I found this review on Sweetwater.com:

OVER THE TOP!!
by Ron Austin from Mastic Beach,NY, June 2007
Music Background: Pro Musician, Sound Engineer

Being a PA80 user I just had to get this one. I find the USB interfaces really easy to use and the song play mode just like a juke box. The only problem I've found is that alot of the styles are way over the top (too much) and unusable for doing popular songs, past and present. The voices are fantastic!
=============================
So what's the deal with PA800 styles? Some say they're usable and others unusable to match songs. I'd like to know about the factory styles (OOTB) so not those tweaked by users.

Taike

its the kind of posting that really puzzles me. If the styles are too busy , then simply drop out some of the instruments. Its really that simple. Everyone has their own taste when it comes to styles but really it could not be easier to make some adjustments to your specific tastes.The same goes for any of the most basic arrangers to the most sophisticated.

The Pa800 styles are way above the rest...listen close.
with a few tweaks & edits here & there they are so useful in so many ways.
To busy is a personal thing.....with an arranger KB you can make the styles as Busy or simple as you want, or use converted ones or make your own to suit your needs a process very few do.....or just play LH bass and piano if you want simple...who the heck listens to these so called claims? I surly dont.

Hi:

My comment is with all the respect is in regards to the review from that Pro-musician at Sweetwater.
A Pro keyboardist does NOT mean that is an Arranger PRO Keyboardist, when a Band keyboardist "try" to be an arranger player, DISASTER....simply, they have NO idea what the arranger's concept is (OMB).

I have seen it for many years at the Stores where I used to work, and at the NAMM shows, Guess why the Manufacturer's have their staff on Arrangers keyboard specialist, and for separate their Workstations specialist on the same brand??.

I have "tested" the workstation specialist of all brands when they came to the stores over the years, and honestly can tell you that 99.99 % are CLUELESS in regards to the arrangers. Many of them, made calls right there to the "office" to find answers....This guys really know their worstations (Motiffs, Fantoms, Tritons, M's, etc) and most can play VERY well, know a lot of "tricks", but it does not mean that know arrangers.

In a nutshell, like I said, with all the respect to that reviewer for Sweetwater, I do not think he is not qualify to say how "busy" or lack are the styles on ANY arranger. He may be able to judge how are the sounds, DSPs, and some other small issues.
They say the exception confirm the rule, in MY own opinion, George Kaye is one of the persons that know most Arrangers, even I know he does not play per say....but he can make you a Demo, and knows what are the features in most arrangers regarding what brand or model.

I have spend years getting to know the arrangers, and with an organist background, actually helped me, I used to program registrations then styles on the Yamaha Electones, Technics, the Susuki Hammonds, Wersi's and even the Lowreys....

Is important to say that the opinion of how orchestrated is a style either heavy or to simple is Conceptual and also depends on the NEEDS of the arranger player.

I have been performing almost 40 years in Mexico in most mayor Hotels in Acapulco, Ixtapa, Cancun, La Paz, then in the Chicago area for many years.

I perform in the Phoenix and suburban area, I use the Tyros2, Korg PA800, and at home as backup I also have the PSRS900 and next week I will have the Ketron SD5 (it will keep company to the Midjay, SD2 etc.) before I play out with it.

Peace and keep playing !

Hi Taike,
if a style is too busy, I mute a part or 2.
Plus you can change the feel of a style by using one of the guitar or piano pads to replace the guitar or piano track in a style.

It may also depend on the type of songs the guy plays, though I find it difficult to beleive that with the 100's of onboard styles, something shouldn't suit.

If totally stuck & can't find a style to suit, there is always the option of converting, BIAB conversion, midi to style, replacing one or 2 of the style parts or for someone way more talented than me, recording from scratch.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Taike:
[B]

Give the guy a break, here... He DID point out that he previously had a PA80, so this is NOT an arranger newbie coming over from the workstation Dark Side!

Complexity of styles is a very different issue for different players. Some rely on the arranger for complex parts and play the simplest of melodies (or nothing at all) with their RHs. Some play far more complex comping with both L and RHs, and sing a lot less. Some use LH bass and comp and solo with the RH, and so on and so forth.

So it's easy to see that the COMPLEXITY of the styles (not the number of the ARR parts, but their 'busyness') can give differing opinions, based on how you play. If a part is too busy to work with what you are doing, it isn't necessarily solved by just turning it off... You might still WANT a guitar part, for instance, but playing a simpler, less obtrusive line.

