A brief review

If I were to compare it to the PA80, I'd probably talk negatively about most things in the PA80, so I'll try to refrain from doing so, but for those of you who has described/understood this keyboard as being a PA80 on testosterone, ....boy you are so wrong.

To you arranger-guys out there, who have had the pleasure to own or try the PA80, I'll agree that some of the styles are similar, even identical to the PA80, but there is so much more to the PA1X-Pro.
The voices are so much sweeter, and the styles sound as if they spent several months just to prepare and tweak these.
The "songbook-concept" is fantastic, at least for those of us who like to sit at home with a glass of nice red-wine, and just play around with the keyboard. The names in the song-book are "bogus" but easy to edit into one’s own liking. Beware that all entries in the song-book are defined as the C-key, but can also be edited easily. The live-performance of this keyboard in a solo- duo- or even trio-performance is beyond my dreams.
The screen could have been better as it could very well have been more tilted, giving the operator a better, crisper view instead of having to "mount" the keyboard, or climb on top of it; however when you spend a few days fooling around with it, you will soon discover that the layout of the screen, with all of the menus, sub-menus and tweaks is so simple that navigating around in it’s depths is easy.
The choir-simulator is (to me) outstanding. At the touch of a button you can sing alone or along, with or without effects and voice-expansion, and you can add up to 4 voices-choir, which all can be tweaked to fit pitch, volume and vibrato...one by one. The PA1X-Pro is also equipped with pre-defined choir-settings, some good and some bad, but fun.

And the sheer sleek design of it portrays nothing less than elegance; well if I ever was to get a lover, this would be it!

Gaining access to the compartment hiding the RAM-chips, the ROM-chips and the hard-drive (15Mb) is easy. You need to unscrew 7 philips-head screws, and the lid is (like the rest of this baby’s body) made of aluminum, and it is hinged so it's very easy to upgrade this board.

AND THE SWITCHES LIGHT UP IN SHARP BLUE!!!

A few drawbacks

Since I am concentrating to give an impartial review, I have to mention the drawbacks that I have found so far.

The Audio-In diode, that supplies information about the input-gain of the microphone (or other inputs) keeps flashing from time to time, even though nothing is connected to the keyboard. Even when the keyboard is idle, this little thing keeps flashing, as to remind me that once I plug in the microphone, I have more grand surprises in store.

The manual increase/decrease buttons next to the tempo-dial are not functioning properly. That is the +button. I will have to use more than normal pressure to get a response from this one. However this I trust to be a “monday-switch” in my keyboard alone, ad therefore not an actual drawback in the PA1X-Pro-.

The RAM-chip used for sampling-features is reported to be 977.250 bytes, which is about 15Mb less than it's supposed to. This problem is not addressed in the manual, but I do believe that this is one of the few bugs from within the OS, and I expect this to be corrected at the release of a newer version.



When playing real-time with full arranger, I've discovered that the drums and the accompaniment decreased in volume abruptly, and when I hit the fill-in, it restores to normal. This has only happened twice, so I'll wait and see if this is going to be a problem. The base-track has happened to decrease the volume for no reason, and I have yet to find an explanation as to why. Both these incidents have been reported to Korg – Italy and I trust them to be a thing of the past at the release of the new OS.

I was looking forward to the semi-weighed keys, however I don't think I've tried these types before, so I didn't know what to expect. What I got was all-plastic-keys with one extra spring mounted in the bearing, giving the sense of just having a bit tighter keys. Well, like I said, I did not know what to expect so....maybe it's just me.

If you think the start-up time of the PA80 grew long, wait until you try the PA1X-Pro. It takes forever to start, and if you were to edit e.g. a wave-file, the time from when you hit the record-button to the point where it's actually ready to record is looong. I would think that a keyboard this size, price and class would have a processor that could handle a bundle of data a bit faster...?

Well, all in all I won't complain...yet!
This is (and I'll say it in clear, clean words) the most amazing piece of machinery I've ever had the pleasure of operating...


