Official statement on the status and future of the OASYS

jpscoey · Post by **jpscoey** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 12:39 am

'
Please forgive me as a complete 'newbie' when it comes to the complicated area that is the OASYS - I've been a piano player since I was a child,
& only started in the world of 'synths' a year or two ago.

I have, however, read loads & loads of literature on KORG & the OASYS (including this thread) and, for what it's worth, this is my opinion....

The OASYS was marketed as the total solution to any performers/composers/programmers dreams - for the present and for years to come... including ongoing updates & so-on.

Given that this now appears to be a 'pipe-dream' the question is where does that leave any current, and potential (such as me), owners?

The answer (in my naive opinion) would seem that yes the value ($$$) is going to plummet.

Yes - it is the most 'complete' synth/keyboard ever produced.
but because all the promised 'upgrades/updates' are not going to happen where does it leave it now?

It would seem to be much easier/simpler to go towards the DAW option, using a much cheaper keyboard (M3,perhaps?)

I almost feel as though I'm writing an Obituary here, which is sad considering all the possibilities this fantastic instrument has already achieved,
and could have gone on to do so much more.

.

zolhof · Post by **zolhof** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 12:41 am

I´ll be honest here, a sequencer update like the M3 xpanded wouldn´t justify me paying $250.. I already said that before

To me, a completly NEW sequencer worths another investiment. I was saving money to buy some Karo libraries, but I´m willing to pay the $250 just to support Korg and keep the door open, even if all I get is some M3-like sequencer.. I don´t care (and won´t stop using Cubase lol)

Please Korg, I know it´s hard with this crisis and all, but I invested all my saving buying the O, not just for what it´s able to do NOW, but also for what it WILL be able to do in years to come.. this beast has so much potencial! And I won´t even mention Karma....................

Opening the code and letting a 3rd party company like Karo do the job from now on would be my choice. I´m beggin and I don´t care lol PLEASE!!!!! It gonna make us clients satisfied and will do an excelent thing for Korg´s image

Synergy · Post by **Synergy** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 12:47 am

medusaland wrote: for me is the OASYS still the best sounding machine on the planet!
Thank you Korg for this wonderful instrument...
Kurt

Hi Medusaland, I appreciate your compliment on behalf of Oasys and Korg. Again it's not that I'm denying the fact that Oasys is the best sounding machine mankind has ever known but ranting about a subset of tool within that holds everything together. To put it eloquently, what's the point of complimenting a most beautiful girl on earth that she is beautiful? She knows it far more than anyone else but wouldn't it be more effective to tell her to wax her body more often and to strenghthen the inner beauty in her? Of course you need to be extra cautious about her body ordor. That's how much the risk I'm willing to take in order to perfect her beauty.

Relentless pursuit of perfection is what I'm requesting for Oasys project, not slapping the fat woman to sing.

StephenKay · Post by **StephenKay** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 1:48 am

zolhof wrote:Opening the code...[snip]

Will never happen. Don't even waste time fantasizing about it.

pegnafroy · Post by **pegnafroy** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 3:10 am

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The remedy was worst than the illness. The voices claiming for a sequencer upgrade are more since the announcement from jerry.

The things are simple: Korg had stoped the oasys production. This doesn't mean that the project was down. Since many synths were updated after they are discontinued. So we can pray for an update. It can happen.

Korg will never open the tools and the code of the oasys.

There are so much people with an oasys, that don't make music (for what i see here) since they spend so much time posting here.

It's so easy to integrate the oasys with a DAW, and cheap since the O can integrate with virtual instruments, too. And fast, since you can integrate it NOW.

Why don't you enjoy what you have now. Why don't you make some music???

How many EXi do you need?? All the stuff can be reduced to Sample Playback (HD-1 gorgeus), VA (AL-1), physical modeling (STR-1, CX-3, LAC-1) and FM (MOD-7).

How many effects do you need for make music???

Please, stop the noise. What you want, will never happen. What you have is enough.

Regards.

Desde Santiago de Chile.

Froilán

Davidb · Post by **Davidb** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 11:30 am

jpscoey wrote:'

The OASYS was marketed as the total solution to any performers/composers/programmers dreams - for the present and for years to come... including ongoing updates & so-on.

Given that this now appears to be a 'pipe-dream' the question is where does that leave any current, and potential (such as me), owners?

The answer (in my naive opinion) would seem that yes the value ($$$) is going to plummet.

Yes - it is the most 'complete' synth/keyboard ever produced.
but because all the promised 'upgrades/updates' are not going to happen where does it leave it now?