This is where the overall style 'philosophy' between different manufacturers becomes apparent. Some (IMO, Roland, for instance) provide less frenetic parts, that can be played with without swamping you, others often make you make the choice between either a part that is so busy you don't have much room for what YOU want to play, or no part at all.

Me, I'm in favor of the former, but I can see how other approaches favor other types of players...

Now, THAT would be a good idea for a new arranger 'feature'.... 'linked' styles, almost the same, but just with more or less busy parts within them. Rather than turn the brass off completely, just switch to the 'simple' version of the style, where they keep playing, but less 'franticly' (you know what I mean!!)

What do you think?

Hi Diki,
that's why I luv having the pads on the korg.

If a style part is too complex , I can mute the guitar or piano part ( or both) , and audition a "simpler" guitar or piano pad, and if I find one that works, I can either replace the style part with the pad, ( pad to style function, therefore creating a new variation) or simply keep the style part muted & use the pad function instead.

best wishes
Rikki
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Diki:
[B]

So it's easy to see that the COMPLEXITY of the styles (not the number of the ARR parts, but their 'busyness') can give differing opinions, based on how you play. If a part is too busy to work with what you are doing, it isn't necessarily solved by just turning it off... You might still WANT a guitar part, for instance, but playing a simpler, less obtrusive line.

Well...
I remember that my old Roland G800 had the option to mute some of the percussive instruments ( I seem to remember that there were three buttons to mute different classes of drums, like bass-drum and snare, cymbals, latin percussions...); this would solve the problem of "busy" drum tracks, but when it comes to other instruments things are more complicated.
For example, I find that the Tyros 2 has styles a bit too busy and sometimes even obtrusive; it's like Yamaha programmers were willing to show off what the Mega-Voices could do, but the result is that in many cases I have to lower the volume of a track or two or mute them at all, because they clash with what I am doing with my left hand. Sometimes just choosing a different instrument solves the problem, maybe because it's only a matter of frequencies, so -for example- if I replace an acoustic guitar with a jazz guitar the new instruments takes up a different place in the frequency spectrum and the problem is solved.
Luckyly, as Rikki wrote, the Tyros 2 has multipads as well, and with lots of options to choose, and this sometimes offers a solution to the problem, because I think that as of today asking the manufacturers to program multiple patterns of the same instrument for each variation would be a bit too much, and would no doubt add to the final cost of the instrument.

By the way, speaking of multipads, can anyone comment on the quality of the PA-800 multipads compared with Yamaha?

Andrea most Yamaha multi pads are useless & much too repetitive IMO.....except for very few.....compared to the KORG PA800 pads its night and day...there are so many very useful ones that quite frankly you can use and combine with styles to actually make a pseudo style & do a whole song with just them alone they are that good...

The PA Series are completely flexible and programmable so whether the parts are too busy is very easily fixed to your likeing. For example if the drum pattern is too busy or the guitar you dont just have the option to mute or lower the volume,you can delete that track and copy another more suitable guitar/drum track from another style into the previous style. You can delete individual drum sounds and programme your own over the existing drum pattern so your modified pattern now plays within the original style.

These instruments are awesome and most of us dont even scrape the surface.

Spalding I know about the style part copying & intermingling but haven't had time to really indulge myself into it...can you elaborate a bit on this technique I would definitly want to get into it sometime down the road....I agree with you there are many things to explore that can make your musical experience very pleasurable.

Thanx

Seeing as you have asked so nicely (Smile)

First bear in mind that i have the PA1X which may be very slightly different to the PA800 but the principles are exactly the same.

Start with the keyboard in style play mode. You may be using a funky style lets say in the 'dance style tabs group' but there is too much going on in it . Perhaps you like the drums but the bass is too busy or the guitar too much in your face. You may prefer the strumming pattern from another style lets say in the '16 beat style group'
and the brass from one of the Gospel styles.

Make a note of the tracks you want to change ie drums,percusion, bass Acc2 Acc3 Acc4 acc5 etc

Make a note of the tracks you want to copy and the groups they are from ie '16 beat group groove style accomp 2 wah wah guitar or whatever

You should now have noted what you want to change and what you want to change it to.

