Korg FINALLY Releases A Synth That's Value For Money - The PS3300 😲

[@neilloughran4437]

I think the PS3300 actually only has 12 x 3 (36) oscillators in the true sense . Basically 12 master oscs per section which are divided down from the top octave like an old Solina string synth. The interesting thing is that in contrast to a string synth it actually has an individual filter/env section after that... 147 of em... though I have even heard people debate that too... I always associated that shared divide down sound with a certain era in music and I think it does impart a certain sound which some people will love and others won't. Interestng I used to have the Korg Polyphonic ensemble (from 75/76) back in the 80s/90s and that really did have a fully polyphonic keyboard.. problem was that it didn't sound too good apart from one or two sounds. I bought mine for £30 along with a 54 key Rhodes for £50. Those were the days...

[@IanWaugh]

Hi Neil - yes, those days are long gone... 😢 The number is just what I picked up from the NAMM reports so you could well be right. So that would be about $264/oscillator. Hmm...

[@petermoore8811]

I stopped watching because there was no information other than prices. Perhaps describing or demo stuff that you are talking about would be better. Keep trying

[@IanWaugh]

Hi Peter - well, prices ARE the point 😊 I do me best...

[@OrganicGreens]

Meanwhile Behringer is selling synths with analog filters for 50 bucks.

[@IanWaugh]

You just can't beat Mr B's VFM 👍

[@indigo4953]

I recently bought a Korg Prologue 8 during a visit to Sweetwater, it was about 1200$. Note sure if that is a lot, I'm a drummer who wants to play a bit of synth for fun. Sweetwater has the minimoogs for 5400$, wow! and then had a Moog 1 for 10K - that was fun to play around with. There was a Korg PS3300 at NAMM this year - no price given but it did have 147 oscillators - wow!

[@IanWaugh]

Hi Hugh - Yes. the PS3300 is what the video is about 😊

[@mwmusic29]

Excellent video! Thanks for doing all that hard math for me!! 😃

[@IanWaugh]

I knew $/Oscillator would catch on 😄

[@DisciplinedCommotion]

An interesting view, using oscillators as a price yard stick, in that regard it is VFM. Also I have never thought that some digital synths are soft synths which come with a controller interface. (suppose they are). Interesting video topic. :)

[@IanWaugh]

Cheers, Tim. We are living through a synth revolution 😊

[@IanWaugh]

@@alecdurbaville6355 I guess that puts the price up to $264/oscillator... 😢 What about determining value on a cost per filter basis?

[@IanWaugh]

@@alecdurbaville6355 Maybe we should distinguish between analogue anddigital. Or maybe Monsieur Ironique could pay a visit 😊

[@IanWaugh]

@@alecdurbaville6355 I think Monsieur Ironique has a mind of his own ... 😄

[@axs203]

Good value for money if you earn like Hans Zimmer!

[@IanWaugh]

But just count the oscillators... 😄

[@klstay]

Korg, Roland, and Yamaha are all fully run by the marketing department with the "synth passion" folks at Korg being allowed some liberties. (Such folk left the building LONG ago at Roland and Yamaha) All 3 have some emphasis on quality with the understanding in the low cost space cuts have to be made somewhere. All 3 have high margins compared to some other brands. All 3 invest in "platforms" then slowly iterate/upgrade them with new releases for years/decades. (The Korg rPi synths are a great current example) It is great they are building this and it is great there are some who can and will buy it. At the same time I would be surprised if their cost to build, test, and ship one is even $4k.

[@IanWaugh]

Hi Kevin - yes, it would seem that much is profit-driven , perhaps excessively so. But consumers aren't stupid - mostly :-) )-and there needs to be some semblance of value in there somewhere.. . But it's still great to see these behemoth being produced.

[@klstay]

@@IanWaugh hardware kit is generally designed for one of 3 broad "types" of users - hobbyist, prosumer, and actual pro making a decent living at it. Korg, Roland, and Yamaha are very good at segmenting across all 3 with their product lines and milking platform investments a LONG time through many small iterative improvements. Other brands focus one 1 or maybe 2 demographics. Behringer focus is hobbyist. Sequential and Waldorf mostly prosumer. Studio Electronics successful studio pros. Nord successful touring pros. Not everything fits in such neat little boxes of course. I am glad of that because even just knowing this new PS3300 will be enjoyed by some puts a smile on my face. Should I win the lottery (which would be strange as I leave that extra tax for those bad at math for others to pay) I would certainly be one of those lucky few...