If I were to "throw the dice" and rate this keyboard, this would be the result:

Looks 6
User friendly 5
Ease to operate 5
Voices 6+
Reliability 5

Over all 5.4


Wings.

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If you act, create or compose - you live.

Thats alot of things wrong with a KB that costs so much!!!!

Yup, I hope these annoyances are fixed in the 61-key version. I'm an i-30 user of yore and passed on the PA80 simply because Korg dropped the sliders. But this new beastie looks like 'the business' to me and I may have to do some heavy convincing with the missus on this one.

You dont mind spending more money..
but lets face it....give us the "goods" not a half perfected piece of equipment.

Oh yeah, there's no cash going out till Korg gets it right.

Its seems lately, when somthing comes out you gotta stand back, let someone else be the Guinea pig and after a year or so see what happens with bugs, updates, etc... etc ....that sux... they have enough time to test this stuff....
Ahhhhh whats the use!!

The semi-weighted keys on the PA1XPRO actually have metal weights on the inside bottom of each key. This is something not found on the PA80. If you just touch the bottom of any key you will feel this weight. this is what is meant by semi-weighted, not an additonal spring.
I've sold 8 boards so far and have not heard of a single problem with stuck buttons or lights on when they shouldn't have been. Your keyboard might be the exception but not the norm.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

To all but especially to George Kaye:

Yes, I do believ that my PAX is a bit out of the ordinary, and I have established communications to people at Korg Italy, but I honestly do not think that I listed that many errors???
And 99% of the erros I did list, is most certainly going to be fixed with the next OS-update.

No harm intended to either Korg or any users, but please people; Read the stuff I wrote, NOT the stuff you imagined I wrote!


Wings.

Oh and one more thing;

From the retailers that I've found on the internet, it seems as though the speaker-version is going to cost the exact same as the pro, except no hard-disk and only 61-keys!

Now that's strange.


Wings.

Disappointing news that the 61 note with speakers version won't include a HD. Will this kb at least support an optional 'user installed' off the shelf generic hard drive like the Yamaha Tyros does?

Scott

I'm very interested to see a review or a comparison with the Tyros.

I guess the only people to have both keyboards side-by-side would be a shop owner like Dan01 or George (hint, hint).

Al

As far as I have understood, any 2,5" IDE-based hard-drive will do.
I've personally used both Fujitsu's and IBM Travelstar with the PA80, and they both work.
Price will be approx. US$ 140,-/20Mb here in Norway.

Wings.

In the USA the price of the 61 key with speaker version is $200.00 less then the 76 key model without speakers. You can use any laptop hard drive in the 61 key model.
Just today I sold a PA1Xpro to a regular customer of mine who couldn't come into my store because he lives a few hours away and so we did a comparison of the two keyboards right over the phone. In the end, he bought the korg, but for a few important reasons.
First, the Korg has a much nicer feeling keyboard in my opinion. The keys are not only larger but also feel better with the semi weighted keys.
Next, the guitar sounds play more naturally from the keys of the Korg when trying to play the "mega" type guitar voices.
The Yamaha is still easier to navigate on but after using the PA1Xpro, you get used to it very quickly. For midifile playback I like the Tyros better. Songs start instantly and you can revoice your midi files to play the sweet voices rather than the XG voices.
The polyphony on the Tyros is 128 compared to 64 on the Korg but I'm not sure if this will be a big issue because Korg never uses voices with more than 2 wave forms and Yamaha can use up to 4.
The Yamaha is still lighter to carry around.
The styles are very good on both. Some of the Korg styles might be a bit more "beautiful" and the Yamaha a bit less romantic sounding. The Korg has better Rock and roll styles only because Yamaha left some of these off the Tyros. If they had some Stadium type rock styles I'm sure they would be very good as well but there just missing.
Sounds are a personal taste thing for both but I think both are very good to outstanding compared to most arrangers.
I like the way Yamaha lets us control and adjust effects in the mixing console better than the way Korg does theirs.
I think both have very good vocal harmonizers but the Korg does have a balanced low Z input and Yamaha only has the 1/4" high Z input. It is easier to turn on and off up to 4 voices on the Korg because these are boxes you can check and uncheck right from the main front screen.
In rating the two keyboards I would give them both equally high marks but would suggest that the number of keys and user interface would help one make the decision as to which one to buy.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

George,

You talk very highly of the Tyros vocalizer, but yet I can not get mine to sound even close to the one on my SD-1, it sounds very chipmunk and fake, is there something I am doing wrong or am I expecting too much from the processor?

