Korg Nautilus 73-Key Digital Performance Workstation
Korg Nautilus 73, 73-key Synthesizer Workstation with Light-Touch Keybed, 2,200 Sounds, Dynamic Polyphony Allocation
73-Key Music Workstation
Korg - 'Nautilus'
All the dazzling sounds you need in a
streamlined synth with a 'KRONOS' pedigree!
New from Korg, comes the ‘Nautilus’, here to push the limits of what a performance synth and workstation is capable of. With the impressive and formidable power of nine engines to drive a new approach to sounds, plentiful sampling, audio recording, effects, and processing power, there is simply no other synth that delivers more to explore sonically, with the workflow to get you there faster than ever. Korg spent years refining all our digital, analogue, processing, and hardware technologies and delivering them in a way that helps the musician connect with their instrument. The result is the incredibly powerful, one-of-a-kind Nautilus.
The Nautilus boasts nine dedicated sound engines to realistically reproduce sounds such as pianos, electric pianos, organs and more.
To start, the enhanced SGX-2 piano sound generator offers delicate expressiveness to capture all the nuances of the acoustic piano, and Nautilus features the most piano libraries ever put into one product; with 12-step velocity switched sound, string resonance and more. The EP-1 electric piano sound generator realistically reproduces seven different famous electric piano sounds. The CX-3 engine – the heart of our sought-after CX-3 reissue -covers the distinct sound of classic tone wheel organs. Add to that MOD-7 VPM/FM synthesis, the Polysix EX and MS-20EX for analogue modelling, and the STR-1 for physical modelling, and you have essentially an engine for any type of sound you’re looking to get. Used together in Program or Combination mode, these distinctive engines create completely new timbres.
Amazing Features
• Nine different sound engines offer massive expressive power
• New sounds offered over three broad categories
• New 'Dynamics' knob makes delicate expression possible
• Make intuitive changes to sounds with the Realtime knobs
• 16-Track MIDI Sequencer / 16-Track Audio Recorder
• 16 Onboard Effect Processors
New Sounds Offered Over 3 Broad Categories
The approach to the included sound on Nautilus, started with Korg setting aside our preconceptions of what sound should be like on a conventional music workstation, and instead focused on pushing the boundaries of sampling and programming to create a brand-new classifications of programs that Korg divided into three groups:
“Unique” soundsThe Nautilus brings you distinctive sounds including phrase loops, prepared pianos, found percussion and more. Many seldom heard-of musical instruments found in different regions around the world can be difficult to play, but distinctive phrases played on these instruments are featured on the Nautilus. Use these phrases as-is in your songs— let your imagination be your guide. The Nautilus features sounds that were sampled for the first time just for this instrument, including prepared piano sounds created by placing different objects between piano strings and recording samples, or “found percussion” sounds made by turning ordinary items into instruments to be struck. Not only do these novel and mysterious sounds provide an unexpected flavor to your songs, they offer broad possibilities for sound effects used in film and TV music as well.
“Current” soundsThe Nautilus also offers the freshest sounds that blend in well with today's music scene, including synths, drum kits, special effects and more. For synths, be sure to check out the EDM, electro and chiptune sounds for starters. Also, the Nautilus features more than 50 kinds of drum kits—sounds that most strongly reflect the changes in music over time. The special effect sounds offer useful material like drums added to dance music to create beats—sounds that you can put to use right away.
"Standard sounds"Korg have brought together all of the most important sounds a workstation needs including piano, electric piano, guitar, bass guitar and more, covering all genres. For the newly sampled piano sound, Korg also recorded the lovely sonic ambience of the studio, and you can mix the piano and ambience sound as you like with the new ambience sound. A new electric piano model with a characteristic thick sound has been added, which works great for funky playing styles. Korg also added many phrases that let you play back actual performances of guitar and bass parts that keyboardists will find useful.
Incredible Control and Fine-Tuning
100% control over everythingWith the Dynamics knob, you can instantly control the changes in volume and tone in response to how hard you play the keyboard (velocity); and you can customize this knob in real time to match the keyboard playing feel required for each style and song. Even when playing the same sound, you can turn this knob to get the feeling of playing a completely different sound. By finding just the right setting for your playing style, you'll uncover even more of the possibilities that the Nautilus offers.
When you activate the Dynamics knob and turn it to the left, the keyboard responds more softly to your playing, giving you a wide range of dynamics. This allows for delicate, expressive playing when accompanying a piano solo or vocals, which directly reflects the dynamics of your performance. On the other hand, turning the knob to the right gives a stronger, more flat dynamic response. This brings out the sound when you’re playing in a band or ensemble, which works best when performing with a more even feel.
