Korg NAUTILUS

[konaboy]

Thanks konaboy, that"s a Nautilus you"re referring to, is it?

um, responding to question about nautilus, in a thread called nautilus, why would i refer to anything else??

[Fleer]

Right

[Radagast]

It"s vaporware I tell you, vaporware!

[Docbop]

It"s vaporware I tell you, vaporware!

 

From what I was reading yesterday a lot of workstations and other electronics are vapor these days due to shortage of chips. Stores have long waiting lists for Kronos, Montage, MoDX, and other gear. The lockdown increased sales for all type of electronic things and then the fire at a couple chip manufacturing plants has created a mess.

[jeffincltnc]

I dropped into my local Guitar Center today and.... suprise - they had a new Korg Nautilus 88 fresh out on the floor.

 

I didn't get to spend much time on it, but there were some things I really liked in first impressions and some things that made me say "almost... not quite".

 

First of all, I turned it off, booted it up and it takes a couple of minutes. The interface on the screen looks good. The top aluminum is a lot nicer than plastic but I didn't like the end caps and it still felt cheaper quality than the Kronos, but nicer than the plastic stuff.

 

Sound wise -- it sounds great. It is a killer sounding synth and I was playing them through a workable set of monitors. Korg does a lot of stuff well.... electric pianos, all the orchestral and acoustic instruments, and good synths. I don't love the pianos, but some nice uprights. Just not a lot in the way of manipulation. I couldn't tell if the 88 action was the same RH3 as their other 88s. It said made in Japan on the keybed but didn't have the RH3 sticker. Frankly, I played a bit of the Nautilus and an SV2 88 and I don't like any of the Korg 88 actions compared to the alternatives around....

 

But the Nautilus sounds awesome and it's a notch in build quality above the plastic stuff. If it were $2,000 I'd call it a MODX8 killer and a PC4 killer, despite not having a lot of sliders or controls to work with.... but it's also $2,699 at Guitar Center so it's premium price, too. I think the action on that didn't wow me enough for GAS, but I think if the 61 or 76 sizes had a good action (they only had an 88) they sound really great and I'd prefer it any day over a plastic alternative.

[AnotherScott]

If it were $2,000 I'd call it a MODX8 killer and a PC4 killer, despite not having a lot of sliders or controls to work with.... but it's also $2,699 at Guitar Center so it's premium price, too.

50+ lbs vs. about 30 or less... plus the weight of the case... I wouldn't gig with it even if it were half the price. But I'm old. ;-)

[Fleer]

Still, sounds better than expected. Thanks, Jeff.

[Docbop]

I just bought a Kronos a week ago, after a year of checking out workstations. Salesman went out of the way to make the point the Nautilus is not a Kronos replacement. The Nautilus internally is pretty much a Kronos with some new processing the Kronos doesn't, then some minor differences internally from the Kronos. I'd say the Nautilus is closer to the Kronos than the MoDX is to the Montage.

 

Someone mentioned a keybed sticker that the Nautilus doesn't have versus the Kronos. My week old Kronos doesn't have a RH3 sticker it just has the Made in Japan sticker.

 

Another couple threads were speculating on Kronos going into EOL status (End Of Lifetime). When I decided to order I was looking at availability and many stores had zero or only one or two. I talked to my salesman and he said they are in slim supply right now. I originally wanted a 73 but none available so I got the 88 since it's only seven pounds heavier. Since last week they are out of 88's, but have received some 73's and still out of 61's. So shipping is still messed up, but there are Kronos shipping and as someone post the Nautilus is finally starting to show up in stores. Korg is also posting a lot of YouTubes on Nautilus so I would say it's officially out.

[Adam C.]

I can"t wait to hear someone"s opinion on the feel of the 61-note Synth-Action keys. That would be of major interest to me. I owned a KROME for a short while when they came out years ago and could never quite get over the terrible, sluggish feel of the keys. I"m hoping that these would be significantly better, but we"ll see.

[Radagast]

I just bought a Kronos a week ago, after a year of checking out workstations. Salesman went out of the way to make the point the Nautilus is not a Kronos replacement. The Nautilus internally is pretty much a Kronos with some new processing the Kronos doesn't, then some minor differences internally from the Kronos. I'd say the Nautilus is closer to the Kronos than the MoDX is to the Montage.

 

I"m not surprised at anything a salesman would say, faced with selling a keyboard that is about to be discontinued.

