I would have loved a Kronos successor with the basic shell of the PaX5 shell (a fold-able screen, 16 pads, ... a 16-64 step button sequencer), and an improved GUI that doesn't require all the menu diving of the old Kronos.
I really think this is, as you mentioned toward the end, an intermediary step to reinvigorate product interest until the next flagship is available. At the moment, there's no other Korg product that would qualify as a "flagship," so they have no real reason to not refer to it as such. And yet I suspect we will continue to see Kronos keyboards on professional stages for years to come. Even Jordan Rudess, who they got to come demo the aftertouch on the new Nautilus AT for their intro video, still uses Kronos live.
Also, with Yamaha set to unveil their next flagship later this year, I would guess that Korg and Roland are content to let them shoot first. That gives them time to react and maybe announce something next year, possibly for 2025 release. I don't think that's crazy timing. The Fantom came in 2018, and the Nautilus came out in 2021 (but was mostly built on existing R&D).
It seems like the Nautilus was just in the right place at the right time to pick up the flagship label. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds... Thanks for stopping by!
thanks for your video Matt. As a kronos user I will not sell it to buy a Nautilus AT. The kronos already has after touch and that is the only new thing they are adding the Nautilus. Come on Korg!!!! The kronos for me, is still the king of workstation. You will not find all the funtions on other keyboard. The other day I laughed at a Nord stage 4 keyboard because they were shwing off how you can layer 4 souds, but you can layer up to 16 on the Kronos. I think that Kronos is not the flagship because they discontinued it. It would haave been a better idea to improve the kronos because the Nautilus is not half the workstation the kronos is.
Thanks for sharing! I don't think anyone will downsize to the Nautilus AT if they already own the Kronos. I agree with you in that the Kronos remains superior to the Nautilus AT, though I've never owned or played either, sadly. Hoping we see a true Kronos successor soon. Thanks again for sharing!
The main problem is that they are either to lazy to put resources into updating the software, or they fired all the tecs that developed the Oasys. By ditching the KARMA engine they got rid of paying royalty to use it and introduced the Nautilus with less controls, without aftertouch and afterwards added the AT models that make it cost the same as the old Kronos. It's so silly planning. It wouldn't have cost them that much to plan a future upgrade path and compile the Linux kernel to 64bit with a new modern mobile mobo with pre soldered ram and a gen 4 nvme ssd for better stability. The sound engines already in it is still today very good and none of the competitions is even close to rival the Kronos even its based on 20 year old proprietary software and takes an enginering degree to comprehend all it's posibilities. They already have several of the engines in their Legacy collection as VST's and their newer lineup of Opsix, Modwave etc, based on Pi Compute modules is already made as VST's and if they can do this they can also pretty easy make a new Linux VST host instead of the old Oasys host. The only thing that is holding back the Kronos for further development is the 32bit based host and the old Atom processors used, and the fact that finding hardware replacements as the older of the Kronos'es start to fail is getting hard without the software wupporting new hardware.
I've wondered if the Kronos is so good that Korg is having some problems coming up with something better that they can still sell for less than $5000...
@@mwmusic29 As We all know, Korg is a branch of Yamaha. So it is a method to diversify different ideas by using different brandings and not a sign of some company money problems. I agree -- Nautilus has limitation with removed aftertouch, but is was a cheapest top workstation on market with "huge" 60GB SSD. When buyin one last December I was expecting to see a new "Kronos" this year but the price was very important issue. So it is better to buy couple extra controllers if needed than to pay 5000USD instead of 2000.
I think a lot of people judge the Nautilus because of the videos showcasing the keyboard which are not representative of what this instrument can do in my opinion (actually I got one and I was surprised after editing sounds, it behaves way better than expected). It is a pro instrument and it sounds as such. I like the Kronos as well, it was a good flagship.
Im thinking about a new high end keyboard. What puts me off the nautilus is the lack of the Karma function. Unless I'm much mistaken Korg haven't replaced it with anything, seems like a retrograde move to me if this is their new flagship.
@@garyhendrie4001 I had heard when the Nautilus came out that perhaps the licensing agreement between Korg and Steven Kay had run out and was not being renewed so they no longer had access to his Karma technology. Not sure if that’s accurate but it might explain the lack of Karma functionality on the Nautilus. Thanks for stopping by!
