Korg RADIAS Discontinued

[23]

The formant sample stuff on the Radias I thought was mad cool, and there were some other things about it I found quite nifty. It just didn't amount to it's hype to me though.
If someone was like "Virus KC" or Radias, I'd have told them Virus KC hands down (granted they would have had to buy the KC used).
There was just to much out there that could be had for the same amount of money that I felt blew the thing out of the water in regard to overall capability.

These prices I'm hearing GC dropped them to actually amount to what I think was worth from the word GO, but that's not what they went for (and in some cases I know of are even going for now).

From what I can tell, the M3 seems on it's way to suffering the same fate and I really think it's for the same types of reasons.
Korg just seems to be throwing things into price brackets that they are underfeatured for, people opt for the more fully featured things in those brackets, and it's looking like Korg just isn't understanding what's happening.
I don't get what they are thinking.

[Hair]

fwiw I really like the R3 - a lot of people seem to complain about the interface, but imo it's the best way to handle multi-function knobs, and the Radias derived sound engine has more presence (balls) to my ears

the fact that I managed to score mine for $330 after rebate, taxes and GC coupon was nice too though

seems like the Radias was just mismarketed and misunderstood, but I bet the used prices they'll go for will make them worth picking up, like what happened with the MS2000 - for what the MS2000 cost new, I didn't think they sounded all thaat great, but all those knobs at the prices they go for now it makes a great entry synth (and still sounds better than the SH-201, blegh)

[deathbycubicle]

This is really a synth that has suffered from horrible presets, and a sort of identity crisis. Almost all the presets are "press one key and a whole song plays" trance c**p, gimmicky IDM sounds are plentiful. The thing is, once you delete all of them, and really look at the potential this thing has, it's a different story. All of the things I loved about the MS2000 are here, except much more polyphony. There's two effects per sound, and a master effect.

I'm planning on making some youtube videos, because this synth has been grossly underestimated. Take a look at the youtube results right now, and all you will hear is garbage. Even with my modest programming skills, I can get really cool results.

Although I gotta say, if not many people are using this, that's fine with me. When I bust this out on stage, people won't be expecting it.

[cornutt]

seems like the Radias was just mismarketed and misunderstood,

Probably a lot of truth to that... I got the impression that Korg was marketing it as a VA originally, and looking at it strictly as a VA, it's pretty much a "me too" product. And let's face it, Access eats everyone else's lunch in the VA market these days. The Radias may turn out to be one of those things that everyone re-discovers five years from now, and all of a sudden you'll see used ones going for $1500.

[xpander]

the Radias is fantastic, i think it's one of the best hardware VAs ever including the industrial design. i'm also a fan of the JD-800 & JP-8000 but the vocoder on the Radias is smashingly good. if they're discontinued, i expect they'll become one of the most sought after used VAs. i bought mine because i decided it was the best hardware vocoder-keyboard on the market in terms of user interface.

[Stab Frenzy]

You know they put all those lights on it because they figured they needed to make everything light up so it could be played in complete darkness?

Complete darkness of course because if you were using one of them live you'd want the stage lights off so nobody could see the ugly thing you're playing.

[Gianni]

This smells weird.... Korg is trying to convice people about their "Korg Komponent System" or something like that, why would they take out the M3's KKS girlfriend out of the market with just one year of M3?
Or are they just discontinuing the keyboard version? ....which is just a rack + minicontroller after all.

Man, Korg really sucks this days for me.

[synapsecollapse]

guitar center's stock codes allow for items to be "discontinued" from certain stores, allowing only their high selling stores (and honestly, do any guitar centers sell lots of synths any more? the consumers have better options and the chain is allowing for less leeway in terms of price [especially in the competitive "hi-tech areas]) to carry any gear that they choose.

when it first came out, i had to literally cheat to get a v synth onto the guitar center sales floor in tempe arizona, and people were mad about it too.

anyways, GC's items codes rarely mean squat. unfortunately, i dont feel like new products from korg do anymore either (i mean, the most inovative NEW thing they have dont in years is put out a nintendo DS game that isn't allowed to sell in the US).

[xpander]

still a great sounding synth with a fantastic interface. all of this talk about what rubbish it is, roffle...

the king of flashy that i've seen has been the ultra-bright rear-mounted LFO indicator LEDs on the PEK, enough to make your studio glow & let your audience know its LFOs are doing their thing, important communication that we all need to share. note the light behind the keyboards in this pic:

[deathbycubicle]

And let's face it, Access eats everyone else's lunch in the VA market these days. The Radias may turn out to be one of those things that everyone re-discovers five years from now, and all of a sudden you'll see used ones going for $1500.

I have owned TWO VIrus TI Polars...the first one was so buggy with clicks and pops, it was unusable...then I bought another one a year later, when they were supposidly "stable" - the thing would freeze and lock up, and you'd have to power it up and down until it eventually worked right. This was only using it as hardware, not even trying to use the "TI" feature set. Absolutely horrible, and at $3000+, completely unacceptable.

Keep in mind the Radias keyboard is less than half the cost of a Polar, or a TI Keyboard. Comparing them seems apples & oranges. Even when the Polar was working, I wasn't that thrilled with the sound...

It all depends what type of sound you want though. Everyone nowadays is obsessed with "WARMTH" or "VINTAGE" tones...and that's cool, but there's some days that I don't want to power up my Voyager and PEK, and just want to play some bright, modern, brash tones...and that's where the Radias comes in.

[deathbycubicle]

still a great sounding synth with a fantastic interface. all of this talk about what rubbish it is, roffle...

Hahaha, maybe we will have to PM to have a constructive Radias discussion.

[Joey]

And let's face it, Access eats everyone else's lunch in the VA market these days. The Radias may turn out to be one of those things that everyone re-discovers five years from now, and all of a sudden you'll see used ones going for $1500.

I have owned TWO VIrus TI Polars...the first one was so buggy with clicks and pops, it was unusable...then I bought another one a year later, when they were supposidly "stable" - the thing would freeze and lock up, and you'd have to power it up and down until it eventually worked right. This was only using it as hardware, not even trying to use the "TI" feature set. Absolutely horrible, and at $3000+, completely unacceptable.

Keep in mind the Radias keyboard is less than half the cost of a Polar, or a TI Keyboard. Comparing them seems apples & oranges. Even when the Polar was working, I wasn't that thrilled with the sound...

It all depends what type of sound you want though. Everyone nowadays is obsessed with "WARMTH" or "VINTAGE" tones...and that's cool, but there's some days that I don't want to power up my Voyager and PEK, and just want to play some bright, modern, brash tones...and that's where the Radias comes in.

my polar has never had a single issue

sounds like you got two broken ones

[idiotboy]

I had a radias for a short time and really liked it. For me, the only problem with the Radias was it's initial pricetag. Now that you can get the rack used on ebay for ~$600-700, I may grab it again. Very cool, capable synth.

[CTB]

For me, the only problem with the Radias was it's initial pricetag.

Hence why I got mine on the GC blowout. At $699, it was priced right and I jumped at it.