Posted by
CowboyNeal
on from the under-the-hood dept.
jgwong writes "Korg's newest keyboard, called OASYS, will run Linux with a propietary software developed by themselves. With a 10.4" touchscreen, CD burner and 16-track HD audio recording this looks pretty neat. No information about availability or price, though."
Re:Keyboard?
by
Tarcastil
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Yeah, "synthesizer" would be a better word.
Having checked out the promotional video...
by
PornMaster
·
· Score: 4, Informative
It looks like the UI on the touch screen could use some work. It looks too much like a typical computer GUI, and ripe for fat-fingering and just simply not being intuitively instrument-like.
They tout the power of it being based upon a computer, but I think it'll be a few more generations of this before it really makes an impact.
That only matters if they modify already existing GPL code and distribute it. Their custom stuff doesn't have to be GNU/Free.
Or how else did you think Mandrake, et. al were able to legally distribute Netscape?
Re:GPL keyboard ?
by
cipher+uk
·
· Score: 3, Informative
no. their proprietary software is not GPL'd so does not conform to the GPL license. just because it runs a linux kernel does not mean it needs to release the source code to its programs running on it.
it does however need to make the source to the GPL software on it easily available. an anonymous ftp server will furfill this requirement. shipping the source code with GPL'd works is not necessary. it just needs to be easily available.
ps. slashbots informed me of this.
Re:GPL keyboard ?
by
SuburbaniteFury
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Ahem.
"In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program
with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of
a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under
the scope of this License."
From the GPL, version2.
Re:Is this really in the spirit of the GPL?
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 1, Informative
Linux does support VST plugins and low latency audio.
Check out vstserver and libfst. Both let you run vst plugins and instruments in Linux.
There is a compatability list at: http://www.djcj.org/LAU/ladspavst/
Reliable low latency audio is *expected* by most people who use Linux for music nowadays, not wished for.
Rumor has it that it's going to be priced around $8000 US. Which is pretty outrageous given that you gan do the same with a PC and some software plus a midi controller for a fraction of that. Not to mention that Alesis is releasing a similarly spec'd beast expected to retail closer to $2000.
Re:All well and good...
by
RubberChainsaw
·
· Score: 2, Informative
It was only an attempted suicide. He didn't even succeed at killing himself by jumping from his apartment window.
-- I welcome our new 99% overlords.
MIDI is serial
by
tepples
·
· Score: 2, Informative
It's MIDI, which is unidirectional serial at 31.25 kbps with.
This is not really new
by
DaveCBio
·
· Score: 2, Informative
OASYS has been around for years - http://www.korg.com/oasyspci.htm
If I was going to get something like this I would probably go this route so I would be able to run my exisitng software - http://www.openlabs.com/
Korg isn't the only one running Linux for audio hardware - http://www.museresearch.com/receptor_overview.php
Being in audio I don't really see the advantages of systems like this over a good PC, control surface and a MIDI keyboard. That is unless you are using it for live gigs.
RE: impact of this synth
by
King_TJ
·
· Score: 2, Informative
No way! As soon as I saw this and read the list of specs, I realized this is going to put a big nail in the coffin of the whole Korg Triton line of synth workstations!
The Triton made a *huge* impact in the music synth scene, with almost every major act wanting to be seen with one on stage or in their studio in photos, etc. I see no reason the Oasys won't be the same - serving as the logical upgrade path for Triton users.
I realize most of the Slashdot readers aren't necessarily that interested in following musical instruments.... but it happens I do (and I've owned 2 different Triton models in the past, as well as a Yamaha Motif).
The first thing you have to understand about synthesizers is their market. Most high-end synth purchasers are pretty techno-savvy, actually - but not necessarily experts with modern PC operating systems. They're the types who aren't scared by electronics with many levels of programmable options and parameters, but their focus is only on learning these things if it directly benefits their ability to create/compose better music. They'll use PCs and MIDI, but will pay a premium for a pre-built custom system that is already configured with optimized sound drivers for low latency, etc. etc. They don't want to mess around with all of that themselves.
(By the same token, they're still using these dedicated music workstations rather than keyboard MIDI controllers and software synth programs because of the stability. They don't want something that requires a long "boot up" time, and then might crash in the middle of a performance.)
The Triton used a fairly MS-DOS like filesystem with short filenames and such - but synth owners seemed happy enough with it. I doubt Korg would see a reason to change it much on the Oasys.