I’m going to play devils advocate, as an owner of a Nautilis, not an ATT, but an original Nautilus. I have actually received an email to my Korg account, saying that for a cost, I can actually upgrade my Nautilus to have the after touch feature. it would pretty much be like taking it to an authorized repair center and then them doing the upgrades there. But I don’t know what to think. I always like the. Kronos and all of its extra functionality. However, for my needs, mainly doing worship gigs and such, and traveling a lot and having to work without roadies or anything like that, I thought the nautilus would be more streamlined for performance and things. And I do love having the nine synthesis engines from the flagship Kronos as well. I think I have owned mine since September, so a couple of months, shy of a year, but I really do love it for what it is. It has the premium RHR keyboard, it’s a quality finished instrument made in Japan, the interface is decent, even for someone legally blind, such as myself to navigate. and also, I picked up the nano control USB controller to add back some of the fader functionality from the Kronos. And with all the empty space on the case of the instrument, you can just set the nano control on there and then have access to all of thosefaders and sliders and such and it disconnects to the USB port.😊
Thanks for sharing your perspective as a Nautilus owner. I failed to mention the upgrade available to current Nautilus owners and I appreciate the reminder. Let me know if you decide to have the upgrade made to your board. I’d be interested to hear about that experience. Thanks for stopping by!
@@mwmusic29 doing the upgrade kind of sounds like how it was for early adopters of the Yamaha DX seven when the DX seven with midi was later released and then previous purchases of the DX seven were allowed to, for a fee, have the midi upgrades done to their instrument.
I hope it is a similar situation with the M3. That was supposed to be the Successor of the Triton (Flagship), but the Oasys was around as well, but at a very restrictive price. At the end they did the Kronos and the M3 was displaced as "flagship". I like Korg, I hope they don't fade away in terms of quality and innovation.
As a long time user since release of Kronos 2, it’s crazy that nothing else comes close after all these years in terms of a hardware workstation. This board feels like it will be with me forever. In fact, I’ve just purchased my first sound pack, KAPro Showcase and my Strings patches have been given a new lease of life. The reality is, hardware synths just aren’t as popular these days as computer based/VSTs and all. So the demand for Korg to bring out a proper successor isn’t really there. If a new updated Kronos comes, I’ll be the first name on that list without a shadow of doubt. Thanks for the video
Yeah it seems like it’s going to be really tough to improve on the Kronos. I’ll be interested to see what the next year brings. Thanks a lot for stopping by!
After hearing the news of the Kronos being discontinued, i had a feeling a 'genuine' Kronos successor would take a while to show up considering the Nautilus is what the Yamaha MODX line is to the Montage. But now that it's officially in writing as you showed in the video, it may be an even longer wait indeed. :( Thanks for the info, Matt!
Yes, the MODX is the perfect parallel to how the Nautilus was positioned. The Nautilus basically inherited the flagship tag by being the next best thing. Thanks for stopping by!
Sadly, the Nautilus is not Korg's answer to the MODX. The MODX is 100% file compatible with it's big brother, the Montage. This means all the tons of sound collections made for the Montage can directly load into the MODX. That also includes the entire MOTIF series of keyboards too, and the DX-7 as well. The MODX shaved off half the weight of the Montage. The MODX was much less expensive than the Montage, especially true before the MODX+ came out which raised the prices a bit. The MODX operates the same as the Montage. The Nautilus is none of these things. In compatible with a huge percentage of Kronos sound collections, and initially, Korg didn't even consider this important and it couldn't load any. Compare buying a new computer, DVD player, etc to this. What if you had to start all over and existing software didn't work? It better be really revolutionary to do that. It's not. Imagine buying a movie player, and the existing base of movies doesn't work. It again, better be something new and revolutionary. The weight of the Nautilus, especially the 61 key version I would have been interested in, only shaved off a couple pounds. The MODX by comparison to the Montage 61 is weight the weight! Making the keyboards operate different makes figuring things out a lot harder. Think of all the Kronos users Nautilus users could have shared online videos and tutorials if they had made the OS the same? With the MODX, the Montage help groups are all compatible with the MODX too. Initially, the Nautilus didn't reduce the cost much over a Kronos, while a MODX (original version) was about half the price of a Montage, maybe even less sometimes. I will say in recent times, there are some better deals on the Nautilus than there was for a while. Korg had to do something to get people to buy it. The MODX has sold like hot cakes for 4 years.
