One thing you don't get is Ian,ALL Korg arrangers have their PRO workstion sound board with EXACT same editing power unlike BOTH Yamaha and Roland(not to mention SAME full blown sequencer with same memory,sample editing feature on a arranger). PSR s900 is nowhere close to Motif XS (It doesn't use the same board)(may have SA sounds which are great).Roland G 70/E80 is nowhere close to latest Fantom series.KORG however uses TRITON/Triton Extreme board in PA800 (minus Combi mode and less EFX)but the sound engine and editing is the SAME.

That's why even PA50 beats all e50/60 even 70 ,PSR 3000,s900/T2 in overall INDIVIDUAL sounds wise.Yes PSR has better Ac guitars,Sax , Roland have better piano,but overall individual sounds wise KORG arrangers are the only arrangers to fit in a live band.Almost all sounds are Sweet!,Live! or Cool! or better in Yamaha's terms.


Especially in older days -
(Roland arrangers -GS + some good sounds ,Yamaha arrabgers- XG +some good sounds ,KORG -full blown workstation sound board)-So who's talking about Pro?


KORG I3- uses X3 board(first workstaion with GM,O1w was not GM) in 1993 (No roland did't use their Jv80 board for E86)nor their XP series board for g1000(same old SC88/pro and GS format with very little JV sounds),.Yamaha all MU80 XG board(Yes no Sy 85 or W or EX series here) to their arrangers with some longer samples like Sax and so on.

Korg i30 will blow psr 2000/9000 pro or G1000 anyday in a band situation.

PA80/50 will again blow G70/80 or PSR 3k or tyros 1/2 anyday.

So in band situation KORG arrangers still stay at the top since their use of current workstation board.

But in arranger world it's a different story.PSR 2000 has pads playing loops that PA80 can't.Smoother fills and simpler yet more effective 8 beats that PA 80 does'nt have.Not so great VH but more flexible than PA 80's primitive VH that costs extra)Better OS that PA 80 doesn't have.Though PA 80 has overall better sound,punchier drums,better sound engine it fails as an arranger in the market.That's why psr 2k /2100 ruled the market in the early 2000's in WESTERN arranger market(Like Roland did in early to mid 90's).

Their secret is simple - light,less than $1500 KB with 4 variations, good OS and navigation ,direct disk play,user style writing (basic song recorder but other features outweighted),not so great but usuable VH,video out,score display etc-so many users -meaning great 3 party support and that KB will live on.Remember 3k had no competition (no less than $1500 KB that offers USB to device and SM card slot feature for storage,VH and video out).The competition was using floppy drive (PA50) and no storage at all (Rolands EXRs) though they cost the same as better equipped (feature and OS wise ) psr 1500.They did have better sounds(PA50),more keys(EXR 7),but not so great OS and 2 variattion with no user style writing (EXR series -what were they thinking?).

Again most PSR's popularity is in US(also some UK)plus Asian market(that plays westtern songs in clubs -Eg. Philippines to Thiland) who uses simpler 4/4 beats.
But not in mid east or EU(Germany) market when they use more ethnic user styles (9/8 rhythms)and sample loading/editing.Korg,Ketron and some Rolands have good market there.(Yamaha could have gone into that market too).PSR A1000 series doen't compare to PA series there).


Starting from PA1x(also in 800) they put this pads that play loops,bigger display(PA80 dislay was primitive compared to 2k). (they still doen't have Yamaha's Drum sync feature to SMF which I think is great great feature that both Roland and Korg lacks)(I would personally choose these feature over G70's primitive guitar mode feaure and Korg's great feature but not so great acoustic guitar voices'guitar mode).


So you may play PSR s900 with the band (but it won't sound like a Motif XS),or E80 (will not sound like a latest Fantom).But when you play a PA1x or PA800 you do know that you are playing a Triton /Triton X treme with controls(yes including 2 assignable switches,mutiple outs etc).yes it loads Triton programs , where your T2 or E 80/G70 can't do (from their workstations).

Just try a PA1x ,play Program mode ,and play all the sounds and side by side compare with G70/e80/Psr s900/T2 and you'll understand what I mean .(in overall sounds).

Again ,Design wise (buttons sharing dual function)is not perfect ,but then again I'm reffering to overall sound.(sorry if I offend g70 or T2 fans)(I like their workstation sounds anyway).



[This message has been edited by jamman (edited 10-20-2007).]