Wow.
All I can say is WOW.
The MP3 board in the PA800 is going to make my laptop obsolete....or at least, it will retire to backup status.

It took all of 45 seconds to install, it worked right away and it is SO good .... I am in heaven.

I have 2 drives...one is an Ativa 4GB thumb drive that I use in front. This is only 1/2 full right now and I swear..... I could almost DJ a wedding without playing a note.
I have thousands of midi files, about a hundred MP3 custom backing trax, and several hundred more DJ trax. All in TWO GBs ! Wow...wow....wow. ( No WONDER the Phillies are in first place with 2 games to go ! It's gonna snow in Philly early this year, for sure!

I highly recommend this board to EVERY PA800 user. It opens up a world of versatility, and is Soooooo EZ to operate. Just GET one. Sigh ..... this is such fun !

Ooops ! Spoke too soon. I still love it, but my drive is ackting a bit like Donny's did. I loaded all sorts of files...mostly MP3 or WMA, and it seems to get them all. Then after a bit of times elapsed....I noticed there were not all the songs on the disk. Some files stayed in one folder, but only some in another. Puzzling ...... I'll look into it more tomorrow.

It must prefer certain files, or how they were created or cataloged .... who knows !

The Lionstracs Mediastation and Wersi OAS instruments both play WAV, AIFF, MP3, MP4, and Video files as well. It's a fantastic feature. The Mediastations dual Audio/Video players are especially nice.

It's a good thing to see Korg bringing an option to the PA series that many users will get lots of use out of. Uncle Dave included.

Does the Korg MP3 board allow for any real time Pitch Shifting or Time Stretching of the audio files? That's something the Mediastation does and does very well.

Hi There
There is a poll on Arranger World asking people to vote on the top 5 arranger features http://tinyurl.com/2k9mok and the MP3 player is still showing Zero. Perhaps this is why Korg make it an option. (There is little demand)
I must admit I seldom if ever use it on my Abacus, as a Wav file gives a much better sound. (Although in truth I do tend to steer clear of Audio backings)
Interesting

Bill


[This message has been edited by abacus (edited 09-29-2007).]

Dave .....
I told you how great this feature was glad you bought one it certainly gives the player the utmost flexibility on stage

Flash drive compatibility is no problem FORMAT THE TD in the KB FIRST then get the right brand TD like I have .....you have mail.

Pitch Shifting or Time Stretching of the audio file IS included on the New PA2X Pro 76 key version coming out in November as per the Jurgen Sartorius Video Demo.
http://www.korg.de/index.php?id=6725&popup=9692&no_cache=1



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 09-29-2007).]

Hang on to that laptop--ya' gotta' have backups!

Cheers,

Gary

------------------
Travlin' Easy

Donny (and Ensnareyou),

Actually it is already available on the Korg Pa800 right now. To do time stretching just select the tempo field and rotate the dial. To do pitch shifting press the transpose buttons. And the quality is very good without the artifacts you often hear when doing time stretching.

Kind regards,
Tommy

Thanks Tommy haven't had a chance to try it with my DUAL MP3 player yet but WOW another PLUS!!! Im still setting up the fantastic SONGBOOK Feature which retains & saves all performance information for instant call up on stage which includes transpose, SMF/MP3/KAR/TXT all in one easy customized user list, after all the years of NEVER using the MFD on my Yammys due to the lack of being able to save features for call up.....
I now find it so valuable to my live performance with the PA800 & couldn't be without it. Also Im so used to the TOUCH SCREEN which works great....that the other day in the store when Fran & I were shopping I played the S900 and the first thing I did was with my finger was to PUSH the screen to select a sound not realizing Honestly for me its more the Features and Navigation, Korg/Roland/Yamaha all can be made to sound good...
enjoy what you choose to play.

l8tr

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 09-29-2007).]

Dave....Congrats.....however like Gary said,
one day you will need a backup....enjoy...
TR

Dave, glad to hear you're enjoying the PA800. Donny that songbook feature sounds like a real winner. I use the MFC in the Yamaha from time to time, it can be a great tool, but the Songbook feature sounds like it's miles ahead of the MFC.

Dave, congrats on your new add-on board. Does it also support WMA, or better yet, uncompressed audio: WAV and/or AIF as well?

What bit rate do you use and recommend for encoding 'audio backing' tracks. Looking forward to hopefully hearing a PA800 demo from you utilizing them.

Scott

Steve it certainly is.... the CUSTOMIZABLE SB is an arranger KB players dream feature for live playing Retaining ALL Performance SETUP information & MP3/SMF/KAR/TXT, if Yamaha incorporated it in its present units there would be no need for registrations, hopefully they will in the next series ...Thank you KORG



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 09-29-2007).]

Scott,
You know, I never noticed if any WMAs were copied top disk. I also have no idea about uncompressed audio, but I'd guess that no one would want that kind of storage woes in a portable device. It's hard to tell the difference betweeb 128 and 256 or higher as it is when you play through a kb or typical sound system.

I'd never use higher than 128 for on the job tracks. I hope to record this beast soon .... maybe now that the Phillies are in the playoffs, my country club job will cancel me on game nights and I can work on this thing !

Ah. ok. Interesting, my ears easily distinguish between 128 and 192. I've found, even when utilized merely as a backing track, 128 has a stiff rhythm & lacks smooth dynamic expression compared to 192 & better if higher, so for me, bare minimal acceptable MP3 compression rate is 192kbps, with 320kbps preferable. Anyway Dave, I'm really looking forward to a chance to hear something from you recorded on your PA800 as I'm certain it's going to sound terrific under your musical direction.

Scott

Gotta go with Scott, here...

The first thing to go with low bitrate mp3's is the cymbals, and any sense of 'openness' when heard in stereo, IMO. Just TOO grainy and undynamic for me. My iTunes library is ripped at 192kbps, about the minimum I can stand, but I'm starting to wish I had gone for 256 now.

But one GOOD thing about using lower bitrate MP3's is... it makes what you play stand out front and center, it is SO much clearer than the backing!

If you CAN'T hear the difference between a high bitrate or the original and a 128 MP3, time to either get better speakers, or off to a hearing professional (none of us getting any younger!)

Just do a simple A/B sometime between CD and MP3, you'd be surprised. It's subtle, but for me, the MP3s induce ear fatigue a LOT faster than uncompressed...

MP3 Bit Rate Comparison
http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum37/HTML/016322.html

Enjoy

Bill