@@classicarcadeamusementpark4242 The price difference is because even the Nautilus is a shaved down Kronos both on the casing and on some of the features it's still a Premium Synth, which the ModX isn't, Its utter cheap plastic and the crappy keybed is far from the Yamaha Quality you see in their Premium models. It's a budget Synth that none the less offers pretty good bang for money if you live with the cheap keys nad casing and having to use a 12v adapter.
In my opinion Korg in the Nautilus Version thought of being more accessible to the market since we were going through a sudden pandemic, the price of the Nautilus today is almost equal to a kronos in its beginnings, the cost of living has currently risen and what they did is maintain the top line but at an equally reasonable price, of course removing hardware, but the Software is totally the same, the nine engines, the sound quality etc etc. The part that they simplified is everything that corresponds to controls for a Workstation, since we know very well that hardly anyone uses these controls to play live, much less make recordings, since for that we have different recording software. Many are obsessed only by the minuscule display compared to the Kronos, however inside it is the same. What I do believe is that in this version of AT it was not difficult for them to include the Ribbon.
Roland had the same situation with the cheap FA 'replacing' the Fantom, which it obviously not could. But they came back with a real Fantom. I'll not be surprised that Korg will come back with a new real flagship. The Nautilus is a midrange synth, just like the Roland FAs were.
People grasping onto the Kronos, are basically clinging to a few, cheap/lame, added controllers. The screen is smaller, on the Nautilus, but the whole interface has been reworked so one screen is used, vs. one screen for multiple functions. (ie. pan and volume are together, but mute and midi channel share another). I've programmed a midi controller, (Novation LPK MK3 Pro), to make up those differences and it has the added functionality, of dynamic slew volume and pan, (which can be recorderded, with the Nautilus sequencer), and per synth, specific controls. Also, the iPad app adds way more, multitouch screen options, (ie. Mixer, arp, sequencer). Kronos did have dedicated controls, but they are basically interference, if you are using it as midi controller, for other synths, and if a single slider dies, (making the whole unit a log in the studio), there is a bill to pay, to get it fixed, out of warranty. Kronos definitely had Karma, but 4 sets of programmable drums and dual arp are a fine replacement... but yeah, Karma might be the biggest loss.
Hi Matt! Maybe the Nautilus AT is the flagship for now until the true kronos succesor comes out. I would like to see a successor to the kingkorg lineage!
Yeah I think the Nautilus AT is a placeholder but it remains to be seen how long that will last... A kingkorg followup would be cool. My guess is that while the logue series remains out there KORG will stick with analog versus virtual analog. But we'll see! Thanks for stopping by!
so wait - a nautilus is $1700, but if you want after touch, it's $500 more? I bought a kronos X 73 6 years ago and almost never use it and have tried to sell it, but maybe I should hold onto it?
I was told that they skipped the 76-key simply due to sales volumes of previous releases, combine with future marketplace expectations. The one place where I still find it an odd omission, is with respect to owners being offered the upgrade on existing non aftertouch units. They (Korg) are literally neglecting a portion of their present customer base with the present approach.
That’s an interesting point. I haven’t looked much into the upgrade program but didn’t even think about whether all three keybed configurations would be available for upgrade.
