Korg OASYS
Music Workstation Synthesiser

The Korg OASYS was launched in 2005 as the next Workstation in the Korg Workstation linage. At $8,000 or more the workstation was too rich for many musicians but was an aspirational purchase for many.

OASYS stood for Open Architecture SYnthesis Studio.

The design philosophy behind the OASYS was to use a standard computer running a real time Linux operating system to provide software driven synthesis.  The synthesiser ran a series of software driven synthesiser engines (more commonly referred to today as VST's) to generate the tones.

The second part of the Korg OASYS concept was how the synthesiser could be upgraded.  The idea was that you could load a new engine into synthesiser that would make it work in a new way.  Korg could also open the platform up to third party development houses.  The idea was they could also develop additional synthesiser engines.  A concept that has become standard in the VST market.

Unfortunately, the platform proved to be too expensive for many musicians and it was discontinued before additional engines could be developed and deployed.  These additional engines subsequently turned up in the Korg Kronos.

Three versions of the Korg OASYS were built between 2005 and 2009 when it was discontinued; the 61 key, 76 key and 88 key.  All versions of the keyboard ran the same operating system with the same features.

My acquisition story for this keyboard was interesting.  I saw this keyboard on one of the portals and it was listed at £500.  Now I had seen these sell for a lot more in the past.  So I sent a message to the seller and he confirmed it was in good working order but he was selling for his son.  I then put in a maximum bid and went off to the pub.  When I came back the auction had finished, and the keyboard had sold for way above my maximum bid.

Then two days later I got a message from the seller stating that the two bidders who out bid me had both pulled out and as I was the next highest bidder did I want it.  I was in the car and drove to Milton Keynes the next morning.  My only regret with this transaction was that the seller was also selling a Korg M3 which I couldn't afford at the time.