[jeffincltnc]

Here is my 10 minute takeaway:

 

The Good: Sounds are fantastic, Build quality is very much above average & superior to plastic competitors, screen/interface UI looks improved, good quality here.

The Bad: very limited surface controls, 50 pounds is still really heavy for a gigging 88 board, it's probably $500 overpriced to knockout its competitors in the MODX/PC4 segment, but still feels higher quality than those instruments

The Meh: RH3 keybed and the Korg acoustic grand pianos are good enough but not class leading -- nothing terrible and all certainly workable but I don't think any Kronos 88 owners are shocked or suprised at this sentiment either.

[ProfD]

I dropped into my local Guitar Center today and.... suprise - they had a new Korg Nautilus 88 fresh out on the floor.

Maybe that explains the reason a local Guitar Center KB department was a complete mess a couple weeks ago.

 

The Kronos had left the buliding. The MODX8 keys were filthy. The entire piano section of the Nord Stage sound set had been wiped out.

 

Hopefully, the GC employees were making room for incoming new KBs. Of course, I'll have antibacterial wipes prior to laying hands on the Nautilus or anything else.

[ElmerJFudd]

Korg says shipping this week. 6/17/21

 

[video:youtube]

[Moonglow]

Thanks for that. I look forward to hearing more of those new sounds. More standard sounds is a good thing, IMO. I have little use for some of those unique processed piano sounds (of course, YMMV). The 73-key model has synth keys, a departure from Kronos, harks back to the Triton series. Slick/nicely produced video, seems they may be promoting this as their flagship keyboard for a while, or at least a place-holder?

 

Makes me wish even more that it had at least four sliders. I know, but otherwise I would be considerably more excited/interested.

[ElmerJFudd]

73 key: Natural Touch Semi Weighted, C - C

What is this natural touch keyboard? Same thing they stuck on the Kronos SE?

Or the nice synth action they put on the Kronos 61?

[mojkarma]

73 key: Natural Touch Semi Weighted, C - C

What is this natural touch keyboard? Same thing they stuck on the Kronos SE?

Or the nice synth action they put on the Kronos 61?

 

I'd say, it's the Kronos action minus aftertouch. Certainly better then those keys on the Krome, but I myself didn't like them to much and think that Roland and Yamaha offer better synth action on their flagship models (This is of course my subjective opinion). Korg developed this action for the M3 and at the end of lifetime for the Triton series when they stopped using Yamaha keybeds and know it is used in the Kronos 61 and obviously Nautilus 61/73.

[Moonglow]

The video says '61 & 73 Synth Action.' I"m guessing this would be more in line with the action on the Kronos 61.

[miden]

Yet another synth at this price point with no aftertouch! It cannot be that difficult to use a keybed with the aftertouch strip, surely? I mean, they all RESPOND to AT, so it's a simple addition, I would have thought...I know they want to sell the really expensive top of the line units, but the price disparity (just for AT) is huge !

 

Under $2k I can sorta get it, but above that and it should be included imo. I would buy one of these in an instant had it got an AT strip, without it, at well over $3k down here, nope!

[Fleer]

Luckily we"ve got our sweet PC4.

[miden]

Luckily we"ve got our sweet PC4.

 

True, but the PC4 has inherent issues with the allocation of effect slots1 in multis, as in programs lose efx (which alters the sound dramatically in some cases) when using more than two in a multi, requiring editing factory program sounds to remove those efx that least affect it. Valentin Zopp did a special YT tutorial on it.

 

Not sure if the Forte has more than 32 in a multi, but on the PC4 it is too low, jmo of course haha! Especaiily when you consider one KB3 program can use 17 on it's own

[stoken6]

Yet another synth at this price point with no aftertouch!

Luckily we"ve got our sweet PC4.

As well as dropping the value of s/h Kronos - which is still a great keyboard.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[aellison62]

3rd party content is starting to emerge for the Nautilus. S4K (synthonia) just announced this Monster Pack ( below linked demo) with some killer sounds for prog rock, especially Dream Theater stuff. Sounds pretty awesome. If not playing these songs, these sounds could at the least really beef up the user library in this unit. They also have two other sound packs. Narfsounds also ported over many of his cover songs I seeâ¦.I recently played the 73 key version of the Nautilus and was pleasantly surprised with the quiet and smooth semi weighted action. Even playing piano on the keybed was quite enjoyable. I have been considering a second 73 key Kronos for another band I am joining but did you want the hammer action (and weight) of that board. The 73 key Nautilus might be ticket for me. With the quality of these 3rd party sounds I am hearing, it might make it easier for me to pull that trigger.