Hi. Good video. I stepped up to Nautilus from Krome and it's perfect for me. I was always clumsy whenever I played Kronos. Kept hitting the vector stick. It was very frustrating. Upon its release I believed that Nautilus was a replacement of the Krome line. But I now think that it might take a spot between the Krome and Kronos replacements. I anticipate that there might soon be a Nautilus "EX" model and possibly a few special editions before the true Kronos successor launches. Nautilus (And HD-1) will probably be relegated to the mid-range bracket and likely this will enable Korg to launch a rebranded model line that fuses the features of Krome and Kross extending the relevance of EDS-X as the budget synthesis standard and give their entry-level products features not readily available in that segment. What I anticipate of the new Kronos successor (shall we call it Olympus?): Greater storage capacity with a potential online library model similar to Nord where free lifetime updates are available to "Olympus" users. Possibly even with the option to import Korg Gadget/Korg collection assets directly into the "Olympus". The rest of us will likely still have to buy our sound libraries. I think Korg will be the first to launch tight wifi/bluetooth integration with mobile devices and that "Olympus" will also have more defined scripts resulting in tighter DAW integration. This might open up the possibility for editing parameters from a tablet. We might see those Vox style slider controls adapted to the "Olympus". Polyphonic after touch will likely be the standard by then so that's a given. KARMA 3? Likely the majority of front panel controls will be touch sensitive/capacitative. The screen might also get a massive upgrade. I think they've refined the TFT screen as much as it can be. I think that the screen will likely be able to tilt, maybe in a way that pays homage to the M3. About the screen, I think it's going to take up more real estate and I expect to find a KaossPad style screen mode from the M3 or, preferably, a newly designed vector dial such as Yamaha's Super Knob but probably more understated/elegant. Maybe HDMI out like on the PA Series. Infinite polyphony for most sound engines? Maybe faster boot times? I'm trying to be conservative but some of my predictions are a bit wild. I have even wilder predictions concerning cosmetics/features that might be novel but they're a little out there.
This is a great list! There are many valid items that you’ve shared and it would sure be exciting to see them implemented in the next big workstation. I really appreciate you stopping by and sharing here! Fingers crossed we have some news sooner rather than later.
While I do not own a nautilus. I could tell the Korg put more finishing touches on the sounds , they seemed better the kronos. I do think nautilus is esthetics are not as nice but look at the price.
Looks new to me, though I haven't been following the newer workstations. I still have the M3-88 which is getting neglected. Just noticed that the Prologue 16 has been discontinued as well. Seems like they referred to that as a flagship when introduced.
@@BobIGomez I upgraded from the 8 to the 16 earlier this year. Glad I got it done in time!! :) I've actually been wondering how long they would stick with the prologue...
I'd love a Krome 61 replacement with similar weight and form factor but a better keybed action. My Krome is 2012 release date but still very capable. I had a Kronos 61 but found it too big and heavy for my liking.....but hell it was good.
One thing to note here is that these "announcements" are almost like a movie script, at least to me. The announcement came around the time that Yamaha announced that the Montage is discontinued. I wouldn't be surprised to know that some of the folks at Yamaha have friends at Korg and Roland and vice versa, and though they might not share a lot, they are a business after all, and will want to attract and sell as much as they can to many consumers. But I'm curious as to what is cooking in Korg's kitchen that made Yamaha to announce the month of their new incoming flagship.
Yeah , but when Yamaha announced the Montage was discontinued, at the same time they announced that there would be a new generation Montage launched in Oct 23. They did just that, and by all accounts the Montage M series is an improvement on the previous Montage , one of which I have, but I prefer the Kronos. Korg just fobbed us off with an inferior product , the Nautilus , and are trying to spin it as a sucessor to Kronos. I still love the Kronos but I think Korg are treating their customers with contempt.
That's interesting outcome. The whole idea of removing an aftertouch from Nautilus and giving it back with AT version looks like some weird marketing special operation. However with using external controllers We can get back all the lost functions. More to that Nautilus has much greater hard disk capacity which is good, in compare to Kronos. Also I believe we may get a new system update as well for a regular Nautilus after the sales will start. So I do not see any benefits from AT if someone has a regular one. ---- IMO KORG is a great piano/organ/synth addition to YAMAHA station which is more universal with its basses and drums.
To me, it's like saying; "The Honda Accord has been discontinued." "The Honda Civic is the new flagship. That's what this feels like with Korg! I just cannot accept this. In the meantime, I hope my first generation Kronos will continue to serve me well and may it not just stop working some day soon. It's been such a blessing to have and use it. I was just looking forward to a new version of the Kronos, that would be at least a little more advanced yet, on top of what it already still has been.
Thanks for sharing! Good analogy. I would love to have a Kronos and I’m glad yours has been such a benefit! I have high hopes that KORG will have a new replacement to announce soon. Thanks again for stopping by!!
@@mwmusic29 Between Jordan Rudess and Herbie, they must know something and may have even spoken up to Korg for this issue. Surely they wouldn't want a Nautilus.
