IS the Oasis worth it?

[roc]

Hi Dan
Is there any new development coming for Oasys ?

[roc]

bump

[Chromalord]

1st, I have heard on more than one forum that the Oasys has been discontinued.
So that right there may be all you need to know.

I own a full blown 88 version (all upgrades and 2 gig ram)
I paid $7,500 for it new.

To be fair, I have read thru the replies in here and it quite frankly it shocks me as to the amount of stupidity which exists here. Most who hate it have never owned one, others
compare it to a Kurzweil or suggest building a small project studio instead, others will try to make you believe their $1500 PC is far superior to an 8 processor Mac Pro, my personal fav' was the guy who told you to find a used Fairlight or Synclavier.

They are all wrong.

The Oasys is NOTHING like a Triton, owning both, I can assure you of that.
Aside from some similarities in how they have certain pages set- up, that is it.

The power in the Oasys is immense but accessing it is another issue entirely.
Anyone who tells you how easy it is to use is not utilizing what it can do.
If you don't have need for all of the function of the Oasys, then yes you would be ill-advised to buy one. So its only expensive if you are buying things you dont need. I don't know of anyone personally who takes full-advantage of the ALL of the functions- me included, not even close.

The Bad stuff:
The interface is clumsy and slow. Even with the big screen they defer to tons of abbreviated words when they didnt need to. Touching certain small parameters on the screen is tricky. Simple routing of FX and patches can be confusing. Karma is for people who have a LOT of spare time on their hand for fully implementing all of the functions in a REAL useful patch is going to take you some time to understand.
There is a lot of Korg-only type language you have to get around. Building patches from scratch is VERY labored. My Oasys takes nearly 3 minutes to power up.
While some of the synth plug-ins are ultra cool- navigating their parameters and editing them quickly for results is frustrating.
I wouldn't use it live- its 80 lbs, a little fragile, and you don't want this thing anywhere near smoke or excessive vibration. Factory patches, for the most part are lame and useless despite some of them exhibiting an enormous amount of skilled programming.
Sampling is useless. The Sequencer is a total joke. The 1000 page main manual explains nothing and has no glossary or search index. Keyboard re-strike action is horrible- i.e. trying to play the same note in rapid succession, uh uh, aint gonna happen.

The Good Stuff:
Sounds great- especially the EX patches. The filters are the best I have heard in a Rompler. If you have the patience you can make amazingly detailed patches with enormous live control. Layer them in combi mode and its potential is stunning. The onboard FX are excellent and you can run 12 of them at a time and access them externally. Built in vocoder and mic input, generous i.o.

Summary,
Can you make the Oasys into a one-stop studio-well yes sort of. But the lengths you would have to got to, to get real results in a timely fashion hardly make it worthwhile.
Mine has been relegate to just another keyboard in my studio and I'd bet money that most other owners have done the same. So was it worth the $7500 I paid? No, but I'd say its easily worth $4,000 to me. If you want a great keyboard/synth to program as JUST that, then the Oasys is worth having but only if you can find one used in good shape at a good price.

[Dan Phillips]

Originally Posted by roc

Hi Dan
Is there any new development coming for Oasys ?

See: Korg Forums :: View topic - Namm 2009 and Oasys

Key quote: "...and, we're still working. As usual, I can't say any more at this time."

In general, my advice is to make any purchasing decisions based on what the instrument does now. In my opinion, that's the only reasonable approach to any tech product.

- Dan

[weymouthfox]

Hi Dan,
Im very close to buying the Oasys, it sounds amazing.
first, I'm hoping to see some improvements before I hand over $8,000.
* USB/Firewire DAW intergration thats found on the M3/ Fantom G for a third of the cost.
* DAW style sequencer with drag and drop editing in the arrangement page.
The Roland Fantom G has it at a third of the cost
The sequencer is basically the same as my 10 year old trinity/triton.
As it's $8000 and several years newer im really disappointed in what it offers.
I hate having to input start and end points and then tell it where its going to move a small part.
As the Oasys is essentially a computer I wouldn't have thought it would be impossible to implement?????
* A key edit page with velocity, modulation, pitch bend, filters etc
* USB mouse support as found on Fantom G. A DAW style sequencer really needs this.

Many thanks.

[perversity]

After reading this thread today, I've got to say my respect for Korg has jumped quite considerably. Dan, you are the man. For someone in R&D to spend this much time, let alone one second of one day, being this helpful and responsive to a so-called customer who equates to little more than a drunken heckler says quite a bit about Korg and it staff.
To Dirty Halo
I'm not sure why, but reading feeble attempts to validate your nonexistent point amuses me. Here's to sticktoitivness

[dlmorley]

Taking a loan to buy an instrument that WILL be worth a lot less than the cost at some point is not the best thing to do. It might be a great machine (I didn't get it) for some people, so no arguing there, but you will take a big hit on your investment.
If it absolutely does what you need and nothing else will do (unlikely) AND you can make serious money with it, ok. Otherwise, I say pass.
In short, it's way too much money unless you can easily afford it and need it.

