Is Korg going bankrupt? [Archive] - The Unofficial Access Virus & Virus TI Forum

Juho L

23.01.2005, 08:31 AM

Well? Place your bets.

For me it's will definetly be the end for Korg as an intependent company. The quality of Oasys didn't meet the price. It sounds like a combiantion of Triton Extreme and Z1 and the price tag of eight grands isn't helping. Some sounds were nice (like that piano) and the idea and concept is nice, but some sounds were totally bad and the VA section had hard time to receive even a "medicore" rating. I'd say that the Oasys will be the biggest flop of 2005 and end of Korg.

Merlot

23.01.2005, 09:06 AM

I voted no. I think Korg will realize that the OASYS is way to damn expensive, and either reduce the price, or come up with an LE/rack/software (TI sort of thing) version at a major discount. I am interested to see the further developments of it. Basically it is a computer, and I think Korg will continue to upgrade the different types of synthesis and fx available in it. That is assuming poeple pay the ridiculous price tag and actually buy it. And there is a big enough user base to justify the $$ korg will have to spend to upgrade it. So, I think I just talked myself out of my own vote! :?

I could be wrong! Although I must agree that the OASYS will be the biggest flop of 2005. :wink:

Merlot

23.01.2005, 09:09 AM

Also, I think Korg has made enough money of their triton series to last them another 10-15 years if needed. :lol:

Juho L

23.01.2005, 09:34 AM

I think Korg will realize that the OASYS is way to damn expensive, and either reduce the price, or come up with an LE/rack/software (TI sort of thing) version at a major discount.

Well, the discount should be 50% or more to make it to be reasonaby priced. Will this be enough to compensate the R&D costs? The major problem with Oasys is that it's just an average synth with fancy specs. The sound just isn't what you would expect from a synth like that. The PCM side sounds thin on most areas and the purely synthetic side is average... For example that Alesis fusion costs less than 2000 euros and could even sound better than Oasys (still waiting for the demos...). This will definetly cause trouble for Korg. If Fusion sounds ok Oasys should be priced to 3500? to be considerable competitor for Fusion and that's quite hell of a price drop from that eight grands.

This year will definately be hard for Korg. If it won't go bankrupt, it will at least be in touch and go state for a while. The only Korg products that have sold ok have been cheap stuff/software like MicroKorg and Legacy. I think Korg should start manufacturing budget stuff and software because it seem to be good at that stuff. Korg seem to be able to produce high tech gear, but somehow the sound is always something else than high tech.

Merlot

23.01.2005, 09:40 AM

Well, the discount should be 50% or more to make it to be reasonaby priced. Will this be enough to compensate the R&D costs?

Agreed 100% and I hope it would be enought to cover the costs of R&D considering the OASYS is a 10 year old piece of kit.

This year will definately be hard for Korg. If it won't go bankrupt, it will at least be in touch and go state for a while. I think Korg should start manufacturing budget stuff and software because it seem to be good at that stuff. Korg seem to be able to produce high tech gear, but somehow the sound is always something else than high tech.

I agree also. I think Korg is in a somewhat state of denial. This is why Alesis does sooooo well, and are still around. They realize they a a "budget" product company. Now that does not take away from their quality of product, it is just that they have found their neiche and are developing products that most consumers can afford.

Juho L

23.01.2005, 10:53 AM

Agreed 100% and I hope it would be enought to cover the costs of R&D considering the OASYS is a 10 year old piece of kit.

Ten years of R&D doesn't make it any cheaper. It's opposite. It's ten years of almost wasted time and money.

I agree also. I think Korg is in a somewhat state of denial. This is why Alesis does sooooo well, and are still around. They realize they a a "budget" product company. Now that does not take away from their quality of product, it is just that they have found their neiche and are developing products that most consumers can afford.

I say that problem isn't a high price. The problem is quality not meeting the price. It's ok to price a synth even at eight grands if the synth actually is worth it. If a synth is worth eight grands there also will be people who will buy that synth. Getting a synth that's worth less than four grands with eight grands would be considered as corporate charity.

Korg just doesn't seem to find a sound that would justify high price tags so the only option would be fixing the pricing policy and start to be like a Behringer of synths: Not so fancy, but affordable.

Merlot

23.01.2005, 11:09 AM

It's ten years of almost wasted time and money.
I wouldnt say it is wasted. Korg had success with the OASYS card that was released. It is not like they just developed this for 10 years and now it is finally coming to fruition. The OASYS card has been out for years, and alot of people bought into it.

Juho L

23.01.2005, 11:12 AM

The OASYS card has been out for years, and alot of people bought into it.

I don't think the synth contains exactly the same stuff. I believe it has been improved and finetuned for years, but on the other hand Korg is famous for releasing stuff that's almost 10 years old.

By the way what's the idea in this whole Oasys dealy business. First they didn't release it because it would have costed 10k's so they decided to wait till technology would allow to make it cheaper. Now they released it and it costs only 2k's less. No sense in that, I say.

Merlot

23.01.2005, 11:18 AM

I think it is funny too that it is only 2G's cheaper than the aimed price 8-10 years ago. Dont see the sense in it either. Are people making more $$$ nowadays?

