Nautilus 88 is Korg's flagship workstation with a fully weighted keybed and nine separate engines inside. Acoustic piano, electric piano, PCM, analogue modelling, tonewheel organ, plucked string and VPM all live in one instrument. Working pianists, musical directors and writers who need everything on one stand are the audience.
RH3 across the full range
This version carries RH3, Korg's real weighted hammer action, running from A to C. Velocity is tracked across the board. Aftertouch is not supported. For anyone whose first instrument is the piano, that hammer action is the main draw.
Nine engines under one lid
SGX-2 covers acoustic piano and EP-1 takes the tine and reed electrics. HD-1 is the PCM synthesizer at the centre of things, while AL-1 handles the analogue side. Then come CX-3 for tonewheel organ, STR-1 for plucked strings and MOD-7 for waveshaping VPM. Two Korg classics return as MS-20EX and PolysixEX. Polyphony depends on which engine you load, from 40 voices at the low end up to 200 on the organ.
Piano and electric piano detail
Korg sampled the premium piano chromatically in stereo across every note, at up to twelve velocity levels and with no loops. Damper resonance, mechanical noise and Una Corda material are reproduced. Seven electric models follow, five of them tine types and two reed EP200 voices, each with preamp, tone, vibrato and amp controls on the panel. Behind those sit nine period effects: three phasers, three choruses, a flanger, a compressor and a VOX wah.
Sample library and wave sequencing
Preset PCM occupies 496 MB in RAM and 2.3 GB on disk, holding 1,771 multisamples and 3,955 drumsamples. Fourteen expansion libraries are already installed. Between them they cover German, Italian and Japanese pianos, prepared piano, historical and vintage keyboards, strings, guitar, bass, world material, background loops, effects and drums. Roughly 2 GB of PCM RAM stays free for your own sampling, and wave sequencing adds 377 preloads with room for 598 more.
Shaping the sound
Oscillators in HD-1 carry eight velocity zones apiece, switching, crossfading or layering multisamples and wave sequences. Two multi-mode filters per voice run in single, serial, parallel or 24 dB routings, feeding a non-linear driver, a low boost circuit and a three band EQ. Modulation comes from three envelopes, two LFOs per voice, a common LFO, four key tracking generators and a pair of AMS mixers. Steering all of it in real time is the vector joystick with its tempo-synced envelope.
See it in action
Specifications
| System | NAUTILUS System Version 1.0 |
|---|---|
| Keyboard | 88 keys, RH3 (Real Weighted Hammer Action 3), A to C. Velocity sensitive, aftertouch not supported |
| Synthesis types | 9 engines. SGX-2 premium piano, EP-1 MDS electric piano, HD-1 high definition PCM synthesizer, AL-1 analog modelling, CX-3 tonewheel organ modelling, STR-1 plucked string physical modelling, MOD-7 waveshaping VPM, MS-20EX and PolysixEX component modelling |
| Maximum polyphony | SGX-2 100 voices, EP-1 104, HD-1 140, AL-1 80, CX-3 200, STR-1 40, MOD-7 52, MS-20EX 40, PolysixEX 180. Figures apply when the full voice processing power is given to one engine |
| Preset PCM | RAM 496 MB / disk 2.3 GB (1,771 multisamples, 3,955 drum samples) |
| Built-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 and Synths, EXs308 Guitar Collection, EXs309 Bass Collection, EXs310 World Essence, EXs311 Background Loops, EXs312 SFX and Hits, EXs313 Found Percussions, EXs314 Expansion Drums |
| PCM RAM capacity | Approx. 2 GB. Approx. 260 MB available as shipped from the factory |
| Wave sequences | 598 user memory, 377 preload. Stereo multisamples, note synchronisation and tempo based settings supported |
| Premium piano | Full key stereo sampling, chromatically sampled at up to 12 velocity levels, no looping. Damper resonance and mechanical noise reproduced, Una Corda sample support |
| MDS electric piano | Tine and reed type electric pianos using Multi-Dimensional Synthesis, plus vintage effects |
| Electric piano model types | 7. Tine EP I Early, Tine EP I Late, Tine EP II, Tine EP V, Tine EP DMP, Reed EP200, Reed EP200A |
| Electric piano panel control | Tine type preamp volume, tone (treble, bass), vibrato (on/off, intensity, speed), amp and cabinet (on/off, drive). Reed type preamp volume, tone (treble, bass), vibrato (intensity, speed), amp and 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 |
| Advanced vector synthesis | Oscillator volumes and synthesis or effect parameters controlled by the vector joystick and the tempo synchronised vector envelope |
| Structure | Single (OSC1 only), Double (OSC1 and OSC2, two separate synth voices layered), Drums (one kit), Double Drums (two kits) |
| Oscillators | 8 velocity zones per oscillator with switching, crossfades and layering. Each zone plays mono or stereo multisamples or wave sequences |
| Filters | Two multi-mode filters per voice (low pass, high pass, band pass, band reject) with four routings (single, serial, parallel, 24 dB) |
| Driver | Per voice non-linear driver and low boost circuit |
| EQ | Three bands with sweepable mid |
| Modulation | Three envelope generators, two LFOs per voice, common LFO, four key tracking generators, AMS (Alternate Modulation Source), two AMS mixers |
| Audio input | External audio can be processed through the ring modulator, filter, driver, amp and EQ |
Specifications from Korg. Appearance and specifications are subject to change without notice.