We will start to edit the style that you feel most fits what you want but needs some editing so press record. Its the big red button on tyhe PA1X dont know for the PA800.... This will take you to a screen that asks you what you want to edit

1 select record/edit current style(that should be selected by the instrument as a default)and press ok
2. It will take you to the style record page press the reel(looks like a film reel) icon for recording lets say the bass. We dont need to record anything as we are going to delete the bass sound.
3 Press the menu button
4. select style edit . Press the delete all tab at the bottome of the screen .Make sure that you delete all. In practise you could just delete some of the pattern say from bars 1-4 but thats more advanced than i want to deal with right now !

5 Press execute and then press. Now press the copy from style tab at the bottom of the screen.

6. then press the select button as this will then show you all the styles in the group your original style is from. There are tabs to the left of the screen so you can quickly select the style that you want to copy from ( remember the styles you noted down at the begining. Then simply select the style you want to copy from, select the element of the style ie Acc 1,2,3,4 drums bass etc and select the element you will be copying too ie Acc 1,2,3 etc . In this example it will be the bass sound from which ever style you prefer . Press execute and voila it will be in the style. You can press the delete tab and delete the other elements that you wanted to change pressing execute after each change

7. choose another style from the copy from style tab lets say the 6 string guitar style from the 8 beat group of styles because you liked the guitar .

8 Select the element that you want to copy from and move to etc. You can do this repeated from this page remembering to press execute after each change.

9 When you have finished making changes press menu again and you will be on style record page again. Press the drop down tab at the top right of the page and save the newly composed style and you can even overwrite the factory style rather than save it as a user style. Press the big red record button off screen and it will then ask warn you that you can lose what you have edited unless you save it. Press yes to save and then you are back in style play mode. Select your edited style and enjoy !!!

This is all well and good, but doesn't seem easily do-able live onstage. I understand well about combining styles to make them more suitable (unfortunately, Roland's don't have multipads, so that option is out), but it seems a non-realtime function.

I was thinking that having a ROM style with a 'simple'/'busy' button might make things a lot more flexible. To get away from the repetitiveness of arrangers is always high on my list of arranger features to improve, and this seems like a possible step. But I guess we just have to do it for ourselves, these days...

I know it's a LOT more work for a style developer (although it wouldn't be TOO difficult to start with the busy style as the basis, and just start simplifying), but the musical results would be (IMO) well worth it.

One of Roland's MANY great features they dropped was Bass & Drums/Small Combo/Full ensemble buttons, that automatically muted certain Parts (sometimes, live, it is hard to find out WHICH Part is which sound to mute by hand) to give you those groups. A combination of this feature with Linked styles of varying 'busyness' could yield some greatly expanded flexibility in making a song 'build' more naturally...

I understand that all this CAN be accomplished 'offline', but it would be nice if the ROM styles had more of this kind of structure for instant use.

JMO, yada yada yada.....

Spalding thank you for explaining further about the process I have copied it to a MS word file and will get into it asap...its appreciated.

Diki....I was more interested in this procedure to make a custom style NOT for on the fly usage ....I'll agree that Roland had the Orchestrator option on some of their units like the Discover 5, VA7, which as you described allowed the played to ON THE FLY eliminate certain party to make it busy or not with just the touch of a button eg: duo, small band , big band etc etc .....but has sadly gone the way of the chord sequencer also.......maybe another form of thses will return down the road. Anyway there is more then enough real time edit features to keep me happy for sure on stage with the pa800.

I feel the same way as the author of the article about the g70 styles. To me so many of them are over done. I have yet to find a slow 4/4 style to use with "After The Loving". I'm going to have to beg Fran to send me some Roland swing and BB styles. I wish the combo button was available to mute many parts at once.

Tom

Tom try a slow 6/8

Hi Dreamer,
can't actually comment on the quality of the PA800 compared to the Tyros pads, but they certainly are better than the pads on my psr 1500.

The reason I luv the pads on the PA800 so much, is not neccesarily the quality
(though to me the repeating piano & guitar pads sound great) , but actually the way they work, & how they can be created & used.

On my PSR1500 for instance, with the repeating pads, the timing of hitting the pad is crucial. The pad always starts on the first beat of "it's" bar. If I hit it too late, the pad plays catchup, and on occasions, I end up with a completely blank bar where the pad doesn't play. Not much good if the pad is supposed to be supplying the main guitar or piano track.

With the PA800 pads, it doesn't matter when I hit it, the pad still syncs perfectly to the style.
Apart from the the normal 2 sync modes the psr has, the PA800 has an additional sync mode called "continued" where it will sync to the "beat counter" so if you hit the pad on the 3rd beat of the bar, the pad will start on the 3rd beat of "it's" bar instead of the beginning. Locks in perfectly.

