I am thinking of adding a keyboard to my set-up, and was wondering if the Korg PA80 is has good as the Triton - taking into consideration the price/Sampler (or lack of). It is the sounds itself I am very interested in, and I wondered whether it has some good Triton sounds - like the triton itself - or maybe just a scaled down "Engine" of the triton? I could buy a triton, but it is a few hundred more than the PA80 - and without speakers. Could one say that the Korg PA80 has a "Top arranger" tag? - Since it is $1000+ (lots) less than Yamaha 9000 pro? Do the sounds compare to the triton I ask! Don't need a sampler anyway, so could that be why the PA80 is less money? - Or is it just an "All in one" bag of tricks - which I may grow out of quickly? Good pads/strings/Electric pianos are what I'm after, but also, Big sounds like the Triton itself.

Sorry for many questions - but running out of ink


Andrew


[This message has been edited by Nimrod (edited 08-13-2001).]

The pA-80 have "4" OSC. ,Triton only have "2"."they are close".Piano are better than the Triton.all the other sounds, sounds good too, like the Triton.

[This message has been edited by vic83 (edited 08-13-2001).]

forgot to mention that they are the same Engine(Triton and PA-80). infact I feel that the mother board of the PA-80 is more faster.more stable.and the PA-80 have a very good Composer with 100,000 notes of memory Comparing to the 38,000 notes of the 9000PRO.plus nice Functions and other very Impressive things that will help you in live preformance.

I explain it like this to my customers:
The PA80 has the same oscilators as the Triton (these are the raw samples), however, on the PA80, because it is an arranger keyboard, the sounds have been created to cover more "main stream" sounds, such as Pianos, Organs, strings, brass, and they have included fewer synth type sounds as used for hip hop and dance type music. Also, there is no combination mode on the PA80, so you can't create sounds using up to 8 programs like you can on the Triton. However, you can create performances on the PA80 where you can have up to 3 programs layered. There is no arpegiator on the PA80 as on the Triton. Will you ear hear a difference? The answer is probably you will, but it is because the two machines are as different as a station wagon vs a sport utility vehicle. I don't recommend customers who come in looking for the Triton to buy the PA80, however, if they want the Triton to produce songs and they don't play drums well, or play bass well, I then suggest the PA80 for all it's arranger possibilities.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

This time I do not fully agree with George,
I think the PA-80 will suit your wishes to a
T. In particular the sounds you mentioned are amply there and in very good quality.
The arranger section is among the very best, if not the best in the present line of top arranger keyboards. I just bought one, and seem to even favour it over the much acclaimed Solton SD-1.
And as in "three in a row" seeing it is always mentioned here in the same breath, the yamaha Pro9000 falls short of these in my humble view. And as you pointed out so rightly, the Korg is substantially cheaper than the other two topkeyboards. Furthermore they are very up-to-date with their operating system, I have meanwhile loaded their most recent, and second update, since it hit the market earlier this year.
GO FOR IT !!!!

john.

For a while I have both PA-80 and Triton hooked up to same sound system and they are identical in sounds Triton is much more flexible but I am talking about presets here some sounds are even better in PA-80 especially flute, violin, sax now don't forget that Triton have more flexible effect routing than PA-80 but if we are talking about sounds they are exactly the same Triton can be more expressive due to its ribbon controller and arps...

Thanks for the info. If the PA80 is the same Sound Engine as the Triton, then at many $$100$$ for the same sound seems good to me. Same as I said, I'm not bothered about the Sampler at all - so that would save a bit anyway, nor the arpeggiator (seem like gimmicks to me do these). I will seriously consider this PA80. However, Two sequencers on one Keyboard aren't what I had in mind!

John: is the Korg PA80 "Better" than the SD1 & Pro 9000? - Even if they were at the same price? - Or are you taking this into consideration? And is it easy to get two arrangers running at once - without a jumbled up sound? (My KN5000 (which I brought a month ago) + PA80 it would be).

Arbaz: Are the String/Pad sounds etc as good as the triton? - As the KN5000 caters a lot for the Solo sounds. (Maybe the PA80 is better than the KN5000 - I don't know). Also, what I want from the PA80, are these Synth sounds that George says are a little absent in the PA80 - by comparison to the Triton that is. Nice Wurly/washy/Spacey pads! - That would be very nice. I'llrepeat that! Nice Wurly/washy/Spacey pads!

George: you say the "PA80 has the same oscillators as the Triton" whereas Vic says: The pA-80 have "4" OSC. , Triton only have "2".". Me a little confused on this one.

