It’s got a few things I think Korg arrangers desperately need, especially those 12 stereo insert effects, but I’m disappointed how small the sample RAM is... 2GB is hardly state of the art, and it shares it with whatever PCM libraries you install (no news yet about how fast those load, always a Korg Achilles heel). And the same 16,000 or so sample location limit, hardly changed from the PA4X’s. For those that want to go all Ketron and use timesliced drum and percussion loops, that limit is quite restrictive.

There’s also no mention that I saw about any radical rewrite of the Hammond section, where I’ve long felt that the Leslie sim needs a serious do over!

All in all, as an engine to power a future PA series arranger, it’s got a lot going for it. But it still feels more like a Kronos with some lipstick than a new engine. Ten years doesn’t get you much progress in Korg-land! And where it counts (arranger users rely a LOT more heavily on sampled traditional instruments than synth engines) it doesn’t really come off as much of a step forward at all. Those sampler section figures, and the PCM ROM totals don’t represent much of a step forward at all.

But the 12 insert effects would be a major game changer alone to Korg’s incredibly archaic insert effects section, which lags decades behind its competition.

My major concern is, do Korg consider the arranger market big enough to do the considerable work it would take to port the arranger software to use the modules of the Nautilus engine that would be of use to the market (most of that synth stuff would fall on deaf ears!)..? That’s going to cost big bucks, for a dwindling market that has already seen one of its major players quit altogether!