Korg Oasys PCI card/DSP synth User reviews -Page 1

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Average rating: 5.0 out of 5

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gridsleep a hobbyist user from Hudson Valley writes:

Extreme power and versatility, at least as much as the fabled OASYS keyboard. One thing that needs to be made clear: the OASYS-PCI does not depend on Windows 98 or Mac OS 9. Some here claim to have theirs running in OS 10 and XP, and, indeed, it will run in those, and even use custom made sythesizers. If you wish to create your own virtual synthesizers to play in the OASYS-PCI, the card must be running under OS 9. I bought a Mac G3 for $65 (shipping included) and upgraded it from a 350MHz to dual 1.3GHz for another $175. The OASYS-PCI was about $400. So, for less than $700, I have an OASYS. I got the SynthKit for writing my own synthesizers from Korg for free, merely for returning a signed Non-Disclosure Agreement (I agree not to distribute or disassemble it, or to modify or improve it without notifying Korg.) I can write my own synths that are far more powerful than anything created with SynthEdit of FL Studio (both of which have very admirable synthesizer construction tools, but have a fraction of the power and capability of the OASYS-PCI.) The O-P will run in just about any computer. You need OS 9 to create your own synthesizers. That is the precise limitation.

Rating: 5 out of 5 posted Sunday-Nov-13-1111 at 04:42

Thirstin M. a hobbyist user writes:

This represents a great bargain. if you are willing to put up with the Win98/MAC, it's worthwhile. Yet, as a warning, I might add that keeping the older machine around to house the Oasys is a hassle.

Rating: 5 out of 5 posted Sunday-Oct-29-066 at 13:21

adamatic a professional user from jacksonville fl usa writes:

this card is the secret weapon of the future. i put together this setup in an old b&w mac g3/300 for around 450$, representing state of the fricking art 1998.(this setup would have been about 5 grand back in those days)

the synths sound great(mini, prophet, 303, killer drum synth, physical modeling, modeled hammond b3, modeled fender rhodes) and it has some really really cool delay and modulation effects, the mini filter effect is insane as well and to top it all off it has about 70% of the triton pcm rompler sounds. theirs a couple really good 3rd party synths/effects such as a juno-106 emulation, transient eq, incarnate filter(sort of an emulation of the virus filter architecture)

the io capabilities are really nice and the onboard converters sound about as good as anything else i've heard. my only gripe in this dept is that the jingle mill monkey who sold me this board forgot to send me the digi io cable, none the less i just kick things using the adat io when digital connectivity is needed. unless you intend to use it exclusively with the adat io make sure you get all the breakout cables if you buy this board since they are hard to find.(i'm sure you could get someone to build you replacements but that could get pricey)

really the only down sides to this card is the fact that there is only so much dsp horsepower to go around and it only supports win 98/me and mac os 9. but then again someone elses need to constantly upgrade and stay bleeding edge is my gain, this is a truly great piece of hardware for musicans and will one day be a coveted part of synth history.

Rating: 5 out of 5 posted Wednesday-Dec-22-044 at 08:49

Mr. Armstrong a part-time user writes:

The card's actual sampling rate is 48khz, not 96, but it is 24-bit. Sorry for the mistake!

Oh, and one more thing: it can be used as a WAV/AIFF-compatible sampler. It operates as a PCM synth plugin inside the card's own control panel software, as any other DSP plugin in the OASYS. Did I mention that all mixer, synth and effect parameters are controllable via MIDI? I didn't think so!

And no, it doesn't work as a VST or DXi plugin, because there's no need. This is a HARDWARE system!

Rating: 5 out of 5 posted Tuesday-Mar-04-033 at 13:53

Mr. Armstrong a part-time user writes:

I think there's not enough words to describe how incredible this unit is. Apart from being an incredible classic synth emulator, it is a versatile problem solver when it comes to effects and wave output. You get professional effects that will stay in the digital domain without adding too much latency nor sucking up your precious CPU power. The effects are routable by the use of "streams", which are 4 input-only independent wave drivers. These streams are accessible via the ASIO driver, so you could patch them to various soft synths. This way, it becomes the perfect complement for multi-synth software such as Reason. Then you can patch everything through the ADAT ports and use them as independent record sources.

The only drawback is limited DSP capacity, but other than that I just don't know where this card potential stops. It has truly changed the way I work in my studio and I recommend anyone to buy it. I was lucky to get it used for $360 at eBay, but I was willing to pay even more for it.

The good: 24bit-96khz multi-channel ASIO audio + ADAT I/O + dozens of pro effects + analog synth emulator + 143mb of Trinity/Triton samples + The entire system setup (synths+mixer+effects) can be saved as a single file + Compatible with both PC (Win 9x/Me only) and MAC!!! (OS 9 only)

The bad: Some plug-in synths and effects may have bugs or are not too stable + DSP has relatively limited capacity for synth sounds (you have to manually manage resources quite often, especially polyphony)

Rating: 5 out of 5 posted Tuesday-Mar-04-033 at 10:35

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