Re:This is not unexpected News
by
electr01nik
·
· Score: 2, Informative
One thing, however, is you failed to mention latency. For those that don't know what latency is, it's the time between when you, for example, press a key on your MIDI controller and hear a sound coming out of the software synth on your computer. I own a Digidesign mBox, and if I set the buffers down to 128, I get only 6ms of latency, which I find acceptable in most cases. However the tradeoff is that the lower the # of buffers you have, the more the CPU has to work. The device drivers you use (MME, DirectX, ASIO, whatever Logic Audio for the PC had, before emagic was bought by apple...EASI i think it was called) play a big role in determining latency. In contrast, the MME driver for my soundcard (Realtek AC'97) has 23ms of latency with the buffers set at 1024 (they won't go any lower than that). The directX drivers for the same device give 5ms of latency with buffers @ 256. Yes I realize that that is better than the mBox, but the DirectX driver doesn't have the support for 16 internal tracks like the mBox does.
Latency is always a factor, whether the platform be hardware or software. A hardware synth still has latency, but you most likely won't notice it, but nevertheless, it can be measured. As hardware devices are slowly migrated into software counterparts for PCs, these things need to be taken into account. Fewer buffers mean less latency, but the trade-off is the CPU has to work harder. Add more soft-devices into the fray (reason modules, abelton loops, VST plugins/insturments, audio tracks), thus increasing the number of voices, and the CPU has to work even harder. It's not an exact science, but there are some of us who prefer to shell out the extra $2-300 for a dedicated hardware synth/rack module/drum-machine so to not have to deal with the latency that plague many of their software counterparts. Dedicated hardware, IMO, performs better than 'hardware' designed to run in a software environment which may or may not be 'prepared' to handle it, or has to overcompensate because of limitations in the respective OS.
Now if they could do something about the General MIDI spec...then we would be making progress.
Re:purpose?
by
Atsi+Otani
·
· Score: 2, Informative
As other people have mentioned, a powerbook and oxygen8 will suck for live use. You want something with minimum setup hassle and top-notch reliability.
On the other hand, I don't understand what Korg is trying to do with this keyboard. Sequencing and recording is easier with a computer nowdays, so their workstation approach seems like an unnnecessary feature that increases the price (have to mention that it was a great thing to do in the Korg M1 days).
Additionally, I don't get what they're trying to do with the synthesis. It seems they're trying to market this as an "open architecture synthesis" board, but it doesn't look like anything new. It looks like a CX-3, analog modelling synth and PCM synth bundled in one box, and I don't see the point of doing that. For example, I don't want to play organ and piano on the same keyboard - I want weighted keys for piano and synth keys for organ. If I had 8,000$ to spend on keyboards, I would buy two or three different boards that can do one thing good. Yeah, it's going to suck dragging them around, but you aren't going to have to worry about running out of keys when you have to play organ and piano in the same song.
Re:To which I say "YAY!"
by
BlackHawk-666
·
· Score: 2, Informative
It does seem the next logical step up. I absolutely love my Triton, even if I don't like the "politeness" it seems to impart to all the sounds it makes. Polite that is in comparison to some Waldorf gear. I'd definitely sell mine Triton and get one of these if they come in under £2000 (GBP), but that's mainly because I'd need to recoup some of the cost of the Triton to get one of these and because I don't have room for two keyboards in my bedroom (it's a hobby for me, a bloody expensive one, but a hobby none the less).
NOTE: the main reason I lvoe the Triton is it's big touch sensitive screen, tweakable controllers, and the immedicay of working with it and playing - even if you only want to play for 2 minutes it's not a bother to start her up. Oh yeh, let's not forget the pads, it does great pads.
-- All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, "synthesizer" would be a better word.
It looks like the UI on the touch screen could use some work. It looks too much like a typical computer GUI, and ripe for fat-fingering and just simply not being intuitively instrument-like.
They tout the power of it being based upon a computer, but I think it'll be a few more generations of this before it really makes an impact.
500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
It's *KORG*, man. You'd think people around here knew enough about electronic music to recognize the name...but, no, they only know video cards.
That only matters if they modify already existing GPL code and distribute it. Their custom stuff doesn't have to be GNU/Free.
Or how else did you think Mandrake, et. al were able to legally distribute Netscape?
no. their proprietary software is not GPL'd so does not conform to the GPL license. just because it runs a linux kernel does not mean it needs to release the source code to its programs running on it.
it does however need to make the source to the GPL software on it easily available. an anonymous ftp server will furfill this requirement. shipping the source code with GPL'd works is not necessary. it just needs to be easily available.
ps. slashbots informed me of this.
Ahem.
From the GPL, version2.
Linux does support VST plugins and low latency audio.
