Korg Nautilus 73 73-key Synthesizer Workstation Reviews

So far so good I love the sounds great keyboard I have not been able to use all that it offers but what I have used has been awesome I have played Yamaha keyboards for many years this is the first non Yamaha keyboard I have owned and so far so good we will see the how long it lasts compared to my other keyboards

So far so good what a awesome instrument I truly love my nautilus 73 key keyboard this board does more than I need user friendly very sharp looking keyboard very comfortable to play the sounds are amazing the drums it all sounds like the original instruments I also got the package stand bench seat and sustain pedal they are also far better than I thought they would be well made very impressive I also got the berringer keyboard amp not high end but very pleased with it well made nautilus sounds great through it with effects and I also run my Mike through it at times sounds great very pleased with everything I have purchased my sales rep Aaron Anderson has been awesome could not ask for a better person he has gone above and beyond for me I truly could not be happier shipping was also very fast sweetwater and Aaron Anderson are truly the best but don't take my word for it try them out for your self and don't forget to ask for Aaron Anderson thanks and God bless

I really love this substantial synthesizer. So many levels of creativity to discover with many rich sounds already. It can provide as much capability & depth that an artist can wish to explore. It will be a pleasure giving it a good effort.

My thanks always to my sales consultant Jason Filloramo for his wisdom & professionalism.

I NEVER write reviews. If you are on the fence about this board, you should just go for it. I play in a dance rock cover band and a Doors tribute. The interface, the organization, and the sound quality is tremendous! In a month I have learned how to use it and feel like I have the basics down, and now the sky is the limit.
Building patches and set lists is a breeze, and the sampling power is just what I needed.
The added bonus for me is the organs, not to mention the VOX CONTINENTAL samples! One patch named Light My Fire Organ and a Rhodes patch named Riders Keys pretty much told me I had made the right choice.
I don't like too many buttons and knobs, I like to keep it simple. Just because they are not on the deck though does not mean you can not get those fine tuned adjustments. you just need to use the touch screen and menus.
If you like to make tweaks live this may not be your board.
No after touch either. I am OK with that but some people are not happy with it.
The nautilus has replaced my 2 roland set up AND possibly retired by Vintage Gibson G-101.
It is all there...seriously.
Alex Campos is one H**l of a sales associate too BTW.
Thank you Korg and Sweetwater!

It not really user friendly.Korg needs to make a larger viewing screen or make a connection were you can hook up a large screen for viewing.

My Korg Nautilus is fun to play, completely immersive. It's not just that the piano sounds are great, it's that they're so detailed they sound like particular pianos I've played or heard in the past. It's super easy to play along with a drum track or to split the keyboard, and that's a lot of fun, too. The physical keyboard has the feel of a nice pipe organ manual. Every built-in sound is usable for something, and feels like it was put together by someone who loves that instrument; instead of there being a "Korg" sound, it feels like they tried to make the best oboe or electric piano or combi based on a pop song that they could. This kind of experience is hard to create consistently on an electronic instrument. For something that you want to take out of the box and play, it gets five stars.

This replaced a Roland XP-80 from 1999 (and my JD-Xi has been collecting dust now, too). In all that time, nothing else has come along that tempted me to replace it. Rolands are very logically structured, and there is usually only one place to do something. Korg takes a different approach and puts controls where they make sense musically, even though that might lead to some overlap. For example, the set list has EQ, each program has EQ and you can add EQ inside the programs themselves or with insert, total, or master effects. While this adds some complexity when designing a sound and you might have to check multiple settings, it means that you can design in the EQ, but then also adjust it depending on the venue space or how it needs to balance in a sequencer recording. Similarly, having all the different synth engines give you something to learn, but it means that if you want the piano to sound like the lid is up or down, you just say so, and leave it to the engine to figure out the samples or filters that need to change, and there isn't piano-specific stuff like the damper pedal noise cluttering up the programming for your analog synth sounds. One thing I really like is that you can quickly record ("sample") a demo (including vocals) from anywhere to external media without even using the sequencer. Korg understands what musicians do with their synths and the Nautilus reflects that.