Also I have the option of using the EC5 pedal board to assign the start of individual pads, & stop of all of the pads.
If I want to stop them individually, ( same as psr) I have to use the buttons.

The pads are matched up to the styles ie you may get a piano pad, a guitar pad, pecussion pad etc you could literally use all 4 at the same time & they won't clash with the style. Naturally you can use choices of your own or user pads.

The pad creation functions are brilliant.
Style to Pad,
Midi to Pad ( import /export) to sequencer
Pad to Pad
Event list editing
and if I want to replace a track in a style with a pad,
Pad to Style.
Really handy if I want to create a new style.

best wishes
Rikki

Hi Tom,
maybe some of the earlier Roland styles were simpler.
I know with my VA7 I received a collection of all the early Roland styles. Do they still do that with the current models?

I would imagine the G70 would also have the option of deleting tracks & resaving as a new style.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Tom Cavanaugh:
[B]

Thank you, Donny.

Rikki, when you write that the pads match perfectly the styles, are you meaning that each time you call a style you have already a corresponding set of pads ready to go? And -if this is the case- have you seen if the same set of pads is assigned to more than one style? (I am asking because it's possibile that all the styles belonging, for example, to the 8 beat bank share the same multipads, because they are, after all, similar).

And -finally- do you (or anyone else) know how many multipads sets are there in the PA-800? Do they exceed the number of the styles?

Thank you for your patience, but I am trying to gather all the informations I need (and was unable to find in the user manuals I have downloaded).

Tom,
try to go to the Roland Arranger website and download the converted VA76 styles: they are excellent and really worth the while.

(Link here )

'This is all well and good, but doesn't seem easily do-able live onstage. I understand well about combining styles to make them more suitable (unfortunately, Roland's don't have multipads, so that option is out), but it seems a non-realtime function'

I dont get it. Who deeply edits styles whilst playing ??????? How many hands do you have ???

On the PA products you can use the sliders to reduce the busyness of a style instantly and in real time whilst you play, you can mute the elements of a style you can save these alterations in performance banks for instant recall at any time in live play . You can trigger multipads that have preprogrammed musical phrases that follow your chords just like another set of arranger patterns effectly giving you yet another variation on the style instantly. You can change the instruments in a style live in real time whilst you are playing if you want !

You can do more detailed event editing offline when you are not performing including substituting individual drum sounds and composing your own personalised drum kits, you can micro edit individual notes of instruments in a style including note velocity, note position , sustain etc for each instrument in each style and then save that as your edited style so that you can have your new self created personalised styles again available instantly as an over written factory style or new style in performance. You can buy sample drum grooves from live drums and import them into your styles to get an even more live feel.

Even if you had the historic function on the roland it is very unlikely that y#the manufacturers idea of 'busy' or over complex in terms of styles will be the same for everyone and for a pro performer i am certain that they will still want to tweak the style to their specification. Afterall a button that changes a full brass band to a small combo might still not fit the bill right ?

I have used only two maufacturers instruments in my short life as a musician but from my view point Korg could not have made the PA keyboards more performance focused for live playing musicians than they have, Although the PA2X will probably make me eat my words!

How much more live performance geared control and flexibility do you want ?

Spalding great post ....
little by little Im starting to realize all your saying about the PA800....Korg has really done their homework this time around...this baby is packed with so many features, I haven't even scratched the surface yet....!!! Thanx for sharing your knowledge with us.

AWESOME!

Hi Dreamer,
what I tried to say is that korg have matched certain pads to certain styles ie they've been assigned to go with a particular style. A lot of them are interchangeable.
Some of them are definately used more than once.

I'll see if the manual has a listing of the pads, if not I'll try & count them for you.
Some of them are rhythmic like piano arpeggio's & guitars strumming, some are one shots. It's a mixed bag.

Have you actually downloaded the PA800 manual from the Korg site??

I also found an advanced 100 page manual on my cd rom in regards to sound editing & sampling etc.

I kept reading references to importing "Grooves" & time slicing, sampling etc
but couldn't find any reference in the main manual. Fortunately it's all written up in the advanced manual on the cdrom, haven't quite worked out what it all means, be great if it can do some of the stuff the sd1 can with wav drum loops. Probably too much to hope for. haahaa.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dreamer:
[B]

Hi Rikki,
thanks for your help; I have downloaded the PA2-X-pro manual from Korgpa.com : there is both a full manual (26 Mb) and a manual for advanced editing only (4.3 Mb). You will find all the info you need about importing samples, time slicing, etc in the latter in the "Sampling operating mode", at pag. 28.
The same manuals are available also for the PA-800, only the sizes are different.
Importing sampled loops and creating your own styles the way Ketron does is for me one of the most attracting features of these arrangers.