[roc]

Originally Posted by Dan Phillips

See: Korg Forums :: View topic - Namm 2009 and Oasys

Key quote: "...and, we're still working. As usual, I can't say any more at this time."

In general, my advice is to make any purchasing decisions based on what the instrument does now. In my opinion, that's the only reasonable approach to any tech product.

- Dan

Thanks Dan I think i'm going to get one soon.
I wonder if The Oasys will be twice the price on ebay in the future
like a Tr-909 or TB-303 hmmmm ?

[roc]

Originally Posted by Dan Phillips

See: Korg Forums :: View topic - Namm 2009 and Oasys

Key quote: "...and, we're still working. As usual, I can't say any more at this time."

In general, my advice is to make any purchasing decisions based on what the instrument does now. In my opinion, that's the only reasonable approach to any tech product.

- Dan

Hi
I just got an Oasys a few days ago (finally been waiting and debating a very long time) looks like great timing because there seems to be a great update to the HD-1 sounds.
It also appears the Oasys is going to be discontinued but thats ok it can enter cult classic
status. I wonder if that means no-more updates.
Anyway thanks Dan for telling the truth about you guys still working on Oasys. I just
can't get-over how this thing sounds. It reminds me of a spaceship and the quality is out of this world
peace

[Coyoteous]

- oops, thought you meant the band... in which case, I was going to say no.

They are funny guys, though... at least one of them has a real throne.

[Dan Phillips]

Here's the official message about the discontinuation:

* * *

There have been a lot of inquiries and dialog regarding the status of the OASYS, and we would like to explain the OASYS current status and future. It is true that OASYS production has now finished. A number of distributors still have stock and so sales continue, but you will see this situation change across different markets as time goes by.

We always knew we were creating a more limited-market product for a smaller group of discerning musicians (you!) and we are pleased to have been able to deliver you this elite music-making tool. You have a wonderful musical instrument with which to realize your personal expression, the finest we have ever developed.

We have recently released some system tweaks/bug fixes and have plans for some more ongoing sound support, like the new sounds we just released.

We constantly get ideas/suggestions/requests for more features for the OASYS, but we cannot promise that any of these can be delivered. The current world economic situation affects us all, and we have to adapt our plans and channel our resources to best navigate these uncertain waters. We are proud of the OASYS and all that we have achieved with it, and thank all of the users and owners who shared in our vision of this superlative keyboard.

As always, we will announce further support only when it becomes available.

* * *

[David R.]

I was one of the angry mob that wanted to storm the Korg castle when it decided not to support OS X/XP for the pci oasys card. Back then, the voice of calm was Dan Phillips.

Again, Dan Phillips provides answers and takes much more abuse than anyone should (except ex-pres Bush), and keeps a cool head.

Thanks Dan. You are a class act.

[Dan Phillips]

Originally Posted by David R.

Thanks Dan. You are a class act.

Thank you. I wish I had better news this time...

[Dirty Halo]

I got a rash of crap here for my opinion, but here we are a few years later and what I said is EXACTLY how it came to pass.

Discontinued.

Did not sell well.

And I'm not the only one...

What was the reason that the whole OASYS project failed??



-a

[Duardo]

I got a rash of crap here for my opinion, but here we are a few years later and what I said is EXACTLY how it came to pass.

Discontinued.

Did not sell well.

I don't think it was so much for your opinion, but the way you presented that opinion that rubbed some people the wrong way...

And I'm not sure that it's really "exactly" the way you said it would come to pass. I don't feel like going back and re-reading the entire thread, but if I recall correctly you were anticipating this stuff happening almost immediately, and it didn't. Of course it's been discontinued...all products are discontinued at some point, aren't they?

And I'm not sure that it did not sell well. It was clear from the get-go that Korg didn't anticipate selling huge numbers of these, but it seems that it sold at least as well as they expected it to.

I'm just guessing based on what's happened price wise here, but I'd guess that it performed much closer to Korg's expectations than, say, the M3. The Oasys was on the market for four years and the street price for the 88-note model stayed the same, and the price for the 76-note model dropped once by less than 10%. The M3 keyboards have been around for half that time and I've noticed several price drops, rebates, incentives, etc...and they're now selling for 20-25% less than they were initially. Again, I'm just guessing here, but that tells me that relatively speaking, the Oasys performed much closer to their expectations than the M3 has thus far.

Again, though, that is pure conjecture...but there seems to be plenty of that going on around here.