Will Korg Radias be replaced soon?

[TiUser]

Hi folks.

I've noticed that Korg Radias seems to disappear from European music stores.

Is this just temporarily or will the Korg Radias be replaced soon by something new? It is around for about 4 years now and as far as I know has got one major firmware revision too, so...?

[Biopharmer]

I hope so, it would be exciting to see what comes next. Whatever it is, I hope it's multitimbral!

Korg is usually hush-hush though so we'll probably not get an answer until they announce it.

[JimmiG]

Yeah, that would be cool. But it seems Korg doesn't release completely new products very often. For example, the MS2000 was released in 2000 and the Radias in 2006 - that's six years.

[TiUser]

Thanks for the comments.

I think it's a good thing Korg does with at least on major firmware upgrade giving you additional functions, not just bug fixes.

Other makers release "new" HW instead more or less offering just this with some minor HW "improvements" - real new "technology" takes them longer to do as well.

Korg not only pleases customers with free upgrades but helps to protect environment too by releasing less physical gear that way and finally give you more value for your money. I think other makers should consider less environment stressing upgrades too and probably all should think of Korgs idea of the component system where one can keep the keyboard and just upgrade or add a module, another fine idea I think.

[reeper]

Lol @ enviroment angle.

[tapper mike]

Hardware companies are finding it harder and harder to turn a buck. A few zealots won't save a company. While I abhor the iOS electribe this may be the future of korg.

[TiUser]

Lol @ enviroment angle.

Environment is probably not the main aspect but nothing ridiculous either.

[TiUser]

Hardware companies are finding it harder and harder to turn a buck. A few zealots won't save a company. While I abhor the iOS electribe this may be the future of korg.

Not sure if the days of dedicated HW are counted - probably they are.

Hard to say if the big three struggle but numbers are of course a major point for big companies to keep prices down.

Going to a standardized HW is for sure one aspect - if there is any standardization... I think PC's and iPad as well are far from that for audio usage. There are fundamental problems using Windows or other genera purpose computer OS for audio even so it works somehow...

Well, the cheap iPad/iPhone/iPod music software benefits from the basic development and investment already done for many products. The prices I have seen are ridiculous and if there is any revenue it is only coming from huge numbers... I am really in doubt that iPad/iPhone/iPod apps are a motor for innovations.

Maybe another point is that there is already so much synthesizer stuff available in any form you can think of.

Maybe once computer based instruments will have holographic 3D screens with tactile feedback classic HW will vanish...

There are some inherent problems with HW too. If you switch a patch pot's are usually not in the needed position. Encoders with LED rings are expensive and Clavia seems to shrink down their nice HW interfaces too - for cost reasons I guess.

It's a vast area for discussion I guess, isn't it?

[tapper mike]

I agree with you for the most part. One doesn't need 3d holographic display to get a lot out of a computer. I used to love my hardware till I had to haul it somewhere and/or it broke. Today's hardware is basically a streamlined computer designed for limited use. A serious touchscreen tablet pc can replace tonnes of gear and perform effectively. We like hardware because it's dedicated. We go out of our way to amp up our computer when running two in tandem is actually more effective then trying to cram everything into one. Receptor is a computer. It's solid and it's reliable but I don't think of it as being,,,,fully functional till one adds screen and mouse. Which is more gear to carry around that is delicate.

Sometimes I think much has to do with the player environment. Players (Kore etc) are crap.
1. They are too small including and especailly the fonts
2. Menu selection is not well organized. It would be nice if everything was displayed in "sets" Each set would have "songs" with several presets (fxp) per song(different then key switching) That way if you are gigging you aren't digging.
Open the "set" select your first song, go, end of the song you select the next song and go. Instead of digging by sound "type"
Not that this is a rompler discussion, I'm not fond of the M1 Legacy sounds I am fond of the way it handles "combi's" If it could manage combi's like a Tyro's 3 or 4 I'd be a very happy camper.

.....sorry I took this way out of context

[TiUser]

That's a bit OT but the type of discussion I thought of...

The "holographic 3D interface with tactile feedback" is for sure a futuristic vision. What I point to is simply once HW-like gui's can be created without crafting real HW the real things might become even less interesting.

It's true that most today's HW is streamlined computers but that's exactly the difference, it's no universal all purpose OS, it's streamlined to the dedicated purpose... there are also "computers" unlike PC technology that suit audio processing needs much better than a PC. That's why I said PC's work somehow for audio. One Problem with windows is the lack of computational resource management that leads to crackles on overload versus voice stealing on dedicated HW. You can get a PC with 1000 times more power but still this problem will not be solved as long as we run stuff on Windows.

I absolutely agree to your statement with live players environments. This is a topic I am dealing with for years too without really seeing some great change. One basic inconvenience I see is that instant and glitch free sound transitions are hard to realize with PC solutions. If possible at all they need to be planned and painstakingly pre-programmed. It's by far less intuitive and easy to use than "streamlined" HW. While the endless PC options end with resource limits dedicated HW limits itself by it's inherent limited structure.

Maybe you should try "Cantabile". It provides a Setlist where you can advance from song to song or states in a song. However depending on how you've set up sequences loading will need more or less time and just in best cases this can match a Tyros - which has the benefits of "streamlined" computers. And btw the Tyros line has indeed the most intuitively playable sounds I've ever heard. Even expensive Sample libs are no match where you have to sqeeze the realism by key-switching and controller automation...

...still OT, sure but all interesting...

[TiUser]

Korg just hint's in an announcement on korg.com that "Kronos" will be presented on NAMM 2011... rumors opened...

[tapper mike]

I've got Cantabile. Best vsti host I've had in a while. Still I prefer a dedicated host/player-library. If I had the capital I'd build a player environment that would put kore in the ground.

[TiUser]

I agree that there are many libraries but few to none that focus on playability like a Tyros does.

[danbroad]

What we're all missing, and what you're talking about, is [the lack of] an industry standard.

Every softsynth, effect plugin, DAW, preset management system... has a different implementation of automation and control. It's the reason that Novation [Automap], M-Audio [Axiom], NI [Kore] and others have tried to create sprawling and ultimately ineffectual templates by which control can be regained. The answer lies in a unifying standard, not just that of VST/AU/RTAS, but of the control implementation.

Right now, there's nothing out there as elegant as MIDI. Someone will say that MIDI was simple in comparison, and that a genuine unification will never happen. I believe we said that of MIDI in the early 80's.

[Radek]

That's why I said PC's work somehow for audio. One Problem with windows is the lack of computational resource management that leads to crackles on overload versus voice stealing on dedicated HW. You can get a PC with 1000 times more power but still this problem will not be solved as long as we run stuff on Windows.

But that is Windows' problem, other oses (especially ones which can be customized to a core) doesn't have to exhibit such deficits. Actually there are profs of that.
One from major music company, the other in a form of Jack in Linux. Running two (or more) instances of native Linux Renoise and fading between them via JackEQ on the same machine is seamless.

One basic inconvenience I see is that instant and glitch free sound transitions are hard to realize with PC solutions. If possible at all they need to be planned and painstakingly pre-programmed. It's by far less intuitive and easy to use than "streamlined" HW. While the endless PC options end with resource limits dedicated HW limits itself by it's inherent limited structure.

IMHO it's important to stop thing in a Windows centric way. Just ask Korg, especially about their latest flagship workstation the "Kronos".