A User Interface Designed for Easy Operation
redesigned user interfaceFor the Nautilus, Korg have completely rethought the user interface, considering that panel controls tend to become denser as more functions are added. The interface of the Nautilus lets users find just the things they’re looking for once they understand the principles.
The MODE button lets you see what you’ve selected in each mode on a single screen, from PROG and COMBI to the set list, sampling, sequence and global modes. Each mode has tabs for each function, and the PAGE buttons offer more detailed editing with consistent operations. With the user-friendly navigation of the Nautilus, you can press the MODE button at any time to return to the start if you get lost. A dark mode is available for the display, using black as the primary color to reduce eye fatigue.
Six quick access buttons are also available as shortcut buttons. The Nautilus further offers four templates as a continuation of the previous user-friendly features, which can be used to select modes like PROG and COMBI, as transport buttons for sequencer playback and recording and so on. You can also select your own settings as you like. What’s more, you can freely assign functions you frequently use and save them in one of four sets.
Convenient arpeggiator and drum track functions Four scenes of arpeggio patterns and drum track sets are made available that perfectly match each PROG and COMBI preset sound. These are useful for switching between scenes while they’re played, for use when improvising during performance, or for expanding your vision when composing music starting from a sound.
Set list mode that demonstrates its power in live performances Nautilus can organize all of the resources you need to get through a song—or a set—using the Set List mode. Using the Set List mode, the TouchView display can host 16 color-coded touch-screen buttons; each one can instantly call up the appropriate Preset, Combination, or Sequence—regardless of mode!
You can also select different button colors, such as when you want to change the colors within a song while playing live. This is a powerful feature for situations that require quick and accurate control. The Set List mode even adds a nine-band graphic EQ, allowing the overall tone to be tweaked to match the venue.
Colour TouchView Display
enhanced Touch-Drag functionalityThe nerve center of the Nautilus is KORG’s enormous seven-inch (800 x 480 pixel) WVGA color TouchView display.
In addition to simply selecting a sound or choosing a parameter with the touch of a finger, the enhanced Touch-Drag ability allows more detailed control of parameter values. Interactive instruments and panel graphics provide the ability to do everything from adjusting the lid of a grand piano to connecting patch cable on a semi-modular synthesizer model.
The TouchView display also hosts a convenient new Search Function, allowing you to search for (and preview) sounds based on their titles.
Open Sampling System Using KORG’s Open Sampling System, Nautilus can quickly sample an external audio source, regardless of whether Nautilus is in the Program, Combination, or Sequencer modes. The Open Sampling Mode can even resample the performance of the Nautilus itself. The user sample bank, which extends the convenience of the EXs sample library to user samples, allows custom samples to be loaded and played, taking advantage of the gigantic SSD capacity.
AIFF, WAV, SoundFont 2.0, and AKAI S1000/3000 format samples can be loaded into memory via USB memory. Additionally, you can use a USB Ethernet adapter to exchange large amounts of sample data with your computer at high speed. Instruments or samples that you've previously created on your PC can be used to construct a music production setup based on just the Nautilus itself.
16-Track MIDI Sequencer / 16-Track Audio Recorder Nautilus features a sequencer/recording section that offers both 16 MIDI tracks plus 16 audio tracks; a great resource for putting together a dazzling performance or a brilliant production. MIDI sequencing makes it easy to capture ideas, inspiration, and pro-quality phrases using the Drum Track, or RPPR (Realtime Pattern Play/Recording) functions.
The 16-track audio recorder simultaneously captures up to four tracks of 16-bit/24-bit uncompressed data at a sampling rate of 48 kHz. Play along with recorded tracks, add effects, and then resample the Nautilus itself and place the resampled WAV files directly in a track. When polishing your tracks, feel free to use mixer automation and editing functions such as copy, paste, and normalize to get the results you want.