Also George, you say:

"The sounds have been created to cover more "main stream" sounds, such as Pianos, Organs, strings, brass, and they have included fewer Synth type sounds as used for hip hop and dance type music".

Since I want a Triton for these Dance Synthy sounds, then this would disappoint a little bit (note that the arpeggiator/Sampler is bottom of my agenda). I already have a keyboard with good solo sounds in the KN5000. I will have a good look. A Triton rack would be tempting mind you - if they weren't nearly as expensive as the keyboard itself!! (Triton that is)

Vic: Since you say that "they are the same Engine(Triton and PA-80). infact I feel that the mother board of the PA-80 is more faster", ..then it can't be bad!

Thanks everyone.


Andrew




[This message has been edited by Nimrod (edited 08-14-2001).]

I don't think you will be disappointed with the dance/synth sound on the PA80, which is one of the reasons I bought it. There are 16 preset styles for dance: techno, house, disco, and plus there are at least 8 hipop styles that are very good. Of course, you can always build your own style using PA80's drum kits.

Andrew,

as to your first question:
To me a tentative conclusion would be that indeed the Korg is the best one out of the three mentioned, but of course this is entirely a matter of taste. The PA-80 is indeed a complex arranger keyboard, but which one isn't in this day and age, however the possibilities of tweaking SOUNDS AND STYLES are tremendous. the sound quality has already been praised by many here, and I can only emphasize once more, that the possibilities of adjusting the styles to your own taste are out of this world. The only thing missing here, but that's is very personal,is the so-called DYNAMIC ARRANGER, which can be found in Roland and Solton keyboards. (and in the past in Yamaha and TEchnis keyboards).
As to your second question;
I think the Korg is a very good addition to the KN5000, they complement one another perfectly in my opinion, and playing with two keyboards (of different makes!!!) should be any performer's dream ! !!!!
so once more, just go for it son !!!!

john.

The PA=80 may not have dynamic arranger, but you CAN set the touch sensitivity to trigger the fills.
DonM

"The PA=80 may not have dynamic arranger, but you CAN set the touch sensitivity to trigger the fills".

That sounds interesting Don - it's just remembering, however, when the function is on or off - or you get an "unwanted" fill.

Anyway, since these last few hours, I have been (for the first time) to the Korg PA80 website, and downloaded the entire Demo's. There are some top class rhythms & sounds here - no doubt, and sound better than the demo's that Yamaha 9000/Solton SD1 have to offer. (The Piano on the Tune snow town is really superb). What is that piece by the way??? (Proper name etc). The Pads/strings/Triton sound seem to be all there (didn't hear many electric Piano's mind you - are these good?). The Sounds that I want are there too: Techno & dance on the Demo "PROGRESS". It really is great stuff. 22 * 22 watts is good for home use, as I will have my KN5000 playing away as well (that’s 110 watts in total) What I want to know is: Why is such a great sounding board like the PA80 so much less than the Triton! (And other Boards for that matter). Look at the SD1/Yamaha Pro...there is a $1000+ difference here. (The Yamaha 9000 doesn't sound as good to me - if I may say - and that's taking the price into consideration). True, there are many extra's on the Yamaha like a sampler/Harmonizer/126 note poly etc, and this probably pushes the price up, but by over a $$1000$$??? Mystifies me. The Solton SD1 doesn't seem to be the kind of keyboard that would suit my kind of music I don't think (Synth/Techno/disco etc), and the Piano sounds a bit dodgy IMHO)Everyone to there own!

If I do get a PA80, I wonder which keyboard becomes "master" (as in master keyboard) Great thing as well that it don't weigh a ton.

One more question to all PA80 owners, is it MUCH better than the I30? (or what ever came before it) - Because that was good - and was top ranger when it came out.

Thanks all (I did have a Korg M1 a while back - my "only" Korg)

Andrew

Better than i30 ? in sounds yes a lot, but in features probably not! well there are some features which are extra but still, and you can make the PA-80 master or slave it will work good both way it have very flexible MIDI options, why it is a grand cheaper?? it is really not built very good? i30 was the best when it came out solid metal construction with superb o.s. PA-80 operating system is still incomplete but it is still the best out there especially in sounds but is not built like a $2000 keyboard, well to tell you the truth if I were you and I already had an arranger board (Technics KN5000) I would have gone for the Triton or Motif and use it as a sound source and also as song finalizing tool ? because pricewise PA-80 almost cost the same as Triton and MOtif is even cheaper.

