I'm not shocked nor was I whining at the Oasys' price point, I'm miffed it doesn't offer more new and unique features and isn't more intuitive considering its competition and price point. For me price is not the issue and had the Oasys blown me away, I'd have taken it home the same day I played it. In addition to my Fairlights I own The Wersi Abacus, Lionstracs MS-76, Triton Pro, Roland XV5080's, AKAI samplers, and lots of vintage analog synths and can tell you first hand the Oasys isn't nearly as impressive to me as it may be to someone looking to move up from a Tyros, Triton, Fantom, Technics, or Motif. The NEKO I wouldn't consider because its cheaply built, has serious software issues, and is definitely not in the same category as the Wersi, Lionstracs, or Oasys.

To compare the Oasys's market position to what the Fairlight and Synclavier were in the late 1970 and 1980's is silly. Think about it, what other keyboards existed prior to the Fairlight and Synclavier that offered sampling, synthesis, FFT, multitrack sequencing, and hard disk recording all in one? None that I know of. These were ground breaking instruments that now have a legacy in keyboard history.

The Oasys is by no means the first Open Architecture keyboard its just the first one funded by a large MI manufacturer. Don't get me wrong... I love the fact Korg is jumping into the arena with the Oasys but its not like Korg has come out with anything that's new and innovative. Wersi's had the Abacus on the market now for at least 4 years and the Abacus offered nearly the same features way back then. In fact the Abacus features have continually grown over the years and each time it becomes a new instrument. The Fairlight CMI III came out in the mid 80's and with the exception of polyphony, it does nearly what the Oasys does and even some things the Oasys can't. You can't repackage something that's been around for years, put it in a pretty new package, slap a near $9000 price tag on it, call it ground breaking, and expect people to flock to it. OK, I guess you can if your name is Korg but its still not going to fool anyone who knows their stuff into believing its a new idea.

I can assure you the Mediastation MS-76 can and does support a ridiculous number of voices, more than the Oasys, and it does this by using multiple processors unlike the Oasys's single processor. On paper the Oasys polyphony looks great but the reality is the polyphony is going to diminish rapidly once you use FX, automation, and disk recording. Korg should have used dedicated multiple processors to handle each section of the Oasys features that way it would greatly improve its performance. Fairlight did this with the CMI and their MFX and DREAM hard disk recorders and that's what makes them so fast to use and sound so much better.

I'm certain in the coming years all the major manufacturers will offer an open ended system for their keyboards and in time they will become more advanced. Perhaps one day we'll see an entirely new technology that sets a new standard? I myself am waiting for that day to happen!