Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 9:16 pm
Dr. Who -
Excellent post. You are probably right in everything you say. Certainly this all makes sense - from a marketing perspective for sure.
But - I will add the following - despite everything you say, while OASYS was a commercial failure, it was a massive technical success. That should be celebrated. After all - it’s the truth – and denying this is simply burying your head in the sand and being less than honest with the Kronos community. There’s no other way of saying it. The CS80 and Prophet 5 were not commercial success stories - yet they have become classic (and certainly the CS80 was niche even in its time). Secondly, Roland's original Fanthom was a disaster, but they stuck with it and whether you love or loath Roland, the Fanthom has been very successful for them. Roland were not in denial of their original failure in this regard; but Korg are – and sadly - with probably their greatest technical achievement in their history.
So I do not see the need for Korg to hide OASYS as they have done; despite its polarizing nature among the community. Korg can never again claim that they took the moral high ground over other companies in being experimental and producing superlative quality - they are in total denial of OASYS and have shunned their achievement for ever more - and if you are to believe there is any historical relevance to synthesizer development - history will record this.
I was shocked at Dan Phillips reference to "in the OASYS days" a few days ago over on the Kronos forum. What he is squarely saying to the new and prospective Kronos community is that OASYS is now ancient history and it and its community did not matter – at least – that’s the way many of us read it. I'm frankly very surprised by the blanked denial of OASYS’s place in synthesizer development by Dan and Korg R&D USA on this front - I certainly couldn't abandon something I was so passionate about so easily for simple current-market-place. It's their loss; not mine or ours - because there is something far more important about all this - that OASYS is a truly significant instrument for making music - and Korg do not acknowledge that! Stunning! They should have taken a far more chilled, ar far more philosophical and a far more holistic approach to OASYS – and her user base – but no – Korg decided – for all the reasons you point out and which are legitimate from a marketing perspective – to abandon and even go into denial on OASYS.
However - I like you have not only moved on from this; it really doesn't matter to me personally - my musical life continues to be transformed by OASYS and I've already preordered a Kronos 88! To me - it's a fantastic extension - all the time spend and expertise developed at OASYS can be extended by Kronos. Now if Korg had only been a bit cleverer and used that sort of approach to promoting Kronos (through liaison with top musicians who HAVE embraced OASYS). So I personally harbour no grudge – I've repeatedly said that Korg own me or any of us nothing. And I think they should be HUGELY applauded for releasing Kronos (though I feel they missed a few tricks even in this through better sequencers already in the M3 and though a simpler more effective Karma engine integration into groove-based composition aka Stylus RMX – Stephen Kay and Korg JUST aren’t biting on that – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Karma is awesome but it’s just too difficult – any technology needing that number of pages of documentation needs simplification...). Nevertheless, despite saluting Korg on this true game changer – and it is indeed a game changer because this gargantuan technology is finally available for the masses and that's magnificent IMO – as a separate point, their denial of the existence of OASYS is a sad indictment on the company and their treatment of existing user-bases that is dually noted.
I can only imagine that each and every Korg OASYS development team member must be sick with themselves when they put their head on the pillow at night for having to sell out - for all time - on their one and only true contribution to music technology in history - I know I'd be sick with myself if I had to deny something I put that much effort into, simply as a marketing ploy. It must be truly a disorientating experience for them.
But – I’ve said enough and will shut up on it now – I’m not some nerd splitting hairs - I’m an earnest composer and need to get back to work – but I do believe in the historical relevance of OASYS and find it incredibly sad that Korg have written themselves out of history as having made a brave and unique contribution to music technology through OASYS. If they want to deny that that’s their call; but it’s a mistake IMO – the risk, the attempt and the technical success were enough for history, but clearly not enough for Korg’s president and Korg’s marketing team.
…Back to some serious composing on my OASYS…
Kevin.
Excellent post. You are probably right in everything you say. Certainly this all makes sense - from a marketing perspective for sure.
