Korg GrandStage X

[sherry]

Just my opinion, obviously, UGH !!!!!  I mean, the piano sounds wonderful, but what in the h-e-double hockey sticks is Korg thinking with their designs lately.  The Nautilus 61/73 is not only hideous, much bigger than need be and very difficult to pick us with the goofy rounded edges.  The 88 looks fine/professional.  And now this Grandstage X.  Please, Korg, stop with cartoonish designs and bring back professional looking keyboards.  Okay.  That's my rant for today.  Oh, I'm STILL waiting for Kronos 3, but not holding my breath.

[stoken6]

1 hour ago, ElmerJFudd said:

Does it have to be so deep to house the RH3 action? Other than to possibly place another instrument directly on top?  

No. The original Grandstage, SV1/2 and various others all use the same action in much smaller chassis (chassisi? chassises? chasses like thesis/theses?). 

 

Cheers, Mike.

[K K]

58 minutes ago, sherry said:

what in the h-e-double hockey sticks is Korg thinking with their designs lately.

 

Totally agree. This one looks fugly.

[ProfD]

IMO, the Grandstage is a best of Kronos sounds in a digital piano (DP). It sounds different from an SV.

 

I figured Korg would be going in this direction to continue recycling Kronos sounds and tech versus making a new flagship KB workstation.

 

In fact, for all manufacturers, I believe DPs with a huge sound palette and basic sound shaping capabilities is the future of KBs. No more bloated workstations.😎

[Paul Woodward]

If we forget the aesthetics and simple backing sounds here, is it just me thinking nothing much has changed from a great board discontinued  (and no longer supported) prematurely? No aftertouch while other 'flagship' boards have it, same seven sound engines from the Kronos, same poly when newer boards are getting 256 as standard. Three layers is one update but that will eat poly. Remember that original GS, like the Kronos, had 240 note poly for pianos but that equates to just 60 stereo in real life.

I do love my Grandstage and I was excited by todays news, but its been six years of tech advances and I dont see many here.

Drawbars, leslie modelling and a fully editable synth engine with the ability to load in new sound sets would have been realistic expectations of a new flagship stage piano. Not even sure it has an audio interface. Interested to see what this costs.

 

[Justin Havu]

3 hours ago, eric said:

When I first saw it, I had vibes of the Yamaha CP1 and Roland V-Piano...if they are going to make something this big, at least make the top of it flat to accommodate a second board. I think the Yamaha CP300 is about the only one that did this well, at least in recent years.

 

It is a pretty nice looking instrument...just not very useful for my purposes.

 

The main reason I still love my old trusty RD-1000.  Angled front panel, and plenty of room for a second board on top.  95 lbs. is just extra motivation for me to stay in shape.  Lol

[AnotherScott]

1 hour ago, Paul Woodward said:

No aftertouch while other 'flagship' boards have it

Stage pianos don't typically have it, not even "flagship" ones. Possibly related, I didn't think the RH3 in the Kronos played as well for piano as other RH3 boards I've played (piano models), and I wondered if it might have been because of the AT.

 

1 hour ago, Paul Woodward said:

the ability to load in new sound sets

This was my biggest disappointment with the Kronos-derived Grandstage and Vox Continental... that they provided no way for a Kronos owner to load some of his favorite programs into these derivative models. (Obviously, they would have had to have been based on the portions that overlap... same sound engines.) This would have opened up the possibility of gigging with a more portable version of the perhaps too-heavy Kronos in your studio, or of people offering downloadable sounds created on their Kronos, to be loaded into these other models.

[drawback]

Reading through Swtwtr’s GrandStage X page, “the EP-1 electric piano engine, which uses Multi-Dimensional Synthesis to let you tweak, morph, and totally customize the six included EPs” so hopefully it’s a bit more customizable under the hood than the original GrandStage. That was one of my main motivations for moving up to Kronos - just not enough tone-shaping, BTW the list price is $3K US.

[Paul Woodward]

15 minutes ago, drawback said:

Reading through Swtwtr’s GrandStage X page, “the EP-1 electric piano engine, which uses Multi-Dimensional Synthesis to let you tweak, morph, and totally customize the six included EPs” so hopefully it’s a bit more customizable under the hood than the original GrandStage. That was one of my main motivations for moving up to Kronos - just not enough tone-shaping, BTW the list price is $3K US.