Anyways, specs on original PCI card can be found here (http://www.korg.com/oasyspci.htm)

AlexHall74

23.01.2005, 12:11 PM

Merlot wrote:
I think it is funny too that it is only 2G's cheaper than the aimed price 8-10 years ago. Dont see the sense in it either. Are people making more $$$ nowadays?

Yup, pretty funny pricing indeed...

Dipshits!

As far as people making more money now-a-days?

Hmm...Corporations have been in a recession forever.

The company I work for has posted record years two years in a row and is giving everybody piddly-shit raises (3%) which are really a cost of living adjustment (COLA).

We just got sick leave (3 days...woohooo) and bereavement leave granted this month!

Benefits packages get shittier and shittier (here in the U.S.). I pay $5,000 a year pre-tax to cover my wife and 2 kids for dental and medical.

Am I even the least bit tempted to look into an Oasys?

HELL NO!

I'm cool with my KC and soft synths for now.

hatembr

24.01.2005, 06:50 AM

When kurzweil just released their K2600 with its tons of innovative options at that time it costed around 6000$, so if there were people who could afford that 2600 beast, then i think there are certainly those who may afford an Oasys workstation at 8000$, big post prod studios usually love those kind of sophisticated machines, so they can certainly buy it. I don't think it is going to bankrupt, the price will certainly drop but never by 50% so that modest-2500euro-virus users could buy it, we are definetly not the targeted market.

Panopticon

24.01.2005, 07:46 AM

I'm not really convinced that they made it to sell. I think of it kind of like the Cadillac Sixteen: they just made it to show what they could make. For a company that has that much money, they probably learned a lot in the development of it that will trickle down into products that are actually desirable in a consumer driven market.

Listening to the thing, though, I can't imagine anyone in their right mind shelling out 8 large for it. I think it's just more of a statement: "Look, now there's a workstation that replaces the entire studio. No, seriously, look....HEY over here!!!" Something like that....

F5D

24.01.2005, 11:47 AM

Panopticon, I was thinking exactly the same. Maybe we'll see some cheaper products which use some of the oasys technology or something.

Timo

24.01.2005, 12:51 PM

I don't reckon that Korg are going to go bankrupt (considering the success of all of their earlier synths), but I do reckon they're going to have to drop their price on that Oasys, big time. It's just not worth anywhere near that much cash, with the current spec's and bundled "software instruments".

chinard

08.02.2005, 05:23 PM

These threads always crack me up.

So many people with strong opinions that have never heard or tried it in the first place.
Basing their bashing purely on a pricetag that is way out of reach of your average home musician is just silly. You dont hear people on car forums bashing the price of the latest top of the line Astin Martin, BMW, or Ferrari.
Someone also brought up a reasonably good point in abother thread here about the original tag price of the Jupiter 8 being $6000 or some of Kurzweil's overpriced monsters.

I look at it this way. The only way i would be buying the oasys is if my studio burned down and i got a crapload of insurance money to replace my gear.
In this respect i could easily shrink most of my studio into this one machine.

Also, the oasys is nothing new. This is technology that they abandoned a few years ago that they are bringing back with alot of other brand new technologies.
What does this mean to the average home studio musician?
Nothing right now, but I'd wager that korg will be releasing dozens of smaller products to spin off the new technology found in the oasys.
If you actualy look under the hood of the oasys, its pretty similar to the Eko Opensynth. All built on PC components. I'm seeing a huge potential for PC accessories taken from the oasys.

Bjorktribe

09.02.2005, 01:42 AM

Man, I'd hate to see korg go. I don't think they will either. The Oaysis will simply be under produced and become a rare thing to see in a studio. Soft synths and keyboard controllers will soon be walking in hordes all over the 8K price tag - or are they already? Korg needed something to show. They got it. They're happy. Lets make something more accessible now, huh?

Juho L

09.02.2005, 02:35 PM

Soft synths and keyboard controllers will soon be walking in hordes all over the 8K price tag - or are they already?

They are already. $8k is such big heap of money that you can get everything as sepperate synths/software that Oasys has and it will sound seven times better. Like I said Oasys is not totally bad synth. The problem is just that it's not worth of the price.

DIGITAL SCREAMS

12.02.2005, 10:42 PM

I didnt vote because I really dont know. Korg have so many products....so diversified.....they would be unlikely to go under.

Now, If Korg have had made a 16 voice analog poly synth then id say $8000 would be reasonable. It is a shame so few companies are making true analog polysynths. Its only a matter of time before VA gets maxed out (how many features do you really need?)....before manufacturers will be forced to offer something novel again (i.e. true analog poly's).

Thats just my opinion....

DS

tranzash

10.05.2005, 10:32 PM

I am more interested to see who will buy the OASYS. $8000.00 8O

blay

11.05.2005, 04:51 AM

can we add another option to the poll:
3."dont care either way..."

never owned or used any korg gear (beside an old ms20 which i loved).

cheers

blay

Gopal

11.05.2005, 05:32 AM

blay

11.05.2005, 06:08 AM

I'm with Blay. Never owned any Korg gear besides my guitar tuner. its cool too and I paid $30 for it.

Never bought into any of that electribe shit and don't see any other products they make that excite me. Probably Legacy Collection is their best product at the moment IMHO

yeah ive heard good things about the legacy collection - anyone here using it? do you own it gopal?

cheers

blay

Merlot

11.05.2005, 07:10 AM