Whittling down a gearpile into something lean and ergonomic yet still inspirational and usefull is a lot easier when one of the keyboards you're keeping is a feature-laden monster...I'm down from over twenty five synths to just seven now thanks to this beast.
Partly this was about decreasing studio clutter and improving studio ergonomics. While the Sequencer and Hard disk recorder in the Oasys isn't quite as flexible as my ProTools TDM rig, I feel its way more immediate for "scratchpad" recordings and has already helped me get more music completed - which is the bottom line. Also, instead of having all the useful gear spread all over the studio, its all in one tight area and I can reach all the keyboards at the same time from one position. The Oasys has already handily replaced these items which were sold to help fund its purchase:
Nord Electro 73, Nord Lead 2X, Ensoniq MR Rack, Kurzweil PC2R, Yamaha TG33, Yamaha TG55, Alesis Fusion 8HD, Waldorf Q, Kawai K5000, Roland V-Synth, a couple Electribes and some other bits and pieces...
The various embedded synth engines are pretty damn deep, its way more than "a rompler with a recorder and Karma bolted on" - three very different VAs, a full-fledged Sampler, and Physical Modelling are just the beginning. The manual is the size of a phonebook but, even so, just programming it with that huge touchscreen interface is a dream of intuitive simplicity and the clarity of sound is impressive, well...It can be an absolute beast too. My own sounds are already outclassing all but the weirdest presets ;)
The UI is just so very immediate. You touch a component of a particular sound and the screen goes to that page, you touch the parameter on that page and move a slider - voilla, instant editing! This is both the deepest synth and the easiest synth I've ever used. Multiple stackable synthesis engines, a myriad of 16 chainable effects per patch (including some weird-ass waveshapers) and very flexible modulation routing mean I'm going to still be learning the ins and outs of this beast for quite some time...
I wanted to get rid of all my romplers and my mutiple keyboards and modules that had a ton of overlap and try to find something that combined them all in one unit...that pretty much weeded out all the keyboards on the market except for the Kurzweil K2600 and the Oasys...I didn't like the nested menus of VAST so Kurz was out even though the sound is unparalleled...or so I thought...
The quality of audio of the Oasys has exceeded my expectations. The Organ modelling is subtle yet gritty, it makes my old Nord Electro sound like a caricature of a B3 in comparison...the orchestral sounds are sublime and rival anything I've ever heard out of a Kurzweil, including the K2600...the VA is deep and powerful but extremely easy to edit via the 10" touchscreen and easily rivals the Nord Lead, Waldorf Q and Alesis Ion though I think it can sound much warmer than those.
My "perfect studio setup" consists of three keyboards and a handfull of modules...so I'm pretty much there. I'm already feeling a lot freer as well as more focused. We'll see how it goes but so far its been great...
For further info on this unique instrument, feel free to visit Korg's OASYS site. Better yet, see it in action in some of the videos Stephen Kay, KARMA's creator, has made with this amazing instrument.
What you give is what you get.
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