NEW YORK, N.Y. — Korg is pleased to announce the release of system version 1.3 for Korg’s flagship OASYS synthesizer, delivering the next level of the sound-creating and performance potential of this acclaimed instrument. In addition to new features and enhancements, version 1.3 includes a new version of KARMA (2.1), and makes available two more optional expansions: the MOD-7 Waveshaping VPM Synthesizer, and the EXs-3 Brass & Woodwinds Expansion sample library.

OASYS System Version 1.3 Main features
– The new EXi MOD-7 Waveshaping VPM synthesizer takes a classic form of synthesis into new and uncharted territories. A demo version is included in OASYS system version 1.3.

– KARMA 2.1 adds support for User GEs, selectable quantization for Scene changes and Module triggering, enhancements to the Note Map feature, and many other new functions.

– The optional new EXs-3 Brass & Woodwinds Expansion Sample Library, available separately, provides over 700 Mbytes of expressive, natural-sounding brass and woodwind instruments.

– EXs expansion sample sets can now be loaded and unloaded immediately in OASYS memory, without restarting the OASYS, a great time-saver!

– EXs-1 and 2 are now loaded into RAM using a new, lossless compression technique. This yields a modest reduction in size: EXs-1 now uses 284 MB instead of 313 MB, and EXs-2 uses 464 MB instead of 503 MB. With 2 GB installed and both EXs loaded, this increases the available user sampling RAM by about 68 MB. You’ll notice that this is much milder than the dramatic size reductions of mp3, or the PCM compression sometimes found in other synthesizers. There is a strong advantage over these other methods, however: the OASYS compression is completely lossless, and causes absolutely no degradation in audio quality whatsoever.

Note: This compression applies only to EXs samples, and not to RAM samples.

– Each EXi in a dual Program can be transposed separately for greater sonic flexibility.

– All Step Sequencers now provide separate “smoothing” parameters for attack and decay, allowing you to create more complex tonal changes.

– In Sequencer mode, a play button has been added to MIDI Event Edit, allowing you to play back the currently-edited measure while keeping the dialog box open.

– Other improvements and enhancements have been made to the operation of and stability of the Operating System.

OASYS software version 1.3 will be available in October 2007, as a free download from www.korguser.net. EXs-3 is expected to be available in mid-November.

[tags]Korg OASYS synthesizer, EXi MOD-7 Waveshaping VPM synthesizer, EXs-3 Brass and Woodwinds Expansion[/tags]