Attention Korg: If you release a comprehensive VST version of the Kronos, I'd buy that....twice. Would be great to have all that firepower in a package that is easily transportable via Mac or PC for fly dates. No way I'd ever let TSA touch my Kronos. Please for the love of God, give us that VST!
Why do you say you can’t get the same results with the Nautilus?. I think you can sound as good as with the Kronos. It has a brighter sound, but not necessarily worse.
Since the piano and other keyboard sounds are important to me, this news will likely steer me towards a Kurzweil 2700. I would have liked to see a legit Kronos replacement first, but now that looks like it’s quite a ways down the road.
The Kurzweils sound sóó 1992. I wouldn't consider that as an alternative to a modern Korg, Roland or Yamaha. Even the interface of the Kurzweil seems to come from a century ago.
Hey Matt - I don't follow workstations very closely but - no aftertouch? Really? As someone pointed out - every keyboard will be looking over its shoulder at the Osmose 😊 $2K - you could get an Op-six SEE for that 😄
It almost feels like Korg knew they needed aftertouch on a workstation so rather than roll out a new one they just added it to the Nautilus. You can also get your classic Nautilus upgraded with the new keybed. I'm imaging this is not a longterm position the Nautilus will hold in the lineup, but rather a stop gap. Time will tell! :)
It's odd that they would call it the flagship when the Kronos is still better in my opinion. Will wait and see what will be there actual Flagship will be in the near future.
Had i been an owner of Kronos, i never would've upgraded to Nautilus, there is absolutely no reason to do this, Nautilus looks like a downgrade to Kronos with the lack of knobs/sliders too. Nautilus being the successor to Kronos makes no sense, they would need to come out with something different for that. Now, the interesting thing is what Yamaha is gonna do with their successor to Montage which they will reveal hopefully quite soon.
I can’t afford a PA5x, the nautilus is too stripped down for me. The Korg was almost in the sweet spot. I was almost a steal with EVERYTHING it was capable of, now I can hardly find a used one anywhere.
If you mean a used KRONOS I totally agree. I think folks might be hanging onto them until KORG rolls out an appropriate replacement. A used KRONOS X popped up for sale near me recently and it's very tempting but it's still more than I can afford at the moment. Thanks for stopping by!
I don't are if the Nautilus is their flagship keyboard because that's all they have, I also love and have the KRONOS 2 both in looks and power and Nautilus looks more like a toy to me, they left many things out hardware wise but the only thing that makes it better is more sound libraries out of the box.
This is the flagship. Its basically a kronos with a krome screen. Its not bad at all. Remember that kronos has an SSD drive for yhose piano patches and other sounds. Nautilus has it too. The design tho is like krome to me tho, with metal tho instead of plastic. But every time i see a nautilus online, i always think its a krome at first.
Seems to me, Korg Kronos 2 was a really great machine, then they released the Nautilus.. Good name, not so great a machine. Meanwhile, the Kronos was hard to find. Weird. I turned away from workstations, but I still wonder.. Great video!
I agree - cool name but wasted on a step down workstation. I won't be able to afford whatever might be coming next but I'm interested to see what it is! Thanks for stopping by!
Coming from the Motif XS8, I tried it in a music shop a couple of years ago, then went on to buy a Nord Grand instead. No regrets, amazing piano :)@@mwmusic29
I think the next flagship of Korg is already in development, however, with the release and success of Nautilus, they may have thought to spend more time in the develpment of their next flagship. However, I think if the release of the Nautilus had been a flop, we should have seen a new flagship released by now. We have seen this kind of strategy before with Roland, taking too much time in the development of the Fantom, leaving the Roland FA on top of the line up.
I agree - the Nautilus is likely buying time for development of something else. I wasn’t aware Roland did this same kind of thing - thanks for the insight!
Cmon Korg...after their Kronos, everything gone down hill...They need to come up with something better...Nautillus could never be their successor since it has been a watered down version of the Kronos....I hope Korg is not running out of creativity/ideas.
PS- pun intended. They're spending a boatload to developed the PS-3300.And it's going to cost tens of thousands of dollars to buy. Great set of priorities Korg. I can't wait until Uli clones the Kronos. With extras.