Link for the PA-2-X-pro manuals

Link for the PA-800 manuals

Andrea good luck with your new Pa800 /Pa2x!

Hi Dreamer,
thank you, I actually have the advanced manual on CD rom (came with the PA800).
What I couldn't work out at first was what "time slicing " meant.
I think I've finally worked it out, & it sounds like it could be even better than the option of just being able to load audio drum loops into the sd1+ and using the loops in a style.
The time slicing it appears allows you to manipulate the audio drum note data similar to what can be done with midi . If so, that sounds pretting exciting. Not sure how simple it will be to do, but a very interesting function.

I may download the PA2x manual as well, & see what the differences are.

The audio is not really of that greater importance to me, but good to know the pa has this function.

best wishes
Rikki

p.s I noticed on one of the other threads something to do with fills. As far as I'm aware it has 2 fills & 1 break per style. Personally I haven't noticed any problem with that.
I rarely use all 4 variations for a song, so I would have the option of customizing a fill to suit the variations I do use
(IF neccesary).

I'd even considered using a pad as a self drum fill, though not sure if musically that would work?? mainly because the style drum track would be playing as well.
Might be an option. I'm not too good on programming fills.

Personally I prefer the way the psr fills work in prference to both the sd1 & PA800, but the fact that it only has the 2 fills & 1 break wouldn't have stopped me from buying it. I think my KN7 had 8 fills, & I found quite often they didn't suit, some were way over the top.

Anyway, my 2 cents worth. If you're half way interested, be worth checking out to see if styles & sounds suit, the onboard style, pad, sound editing functions etc etc are brilliant. The size of the manuals is an indication of just what this keyboard is capable of doing if one wants to go in depth.


[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dreamer:
[B]Hi Rikki,

I confess that I was attracted especially by the PA-2X pro, because I thought that it could offer an interesting option as a master keyboard.
It really has some deep features: the sampled loops/time slicing feature basically means that you can record or import a sampled loop -even stereo- sync it to a style or assign it to a multipad and then it will play correctly, no matter the tempo of the style. This is concept which has been implemented only by Ketron, with the big difference that their sampled loops (called grooves) are mono and, of course, Ketron arrangers lack the multipads.
Another interesting feature of the PA-2X pro is the ability to assign every part of a style to an internal sound or an external module/keyboard; this means that, for example, for a given style you could play the PA-2 own internal drums and then assign the bass to a Motif ES rack, the guitar to a Fantom XR, the piano to a Kurzweil, etc.
Finally, you can use it as a master keyboard, because for each channel of the right hand (R1, R2 and R3) it can send bank and program changes to external sound sources, and these settings can be saved within a registration, or whatever Korg calls them. This is something that no other arranger keyboard is able to do.
Add to this the internal sampler and the quick loading time of the samples themselves (at least compared with the Tyros 2) and you get a picture that makes you think.
Too bad for the fill issue and also the relative lack of support (Korg styles are even more difficult to find than Roland's...)
Anyway, I think that for now I will just wait and see...here is also the Midjay Plus coming out this month...

Errata corrige:
the above post should read:

This is "a concept which has been implemented"

and "there is also the Midjay Plus"

The fills are fine.....there is no issue.

Maybe, but there are still just two of them per style... (plus the break, of course)

More then enough to make beautiful music if you know how....the PA800 is one heck of a arranger Korg did it right this time.

Probably okay if you use a lot of SMF, but 2 fills are definitely limiting for proper style use, especially for the accomplished player.

And...having to hit them spot on...very strange considering other arrangers always have their fills in synchronization with the variations.

Two severe shortcomings in my opinion.

Ian

Yes Ian Yes ....sure Ian.....


Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Denial is not just a bad pun.

Yes Ian Yes ....sure Ian.....

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Why do you two keep this up? Ignore each other if you have such a problem! Take it outside, for cryin' out loud.

In realty the pa800 has 4 fills....

1,2,3/break

depending on the style fill 3 worked as a fill or sometimes a break....or maybe bass slide etc ...plus if you press twice it will repeat the fill...great for songs like jail house rock etc etc ....blue suede shoes ...