Frank

Frank,
I have the SD1, PA1X and Tyros all at my store. I'm not a keyboard player or singer but I do demo these products alot just by playing a few chords and simple ad lib melody's. I use alot of tune 1000 songs to demonstrate the vocal harmonizers or I just play some chords on the left hand and sing using factory preset vocal setups. On Yamaha I usually use country men or some jazz preset and on the Korg I just use the factory default or I'll select the preset called I believe "blues in C Major" which allows me to just sing and not have to play chords on the keyboard. I have not noticed any major differences in the three. I don't notice chipmonk sounds, but again, I'm not a singer and maybe I don't put the harmonizers through their paces as some do.


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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

George,

Of the three you mentioned, if you had an option of owning 2 of them, in your opinion, which 2, what order and why.

Please no double spacing, grammer counts

First Choice would be Tyros because of the total package. I like everything about this keyboard. There isn't one feature set that I don't like. I like playing the sounds, the styles, I like using the sequencer, the vocal harmonizer. I like using the mixing console. I like the way I can balance the voices, mute the tracks. There's really nothing I dislike about the Yamaha.


Second, I like the Korg PA1Xpro. It would probably tie with the Yamaha if not for the touchscreen. I find it occasionally frustrating. I think I'm touching the nylon string guitar demo but instead I get the one below it called accordian. Or, sometimes I push a certain vocal preset and I get the one above or below it. Sometimes when this happens I find myself trying to hit the right spot by changing from my pointer finger to my little pinky.......this is just not a great way to change things. I just prefer Yamaha's way of moving around better.


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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

George, have you calibrated your screen?

I'll agree that it seems as if one has to hit the button of choice at the most upper sector, but this is due to the angle between your eyes and the tilt of the screen. Couldn't be more than 25-30*
It works fine for me anyways.

I did try a Tyros, unfortunately a week after I received my PAX, and based on the voices (mega or no mega) and the styles, I'd never get a Yamaha. It seems to me that there still is a lot of transistor-sound to it, and the layout leaves a lot to be desired.
You all remember the "Sharp" -stereo's during the early '80s? Looked really high tech, but when you touch the buttons they implied they were loose, and might fall of at any time. And they did...

Wings.

I've calibrated the screen thinking this was my problem. It's funny, I've stood at the keyboard with potential customers or those who have bought the keyboard and are back for some explanation of features, and when I try to touch a spot and nothing happens the other person here touches it and it jumps perfectly for them. I've been told by the Korg demonstrator at NAMM that one needs to touch the screen right at the point just below your fingernail because of my problem getting the screen to change. I don't know if my having dry skin can have anything to do with this or the fact that I have very short fingernails can have anything to do with it.
I once had a customer come in to try the Suzuki Omni Chord (an electronic auto harp) and no matter how hard he tried to run his finger over the touch bar to make the machine sound he couldn't. Everyone else could do it. Perhaps it was something in his skin, a lack of oils or something, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't produce a sound.


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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

George,
FWIW - I own both a Korg D1600 and a Triton Studio and I've been subject to this phenomenon at times too. More frequently than I probably care to admit, but yes, same problem with selecting the item UNDER or ABOVE the one I want, on BOTH units......

Using the slide bar to scroll down thru the file list on the TS was a hit or miss thing for me. Sometimes works fine, sometimes not at all. I thought it was a screen bug - you think it would work OK having spent some $2500+ on it !!

Yet, I have a friend who plays my TS at times and he has no problems at all with the touch screens. Works every darn time for him, but not for me !! So, you may have something there about skin type, oil content, etc.

Either way its darn frustrating having to back up and do it again. I don't use the TS for gigging so I don't have to deal with this problem on dim stages, but I can imagine it must really annoying for some....

