samples but most of the Nautilus Rom samples are the same as Kronos samples !!

Most of the time, the new Rom samples are argued as a Nautilus advantage over the Kronos. But Is it a valid argument ?? All we have to do is loading a sound bank in the Kronos and we'll get the same !!

On the opposite, if I used the same argument, as I have all the Bolder's Kronos libraries, I could say that the Nautilus doesn't have the Bolder's libraries ! It would be an insane argument too.

Actually, Korg tries to justify the Nautilus downsides - which are numerous - compared with its heavy price, with poor arguments.
Many people seem to have been hooked on them !

Jan1 · Post by **Jan1** » Fri Apr 09, 2021 1:04 pm

GregC wrote:
Jan1 wrote:I wonder about something said in the first clip: at 0:15 the engineer speaks of ‘to succeed the Kronos engine’.
Does that mean Korg sees the Nautilus as the successor of the Kronos or does the engineer mean something else, or maybe it’s not translated correctly?
yes, its quite a statement. I could read that Korg Inc is mostly or all done developing the Kronos sound engine. Not surprising given Korgs silence on Kronos for 3 years.

If the Nautilus is indeed designed to be the successor of Kronos then we are looking at Kronos 3.

A lot of people are waiting for a more powerful 64-bit successor, but if you look at what companies such as Roland and Yamaha put on the market, none come even close to what’s available for desktop computers.
So I can understand why Korg uses the same old platform and adds some new content and functions while updating the interface, there’s no real threat of the competition for the Kronos.

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Fri Apr 09, 2021 2:15 pm

Jan1 wrote:[q
So I can understand why Korg uses the same old platform and adds some new content and functions while updating the interface, there’s no real threat of the competition for the Kronos.

I understand the love of Kronos, as I have one for 10 yrs.

However, I go by the #'s . At least here in the US, starting last summer, Kronos sales slowed. A number of factors , many predictable , buyers are making other choices.

Korg Inc saw this and we now see decreased production and fewer K2's in the channel.

Korg Inc wants attention on Nautilus. This was decided some time ago.

burningbusch · Post by **burningbusch** » Fri Apr 09, 2021 4:43 pm

Liviou2004 wrote:
burningbusch wrote:I would venture to say the Nautilus has more new samples than those shared with the Kronos.
Bush.
I have downloaded and compared the two Voice Name Lists (VNL) from Kronos and Nautilus :
Of course there are many new samples but most of the Nautilus Rom samples are the same as Kronos samples !!

Most of the time, the new Rom samples are argued as a Nautilus advantage over the Kronos. But it's a valid argument !! All we have to do is loading a sound bank in the Kronos and we'll get the same !!

On the opposite, if I used the same argument, as I have all the Bolder's Kronos libraries, I could say that the Nautilus doesn't have the Bolder's libraries ! It would be an insane argument too.

Actually, Korg tries to justify the Nautilus downsides - which are numerous - compared with its heavy price, with poor arguments.
Many people seem to have been hooked on them !

I'm not sure I'm following your argument. Whether the samples are in "ROM" or one of the included (and loaded at startup) EXs libraries is not that great of a distinction. The main Kronos pianos aren't in ROM but are used throughout. My count of the Nautilus HD-1 Programs shows 54% are new (I also included Bank-A which is SGX/EP-1). That's pretty sizable, IMO. It's pretty safe to assume the vast majority of these new Programs are based on new samples. Also note, a few SGX Programs like "Virtual Insanity" and "Head Over Heels" are listed as Kronos (K), but on the Kronos used German Grand D, samples that don't exist on the Nautilus, so same basic program but different samples.

Regarding third-party libraries, hopefully, this will be addressed soon. In my case, I will do the conversion and sell them directly, at least for now. And if anyone has purchased a Purgatory Creek library for the Kronos and now also owns a Nautilus, I will make an appropriate accommodation.

Busch.

Liviou2004 · Post by **Liviou2004** » Sat Apr 10, 2021 9:00 am

burningbusch wrote:I'm not sure I'm following your argument.
Busch.

Sorry, I didn't imagine it was so uneasy to follow. As english is not my first language, perhaps I did some mistakes ! So, I gonna try to summarize my thought : New sounds can't be an argument in favor of the Nautilus, as it will be easy to import these sounds into the Kronos, be Rom sounds or EXs.

Definitely, I consider the Nautilus as a "Little Kronos". And as such, it is very expensive. But, as the Kronos will soon disappear, the Nautilus will remain the only available Korg worksation. So people who want a new Korg workstation will be forced to buy this one..or turning toward other brands.

And for those who still want a Kronos, I'm afraid we will see the second hand market prices soaring. Unless, unless...Korg is preparing a new flagship ? It's another matter.