[@IanWaugh]

@@klstay Well; I'm sure Korg wil be hoping you're lucky and have a flutter... 😊 Personally, it doesn't appeal to me although I wouldn't mind winning the lottery 😄

[@meneerjansen00]

Compared to guitars a synth is _always_ too expensive. A starter guitar from Thoman's home-brand, 'Harley Benton', is (believe it or not) 100 Euro. And some say they aren't even bad. The cheapest synth that I can imagine being any fun for a starter is the Korg Monologue at 280 Euro. There are cheaper synths but I don't think your average basic musician will have more fun with 'm than a day or two. P.S. I ain't no musician so I have lots of fun w/ my 50 Euro paraphonic Behringer JT-4000. Says more about me than the JT. ;)

[@IanWaugh]

As long as you have fun making music, that's what matters 👍

[@IanWaugh]

@@alecdurbaville6355 Maybe I should have started a guitar channel... 😄

[@MFitz12]

The new PS3300 is actually three 49-voice analog synths in one box. You mix and match the voices from the 3 identical synths.

[@IanWaugh]

Yes😊 👍

[@cytone101]

I wonder what the thinking was back then when they made this 48 note polyphonic. At the time the expensive analog synths had 8 or 16 note polyphony, so 48 seems a bit mad, even now.

[@IanWaugh]

Hi Mark - Yes indeed. Maybe they just wanted to see what could be done, and possibly as an alternative to the massive Moog modulars.

[@neilloughran4437]

​@@IanWaugh I think the answer might be simply that they hadn't really considered using a microprocessor for managing keyboard/voice allocation in that era.... IMHO there really is no need for a fully polyphonic synth... especially one as simple in architecture as the PS3300. Just a waste... they could have easily have made it 16 voices and no one would have been any the wiser.. Mind you I know the Oberheim 4 voice was the earliest keyboard to use a microprocessor for voice allocation.. but it wasn't really until the Prophet 5 that that technology was perfected.

[@IanWaugh]

@@neilloughran4437 Yes, interesting, you're probably right. Unless they are using divide down technology, massibe polyphony seems overkill...

[@neilloughran4437]

@@alecdurbaville6355 yeah but the filters/envs are per voice so there are 147 of them... a waste IMHO.

[@IanWaugh]

@@alecdurbaville6355 Ah...

[@Gu1tar1st]

Perception is key here; “If we charge x dollars, people will think this is exclusive, and pay the money” If they dropped the price, they would sell thousands more, and make more profit. It’s sad, because the price of components has dropped so much that to charge such high amounts for these units is just greed. It’s not exclusivity, it’s exclusionary.

[@IanWaugh]

Hi David - I think Korg wants to be the Apple of the synth market. Or is that Teenage Engineering...? 😊

[@davidrobertson4301]

NTS one good value The mark 2 model bit over the top but I'll probably get one anyway But as for the price of synths behringer are my friend Even their pricey stuff is way cheaper than anyone else

[@IanWaugh]

Hi David - Yes, it's difficult to beat Mr B's prices 😊

[@keithreid9949]

I bought a KRONOS back in 2015….. cheap ?? Hardly…. Over $3000……

[@keithreid9949]

I have to say It is a great keyboard w / thousands of sounds

[@IanWaugh]

Hi Keith - I don't think ANY synth was ever cheap 😢

[@MFitz12]

What usually gets lost in these discussions is the distinction between _price_ and _value_ which are not the same thing. I'm old enough to remember when the _remarkably affordable_ Yamaha DX-7 revolutionized the synthesizer market. At a time when a high-end programmable polyphonic analog synthesizer cost as much as a car, the DX-7 offered a nearly impenetrable digital synthesis engine through an almost non-existent user interface, 16 mono-timbral voices, 61 touch sensitive keys, rudimentary MIDI implementation, no sequencer, no arpeggiator, no on-board effects, a staggering 128 presets (IIRC 32 of which the user could edit) and the option of loading new sounds through expensive bespoke cartridges. All for the shockingly low-low price of $2,000 (in 1983 dollars). The DX-7 was a revaluation. Who today would pay $200 let alone $2,000 for specs like that? Now adjust for inflation and that price is actually more like $6,300 in today's money. Yet Yamaha sold over 200,000 of the things, not including the many spin offs and downgraded versions, blowing away the previous record holder - the Moog Minimoog - which sold 12,000 units. If you played keys in the 1980's and into the 90's you were practically issued a DX-7. Many players owned several because you could buy 3-4 for what it cost to get a new Jupiter, Prophet 5 or OB-8. Players today under the age of 40-45 have no concept of what an impact that one instrument had. Nothing like that has existed since or probably ever will again. So when a manufacturer today introduces a reproduction of an instrument that originally cost lets say $15,000 in todays money but they are selling it - with new and modern features, functionality and reliability - for $3,000-4,000 I call that good value. NONE of them cost as much as a car. Not even close. And look what you get. Whether or not everyone who wants one can afford it is another matter entirely and a different discussion. Today players are spoiled for choice We should be celebrating the fact we can even realistically talk about getting instruments which at one time were almost the almost exclusive domain of folks signed to huge record deals.