All Playing, No Talking Sound Demo
The Tech Spec
Features | Specification | System | KRONOS System Version 3.0 |
---|---|
73 key | Natural Touch Semi Weighted, C – C |
Synthesis Types | SGX-2 Premium Piano (Acoustic Piano) EP-1 MDS Electric Piano (Electric Piano) HD-1 High Definition Synthesizer (PCM) AL-1 Analog Synthesizer (Analog Modeling) CX-3 Tonewheel Organ (Tonewheel Organ Modeling) STR-1 Plucked String (Physical Modeling) MOD-7 Waveshaping VPM Synthesizer (VPM Synthesis) MS-20EX Component Modeling Technology (Analog Modeling) PolysixEX Component Modeling Technology (CMT Analog Modeling) |
Maximum Polyphony*1*2 | SGX-2: 100 voices*3 EP-1: 104 voices HD-1: 140 voices AL-1: 80 voices CX-3: 200 voices STR-1: 40 voices MOD-7: 52 voices MS-20EX: 40 voices PolysixEX: 180 voices |
Build-in Expansion PCM Libraries | EXs301: German2 D Piano EXs302: Italian F Piano EXs303: Japanese Upright U Piano EXs304: Prepared Piano EXs305: Historical Keyboards EXs306: Vintage Keyboards 2 EXs307: Strings & Synths EXs308: Guitar Collection EXs309: Bass Collection EXs310: World Essence EXs311: Background Loops EXs312: SFX & Hits EXs313: Found Percussions EXs314: Expansion Drums |
Wave Sequences | 598 User memory, 377 Preload |
Premium Piano | Full key stereo sampling, Chromatically sampled at up to 12 velocity levels, no looping. Damper resonance and mechanical noise are reproduced. Una Corda sample support |
PCM | EXs301 – German2 D Piano 12 velocity levels, includes Ambience Piano type/samples EXs302 – Italian F Piano 12 velocity levels, no Una Corda samples EXs303 – Japanese Upright U Piano 8 velocity levels Exs304 – Prepared Piano 1-4 velocity levels |
Piano Type | 128 (With the factory settings, the 64 varieties of EXs6: German D Piano, EXs7: Japanese C Piano, EXs12: SGX-1 Austrian D Piano, EXs17: Berlin D Piano do not produce sound. The options must be downloaded. (Those will be released at a later date.)) |
Oscillator Control | Damper Resonance, Damper Noise, Mechanical Noise, Note Release, Modeled String Resonance, Una Corda. |
Panel Control | Tine Type: Preamp Volume, Tone (Treble, Bass), Vibrate (On/Off, Intensity, Speed), Amp/Cabinet (On/Off, Drive) Reed Type: Preamp Volume, Tone (Treble, Bass), Vibrate (Intensity, Speed), Amp/Cabinet (On/Off, Drive) |
Effect Types | 9 Small Phase, Orange Phase, Black Phase, Vintage Chorus, Black Chorus, EP Chorus, Vintage Flanger, Red Comp, VOX Wah |
Oscillators | 8 velocity zones per oscillator, with switching, crossfades and layering Each zone can play mono or stereo Multisamples or Wave Sequences |
Modulation | Three envelope generators, two LFOs per voice, common LFO, four key tracking generators, AMS (Alternate Modulation Source), two AMS mixers |
Outputs | L/MONO, R, Individual 1-4: 1/4” TRS Balanced Output Impedance: 350 Ω Stereo; 175 Ω Mono (L/MONO Only), Nominal Level: +4.0 dBu, Maximum Level: +16.0 dBu (when load impedance is 600 Ω or greater) MAIN VOLUME slider controls only AUDIO OUTPUT (MAIN) L/MONO and R |
Headphones | 1/4” stereo phone jack Output impedance: 33 Ω, Maximum Level: 60+60 mW (when load impedance is 33 Ω), MAIN VOLUME knob (link with AUDIO OUTPUT (MAIN)) |
USB-B | 24-bit, Sample Rate: 48 kHz, 2 channels (Digital output of the same signals as AUDIO OUTPUT (MAIN) L/MONO and R) |
Inputs | Audio Inputs 1 and 2: 1/4” TRS Balanced Input Impedance: 10 kΩ Nominal Level: LINE +4 dBu Maximum Level: LINE +16 dBu Nominal Level: MIC –22 dBu Maximum Level: MIC -10 dBu Source Impedance: 600 Ω |
USB-B | 24-bit, Sample Rate: 48 kHz, 2 channels |
USB | USB A (TYPE A) : For connection to external USB devices (QWERTY keyboards, MIDI controllers, ethernet adaptors, and storage) USB B (TYPE B) : MIDI/audio interface, MIDI: 1 (16 channel) input / 1 (16 channel) output, Audio: 2 channel input / 2 channel output *2 USB high-speed ports (supports 480Mbps) |
Weight | 73 key: 14.6 kg / 32.19 lbs |