[This message has been edited by Arbaz (edited 08-14-2001).]

Korg cut a lot of corners with the PA80,and that is why I do not own one anymore.
1)The harmonizer is ALWAYS a full choir sound. It's the max notes played. It also does not behave well from the right hand, which is important to me.
2)You cannot change the tone of the manual bass by simply selecting the new sound. You need to press "Manual bass" - then pick a new sound, then turn OFF manual bass, then turn it ON again before you hear the change!Very bad for on the fly changes.
3)Sounds do not sustain through a new patch change. IF I have a piano sound lingering, and switch to an electric piano while my hands are still holding the keys.... the piano cuts off abrubtly.
4)There is no way to change volumes easily by "stepping up" the volume sliders a notch at a time unless you are in a second page. The main menu page won't do it.
There are other shortcuts, but overall it's still worth the money. It's just not worth the same money as the 9kpro. It doesn't do as much and it doesn't perform as seemlessly.
BTW - I'd trust George Kaye's description of the Triton?Pa80 comparison. He tells it like it is. I don't believe they are identical engines either.

I don't see where anyone stated that each Korg PA80 sound has 4 Oscilators. There are 2 on all Korg keyboards per voice. I also agree that the PA80 is one of my top sellers these past few months. I am only stating that the Triton does sound different because the "stock" sounds are different. I do know that I can "tweak" the PA80 sounds to sound closer to the triton sounds, but as many of you would agree, the solo violin, sax's, trumpets and of course the Piano, actually sound better on the PA80.
I do think the sounds and the styles are better on the PA80 than the i30. One of the biggest tests for me, was to discover that the 4 variations for each style actually matched the quality and the intensity of the intros and endings. In the i30 I thought the intros and endings were really exciting, but the variations left me wanting more excitement. The PA80 has this kind of excitment!
George Kaye

The PA80 sounds interesting to me, but how is it getting along on only two fills? I currently own the PSR 740, and was counting on upgrading to the PSR 2000. With that instrument, I get four fills (each fill plays automatically when I press a variation button). Doesn't it sound a bit inferior to be hearing the same two fills throughout a whole song as compared to four fills? I wonder why Korg only provided 2 fills when their competition provide 4 fills. Outside of this, the PA80 looks like an incredible instrument just on specs alone. I haven't had the opportunity to play it.

Beakybird....2 fills or 4 fills, but what about your PSR 740 having styles of only 2 bar loops....surely this is the repetitious part, but you have not commented on this. Korg styles are usually 8 to 16 bar loops plus they have 6 chord variation types playing different riffs, so the style changes depending on the chord played. With styles like these the only 2 fills thing is not important.

Graham UK

I've seen this in Pa-80's V2 manual.and the dealer told me that too.you can have 4 oscillators synthesizer.each oscillator with it's own two LFOs.it also has swing quantize. 8 levels of swing.

Beakybird:

Like Graham points out, the variation of the Korg styles is in the 8 to 12 bar accompaniment !!! To the best of my knowledge you only come across this in Korg and in Roland keyboards.. The two fill ins are indeed a bit on the thin side, but personally I have no problem with that.
I have now owned the PA-80 for a mere 10 days and are very please with it.
I WILL COME OUT WITH A FULL ASSESSMENT OF THE KORG PA-80 IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS' TIME,
for those of you interested.
ViC:
Could you be more specific on the
SWING QUANTIZE function, this should be about the styles I presume? where can I find it ??? Tha.


john.

I think you should trust your ears and decide for yourself because this is getting no where now I am shocked because some of us when they had the PA-80 it was so good and now when they have sold it to get another board PA-80 is all bad and it is not worth the money?? FYI PA-80 does have 4 OSC so its synth engine is more powerful than Triton and it does have the the Triton engine I have them both right now PA-80 have HI synthesis (Hyper integrated synthesis system) as stated by the Korg which is same as Triton now if you don't beleive a company's specification? what can I say then? total number of effects are same but insert effects routing is more powerfull in Triton and yes Triton sounds are way ahead clear and crisp than Yamaha AWM sounds.

john smies,
every thing (information) should be in the manuals taht Korg created in PDF formate...www.korgpa80.com

Hi Nimrod,
Try this address. http://www.korgpa80.com/pa80/en/main.html
All the best,
Nobby

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[This message has been edited by Nobby (edited 08-16-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Nobby (edited 08-16-2001).]