Nautilus is flagship because they discontinued the Kronos2 and Korg currently don’t have anything to put that category. Nautilus is better than a Krome and little brother of the Kronos but still the actual space for the flagship is there in the Korg workstation range. First model was not so impressive it had a good sounds but for the price they didn’t even offer key after touch, so surprisingly it was a drawback in fact with the AT version they should give the Ribbon control so that it make more sense at this price. It’s not in the price range of MODX+ and Fantom O series. I don’t think so Korg will replace the Kronos soon. Now days vst is ruling in music production so at least whatever they have it should very friendly with all the daw so it can work as a proper midi controller and solve the purpose of live and studio work. The design of Nautilus is nice and unique but it’s too heavy and look bulky they should give more control on the penal like Modx and Fantom O.
Workstations are in a weird spot. Smaller keyboards have been more popular like the Wavestate, and DAWs becoming more ubiquitous for music production, VSTs have been slowly killing the notion of an all in one synth. Even Kronos was a slimmed down Oasys which was a huge step for Korg to attempt to dethrone Gigasampler at the time, but it was a 10k synth because that's how much it cost to pack all that tech into a keyboard rather than a PC with a controller attached.
I have a Kronos. Have tried the Nautilus. Not at all impressed. The only synths I've ever held onto have been my Korgs, but I won't be buying a Nautilus.
Now the new Yamaha M has all the goods that the krones had. kinda sad , the price for the Natales is right on but looks more like my krome EX. If korg does come out with a new keybord to keep up with the new yamahaMx, it's going to be -----hell just give us the Kronos back V3
Except for some updated samples, especially on the pianos, the Nautilus is basically a 2014 keyboard, only worse. At around $2K, it doesn't compare with a 6K Monatae M or Fantom 8. So if this is Korg's "flagship", than they've basically thrown in the towel on tehe high-end workstation market. I really hope that they have a true Kronos successor that moves the game on. But the Nautilus isn't it.
Korg basically "broke ranks" with Roland and Yamaha by putting AT on a workstation in this price category. One can speculate on why. Kurzweil taking market share? AT (especially Poly AT) starting to get a lot of talk? Also, they have ridden the OASYS technology investment for coming up on 30 years now. Their investment in the RPi platform looks to have a long and diverse lifespan now in front of it. My guess is we see one more round of OASYS based kit after this while all the engines/features/libraries are being migrated in the next few years.
I bought an original Nautilus 73 once the price was dropped quite substantially and happy with my purchase at the the new more realistic price considering it's slightly reduced feature set compared to the Kronos. These new AT models for me are again far too expensive since they add on around £600 onto the overall price. I read that the original Nautilus responds to AT via another keyboard so for the same sort of money you could get a Komplete Kontrol instead and have the advantages of direct access to another eco-system at the same time. Korg in my opinion let themselves down badly with their marketing strategy as getting the Nautilus to simply link up to a windows PC via USB a major hassle if you own lots of MIDI gear due to their crazy USB/MIDI driver. Every other board I own is plug and play, sadly not Korg
Thanks for sharing your experience. Glad the purchase is working out for you! I agree - the markup on the new models is too much just to be adding aftertouch.
so, a nautilus with aftertouch - so a Kronos with no Karmo or control surfaces - so a 12 (ish) year old design on a new board/chipset in a new box. ummm - hoping for much much more. not for me.
Still holding my breath to see if Korg will release a New Kronos! Nautilus looks nice, but it's just not the same as my old Kronos 2 88! Karma was fun and creative. AT was included, and not an after thought or money grab! Knobs, sliders, and more buttons made things more intuitive and quicker. All that was lost in the value Nautilus series.
Excellent points. I have a faint sliver of hope that we might see a replacement at the namm show this week but with all the other things they rolled out last week I’m not holding my breath.
It seems that Korg had no real interest in a successor to the Nautilus, which uses older technology and an EOL fan-less motherboard, and have instead invested in their line of professional arrangers. I am not sure what their sales are of the professional arranger keyboards yet Korg has an extensive line of them. You seldom see them online or in people's studios. I have wondered lately if Korg has spread their engineering teams too thin as they have released quite a few half-baked and flawed products that have been marketplace flops and had to fire sale their inventory. The Prologue 16 with its tuning problems, the SQ-64 with its horrible version 1 firmware and the Drumlogue. I would have never released the Drumlogue out to production with the issues that it has. Right now the market place for electronic hardware instruments is more competitive than ever but at the same time facing cost pressures from the low end from software based instruments and AI. Behringer is spraying the market with cheap Moog imitations that are flying off the shelves. Moog just sold out. Groove Synthesis is in the game with a $5,000 synth. ASM Hydrasynth is a new player. Several new UK manufactures are in the business. Yamaha is reloading. Makes me wonder just exactly what Korg's game plan is to survive. Musicians are pretty loyal to their brands but rock their boat too many times and they will jump ship.