The biggest downside is that it takes a long time to boot up. Also, the way sequencing and sampling uses files and how you keep them together is not clear to me and I lost data in my first couple of attempts. Most of the user experience feels like a modern smartphone touchscreen UI, but there are a few places where filesystems and sound banks sneak through. This is unlikely to affect anyone who records mainly on the computer, but I like the workstation concept. That said, obviously anything over a certain level of complexity is going to be sequenced and mixed on a computer and not a synth workstation. And the drum tracks, arpeggiators and patterns give you lots of ways short of sequencing to explore ideas in an engaging way. My XP-80 had aftertouch, but I don't miss it on the Nautilus for what I typically play.

I would recommend a Nautilus for someone who just wants a good-sounding instrument out of the box as well as those who like to program sounds and sequences. I'm sure it will keep me engaged for a long time.

Pros: You get the meat and potatoes of the Kronos at a good discount. All the same sound engines as the Kronos, powerful programmable synths, and from what I understand, can use Kronos patches which is a big deal. Nice key action (I have the 73 which is non-weighted) Amazing patches in general. Amazing pianos. I'm blown away by the amount of effort that went into programming the presets (which I'm used to being a let-down in most equipment). The majority of the presets are actually usable. In addition, the pre-mapped effects and modulation parameters mapped to the knobs for each preset are tastefully thought out. For instance reverb or delay cranked all the way up is really as much as a pro would really want...unlike most products where the parameter ranges go overboard deep into the unusable zone.
Sound quality is top. Powerful arranger that has the functionality to be the center of a studio with one caveat...
Cons:
- Screen: Touch screen is not sensitive enough sometimes. I find myself pressing multiple times to perform actions. UI layout/design amplifies this factor with a lot of tiny buttons that are difficult to press. Display is also not clear/crisp. I often lean over it squinting trying to read the text. The screen also just needs to be bigger in my opinion.
- Parameter knobs and joystick feel cheap. Knobs are not easy to grab and turn accurately for performance...also slippery, too small, and too close together for my liking. Joystick is too small as well and physically sounds crunchy (that might just be my particular unit)
- Gripes: power switch is on back and needs ti be used every time for proper shutdown. You can't leave it on and power it on and off with a power conditioner like most equipment.
The unit takes a while to boot up. The box literally had nothing in it except the board and power cable (no warranty info, software, literature...nothing.
Summary: Great sounds and keybed (which is most important). Not so great for performance if you use a lot of modulation. Not so fun to work in the interface. If I didn't accidentally scratch it taking it out of the box, I would have returned it and upgraded to the Kronos.

From a creative perspective there is a lot here to inspire and help you create great music. My weakness is dru ms, and this has built in grooves for each sound. Combine with with a very robust set of sequencer and arpeggiator options on you can create music you never dreamed of. The sounds are exquisite-if you can find them.

Editing can be a chore, IMHO it is not very intuitive, but keep in mind that I bought my first Korg in the early 80s. They included the Polysix sound engine on this unit, and that makes nme happy.

Part of the problem is that it does so much that you can't remember everything unless you play it every day. If you've played a Triton and/or Kronos you'll have ahead start.

The touch screen is a bit of a disappointment. They suggest you use your fingernail, but I've had less than Steller results.

I worked around the lack of after-touch by using my Triton as a controller, but you may have to enable it on each program you intend to use it on.

Whatever you need, this will probably do it. Figuring out how to get it done, well, hopefully you're better at it than I am.

Larger library of sounds, editable timbres and 16 part combis, solid feel.... Piano sounds are mostly usable.
Instrument is wonderfully light but I would have loved a little more substantial keybed... All in All a winner for the gigging musician.