 

[Skinny]

True, but the PC4 has inherent issues with the allocation of effect slots1 in multis, as in programs lose efx (which alters the sound dramatically in some cases) when using more than two in a multi, requiring editing factory program sounds to remove those efx that least affect it. Valentin Zopp did a special YT tutorial on it.

Do you have a link to that YT video? Didn"t see one when I searched.

[miden]

True, but the PC4 has inherent issues with the allocation of effect slots1 in multis, as in programs lose efx (which alters the sound dramatically in some cases) when using more than two in a multi, requiring editing factory program sounds to remove those efx that least affect it. Valentin Zopp did a special YT tutorial on it.

Do you have a link to that YT video? Didn"t see one when I searched.

 

It's the series on the Forte but VZ advises they are so close in most areas of OS that most applies to the PC4. In the case of EFX, it's especially true. The same principles apply.

[David Emm]

It seems like a clear drawdown on the Kronos, while still being pretty formidable, despite the lacks. When the Triton line ended, I bought a TR61 cheap for the voices & joystick, but its sequencer is Pixel Hell. The Nautilus bats far higher, of course, but I loosely expect for the Kronos to be replaced with who the hell knows, within a year or two. It seems to have peaked, but its also not abandoned. I went all DAW, so its hard to say how Korg will see the workstation idea as committed software and modular users diminish that end of the market. Weekend giggers, project studios and more financially comfy newbies will probably always support them up to a point.

 

It would seem smart to build a unifying frame for its Wavestate/opsix/MoDWave series, plus a small round of expander modules. Put them in a quality rack with some CV/Gate jacks, offer an optional, creamy controller keyboard and get a different angle on the Moog DFAM/etc. line. That wouldn't be unlike the cost of a tracker and a couple of tabletop synths. I'm a hot-air salesman in this, because I currently spend a few hours a week tweedling Memorymode, the snazzy software repro of the Memorymoog. The bass end can turn your bladder into a punching bag, so it delivers.

[Skinny]

I got my Nautilus 88 last Saturday. After wanting a Kronos for 10 years, I thought this would be the perfect board for me - all of the Kronos guts that I want, and the things that are missing are things I wouldn"t necessarily use.

 

My first thing was to find a good mono piano. The German mono seems to work pretty good, after changing the model from German Light to German Full, and adjusting the global velocity setting from 4 to 5, and maybe a slight tweak to the mids in the parametric EQ in the IFX. However, I have yet to use it in a full rehearsal or a gig. I know the piano sound that I programmed on my Triton (K-sounds Kawai 2 layered with a mono piano on an ancient Yamaha P50m) can sound like poo solo, but works well live. So, we"ll see how the German Mono works when I get it in a live mix.

 

The touch screen seems to be finicky, and I"m not fat-fingered. Calibration seems to help some, but with as small and close together as some of the 'buttons' on the screen are, it can be a challenge to tap the right one - and sometimes when tapping the wrong one, it will adjust that setting without trying to, and then you don"t know what the original setting was. Somewhat irritating. Also, general operation of the screen seems to be sluggish, whether tapping buttons, or scrolling through sounds with the wheel.

 

I like that it"s smaller and lighter than the Triton Studio.

 

A couple things that I might miss, however, are the ribbon controller and the physical numeric buttons. But, like most things, I will get used to it.

 

I have no idea when Korg will release the remaining piano samples. (Japanese, Berlin, Austrian) Do you Kronos owners know how that works? Are they included in future updates, or are they something that you have to purchase?

 

Edit⦠the RH3 action seems just slightly heavier than the RH2 of the Triton Studio; could be due to use, however, my Triton, as old as it is, has seen relatively light use for a nearly 20-year-old unit.

[EscapeRocks]

When doing serious programming and editing, I use a stylus on the touch screen. Much more precise on the smaller buttons.

[Skinny]

See, that"s how they get 'ya. You gotta buy the stylus, too.

 

Kidding. I"ll order one and try it out.

[Docbop]

I got my Kronos a few months back and I have those fat fingers too on touch screens, also a bad habit of touching too fast and it not sensing my input. So I just got on Amazon and bought a packet of stylus pens for touch screens and all is good now.

[confidence]

Must admit when I tried a Kronos out in the store, the fiddliness of the touch screen (sometimes too small to operate accurately, sometimes just not seeming to accept my input until I jab the hell out of it) was one thing that put me off. People have managed playing electronic keyboards for plenty of generations without such things: either give us one that works properly, or don't bother!