mango,
Not eveyone ditched the PA. I know a number of PA80 users deserted the ranks when the Tyros came out about a year ago. Now Korg has release the PA1X - the upgrade to the PA80 - and those with GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) will no doubt need one of them when they're available stateside.

I don't think you bought an obselete unit, in fact mine's very much alive and kicking !! While Donm let his go because of what he calls 'primitive' intro's etc. (when compared to other units on market), Korg styles have generally been the best out there. Sure, the Tyros set another style benchmark, but Yammy had over two years to perfect their stlyes before the release of the Tyros - most of which appear to have been based on Korg's anyway (oops, better be careful I don't get flamed here for that remark LOL !)

In short, if you did your homework before you bought the PA80, then you've got what you wanted. It's a great unit. As Tomcat said, ther's a ton of stuff on IA - altho' the forum ain't been terribly active lately.

There ARE other arrangers out there... many folks here dislike (HATE?) the PA80 (and Korg) for a variety of reasons, and many are VERY pro-Yammaha, Ketron or Roland. IMHO, it boils down to whether you are happy with what you have. Much has been discussed here on the relative benefits of each, and to some there are no gray areas - it's black or white! If you like the PA80, stick with it (as I have). If not, check out the other units on the market, and be prepared to drop the better part of an extra $1000 to 'upgrade' while doing so. LOL !!

Regards,
Steve

[This message has been edited by S0C9 (edited 11-29-2003).]

Hi Mango,

Here is a very good site dedicated to the Pa 80 where you can load (free) a lot of styles and you can find others ressources.
It is in French , but it is easy to understand.... http://www.chez.com/fabiopa80korg/index1.htm
Greetings,
JJ

Hi Mike. Been away for a couple of days. I do know a bit about the PA80, but unfortunately this is one area I know nothing about. I have never tried the video outs at all.

A lot of the reasons given here ( particularly Don M's ) are valid ones as to why some of the performing musicians "gave up" on the PA80. I don't like the 2 styles per fill either, and some of the fills aren't a good match to some of the style variations. I have not given up on my PA80 at all however. I don't perform live as often as some of the others here do, and I am one of the likely minority here who likes the OS and interface better than previous Yamaha and other arranger boards. I also dislike the key feel very much on the PSR line, ( but not so much the Tyros ) and I like the key feel of the PA80. While the PA80 has no vocal harmony presets, the harmonizer itself is pretty good and 16 user presets can be stored.

It all depends on what you like in a board Mike, and what you plan to do with it. I still prefer my PA80 as a live play board, but I have to admit that I could just as easily go to the Tyros. As a studio tool though, no other arranger works as well for me. It has editing capabilities that are unmatched in any other arranger, and some of the sounds I can make in it alone make it worth it to me to keep it ( I like using synthy sounds sometimes ). Any style can be replaced at will, so the board can be totally customized to fit your needs ( as mine is for my needs ).

Good Luck with it.

AJ

Thanks ,
I will let you know how it goes hope to get the board home this week looking foward to it . My only other arranger board has been an ra 50(roland ) so i hope to be pleasantly suprised

Sitting hear thinking there is almost always a way around limitations. since the PA has a dual sequencer could that also be used to switch styles ans vatiations am i asking to much ? Probably cant be done on the fly?
Guess i will find out??
mike

No Mike, the sequencers play midi data only, not live styles in real time. I have been able to switch back and forth between styles by modifying an original style an creating a new user style, changing or morphing some of the style parts, some of the data and or music, but this has it's limitations too. One thing I like better about Yamaha arrangers is that if I leave a style part off ( say an organ part or whatever might be on channels 14 15 etc.. , that part stays in the off position when I go to another style. Doesn't work that way with the PAS80. It reverts automatically to turning all style parts back on and no matter what variation you switch from, it automatically goes to variation "a" when changed . Of course you can adjust this by saving a "performance" or by using the write to disk function. In other words, I save style using write to disk function with parts on channel 14 and 16 off, it reverts to that when I switch back to that style from another, and it defaults to whichever variation it was on when I "wrote to disk ". This helps if you know ahead of time if for example you wanted to go in real time from internal style Rock1 to user Rock1 and you wanted to keep 2 or 3 style parts turned off and you wanted user rock1 to start at variation d for example. This applies to internal styles as well. You can adjust them to default to any variation, but they will stay "locked" that way until you wite to disk again and channge it.

Hope I made sense there.. lol

AJ

Mike,
One great thing about the PA80 is the ability to rewrite all the factory styles and replace them with stuff YOU use! If you're not a "polka" guy, for instance ... you can ditch them all, and put in the styles you DO like !
The basic styles are awesome .... it's the fills that are a little nerve racking, but coming from an RA50 .... you're going to think you died and went to heaven !
You can also midi the RA into the Korg for sounds .... it'll open up many style possibilities for you.

Curious, can the fills and variations be replaced also. Is there a midi to style conversion on board? and wait and a few thousand more questions....... maybe i better get this thing home before i ask any more!!

Mike

There is no midi to style conversion on board, but Korg released a freeware software converter that is simple to use and works just fine, provided you have a software sequencer to edit with. It is still available on the Korg PA website.

AJ

Yup ! You can completely customize the entire factory memory to your liking. Cool, huh?