Not an easy review to write as there's some good stuff and some not so good stuff. Let's start with the good stuff first:
Well built synth with a great sound and mechanically sound case. Fairly hefty so it won't move around while playing. One of the better synth action keybeds I've played and I've plated a bunch. It's replacing my ancient original Yamaha Motif 7 with synth action. My first synth with a touch screen so I have to careful with that and not get into wiping dust and stuff off it while it's powered up. Uses a regular AC mains cord and NOT a wallwart. Regular .25 inch headphone jack and it has enough guts to drive my Adam SP5 cans.

Next the not so good stuff:
Documentation is meh at best. Several times they give incomplete directions/paths to get to certain settings. End user if left to finding things on their own. When manuals are written they should be given to someone who doesn't work with the hardware in question and have them try it out. Then re-write the manual sections. Korg is not alone in this as I've had the same complaints with Yamaha documentation. This is why the review is down a full star. Second is the default volume for every patch/combination that has drums is full up so when you start the drums you get blasted which if you're working with headphones you'll hurt your ears. This is what knocks a half star off the rating.

To end on a good note I have to give props to Cory Konyshak my sales engineer. Good fellow and did right by me. Prompt shipping. I've always gotten good service from Sweetwater and hope they do well in the future.

I knew it; I checked the specs. But why does it have to be so heavy? I love my Krome-76. It's easy to set up/teardown/transport. Then there's this thing! I sure hope that monster bottom plate does whatever it's supposed to do besides add ten pounds. I may go another direction just because I need help putting it in the car (in the case). Five stars for sounds. Two stars for the engineer.

I own the Kronos 88 but I'm adding the Nautilus73 for gigging as the Kronos is just too heavy to lug around anymore. Copying my patches from Kronos to Nautilus has been a challenge -some patches are there, others are not. The Kronos has a slightly richer sound but my side-by-side comparison is I like the lighter feel of the 73 over the weighted 88 and patches other than piano are much easier to play. There's an odd behavior with the sustain pedal where it doesn't work when first powered on - you have to press it once to get its' attention. Speaking of startup.. The Kronos takes about 2 minutes to boot. The Nautilus nearly 3 minutes so you hope you don't lose stage power with this one. The Nautilus is 48.31" x 15.20" x 4.57" and that 15.20" prevents it from fitting in my Gator case used for the Kronos. One that note, since Korg opted to expose sharp aluminum edges on the "sleek, robust chassis" it's pretty uncomfortable to pick up and my thought is that I'm going to beat the hell out of those edges within no time at all. The first unit I received had a bad key (triggered intermittently) and Sweetwater was great about managing the return/replacement for me. We'll see.. I like versatility of the board - but the body style is ridiculous

Korg made a terrible mistake replacing the Kronos for this. The design is absolutely terrible, the interface is not friendly at all, there is lack of aftertouch, not enough panel buttons and controlers, this thing takes 100 years to boot up - OMG! What a shame Korg! Folks in Japan tried to create a mix of Kronos and Krome, which is fine. But at least keep the legacy and give us a newer version of Kronos so we would still consider Korg when browsing for workstation. I got my Nautilus from Sweetwater and not even a year later, it was replaced for a Nord. Sorry Korg!

Very disappointed. If it worked, it would be a great instrument at a great price, however, KORG is notorious for having sound cutoff issues. I had it with the Krome that required a replacement of the internal SD drive and had the same issue with the Nautilus...sporadic sound cutoff and loss of polyphony with the synth engines within days of purchase...not what you want to happen in the middle of a gig.

All the message boards say this requires the replacement of the SSD. KORG support suggested:
"If you you updated the os in the Nautilus and are still having the same issue, you could try restoring the Nautilus. To restore the Nautilus, you would burn the 3 accessory disc files onto 3 DVD's and use an external DVD player to boot the Nautilus from these disks. The instructions to perform this are included in the download folder."...because we all have a DVD burner/player and the time to do this.

It is wrong for KORG to put the responsibility to fix a factory defect on the user. Says a lot about the company in my opinion. If you get one, I hope you never have this problem.