Inside a Luxury Synth: Creating the Linux-Powered Korg OASYS
source O'reilly Digital Media
by Peter Kirn
posted 2005-11-09
In the world of digital music, there’s been a longstanding divide between the hardware synthesizer and the computer. You can hook a keyboard controller to a computer, or even build a custom Windows PC into a keyboard frame, like the OpenLabs NeKo. Fundamentally, though, the two categories have remained distinct—until this year’s launch of the Korg OASYS, that is.
The designers at Korg have built a super-keyboard that fuses the open platform of a PC with the dedicated, proprietary sound engines of a traditional hardware synth. With its uniquely deep sound-production capabilities, the OASYS, whose name stands for Open Architecture Synthesis Studio, is more than a traditional electronic keyboard. And it’s also more than a computer, with lavish audio quality that high-end audio workstations struggle to match.
Even if you can’t afford an OASYS—Korg acknowledges that the $8,000 sticker price will limit its audienceuu alook inside this mammoth keyboard reveals a lot about how a high-end digital musical instrument can be created. It’s certainly a glimpse into the future of Korg, but it offers insight into the future of the musical instrument industry, too. And, perhaps for the first time, the words digital and luxury come together in a profoundly musical instrument that’s a dream to play.
I got a chance to spend some time with Korg research & development product manager Dan Phillips and Korg USA keyboard and recording products manager Jerry Kovarsky to get hands-on with the OASYS and find out what makes it tick. I wanted to know, as many digital musicians do, what kinds of decisions go into creating an instrument using today’s technologies? Do the craftspeople behind modern digital instruments have the same kinds of interests as traditional instrument builders? How do you turn a sophisticated, Linux-based hardware monster into something that works onstage? The answers often come down to subtle technical details that many casual onlookers would easily miss. (And, yes, I found out why an OASYS is so expensive, too.)
