At the risk of sounding like an idiot... here goes... I am going to have a hard time articulating this question. It has to do with setting up two keyboards in such a way that they sound good when playing them together.

I have a PSR3000 and a KORG PA1XPRO. I play both of them concurrently, mixing and matching RH LH. There has been a lot of banter on here of which is better, Yamaha or Korg. They are both great, and both have strong points and weakensses. For some songs, the rich styles of the Yamaha sound great, and i play the melody line on the Korg with my RH. Sometimes, the simpler styles of the Korg show more seperation and are better suited for a particular song, and I play the Yamaha in the RH using some of the richer brass solo sounds or the heavenly pads for example. So the bottom line is that I interchange a lot between the two boards.

Here is my question. How can I make the two instruments sound more cohesive when playing them together. What do i mean by cohesive?

Here's where I am goign to have a hard time explaining myslef... It seems that most of the time when playing the 2 instruments together, that the sounds of the Korg sound very close, and in your face with a high degree of 'presence', while the Yamaha sounds like they are more distant, or has less 'presence'. When I use the Yamaha for the accompanyment with my LH, and play the Korg with my RH it seems the Korg sounds don't match well with the Yahmaha because of this difference in 'presence'. I tried putting more reverb on the Korg, but that does not really do anything to address this differential in presence issue as i hear it. I don't know what to do on the Korg to make the sounds not so 'in your face' so that they sound better when played with the Yamaha?

Does my question make any sense to any of you pro's? What kind of effect processor could I put on my Korg sounds to help make the two instruments sound more cohesive?

Thanks for your help, Russ

Makes perfect sense to me. You are describing inherent differences in the sounds between the brands.
I have come to prefer the in-your-face, live sound. I tried hard to achieve that sound with Yamaha and never could get there. You can get close, by reducing the effects and using the Compressor (on the Tyros 2). You can also utilize the alternate outputs to route sounds such as drums without effects and e.q. them from a mixer. I don't think that the 3000 has the compressor but not sure.
I don't know if there is a good solution, but I understand the problem!
DonM

DonM,

I own a G70 and a PSR640. Im not a pro. Will Russ problem get solved if he links the PA1xpro & the PSR3000 with a midi cable & make the the PSR play through the PA1xpro?

Even I face Russ's situation where I find the tones of the G70 good and the styles on the Yamaha excellent. Im new with the G70 (just 2 weeks) but how will it sound if i route the L/R out of the yamaha to the ext source input of the G70, put in some effects using the G70 and hear the output from the Direct outs of the G70? Hope I hv not confused you.

George

If I understand the one answer as using the styles off of the 3000 but using the Korg for the sounds in those Yamaha styles, I can tell you from experience that it is a lot of confusing work.

I tried the above idea using a Technics KN2600, which to me sounded like a low end Casio, but had pretty good styles. I thought I could use the Technics styles using the Tyros sounds in the styles. It kind of worked once or twice but even the techs at Yamaha and Technics were not of much help with this. I gave up.

If that is not was meant by George's response then take it for what it's worth. Although after what I have experimented with in the past, I will never ever again try using midi cables between two arranger keyboards nor would I recommend it to anyone as a good quick way to operate in a live situation.

Scott

Scott,

I was hoping to use a midi cable to connect my PSR & the G70
But has anyone tried using the ext source input ? Im sure there must be an equivalent in the PA1xpro.
I suggested MIDI cables coz I thought that I could use the tone bank of the G70 & get the same style (but Yamaha uses CH 9&10 for drums, whereas the G70 uses only CH10 for drums).

Hello TresorTX
After thinking about the question I came up with a possible solution.
1. Turn all reverb and effects off on both boards and any external equipment. (This will allow you to here the native sounds)
2. Adjust the volume levels so that both keyboards are the same. (Are the Korg sounds still up front?)
3. If the Korg still sounds up front then ask the question why. (Brighter, more bass, midrange etc)
4. Adjust the output EQ on both boards so that the sound characteristics are the same. (If you can’t achieve this then you will have to make the balance as best as you can)
5. You can now start applying reverb and effects etc. (Use an external reverb effects unit or feed the output of one key board into the other so that the same reverb, effects etc are applied to both keyboards)
I hope the above helps, however if you can find a sound engineer, he will probably be able to help you better.
BTW For other uses the combined prices of the above boards work out about the same price as a Wersi Ikarus which is designed to integrate dissimilar instruments (Akai samples, VSTs etc) and with the new Open Art Arranger software can Direct Play Yamaha styles without conversion, (The Ikarus also comes as standard with 80Gb hard disk, DVD/CD Burner combo drive, Floppy Drive, 4 USB 2, more Real Time sliders, 76 notes, large colour touch screen etc) plus you also don’t have to change it every 2 years to get the latest sounds etc. (That’s the beauty of software based instruments)
Anyway enough of the sales talk, and I hope you manage to get your keyboards nicely balanced, as they are both excellent instruments.

Bill

Bill,
Great advice. It's a good idea to compare samples dry ( no effects ) to get a real feel of the tonal quality that you have. That's one reason Fran and I have always liked Roland tones so much. They sound the best dry. Korg has terrific effects, and somewhat weak samples .... same as yamaha. It's your job to pick the best blending of the two, and use what works best to your ears.
I've been using a psr3k for a few years now, and I'm SO not in love with it, but the features and weight are perfect for my situation, so I live with the drawbacks.

Truth is: NO one makes what I need. I'm about to test the Kork PA800, but I'm only a little excited. The mixer, effects and navigation on the psr series cannot be beat.

I have both the PSR3000 & Korg PA50 on a double stand. Sometimes I midi them together, but mostly I use them independent. The Korg general sound and voices have more body and lower bass end than the 3K with the 3K sounding more thin.
However the differences when played independently but together have not cause me concern either both played through same external speaker system or even when played just using their own speakers.
The PA50 considering it's half the price of the 3K provides excellent quality.

thank you very much gentleman, a very helpfull discussion here, best regards, Beno

thank you very much gentleman, a very helpfull discussion here, best regards, Beno

Russ, how do you like PA1X, do you play anywhere publicly soon, I like to go see you play, since we're in Dallas. I understand perfectly your situation, that 2 keyboards does not sound the same, I got SD1 and Tyros1 and Roland XP60, which I use it for additonal solo sound only, never took Tyros1 out to play gig at all, because of the same problem that you have. /