I've not seen this come up in any other forum, and was curious if Korg (Jerry) had any other input on the topic other than what you already mentioned ?

PS: I've actually started to use the spare pointing device from my iPaq to tap the screen selections, and the problem has gone away.

Regards,
Steve

[This message has been edited by S0C9 (edited 02-01-2004).]

The more I play the PA1Xpro the better I like it!
From a "Physical" point of view, it is well built and really "Looks" Pro! IMO it has great eye appeal.
Sound wise, Top Shelf!!!
I have not played a KB that was soooo expressive, it takes some getting use to.
As far as the touch screen ... If your finger tip lacks heat and moisture, you will have a problem. Also, if the screen is cold (the KB is left in a unheated area) you will have a problem.
For my money the Vocalizer and the effects that go with it are the best I have heard ( I have never used the Yamaha, only SD1, PA80 and Digitech).
I do not want to do comparisons here on the forum. If anyone is serious about getting this KB and is interested in anything I have to say you can email me your phone # and I would be happy to call you (USA and Canada ... I'm not that well off!!)

I hate touch screens...... just hate 'em !

Hi !
You must test to load Akai Cd,s in to the Pa1xpro.
Its amazing.The only bad thing is 32 meg.We all hope the Korg can make the system to larger capasitiy on samples.Like 64 meg???
We can do much if we ask and tell them that and other things we need on a KB.Do So!
I love my Pa 1 X pro 1,5 version but i love even better vers like 2.0 2.5 and 3.0.
Come on guys make it real!I now you can do it!
C ya all!
!Can some one wakeup the sleeping beauty!Please!!!

Is version 1.5 OS available already??

Hi there Harosha and the rest.
I will promise that if and when the OS 1.5 is released, you all will know about it approx. 20 seconds later than me.
No, the update has not been released yet, however it should be right around the corner so to speak.

I'm not too sure about what info Asena posesses, but I think what he/she ment was the following:

(We can do much if we ask and tell them that and other things we need on a KB.Do So!)

(Please mr. Korg, Wings interpretation) "I love my Pa 1 X pro 1,5 version but i love even better vers like 2.0 2.5 and 3.0."

In other words, as a question for Korg.

Is that correct, Asena?


Wings.

[This message has been edited by Wings (edited 02-04-2004).]

Sorry, but the "silver beast" has only 62-note polyphony, and that means I would NEVER consider buying one.

Sorry,
Steve

62 Korg voices in the Pa serioes outperforms 128 Yamaha voices in the psr series. no drop outs in the Korg vs. major dropouts in the Yammy. It's all in allocation.

Agree....

Wings.

When will this polyphony thing STOP!!!!!!

When you release the sustain-pedal....

The "dropout" difference between keyboards is not only in the voice allocation (voice stealing algorithms) but depends if the keyboard uses layered sounds. For example the Roland JV can use up to 4 tones per soundpreset which means if you have 64 voice polyphony and use such a 4 tone presed you get an effective polyphony of max 16 voices.
Probably the Pa-X works mostly with single tone presets.

Question to a Pa-X owner: try to play a MIDI file (a bit busy one) and then play the piano live over it, making use of the sustain pedal.
Are or are there not voice cuts, dropouts etc ?

Many MIDI files need quite high polyphony and piano with sustain pedal too so I think regardless of the good voice stealing algorithms there will be voice cuts at some point.
If there aren't then the polyphony must be higher or other things we are missing. As said I don't own the silver beast, nor did I test it somewhere so I cannot make any judgment.

cheers,
Benno
http://www.linuxsampler.org

Yes, you will experience a loss in voices, even if you play a complexed piano-sound, meaning two piano's and one string...and playing 20 or so keys at the same time using sustain-pedal...

However, let me correct a statement; The PAX DOES use many numbers of complexed sounds/voices. That is partially what makes this keyboard sooo great!

Wings.

[This message has been edited by Wings (edited 02-06-2004).]

Great Comeback Wings!!!

I aggree ! LOL !

Well, one strive to be honest right?