After 10-15 years of making the most interesting synths I think Korg have lost their way. The Volcas, MS20 mini, Monologue, Minilogue and Prologue were all great synths but now they just seem to be all about repackaging old gear at higher prices. I am not really in the market for a workstation, my old PA 300 still does the job for me. I understand the Kronos takes 3 minutes to boot up, is the Nautilus any quicker?
No offence intended, but let's be honest. The Nautilus was always going to be the new successor. Whether it be the original or the AT model. Because in a perfect world, regardless of whether it had to do with COVID or not, wouldn't you think that they would KEEP the Kronos/Kronos 2 going UNTIL the successor came out (assuming that the Nautilus wasn't going to be the successor), and THEN discontinue it? Not to mention the fact that Korg flat out lied to us. Because even before the Nautilus was released Korg did a livestream video to show off the Nautilus, and Luciano Minetti said IN that video, that the Nautilus was only going to be another 'option; and the Kronos wasn't going anywhere. LIE!!!!!!!!!. Because now the Kronos is being discontinued, and now replaced by the Nautilus with LESS hands on controls than what the Kronos had. Now I doubt that was Luciano's fault that he said that, and was basically told to say that by upper management, but you get my point. Yes you could argue that you would get used to the lack of hands on physical controls on the Nautilus/AT, but still.
@@mwmusic29 No worries. My pleasure 😀. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. Assuming the Nautilus is only a placeholder (for lack of a better term) until the ‘official’ successor comes out, what sense does it make discontinuing a legitimate flagship like the Kronos/Kronos 2 until then?
Korg is looking for a new revenue generating source. So AT but no PAT? That's lame. Behringer even has a PAT synth now. Korg is always dragging their heels on innovation, taking existing technologies and repackaging, sometimes dumbing down in the process. Their flagships are always pricey and aimed at a niche market of professionals who can afford the investment.
I think the Nautilus AT would be an OK keyboard if nothing else existed, but its a terrible indictment on Korg legacy for innovation. I come at this as a former Korg sales rep and music producer who has owned and used korg since M1 through to Kronos. Multi layer velocity sensitivity has been with us since 01W and is equal to the function of after touch. I would often program 4 layers across 127 increments of velocity depth to get the exact same outcome of after touch. Along with combi and performance patch edits, you could assign effects chains and triggers to get the same outcome. They've launched after touch to compete with Roli Seaboard who really are innovating, but who are crap at distribution. You can't get lumi or roli where I live in Australia. I always look for inspiration from korg. You hop on a combi that blows your mind, then you create. I found Kronos boring. Nautilus is worse. The last truly innovative board was probably M3 and Triton. In fact I'm out shopping for old boards and definitely not interested in last two iterations. More likely to get Trton and M3 and lumi and seaboard or nord. Using ableton and logic pro with vst. Definitely interested in 88 rh3 hammer master controller with after touch. But love the vector x y controller style on korg and hate controller wheels.
Thanks for sharing your perspective! I enjoy hearing from folks who have been in the industry as I find they have a unique viewpoint that can help shape my outlook. I definitely agree with you about finding a good combi and letting it take you somewhere! You mentioned using Ableton and Logic Pro with VST - do you use any of the synths from the KORG Legacy Collection?
Very much doubt Korg will bring a successor to the Oasys lineup. The havn't developed on it ever since the first Kronos came out. They use the tech in the downgraded Nutilus and Grandstage series mainly to milk the tech as long as they can find suitable hardware that don't require any major software updated. They focus primarily on smaller cheaper Synths today. I even dare to doubt that they will ever do a 5+ grand Workstation again apart from their arranger lineup.
I blame roland and yamaha for this. Korg does not have to release a true succesor to the kronos because the competition is not there. Korg needs competition to push them to develop. Keep milking as long as you can
