Korg Oasys for $3K - should I go for it?

[FreeThoughtTH]

I'm currently in contact with a guy who's selling his Korg Oasys 88 for $3K.

That's AMAZINGLY cheap in Australia given that over here when they were selling new they were retailing at $10K.

I'm currently using a soft synth rig with a laptop running a bunch of good VSTs and a 88 key controller. I'd love to be able to upgrade my main board to have some good quality sounds onboard, while being able to integrate my laptop into the rig to be able to still use some of my more unique sounds.

Now I know it's not a Kronos, but it's still a damn good workstation. What I need to know is - is it worth me getting? Some important things I'd need to know before buying:

1) Can I integrate my laptop into a combi, to have some sounds from the Oasys and some sounds from my laptop playing at the same time? For instance take one part of the combi and send midi data from that one part to Laptop

2) I know it doesn't have set list mode, but can I program up the keyboard to somehow do something similar? Like just find a new blank combi bank and make that my "set list"?

3) Are the on board sounds any good?

Any help and advice would be extremely useful, as the guy I'm buying it off needs commitment by Sunday (he's leaving the country then).

Thanks for the help in advance guys

[FreeThoughtTH]

Ooh as a supplemental to that: I just found for sale a Korg M3 Module for $620. Can I essentially do everything I just said about the Oasys, with the M3 Module, my existing board and my laptop?

[E.S.]

When it comes to sound, only you will know if they are any good, so try it. I'd say they are pretty much like any other workstation of a certain quality with a bit extra added. Internal sound bank alone is NOT worth the retail price, that's for sure. A guy I know had one for a while, there were some upgrades or something, it was supposedly an improvement. You may wanna check that out. I may also be totally wrong. 

But you add your own samples and sounds, and it's just huge, you can have so many layers and things going on.

You can split and layer anything from various sources as long as they communicate over midi or USB. You just have to choose which one is the master device and have the appropriate software running on the laptop. Don't know much about that, but it's possible. Set lists can be programmed on any keyboard with memory, it's just a bit more work. I'm sure that must have some librarian software or something available, but I don't know.

If you ask me, I'd save and buy an Kronos instead. It's basically 9 synths, in theory it can be upgraded for quite some time with SSD and RAM (at least it should, like any computer running on those devices), the piano samples makes all the difference in the world, the synths too, and the major bit is seamless patch switching, even the Oasys can't do that. It's like the old Triton, only to a degree. In combi mode, forget it. Nothing like a Fantom or Kronos.

Remember that a 88 Oasys is bloody heavy. I'm strong for being a keyboard player, but that one in a flightcase is just too much. I THINK the Kronos is lighter and smaller too. I think.

Don't know the M3 at all, sorry.

[FreeThoughtTH]

Yeah thanks E.S. At the moment I'm actually leaning more towards the M3 module because it's basically just an OASYS, but less complicated. Also it's $2400 cheaper and I can use my existing board so I don't have to worry about how HUGE the OASYS is (I looked up the specs and you're right it is a beast. Definitely a downer for me).

Reason I'm not going for the Kronos is that I just don't think it's worth $5000. The piano sound for one thing was really disappointing for me when I've tried it out, and aside from set list mode w/seamless patch changing (which I can live without), it doesn't do much more than the M3/OASYS. Yeah it has a ton more sounds in it, but I have a ton more sounds in my software rig that are really nice so I'm not too worried in that respect.

But yeah, if there's anyone on here with any experience with the M3 who could give me a hand let me know

[Rook]

Remember also that the Kronos is an interface. The way I see it, if you had everything programmed correctly you could just turn up at the gig, plug the lappy into the Kronos via one usb cable, fire up mainstage (or whatever) and... there you go. Any combination you want of layers and splits of kronos sounds, Virtual instruments, effects, samples, whatever - all out the stereo output of the Kronos. Less for the sound guy to mess up at any rate.

I could be wrong i guess, but that is how I read the spec.

BTW I have a friend in the U.S. who is contemplating selling his M3 keyboard for $1000. Not that he thought it was a bad bboard, but... he is a  guitar  player

[FreeThoughtTH]

Another update: Got the M3. Sounds great. Integrates well with my rig. Someone else was able to get the money for the OASYS quicker than I could. But that's ok. The M3 was much cheaper and works really well. What you said about the Kronos Rook is basically the same for the M3. Only one problem:

The touchscreen has now failed.

Was working fine, but after a while things started not to work. Eventually the whole screen became non-reponsive. Recalibration is not an option.

After trawling through some other forums it became apparent that failing touchscreens on old M3s is a common problem. Contacted the guy I bought it off and he said he had no idea about the problem beforehand. I trust him, seemed like a good bloke. He had the thing in storage for ages so thats why he wouldn't have known. Also it was working fine when I was at his trying it out.

Anyway there are plenty of temporary fixes on the net. I tried the "turn it upside down" thing but that made it worse :/. Haven't tried the hairdryer thing yet but I'll try that when I get home. (see this thread: http://www.karma-lab.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16671)

Really though I'm just gonna get the screen replaced. You can do that, and I can probably get it done pretty cheap. Since I paid such a cheap price for the M3 I'm not worried about the cost of the replacement screen.

[EvilDragon]

Should've gotten the OASYS. That was a stellar deal.

Yes, it is heavy, but it's built so much better than M3 and Kronos.

[FreeThoughtTH]

Was indeed a great deal but I wouldn't have been able to pay for it in time. I wouldn't have had the $3k until I get my tax return back, and someone else was able to get the money quicker. That's fair enough.