[@IanWaugh]

Hi - yes, much to discuss here. Not disagreeing with you - particularly bout the youngsters 😍 but I don't think you can easily compare old prices with new on an inflation-adjusted basis (kzbin.info/www/bejne/bIO5c4x-rsR3nac) not least of all because the cost of tech has fallen through the floor since then

[@MFitz12]

@@IanWaugh - That speaks to my last point. Today we are spoiled. Today a person can buy a pretty nice home recording setup an make entire records for what a DX-7 used to cost. And we have the luxury to whine about how expensive (some) things are. What was once all but unobtainable is now taken for granted.

[@IanWaugh]

@@MFitz12 Yes indeed. But what else would we old fogies moan about...? 😄

[@MFitz12]

@@IanWaugh - You need a list 😁

[@IanWaugh]

@@MFitz12 Probably... 😄

[@wavesequencer]

If synth developers wanted to make as much money as they can they would not be developing synths :) far more money to be had working at other tech giants. Also - inflation - products can’t stay under the 1000$ psychological barrier for ever.

[@IanWaugh]

I'll send Monsieur Ironique to have a word... 😊 Saw your piece on Sonicstate with Nick - incredibly impressive. Amazing piece of software, all the moreso for doing everything yourself. 👍

[@ingolf7411]

Just counting the VFM ... the ELTA Solar 50/42 seems to be a much better value 😉 ...

[@IanWaugh]

I knew it would catch on 😄

[@davidm3569]

If you own a recording studio it would maybe draw in the punters. For any other musician, unless a top earner, this would not be an affordable purchase. I watched videos on the new Yamaha Genos 2, yes I know a much different beast, but then saw the price.......£3,600 and sometimes more!! A home hobbyist would struggle to justify that surely? Sadly these hardware instruments are becoming unobtainable, well unless you win the Lottery, no....The Euro Lottery 😫😂

[@IanWaugh]

Hi David - I think many instruments are now made with the pro or gigging musician in mind - or the well-heeled amateur - not the average hobbyist 😢 Luckily there is a lot of more-affordable stuff for the rest of us 😊

[@truthministry.]

Buy a $13K machine to sit at home and make pointless sounds for KZbin views, in an industry (the now extinct music 'business') where most people rarely see a return on their investment (even when extremely talented).

[@IanWaugh]

Hi Mark - you may be right - most musicians are hobbyists and don't expect to make anything out of their hobby. However the music industry is alive and well and continues to fleece music makers 😢

[@truthministry.]

@@IanWaugh Spotify and similar crooks make money, artists make hardly anything. I ran two successful independent dance music labels in the 90's into early 2000s, pressed and distributed, and policed every single unit that left the pressing plant. That was good money and a lot of fun, now I wouldn't get out of bed for music production, and can earn more cleaning toilets for the council. Sad, but that's what the internet has done to music, film, and software companies.

[@IanWaugh]

@@truthministry. Yeah, whatever advances we get in tech, big biz finds a way to use it to screw the little guy...

[@truthministry.]

@@IanWaugh I saw sales of records dive, other labels too (and some were big), as soon as broadband was available to the masses; it's even worse now that a smart phone can connect to the internet with 5G and similar. If I drove my car and filled it up with petrol, then drove off without paying, the police would be after me soon enough. But a person can download thousands of recordings and never get any fines or legal issues; it's a joke. That's why I won't ever again spend money on synths, sold most of them now and kept just three of the ones I always liked the most. I'm no longer inspired to sit in a studio all day and make records, because why work for free.

[@IanWaugh]

@@truthministry. What are the 3 you've kept? I think most musicians make music for the love of it rather than to make money - which comes later to a few. But a sad situation.