Where does it leave now?
Where does that leave any current, and potential owners?

Well, in fact it all is a real pitty, if you ask me.

Not only because the OASYS has potential for so much growth, even with its current hadware discontinued. (The fact is that there still is some market for it, as the current users express their desire to pay for more updates, but Korg will not get more money from the OASYS, as it seems they wont release more expansions for it ).

And not also because all who invested all this big amount of money on it will see now its value go down, as you rightly point out. But, even when thats not as important at all as we OASYS users love our instrument to death, yet its true that some of us wont be buying more gear in the future, simply because we cannot spend any more because of the big OASYS bet we embraced.

Another consequence of all this for potential owners, is that it will be hard to belive and to support for both costumers and the market any other project of "Open" and "Upgradable" architecture from Korg, or any other manufacturer.

Tiger789 · Post by **Tiger789** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 12:31 pm

There is no contradiction between being creative/effective on one side, and pointing out obvious lacks that should be addressed in a otherwise fantastic, superior instrument while there is still time and a chance for that to happen. Even J.S. Bach who was extremly productive in his lifetime pointed out certain aspects of Silbermanns churchorgans that "had to" be addressed and which then later on was taken care of to Bach's satisfaction even though Silbermann disliked his objections and was somewhat irritated on him because of his "pedantic" demands. But afterwards he smiled from ear to ear when Bach played on the organ and said to him, "Now, it's perfect.."

The Oasys with it's current OS, expansions and 3. party sound libraries etc. can be compared to having a new fancy Mercedes 500 SL but with tires that really doesn't fit the car. The tires itself are not expensive compared to the rest but makes a huge differense for the averall experience. It would probably take the engineers from Korg some few months to develope a new sequenser in collaboration with Stephen Kay as it affects the Karma as well. As stated several times, I would pay for a seq. upgrade and so would many others according to this thread.

Korg Inc. Japan/USA:
The Oasys is now 90 % complete but you are just 10 meters from reaching the Mount Everest. Give us that seq. upgrade and welcome to the top!!

-Tiger

Guitarist / Classical pianist
Oslo, Norway
--------------------------------

Korg Oasys 88 - # 002113 + Karo Philh. Strings
Roland Fantom G6 + ARX-01
Yamaha Clavinova CVP-309PE

zolhof · Post by **zolhof** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 1:44 pm

I guess most of us payed 8 thousand dollars (I payed more in Brasil, trust me) thinking about the definitive synth/workstation sollution for years to come as it was advertised. If being naive means to trust a respected company like Korg, ok, I´m naive

I could have bought a PC3x and a FantomG for less money if I was worried with what it can do NOW. Don´t get me wrong, I´m completly in love with my Oasys, and every time I play it just confirms what a great investiment it was. But to not want new EXis, EXs, EXf, disk-streaming, sequencer and OS updates, Karma updates, etc on an Open system, that my friend, is to be naive IMHO.

Someone mentioned the Kurz K2600... you guys know when it was released? 1999! 10 years ago and it still in production, just check Kurz website. It´s not open architecture and it´s an expensive gear.

Years will pass, new technology will come, new synthesis (yes, I want em all), you name it..... I´ll have to buy a new workstation to keep up with that and my Oasys will be sitting here just watching?

I just have to accept Korg´s decision? "Ok, thanks for trusting us, we released many updates, you have an amazing keyboard and 1500 pages to master, but sorry, no more fun from us"

IMHO It´s not fair for what I was sold on and I think I´m in my right to talk about it. Sorry for beating the deadhorse, I´m more of a sollution guy and we all pointed many ways to keep the O alive.. now it´s up to Korg do something

weymouthfox · Post by **weymouthfox** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 2:22 pm

I would be willing to pay anywhere upto $500 for a new sequencer but it would have to be a new one, not just one with the M3 updates as it would still be poor.

I would want to see a DAW/ Fantom G style sequencer with fully functional drag and drop editing in the arrangement window and a key edit page to justify paying the money.

I really hate all the number crunching you have to do just to move or repeat a part in the O.

Give us USB mouse support and Firewire/USB DAW intergration and I'll be happy to pay more.

How come only the M3 gets sequencer updates and DAW intergration when you can buy 3 and half M3's for the price of one Oasys???

The Oasys should have everything the M3 has and alot more!!!

Kontrol49 · Post by **Kontrol49** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 3:16 pm

jpscoey wrote:'
Please forgive me as a complete 'newbie'
The answer (in my naive opinion) would seem that yes the value ($$$) is going to plummet.

.

