I have read on this forum and other forums that the acoustic piano sound on Korg synths are unuseable, yet Korg makes good pianos. What is the acoustic piano sound like on the PA60/PA80 arrangers?
Starkeeper

Starkeeper,

Who has said Korg Synth Acoustic Pianos are unuseable? Korg sells TWO expansion boards for the Triton a Keyboards board and a Classical Piano board. Both of these cards give the Triton killer Piano's amongst other keyboards patches. I use the Triton piano's for performances weekly with outstanding results.

Go and hear them for yourself, but make sure you use a Stereo Sound Source to hear Stereo Samples correctly.

Al

Even though I'm not a real huge fan of Korg.., kbrkr is right. The stock piano on the Triton might not be considered up to par with others, but you'll get much better quality painos with the expansion boards... Roland did this with the XP series.. The XP-60/80 were good boards, and came with decent stock sounds, but the real power of that keyboard was in the expansion cards. Honestly I don't think you should have to buy an expansion card to get a better piano sound on any synth... Their best piano patch should be included with the keyboards voice set...

Squeak

Starkeeper,
I think that the problem is in the difference between what comes out from Pa speakers and what comes out from line output.

The difference is probably in the auto-loudness of the Pa internal power amp.

Anyway, I've used my Pa80 in live performances, and working a little with Pa output level and mixer gain level will let you reach a nice sound.

Regarding the piano preset, it is a matter of personal taste. While I like Pa grand piano preset, when I play with my group I exclusively use my old Roland JD800 piano sound (original presets, sound #53). On the otehr side, I like (and use) a lot Pa electric pianos.


[This message has been edited by RicFreak (edited 04-30-2003).]

I didn't mean to confuse the issue. I just want to know what you think of the Korg PA60/80 acoustic piano sound?
Thanks RicFreak for your input.
Starkeeper

Hello

This is just my opinion, to my ears, no offense meant to any Korg lovers: The PA60/80 built in piano sound is very harsh and unmusical, as is most of the sounds on this KB. I prefer my PSR2000 and certainly the Tyros. I tried them side by side. At one time I thought I wanted to get a PA60/80, especially after hearing the great demos on their site. Only problem is, it doesn't sound like that playing live, or I sure as hell would have bought it. BTW, the dealer let me try it in my home with no money on it, and wanted to sell it to me for dealer cost which is $960 (for the PA60).

The guy at the store explained to me that Yamaha has great instrument sounds, where the Korg has great synth sounds. (He owns a Triton and a Yamaha (Motif I think)

You asked. Sorry to be blunt, but thats my honest opinion.

However, I look forward to hearing Korgs new board soon to come out. But I still expect it to sound like a Korg.

In the end, though really, if you like the piano sound on the PA60/80,then follow your ears, but only after doing an extensive comparison. This saved me from making a big mistake for me.

Best

Scott Langholff

Ah.... the joys and wisdom of personal taste.
Regardless of whose board you pick - Yammy, Korg, Roland or even GEM - the pianos that come on the stock boards are all OK. I said OK.... not "great", because great boils down to personal preference...

Do you want a piano sounds sampled from a $60,000 Bosendorfer grand or an $8,000 Yammy upright. I've heard some of the latter that I thought were pretty impressive. OK... choice made then ? Not enuf ambience, reverb, delay, chorus and so on. So add until the mix is how you want it and save it to another program/location!! Even replace the original if you want !! Anyways... Ta-Da !! Done.... your own personal piano sound.

If the pianos sounds on the Korg were that bad... do you think they wouldn't have figured that out yet and fixed them already - at least on the flagship synths ??

My point is that all synths have basic pianos, whether you like them or not is up to you. Just 'cus you don't like it, doesn't make it bad. Of course, there's no beating personal preference, is there !!

Regards,
Steve

Hi Kevin,
I can tell you first hand that the Korg PA-80
s Acoustic Grand Piano leaves a lot to be desired imo. I find the Yamaha PSR 2000's Grand Piano sound to be much better and more realistic sounding. But then again I didn't tweak the sound at all so if it's tweaked it might sound better. But like I said the Default PSR 2000 Grand Piano is much better imo than the Default Korg PA-80's. And after tweaking my PSR 2000's Grand Piano it is even better sounding. Yamaha did a great job when they sample WAV ROM'ed the PSR 2000's Grand Piano voice. To give you an example, I played the Tyros extensively a while back and compared it side by side with a PSR 2000 using a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Headphones-(AES="Audio Enginnering Society" 2002 Innovation Award Winner!) I consider the Tyros's Grand Piano having just a slight edge in sound quality compared to the PSR 2000. And I think some of that slight edge is due to the Tyros much better Key action, ie., better Key response/action= improved sound output/nuances. That gives you an understanding at just how good I think the PSR 2000's Acoustic Grand Piano sound is especially if you've heard some of those Tyros Grand Piano.mp3's floating around the Internet. On a side note I hope the Korg Pa-X has an awesome GP patch. I can't wait to get a hands on demo of it. Maybe Yamaha has something up its sleeve too!

Best regards,
Mike

Just a thought. I'd be willing to bet you a cookie that the people that like the Korg PA60/80 prefer to play and listen to mostly "modern" music, rather than the old "mellower" standards. I'd be curious to hear some conversation on that idea. (Uncle Dave, of course would not fit into this catagory, but then I also think he plays most of his own bass parts and doesn't rely much on the built in styles etc).

Scott

P.S. Again, if you like the Korg sound go for it and have fun.

[This message has been edited by Scott Langholff (edited 04-30-2003).]

Of course Korg pianos seem to be behind in their piano sound. If you play piano for solo'ing, then you're better off getting something that sounds rich and authentic, e.g. PSR2000? or Roland? Digital pianos.

Anyway for some piano applications you need to sound clear and cutting though the mix when you play along with a band. Roland has a good array of bright and mellow pianos, so does Yamaha. Korg on the other hand has their pianos sounding perfect in a band situation, but it lacks depth, and thickness in a classical type solo'ing.

Of course I don't think a single piano patch can be used in all music types. It depends on the type of music and on deciding what piano's are perfect for the song.