This was my guess. Using MPE with the EssenceFM is pretty freaking sweet. Not enough on its own to torpedo a whole line for, I recon. But if there were already shortages or other reasons to retool (and complaints about the existing keybed), might be enough of rational to do a mkII.
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The Medeli poly-aftertouch keybed is also available, and Glen Darcey did say it was going to be used by a large manufacturer. Iāve wondered who that was for a while. Itās possible. The time window is right.
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Monome have just released a last batch of Norns for 2022 with supply problems being given as the reason for why itās not being produced again until later in the year / early 2023; theyāre operating on a much smaller scale than someone like Korg, obviously, but basically cannot find RasPi CM3+s in sufficient quantities for now to make new Norns.
The Norns Shield is being discontinued as they cannot get RasPi 3b+ or 4Bs either (but it is open source, so it will still live on).
(Sorry for going slightly off-topic).
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Someone want to spawn a thread, iād do it, but not sure exactly what to frame that thread on.
Good post DoS.
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Failure to prioritize delivery of commercial components.
The Pi Foundation is education focused. Iād have to dig into their forums to confirm, but Iām pretty sure their educational / consumer customers come first. Korg clearly has a commitment to education as evidenced by their Little Bits project/collab, but they could have gone with a high-volume industrial producer instead. They could still make a nice donation to the Pi Foundation.
Sleepy Circuits also pivoted from what I think was a compute module based product to a bring-your-own Pi kit.
This is a reasonable strategy for a boutique builder, but probably wouldnāt fly for Korg.
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Got a title for you:
Raspberry Pies, Chips, and Other Edibles: A collection of thoughts, stories, and conspiracy theories in the modern era of supply chain shortages.
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I was thinking Korg OPSIX Selloff ā Side stories.
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I like it.
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Could be a fun thread, but Iād feel bad about beating up the Pi Foundation in a dark alley like that.
To clarify my comments above: What the Pi Foundation is doing for education and accessibility of low-level compute devices, unencumbered by MSFT & AAPL BS, is unambiguously good. Iām pretty skeptical of their side business of selling components for integration into commercial products. That is a highly competitive, super low margin business. Anyone competing from Shenzhen is going to eat the Pi Foundation for breakfast.
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I hear you. We can keep beating them up in a well-lit alley.
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New thread:
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Cool, I thought that also had the Fatar. Iāve heard good things about both in that case, excellent news.
Lots more for this thread, many stories of deliveries and discoveries to happen.
Enjoy your OPSIX.
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Iām primarily a guitarist and not much of a keys player. That said I do try to play and good feeling interfaces are important to me.
This keybed is the worst I have felt EVER. Itās worse than an Arturia Essentials, any M-Audio board Iāve used. It is so bad that Iād be livid if I payed MSRP for the thing.
Iād like to add that in most of the presets and in what Iāve tried to program myself there is something going on in the midrange that wasnāt there with my DX7II and Digitone. Itās a honky, nasally qualityā¦ doesnāt sound very āhifiā if that makes any sense. Am I doing something wrong? Most people whoāve owned a digitone and opsix claim the opsix sounds higher quality but that isnāt my experience so far.
I have very high end synths and synths of all ranges, the OPSix never stood out to me as bad at all. I never thought about it. I paid full price (like 850!) and I thought that was a steal.
I love this synth! Iām also not a keys player at all in a guitarist.
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Thereās some DIY desktop versions out there. Itās not the same as an all-in-one with excellent keybed, but Iām one that prefers desktops and a separate midi controller.
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Got my opsix this afternoon. I ordered it from another Reverb retailer that was not the Korg Warehouse on 8/1 around 6pm EST for the same discounted price. It was shipped from Reverb Holdings in Chicago, IL.
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Imagine what you could do with 600 operators.
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Probably something like this, but 20x more.
At that point, SuperCollider or CSound or just some python probably makes more sense. But I do occasionally fantasize about having a studio in a warehouse.
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