Ouch, $3K? The original was very expensive at launch too, around £2.5K in the UK so thats about the same allowing for conversion and inflation. Prices bombed soon after and I paid just £500 from a private seller for my 73 boxed with a carry case and bench stand. Makes the thought of updating to this even more painful!

There were numerous pianos in the GS and there were some very simple tweaks so I never felt there was a sound missing. Still enjoy the EP's on that, have a great feel and you can really 'dig in' when playing.

[Paul Woodward]

Nice that they covered the design of the original Grandstage, wonder if they will do the same with the X:

https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/grandstage/design.php

[ElmerJFudd]

8 hours ago, ProfD said:

IMO, the Grandstage is a best of Kronos sounds in a digital piano (DP). It sounds different from an SV.

 

I figured Korg would be going in this direction to continue recycling Kronos sounds and tech versus making a new flagship KB workstation.

 

In fact, for all manufacturers, I believe DPs with a huge sound palette and basic sound shaping capabilities is the future of KBs. No more bloated workstations.😎

They always sell less workstations at four or five thousand verse midtier boards at 1800 to 2800.  And way more boards under that, and even more under 1000.   so no surprise that they need to differentiate with a wider sound palette and new styling to compete.

[Paul Woodward]

I think Sweetwater have used the spec for the original, and it sounds like a great board 😆

How funny would It be if that description and a pic of the new version actually sells this... 

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GrandstageX--korg-grandstage-by-stage-piano

[Josh Paxton]

Count me among those for whom the size and weight are instant deal-breakers. The new sounds and new bells and whistles seem nice, and if I were looking for a DP strictly for home studio use, I might be tempted. But as a gigging board it's a non-starter. Also, I wonder how many of the synth sounds will really be useful on a board with no pitch/mod wheels or aftertouch? The thing I'm most curious about is whether the "Nutube analog tone" will give it the same flavor that the tube in the SV series provided, which is the thing that's kept so many of us going back to those boards.

[LarsHarner2]

Korg has always made my favorite piano sounds- Wayback the Korg SG Rack was my favorite module

 

I was extremely pleased to get my Nautilus 61 as it was one of the first things I got as the pandemic started to ease in a sense.

In particular I find the audio that comes out of the unit itself pristine.

I did not get the 88 due to weight.

 

This unit looks nice, but I am not sure how it is significantly different from using the Nautilus 88 in the sense both are over 50 pounds, the Nautilus would give you drawbar controls, 

If the Granstage X had speakers that would make me more interested.

 

I would really like Korg to get something like this in around 34-35 pounds.

 

As others have noted, weight is the #1 thing I look at- even just to get up the stairs and leave in one place.

 

My ES8 is in the same spot for 8 years, I pushed the box up the stairs and somehow got it on my stand 

[Fleer]

I love the new design.
Great update too:
- 25,5GB compressed (51GB full) compared to 19GB compressed (32GB full) in the OG

- 700 sounds compared to 500 sounds - 

- new piano’s (including mono) and a new Tine I Early electric piano

- way better control options 

- 20W compared to 30W power usage

- Audio IN plus more FX, Unison, Analog Tone, Rhythm section, Chords progressions

 

That’s a pretty sweet updated machine in my book. Will definitely get one. 

[Fleer]

Then again, you can get a Roland RD-88 with over 3000 Zenology sounds, MainStage integration and speakers for half the price. 

[U.Honey]

4 hours ago, Josh Paxton said:

 Also, I wonder how many of the synth sounds will really be useful on a board with no pitch/mod wheels or aftertouch? 

 

Also, the pitch/mod wheels are in steep angle. I would think that it's difficult to use them. The curved top makes it difficult to put another board on top of it . 10 lb more than the original Grandstage. I don't get it.

[CyberGene]

25kg is way too heavy for me these days. And if it’s for a studio, I’d prefer a controller with software.