Check out vstserver and libfst. Both let you run vst plugins and instruments in Linux.
There is a compatability list at:
http://www.djcj.org/LAU/ladspavst/
Reliable low latency audio is *expected* by most people who use Linux for music nowadays, not wished for.
Rumor has it that it's going to be priced around $8000 US. Which is pretty outrageous given that you gan do the same with a PC and some software plus a midi controller for a fraction of that. Not to mention that Alesis is releasing a similarly spec'd beast expected to retail closer to $2000.
It was only an attempted suicide. He didn't even succeed at killing himself by jumping from his apartment window.
I welcome our new 99% overlords.
It's MIDI, which is unidirectional serial at 31.25 kbps with.
OASYS has been around for years - http://www.korg.com/oasyspci.htm
If I was going to get something like this I would probably go this route so I would be able to run my exisitng software - http://www.openlabs.com/
Korg isn't the only one running Linux for audio hardware - http://www.museresearch.com/receptor_overview.php
Being in audio I don't really see the advantages of systems like this over a good PC, control surface and a MIDI keyboard. That is unless you are using it for live gigs.
No way! As soon as I saw this and read the list of specs, I realized this is going to put a big nail in the coffin of the whole Korg Triton line of synth workstations!
.... but it happens I do (and I've owned 2 different Triton models in the past, as well as a Yamaha Motif).
The Triton made a *huge* impact in the music synth scene, with almost every major act wanting to be seen with one on stage or in their studio in photos, etc. I see no reason the Oasys won't be the same - serving as the logical upgrade path for Triton users.
I realize most of the Slashdot readers aren't necessarily that interested in following musical instruments
The first thing you have to understand about synthesizers is their market. Most high-end synth purchasers are pretty techno-savvy, actually - but not necessarily experts with modern PC operating systems. They're the types who aren't scared by electronics with many levels of programmable options and parameters, but their focus is only on learning these things if it directly benefits their ability to create/compose better music. They'll use PCs and MIDI, but will pay a premium for a pre-built custom system that is already configured with optimized sound drivers for low latency, etc. etc. They don't want to mess around with all of that themselves.
(By the same token, they're still using these dedicated music workstations rather than keyboard MIDI controllers and software synth programs because of the stability. They don't want something that requires a long "boot up" time, and then might crash in the middle of a performance.)
The Triton used a fairly MS-DOS like filesystem with short filenames and such - but synth owners seemed happy enough with it. I doubt Korg would see a reason to change it much on the Oasys.
Latency is always a factor, whether the platform be hardware or software. A hardware synth still has latency, but you most likely won't notice it, but nevertheless, it can be measured. As hardware devices are slowly migrated into software counterparts for PCs, these things need to be taken into account. Fewer buffers mean less latency, but the trade-off is the CPU has to work harder. Add more soft-devices into the fray (reason modules, abelton loops, VST plugins/insturments, audio tracks), thus increasing the number of voices, and the CPU has to work even harder. It's not an exact science, but there are some of us who prefer to shell out the extra $2-300 for a dedicated hardware synth/rack module/drum-machine so to not have to deal with the latency that plague many of their software counterparts. Dedicated hardware, IMO, performs better than 'hardware' designed to run in a software environment which may or may not be 'prepared' to handle it, or has to overcompensate because of limitations in the respective OS.
Now if they could do something about the General MIDI spec...then we would be making progress.
As other people have mentioned, a powerbook and oxygen8 will suck for live use. You want something with minimum setup hassle and top-notch reliability.
On the other hand, I don't understand what Korg is trying to do with this keyboard. Sequencing and recording is easier with a computer nowdays, so their workstation approach seems like an unnnecessary feature that increases the price (have to mention that it was a great thing to do in the Korg M1 days).
Additionally, I don't get what they're trying to do with the synthesis. It seems they're trying to market this as an "open architecture synthesis" board, but it doesn't look like anything new. It looks like a CX-3, analog modelling synth and PCM synth bundled in one box, and I don't see the point of doing that. For example, I don't want to play organ and piano on the same keyboard - I want weighted keys for piano and synth keys for organ. If I had 8,000$ to spend on keyboards, I would buy two or three different boards that can do one thing good. Yeah, it's going to suck dragging them around, but you aren't going to have to worry about running out of keys when you have to play organ and piano in the same song.
NOTE: the main reason I lvoe the Triton is it's big touch sensitive screen, tweakable controllers, and the immedicay of working with it and playing - even if you only want to play for 2 minutes it's not a bother to start her up. Oh yeh, let's not forget the pads, it does great pads.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.