Korg Tuner Survey

[Sharp]

Hi xmlguy.

I stand by every message I've posted in this thread as being my 100% honest opinion.

FXXX Korg Tuners.

They aren't sex toys

The world doesn't need a strawberry flavored pink handheld clipon tuner with lube.

Does making your opinion really have to involve taking the piss out of KORG in the process? I’m just saying; don’t blast KORG out of it when more could be gained from engaging with them in a conversation about what you really want.

Regards
Sharp.

[Synthoid]

Since the Radias has been released, new synths have been released by all of the major competitors, with Casio jumping back into the market and new entries such as Maudio Venom. Now we get messages here of people pleading to find a used Radias.

I spoke with an online retailer last month (on the phone) who informed me that Korg still has a limited number of Radias modules left in stock. Unfortunately I didn't bookmark their website.

Obviously, I am curious if Korg can comment on the validity of that statement.

[djcactus]

I just checked the Korg facebook and if your really mad about taking a tuner survey there is a monotribe survey... Though i can agree with most of the responses i actually checked this thread when it was posted and opened up my sax case because i have a tuner and i didnt know what kind. Needless to say when i checked it was a korg tuner this bad boy has been kicking it for 15 years still works like new and ive never replaced these batteries.

At this rate i dont believe ill need to buy another tuner in my life, let alone triple A's.

Also im not blasting korg out of the water but they do have alot of tuners that probably dont need tweaking any time too soon. To fit in i guess i should say "stop making tuners insert X here!"(hope jokes can be taken)

[xmlguy]

Hi xmlguy.

I stand by every message I've posted in this thread as being my 100% honest opinion.

FXXX Korg Tuners.

They aren't sex toys

The world doesn't need a strawberry flavored pink handheld clipon tuner with lube.

Does making your opinion really have to involve taking the piss out of KORG in the process? I’m just saying; don’t blast KORG out of it when more could be gained from engaging with them in a conversation about what you really want.

Regards
Sharp.

i wanted to:

Leave no doubt about how pissed I am at Korg for their decisions over the last 5 years with regard to their being so slow to update certain past product lines of theirs that I love, failing to produce new, exciting models.

To take the piss out of KORG in the process. They have no pissing rights.

Show that they obviously don't realize how much potential revenue they're losing by not updating and improving certain successful product lines. How do you count the money that people don't give you, that they want to give you, if only you made the products that they're waiting for? Does anybody here NOT want Korg to release a worthy replacement for the Radias, that's superior to it and the competitor's offerings, at a competitive price?

If Korg chooses to ignore me because I piss them off, they do so at their own peril, because I think there are many customers who agree with me. If Korg wants to be the King of the Guitar Tuners, they might very well find that that's ALL they will be.

The reference to sex toys was meant to be humorous and cheeky, in the manner of being "amusing but mildly improper: amusing or endearing despite offending good manners, especially by being mildly sexually improper."

I entirely intended to ridicule Korg to shock them into reality. How they respond is up to them. One thing is certain: I own a ton of Korg products and I want to buy more, if they would only produce them.

[michelkeijzers]

I think the Korg Kronos is a very exciting model, more than what the competition delivers.

[xmlguy]

I think the Korg Kronos is a very exciting model, more than what the competition delivers.

Yes, but its $3,000 entry price puts it into a completely different market segment than any of the product lines I've mentioned. Korg has updated their workstations frequently, so Kronos owners have little cause for complaint, but that doesn't in any way help Korg customers in the synth, electribe, and other segments of the marketplace.

Kronos/Oasys owners are more like the aristocratic elite of the keyboard world, who might not see the pain of the proletariat. Telling we surfs that we should be happy because Korg produced the Kronos is akin to saying "Let them eat cake" to the starving millions, which sparked a revolt to give the elite class new French haircuts, one foot off top. (although I'm not saying that you are actually telling us to eat cake).

[cello]

Xmlguy - I see your point but it's unlike you to be quite so vociferous.

Everything okay?

[xmlguy]

Xmlguy - I see your point but it's unlike you to be quite so vociferous.

Everything okay?

Imagine that every year without an proper update of the products I love is like a log added to a smoldering fire. Then imagine that each new tuner is like a gallon of petrol added to a drum above the fire. The survey is just the tipping point of the fuel to the fire. The explosion may be quite large, but the inferno was building all along the way if you see the forces that led to it. There been a LOT of logs and a LOT of gallons of fuel accumulating. The survey itself may seem innocent and innocuous, if you don't see how it can set off a huge flame.

If I didn't own and enjoy so many of Korg's past products, then I wouldn't care much at all about their tuners. I could easily ignore them. I generally try to maintain a reasonable and moderate tone in the vast majority of my messages. When I release the flames, it's with a very specific purpose and wouldn't have much effect if every message I posted was always a flame. I'm the boy who cries wolf only when there IS a wolf threatening the flock. I leave it to the village to decide whether they want to believe me or not, which is why I stand by my statements and why I'm so vociferously defending them. I'm defending the village, whether they believe me or not. I want Korg to be successful. Releasing a bunch of new tuners every year while ignoring their other successful product lines is not the path to future success, IMO. It's a threat to their future success.