[AnotherScott]

6 hours ago, Fleer said:

I love the new design.
Great update too:
- 25,5GB compressed (51GB full) compared to 19GB compressed (32GB full) in the OG

- 700 sounds compared to 500 sounds - 

- new piano’s (including mono) and a new Tine I Early electric piano

- way better control options 

- 20W compared to 30W power usage

- Audio IN plus more FX, Unison, Analog Tone, Rhythm section, Chords progressions

 

That’s a pretty sweet updated machine in my book. Will definitely get one. 

also, 3 sounds at a time instead of 2, 100 recallable sound combinations instead of 64. Not sure I'm seeing more FX, though.

 

6 hours ago, Fleer said:

Then again, you can get a Roland RD-88 with over 3000 Zenology sounds, MainStage integration and speakers for half the price. 

and a whole lot less weight! But FWIW, I think Grandstage will generally sound better, especially on the pianos/EPs which are presumably among the highest priority sounds for most people looking at a stage piano.

 

If it had 9 sliders that could be switched to control drawbars for an organ sound or some common synth parameters for an AL1/HD1 sound (and maybe a 3rd mode to control external MIDI), it would arguably be somewhat competitive with a Nord Stage 4 or Yamaha YC88 or Roland RD2000.

[jejefunkyman]

I don’t like Roland’s AP and EP sounds sorry 😞 

 

I think I prefer the design of the 1st Grandstage version.

 

So in my opinion they should have just kept the original chassis and just update the sound palette with more memory and some additional controls like they did.

 

In any case they should not have increased the weight 🤷‍♂️
 

Maybe as an alternative they should offer the Grandstage X as a sound module for those who don't want to bother with the shape and weight of the new version. With a magnet included in the bottom so it can fit easily and stick on my Vox Conti's free space area 😉

 

But hey I’m not part of Korg’s team 😂

 

[dje31]

21 hours ago, ElmerJFudd said:

i like the drastic change in design/style.  It has a GEM Promega vibe to it.  

 

 

 

Oh, man, how I pined for the Promega back in the day...never saw one in real life, but still lusted for one.  Even the Finnish(?) re-issue that came out a few years ago.

[Josh Paxton]

12 hours ago, U.Honey said:

Also, the pitch/mod wheels are in steep angle. 

 

Not only that, but they're camouflaged well enough that I didn't even think they were there. Whoops! 

[HammondDave]

55lbs!?!  I think I’ll pass. 

[CHarrell]

17 hours ago, LarsHarner2 said:

I would really like Korg to get something like this in around 34-35 pounds.

 

 

Korg's been a blizzard of activity lately, surely there's gotta be a D2 in the mix somewhere!

[zephonic]

I don’t get it, a Nautilus 88 is cheaper, has the same sounds and action, and waaay more. What is the added value here? The tube?

[Justin Havu]

Ah.  That's where the KingKorg tube went.

[The Piano Man]

1 hour ago, CHarrell said:

 

Korg's been a blizzard of activity lately, surely there's gotta be a D2 in the mix somewhere!

D2 with updated sounds and, ideally, an internal power supply would be excellent!

 

The latter is unlikely but the sounds definitely need an upgrade. Even the Liano has better pianos than the D1.

[zephonic]

Yeah, the D1 sounds are terrible, but frankly, it is more of a controller with some sounds thrown in as a bonus. I only use the internal sounds when -for example- I'm recording a singer and quickly need to give them the correct pitch for a note or something. It comes in handy for that. But trying to play it as an instrument is excruciating. 

 

But it is the nicest weighted action for $700 that I have come across.

[ElmerJFudd]

8 hours ago, zephonic said:

I don’t get it, a Nautilus 88 is cheaper, has the same sounds and action, and waaay more. What is the added value here? The tube?

Because,  

 

 

But, yeah it’s too heavy.  Not sure why they didn’t keep that in mind when designing this one. SV2 73 with some of this trickle down Kronos tech would have been more practical, desireable (to me) and more within reach cost wise.  

[Mighty Motif Max]

I, for one, actually really like the design in terms of aesthetics. It reminds me of a nicer version of the Kawai MP9000, but with a more "retro" style than, say, the Nord Grand. Kind of like a smooth Rhodes-ish look. I'm also liking what I'm hearing from the new "Grandstage X Piano" sample. I checked it out in mono via Sonarworks and it sounds like it might hold up pretty decently. It sounds less Korg-like (i.e. German Grand midrange) and more like an actual instrument.

 

I am on the "too heavy" bandwagon however...I was surprised to see the weight spec.