The Value is only relevant if you plan to sell it on,If you paid £5k now its still worth 5K to you,as with any instrument if you buy new and decide to sell it you'll always lose out.

For a newbie to both the World of Korg and the Oasys,The oasys is rather a massive outlay,even if your an accomplished player and even more so if your fairly new to the world of synthesis,but even so I'm sure the Oasys will be more than enough for you to get your money's worth out of it,theres plenty under the hood to keep the more knowledged of us synth players occupied,so a newbie would perhaps have more than they bargained for to keep their attention.

Kontrol49 · Post by **Kontrol49** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 3:21 pm

If this is the end of the line now for the O....

What was the purpose behind the Mouse/VGA/ethernet ports on the rear panel

RC-IA · Post by **RC-IA** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 3:41 pm

Kontrol49 wrote:
What was the purpose behind the Mouse/VGA/ethernet ports on the rear panel

no purpose! those are just components of the motherboard. it's a "serial" motherboard , not a psecial one for korg

Synergy · Post by **Synergy** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 6:08 pm

Kontrol49 wrote:The Value is only relevant if you plan to sell it on,If you paid £5k now its still worth 5K to you,as with any instrument if you buy new and decide to sell it you'll always lose out.

Though I get your perspective, there is what the business world known as the depreciation and the opportunity cost. Even if you have the dealer delivered your brand new top of the line Lexus right into your living room and pampered it to the showroom shine, it will still lose the value because of the depreciation cost in comparison to what the *current market* demands it for. Likewise, you will also forgo the opportunity cost not being able to utilize its full potential. The land is different due to its fixed supply but only until financial and real estate meltdowns occur like what we have today. Similiarly, vintage cars and mics are different due to the limited supply.
One might say that he could make huge profit out of Oasys by creating a hit record because of the inspiration he'd get from the all new brass sounds. But others could argue that a simple pen Mozart used could also be used as composing a priceless piece of music.
Unfortunately, Oasys will lose its value fast regardless because of the rising cost of the third party replacement parts and the comparable product like Omnisphere which could be run on a tiny but powerful notebook PC today. It could only be delayed if the market knows that it's the all-in-one workstation ahead of its substitution.

Kontrol49 · Post by **Kontrol49** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 8:47 pm

I'm speculating as to the price should someone sell it,To me my Oasys cost me just over 5k,its still worth 5k,and in 5 years time should I still own it it will still be worth 5k to me.

I know should I sell I won't get my money back,but thats about consumers choice,Why would someone want to buy a secondhand Oasys now at the same price of a new one,its a supply and demand case,who knows in years to come when people are curious or gaining an interest in its use,and because of a limited number run will be perhaps willing to fork out a Healthy sum of money to own a unit well above the market Values,I know I've sold some digital machines well above secondhand values,simply because of the desirability of the said machines and people becoming more aware of the lack of availible Models so are prepared to offer a little bit more to get one.

If you look at the few secondhand oasys models being touted,you'll see that there priced to sell,well below the threshold of what a used Oasys should be in respect of depreciation terms,because I would say the few who decided to sell just wanted a Quick sale,knowing they won't get break even so undercut themselves for that sale purpose and possibly that the Secondhand value of a few grand cash is well out of the usual punters Disposable income so you've already got a limited Buying market.

If I bought a car for 20k now,as soon as I bought it the value has depreciated irrespective of use,even if i never intended to sell it.

The Oasys will always be comparible to a cheaper software setup,but computers are more accesible to the wider population than a £5k Hardware synth and because of the other applications you can run alongside it inside the box,the Oasys is limited already by lack of third party intervention,your either with Korg or not.Why would someone want to pay for that isolation if your more into computer based methods

You can't really put a value of an Oasys in the secondhand market because its about what someone is willing to pay for the item,whereas Automobiles are priced on an Average bracket of used machines based on mileage/Condition

The Oasys value may plummet because of the actual Market retail value,but it could go either way,dependant on supply and demand in years to come,just because you can pick up an Oasys up secondhand for a couple of grand now,doesn't mean that it wont be demanding more money secondhand than new in 3 or 5 years time in the supply and demand markets,Ok its a shot in the dark to think that of a digital machine,but its possible because of it high price tag and limited numbers in todays high volume runs of synths

Davidb · Post by **Davidb** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 12:35 am

weymouthfox wrote:
How come only the M3 gets sequencer updates and DAW intergration when you can buy 3 and half M3's for the price of one Oasys???

Yep, most users think the same.
They´d have to be par to par in this area, to say the least.

The Oasys should have everything the M3 has and alot more!!!