Chuck Surack President/CEO Sweetwater Sound, Inc.

My own personal history with keyboard workstations dates back to the early 80's, when I bought a Synclavier, one of the very first "keyboard workstations" (in fact, that term didn't even really exist until almost a decade later!). It was a pretty amazing instrument for its time, and cost more than a house here in Fort Wayne. Since then, there have been a handful of synths, samplers and workstations that have changed the way we think about music production - the DX7, D50 and M1 in the 80's, the K2000 in the 90's, and the amazing software instruments like Gigastudio and MachFive that are available today. While I still get excited when I see something new, as you can imagine, it takes a lot to really "blow me away" these days.

Well, Korg has done it by introducing their brand new OASYS Synthesis Studio. Recently, I was invited to the Korg offices and I had a chance to spend a day with the OASYS. This is not some marketing hype, this is Chuck speaking..."there is nothing else like the OASYS and it absolutely knocked me out".

The OASYS offers an unbelievable collection of Korg synthesis technologies from the past, with an eye towards the future. Wave Sequencing, Vector Synthesis, Analog Modeling, Tonewheel Organ modeling, full function sampling, KARMA technology and over 600mb of onboard ROM make this thing the mother of all synthesizers. It's also been designed with expansion in mind, so no matter what new synth architectures are designed in the future, the OASYS is sure to be up to the task.

The OASYS has everything you'd expect from a traditional keyboard workstation - phenomenal onboard effects, 16-track MIDI sequencing, plus all of the synthesis stuff I mentioned above. But what really makes it a "Studio" rather than just a "workstation" is a full function 16-track hard disk recorder, seamlessly integrated into the sequencing system. It even has high quality, studio grade phantom powered mic preamps! The onboard effects can be applied to audio as well as the internal MIDI tracks, and there's a CD-R/RW drive in the machine, so you can truly compose, record, edit, mix and burn a finished CD.

I could go on and on about all the things the OASYS can do, but we've put together an entire website dedicated to educating you about it. Check it out, and then give your Sales Engineer a call. We'll answer any additional questions you have about OASYS, and show you how it will fit into your workflow and most importantly, change the way you create music. I just can't wait to get my very own OASYS!

When it comes to heavy-duty keyboard workstations, nobody does it better than Sweetwater. Our Sales Engineers have configured tens of thousands of systems centered around keyboard workstations from Kurzweil, Korg, Yamaha, Roland and more. Our tech support department is universally recognized for their expertise in supporting the most sophisticated instruments on the planet. For example, did you know that if you call Kurzweil today and ask for support on their groundbreaking workstation, the K250, they'll tell you to call us?

What makes us so good at this? We eat, sleep and breathe this stuff. Our sales staff and tech support team are made up of passionate musicians, producers and engineers. When they clock out at the end of the day, the generally go home and turn on their own studios, making music with the gear they've been talking about all day. We're not just serious about selling music technology, we're serious about producing music with it ourselves.

That's why when Korg was figuring out what music retailer would be the best OASYS resource for musicians across the country they turned to Sweetwater. They brought a handful of Sweetwater staff to their corporate headquarters to give us a "sneak peek" at OASYS, both to get our feedback and to make sure that we fully understood the power and technology under the hood of this amazing instrument. We've been working with Korg closely since that meeting to make sure that we can not only provide you with tons of information about the instrument itself, but also how it will best integrate into your existing system - whether that system consists of a computer based music production setup, a host of hardware and software synths, a stand-alone DAW workstation, or any number of other options.

We hope you find our OASYS site thoroughly informative, but understand that it's really just the tip of the iceberg. If you want to know more about this "mother of all workstations", call us today at 1-800-222-4700.