As an unscientific gauge of interest here, there are around 50,000 posts related to Korg synths, the electribes, and the Kaoss products. There's 592 for guitar effects and tuners.

[Ojustaboo]

You will probably find that a tuner costs pence to make, has a negligible failure rate hence next to nothing is spent on warrenty repairs, and sell in their thousands so is a very good source of income for korg.

Personally I only mess around on my guitar every few months and never really learned more than a handful of chords on it, but one thing I did learn was how to tune it so wouldn't want to spend any money on a tuner.

I would like something at a reasonable price point that replaces the m3 and triton ranges, feels like it's built well, has a load of physical controllers/sliders and is actively supported/expandable for a good five years plus by korg.

I'm far more likely to be willing to shell out what is a lot of money for me on a product where I have faith the company will still look at say os updates five years down the line than I am on a product that costs a lot of money but I know the manufacturer will more than likely abandon all further support six months after I finally save enough money for it due to a newer model being released.

[michelkeijzers]

I think the Korg Kronos is a very exciting model, more than what the competition delivers.

Yes, but its $3,000 entry price puts it into a completely different market segment than any of the product lines I've mentioned. Korg has updated their workstations frequently, so Kronos owners have little cause for complaint, but that doesn't in any way help Korg customers in the synth, electribe, and other segments of the marketplace.

There is also the M50 at about $1000 or less, the M3 for around $2000.

Everything is relative .. for me the Oasys was way out of limits at $8000 (in the Netherlands).

[xmlguy]

There is also the M50 at about $1000 or less, the M3 for around $2000.

Everything is relative .. for me the Oasys was way out of limits at $8000 (in the Netherlands).

That's true, but the M50 and M3 aren't updated VA synth replacements for the Radias.

Since the Radias was released, the following synths have been released by competitors with no response by Korg.

Venom, MiniAK, Ultranova, Jupiter-80, Gaia, XW-P1, XW-G1, Blofeld, Virus TI v2, Origin, etc.

[charlie67]

It looks as if Korg have touched a nerve with this tuner survey. Maybe Korg will learn something, but it’s unlikely. Large companies like Korg operate for strict financial reasons. They only have one bottom line and that’s money. If they could make more money by insulting their customers, then that’s what they would do. Just because a company sells musical instruments (and musical instruments generate passion), it doesn’t necessarily follow that they are altruistic and good. A lot of people would argue that Yamaha have a much better relationship with their customers than Korg. By the way, I don’t need or want another effin tuner.

[synthjoe]

Large companies like Korg operate for strict financial reasons. They only have one bottom line and that’s money.

I do not debate that financials are an important (if not THE MOST important) part to businesses. However, I don't think that your second sentence is something that could be associated with the late Tsutomu Katoh's ethos. I don't know about the new management, though - maybe this tuner thing is an indicator...

[WaterDrum]

it is pretty clear why tuners are important to produce:
every beginner (kids and youngsters) of a tunable instrument needs one.
thats why the styling questions.
my first tuner had a 6 tone harp and 2 ears , though.
still have this one...

so its probably the wrong group of customers here on this forum.
we are more likely to spend some/more money on bigger products.
a tuner imo wants to be bought one time...

@Korg : it is very positive to start asking us about your products
it is a direct and cheap analysis of the market
we can use your servers , thank you
so you can ask for our opinion

Korg please dont stop asking
open words are necessary for constructive cooperation
rude tone is shure not .
(of course frustration must be understood .)

my Q: how about microsampler , wavedrum ?

[Timo]

I think the only explanation for Korg's insistence on releasing a raft of new tuners at every trade show is that tuners are cheap to make, volume is high, and that product turnaround (ie. shelf-life) is short before Korg refresh the product design to keep things fresh given that tuners are perhaps more a gimmicky, impulse-purchase type accessory, in order to keep profits higher, and clearly tuner profits must be high for Korg to keep releasing them. In otherwords they might make 10,000 of one particular tuner design, then stop production for that model and create new ones with slightly different features and prices to catch people's attention a second time.

For example, if you're in a band with, say, two guitars and a bass, and you're playing live, that's three tuners you need between you. And the number of teen, amateur, pro and gigging bands out there are huge.

Let alone classical orchestral instruments too, where tuning is critical.

I can see that.

However I think what people are trying to say is, in essence, does the world need even more tuners than the ones already available? At the end of the day, a 15 year old tuner (even older) offers similar features and works just as well as one today.

Personally I haven't bought, and wont ever buy, a dedicated tuner for my guitars. When playing standalone I use an old Zoom 505 multi-effects stomp pedal with a digital tuner feature within it, although more recently when in the studio I'm just using Amplitube which has a tuner option as part of the signal chain. I'd never fork out for a dedicated tuner itself when you have other products with tuning features built in effectively gratis.