Hi Dreamer,
that's a pity that the fills have put you off.
I loaded a couple of PA1x styles that came with my EMC styleworks. I can now see why some people used to complain about the earlier model Korg fills. They didn't seem to match up somehow. They appear to be louder or something. Did a bit of tweaking & now useable. Maybe I just picked a dud style.
Haven't noticed that problem with the fills on the PA800.

I too am planning on using the PA800 as a controller for my sd2 sound module.
Neither the PSR or the Ketron could do what I wanted. I couldn't find a way of turning the local off for just some of the style parts. Haven't fully checked it out as yet, but I'm hoping to use the module to supply the live drum parts for ketron conversions.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dreamer:
[B]

Hi Ian,
are you refferring to fills? they can be hit at any time and they do synchronize.
Actually so do the pads.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ianmcnll:
[B]
And...having to hit them spot on...very strange considering other arrangers always have their fills in synchronization with the variations.

Thank you, kindly, Rikki...I appreciate your information.

With so many conflicting reports on the PA-800, it can be confusing.

I have yet to try one as the local dealer will not carry them.

Ian

Hi,
well to answer my own question, actually discovered a couple of drum fills in amongst the onboard pads, so looks like it can work. Brilliant. An option for a simple self fill.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by rikkisbears:
[B]
I'd even considered using a pad as a self drum fill, though not sure if musically that would work?? mainly because the style drum track would be playing as well.
Might be an option.

As persevering as you are Rikki, I know you will dig up something. Keep us posted.

Cheers
Bernie

Hi,

- regarding the fill issue: there is a lot of bad information about Korg arranger fills, probably coming back from Pa80 times. The current situation is clearly different (a lot of resources releases has been done in the meanwhile) and I feel confortable with them in my Pa1X. As said elsewhere in this topic there is no means to continue saying that they are not fine, that Yamaha has better ones, or two fills + one break is not enough, until someone is able to prove that this is something compromising your music. Until that it's just talking of nothing ..... hope anybody agree on that.
- Dreamer: Korg introduced the time slice feature firstly in Pa80 in 2001. I don't know if this was before of after Ketron, anyway it's since long time there, it's fully user editable and definitely functional fyg.

Best regards.

Booby couldn't have said it better....

Good post!

Booby,
thanks for pointing out that; however, the time slice feature in Ketron arrangers dates way back to the MS-100 or even the MS-60, so we are talkin some 15 or 20 years ago.
However, now that you have mentioned the PA-80 I am all the more surprised, since this feature is SO important to me that I would have expected a lot more of advertising about it and -most important- a lot of support on Korg's part, meaning that they should have supplied their customers with not only new styles but ready-made loops as well. After all, not many arranger users have familiarity with Acid or other sampled grooves.
To me the possibility of coupling the rhytm section of an arranger with a live groove is so important that, if I decide not to go with the PA2-X-pro, the only other option is to buy a Midjay Plus, to replace my now sold Midjay.
And, speaking of the other selling point I mentioned earlier, i.e. the master keyboard abilities, can you confirm that your PA1-X can transmit bank and program change numbers on the three upper channels (R1, R2 and R3) and that these settings can be stored within a registration? Also, can you transpose the notes sent on these channels as well?
Many thanks for your reply: this is exactly the kind of information I was looking for: I wish that all the Korg owners on this Forum could be less emphatic and more detailed in their replies, as you (or Rikki, to name just one) have been.

Hi,

here the replies for Dreamer:
- any track can be programmed as internal, external or both. When in external mode you see in the display cc0, cc32, Program Change instead of the internal sound. This can be easily edited using the calculator (i.e. typing 121.001.001 for a GM piano) and stored in any performance/STS around.
- transmitted notes are transposed according to the Master Transpose setting.
The master transpose can be memorized with any performance/sts or used in real time. A master transpose lock (general) is also available in the preferences.

Hope this help.

Regards.

Thank you, Booby!

HI Booby,
thanks for the info. I haven't quite gotten round to setting my PA800 up as a master keyboard yet.

When I finally manage to get all my keyboards together in the one upstairs room
I'll be hoping to midi them up & use the PA800 as a master.

Hadn't realized it would be as simple as that to send out bank & program change numbers.

Rather exciting, I'll have to check it out.

best wishes
Rikki
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Booby:
[B]Hi,

- any track can be programmed as internal, external or both. When in external mode you see in the display cc0, cc32,