Kronos LS 88 - What Happened?!

[McHale]

OK, first off I need to apologize for not being on here in a LONG time. Life happens. Covid something something. etc. etc. ANYWAY...

I'm putting together another band and I knew that Korg released the Kronos LS and the lighter weight would be really good as I travel a lot to practice and gig. I can live with the cheap keybed (spare keys are available). Did they not sell very well so Korg scrapped it early? By how few I see on the used market and so few reviews that's my guess. I still have my modified OG Kronos 88 but that's retired to the studio now. It won't be bouncing around in vehicles any more. It's still as much a thrill to play today as it was when I got it in 2011 and the critical spare parts are far and few between.

So I looked at the Nautilus 88. It has the sounds of the Kronos (mostly) but the lack of controls is a bummer (and weighs about 10 more pounds than the Kronos LS). I kind of see it as what the M50 was to the M3. For many people, the Nautilus is a perfect workstation, Kronos soundset for much cheaper. For those of us that have been using the Kronos since 2011, it's difficult to make the compromises. If Korg still made the original 9 slider nanoKontrol it wouldn't bother me as much but that's almost impossible to find at this point. The nanoKontrol2 is only 8 sliders so it's not even an option. Live CX-3 drawbar control is what I will miss the most.

If Korg had an LS88 lying around in unsold warehouse inventory, I'd jump on it but there are none to be had (I called and asked. They laughed). I have found a used one a few hours away in good condition... but at BRAND NEW COST. I can buy a new Nautilus 88 for cheaper. I'm not going to be gigging for 6 months to a year and using the M50 for practices works perfectly fine. All of my patches are recreated on all my synths for backup hardware purposes so I'm technically covered right now.

Poll time fellow Korg synth nerds. What would you do? Comments and criticisms are always welcome.

Thanks!

p.s. I just got caught up on a bunch of really old unread messages so I'm sorry to those who didn't get a timely response. It wasn't intentional.

[Broadwave]

You could wait and wait and wait for Korg to bring out a new top line workstation, but from what I gather, Nautillus is going to be their flagship for the time being.

A new Workstation would probably involve another steep learning curve which, at my age, I don't have time for

I'd be happy getting an LS as a Kronos replacement, if it gave me another 10 years of use.

[McHale]

You could wait and wait and wait for Korg to bring out a new top line workstation, but from what I gather, Nautillus is going to be their flagship for the time being.

A new Workstation would probably involve another steep learning curve which, at my age, I don't have time for

I'd be happy getting an LS as a Kronos replacement, if it gave me another 10 years of use.

I'm thinking along the same lines. I checked Korg Parts and replacement keys are currently available so if I picked up a few of each I'd be set for a while. I've seen a few videos of the Light Touch keys wearing down due to normal use and needing to be reinforced or replaced and I'm pretty tough on keybeds so as long as those are available and the brains inside the unit are fairly rock solid, this should last me quite a while.

Tnx!