But - I will add the following - despite everything you say, while OASYS was a commercial failure, it was a massive technical success. That should be celebrated. After all - it’s the truth – and denying this is simply burying your head in the sand and being less than honest with the Kronos community. There’s no other way of saying it. The CS80 and Prophet 5 were not commercial success stories - yet they have become classic (and certainly the CS80 was niche even in its time). Secondly, Roland's original Fanthom was a disaster, but they stuck with it and whether you love or loath Roland, the Fanthom has been very successful for them. Roland were not in denial of their original failure in this regard; but Korg are – and sadly - with probably their greatest technical achievement in their history.
So I do not see the need for Korg to hide OASYS as they have done; despite its polarizing nature among the community. Korg can never again claim that they took the moral high ground over other companies in being experimental and producing superlative quality - they are in total denial of OASYS and have shunned their achievement for ever more - and if you are to believe there is any historical relevance to synthesizer development - history will record this.
I was shocked at Dan Phillips reference to "in the OASYS days" a few days ago over on the Kronos forum. What he is squarely saying to the new and prospective Kronos community is that OASYS is now ancient history and it and its community did not matter – at least – that’s the way many of us read it. I'm frankly very surprised by the blanked denial of OASYS’s place in synthesizer development by Dan and Korg R&D USA on this front - I certainly couldn't abandon something I was so passionate about so easily for simple current-market-place. It's their loss; not mine or ours - because there is something far more important about all this - that OASYS is a truly significant instrument for making music - and Korg do not acknowledge that! Stunning! They should have taken a far more chilled, ar far more philosophical and a far more holistic approach to OASYS – and her user base – but no – Korg decided – for all the reasons you point out and which are legitimate from a marketing perspective – to abandon and even go into denial on OASYS.
However - I like you have not only moved on from this; it really doesn't matter to me personally - my musical life continues to be transformed by OASYS and I've already preordered a Kronos 88! To me - it's a fantastic extension - all the time spend and expertise developed at OASYS can be extended by Kronos. Now if Korg had only been a bit cleverer and used that sort of approach to promoting Kronos (through liaison with top musicians who HAVE embraced OASYS). So I personally harbour no grudge – I've repeatedly said that Korg own me or any of us nothing. And I think they should be HUGELY applauded for releasing Kronos (though I feel they missed a few tricks even in this through better sequencers already in the M3 and though a simpler more effective Karma engine integration into groove-based composition aka Stylus RMX – Stephen Kay and Korg JUST aren’t biting on that – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Karma is awesome but it’s just too difficult – any technology needing that number of pages of documentation needs simplification...). Nevertheless, despite saluting Korg on this true game changer – and it is indeed a game changer because this gargantuan technology is finally available for the masses and that's magnificent IMO – as a separate point, their denial of the existence of OASYS is a sad indictment on the company and their treatment of existing user-bases that is dually noted.
I can only imagine that each and every Korg OASYS development team member must be sick with themselves when they put their head on the pillow at night for having to sell out - for all time - on their one and only true contribution to music technology in history - I know I'd be sick with myself if I had to deny something I put that much effort into, simply as a marketing ploy. It must be truly a disorientating experience for them.
But – I’ve said enough and will shut up on it now – I’m not some nerd splitting hairs - I’m an earnest composer and need to get back to work – but I do believe in the historical relevance of OASYS and find it incredibly sad that Korg have written themselves out of history as having made a brave and unique contribution to music technology through OASYS. If they want to deny that that’s their call; but it’s a mistake IMO – the risk, the attempt and the technical success were enough for history, but clearly not enough for Korg’s president and Korg’s marketing team.
…Back to some serious composing on my OASYS…
Kevin.
I just see it simper that if they metnion OASYS there will probably be some negative questions. By not mentionign OASYS extensively, they have to expect they will anger OASYS owners by playing it safe and not mentioning the O. Rememebr the O sold 3000 units so max people upset at korg is close to the 3000 range. It the safer marketing strategy. We can agree to disagree on that one point. No harm no foul.
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