Hi ,
personally I think it's great.

Updates have usually been nothing more than bug fixes in most of the keyboards I've had to date.

Apart from fixing the odd bug , korg have actually added new sounds , new features & revised some styles in their various upgrades to date.
So personally I'm not complaining, maybe they'll add more new features, sounds etc over the coming months/years. Who knows.

Had a couple of updates for my psr1500, certainly didn't get any new sounds or features, maybe the T2 owners did better?

Ketron SD1+ 4.0c update, haven't got a clue what it was supposed to do, though I did notice some of my midi functions finally worked the way they were supposed to.

I'm finding it more than playable just as it is, (there again I'm only a home keyboardist) No doubt over the coming weeks I'll be delving into the amazing style/pad/ sound editing/creation functions this keyboard has to offer.

Soundwise it leaves my Psr1500 sounding pretty poor, there again not a fair comparison considering the price difference.
As for the SD1+, can't say, the SD1 's upstairs hooked up to a $1,500 sound system, I'm playing the PA800 thru it's own speakers other end of the house.

best wishes
Rikki

Hi Nigel,
great to hear from you.
Don't know about experienced , definately a "prolific" arranger user . haa haa.
Actually you forgot to mention Roland. I've owned about 6 of those over the years as well. Ahh , the good old days. haa haa.

best wishes
Rikki


[QUOTE]Originally posted by Nigel:
[B]And she is an experienced arranger user having owned Yamaha, Ketron and Technics keyboards.

Surely sound is a subjective thing....if a keyboard came as it was meant to sound or optimised then why add the ability to tweak in the first place? Probably because what sounds 'optimal' to me won't to you. That's the whole point (unless I am missing something)?

I only know I never bought a keyboard yet I did not have to tweak one way or another to make it sound like I wanted it to. That includes Tyros, G70, 9000Pro, KN 7000 ...heck the list is endless.

Look at when the G70 was released....you could not move here for people saying it sounded bad ..... and now a year or so later I hear nothing but praise here for the G70 piano sound. Did everyones hearing change or maybe updates and tweaks worked the magic?

Being in the market myself atm I am however quite interested in the fact that Don's perception of the PA800 (and that of his audience) is less favourable than most of the reports I have read. I have the utmost respect for Don and I know he knows his gear which is what makes me sit up and take note.

I am leaning toward the PA800 but my local dealer does not stock korg. I will have to have a trip down to Blackpool to have a play with one. I have never had a Korg arranger before (well unless you count an i40m module many moons ago). I did own a Triton for a while though. It is either the PA800, PA1x or I may buy another G70. Having already owned a G70 the korgs are attractive simply because they are the only major brand I have never had.

I did have to smile though at Ian's comment that it should sound killer out of the box..... a bit ironic given that quite a few S900 customers have had to take delivery of two or three boxes before they are happy with their 'killer' machine.

Just an observation.

regards
Tony

Gidday rikki. It is always a pleasure to see you involved in discussion on the forums here.

You certainly are experienced so please don't underestimate that. You have owned and used a full range of arrangers over the years. I know from your postings that you carefully compare sounds, styles and features before you decide to buy. I and many other people here value your opinions. When you say you love the PA800 I take that as a serious endorsement of the keyboard .... or else I know you would be moving on and finding something else that does meet your requirements lol

Hugs & Cheers,
Nigel


[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 10-17-2007).]

Hi Tony,
check the operating system if you can & that it's "1.51."
I gather it was a fairly major software upgrade. I think it's the one that gave us guitar mode .
It's still all pretty new to me. My last korg arranger goes back to the i2 12 or so years ago.
Mine was brand new but it still had the original operating system. Small country town , they don't sell PA800's very often haa haa.

You may not see it at it's optimum if it's got the original system.

It was very simple to do.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Tony W:
[B]

I will have to have a trip down to Blackpool to have a play with one.

I have had my PA800 about two weeks. I decided to go down to my dealer after seeing the endorsements by UD and Donny. I played around with it, and found the OS quite intuitive, and the styles and sounds good. By comparison to the KN7000, which I have been gigging with for the past four years, the PA800 sounded as good.

I was advised to make sure it had 1.51 loaded, so I told the dealer that I would buy it if they loaded it into the board. No problem, they downloaded it from the Korg website, and had it in in about twenty minutes.

Well, let me tell you that it made the whole thing come alive. My regulars have commented that they love the new sound.

IMHO. the KN7000 sounds good, and has been my constant companion, but the PA800 has it beat.

This is just the humble opinion of an old warhorse that has been playing countless keyboards ever since they came out about 1980.

Bernie

Hi
must admit, Donny & UD chatting away got me interested in the PA800 also.

Being a long long time Technics fan, & after numerous discussions with Bernie on how it compared with the KN7, I realized it sounded like it could be the right keyboard for me too.

I certainly haven't been dissapointed.

So thanks guys.

best wishes
Rikki


[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bernie9:
[B]
IMHO. the KN7000 sounds good, and has been my constant companion, but the PA800 has it beat.

Hi,



as documented in the upgrade manual the introduction of the guitar track has forced the company to revise a quantity of styles.

And I believe they developed it with this in mind. Looks to me perfectly reasonable.

Just my thought.

Regards.

I knew by the way this thread was going that someone was bound to mention the woes of a few S900 customers...glad it was you, Tony...you are so eloquent.

Still, as Zuki, and many others have pointed out on other threads, the S900 sounds super right out of the box...fortunately for me and ALL the other Canadian owners, it was the first box...


It is surprising that with an instrument of the PA-800's price and obvious build quality that they couldn't get the most important part right....the sound.

I imagine there are owners who like to tweak, but I still stand by my opinion that that MOST home owners do not want to have to fiddle with their new instrument to get the optimum sound.

Pity the stores in my area won't stock Korg arrangers anymore...they weren't big sellers compared to Roland, Yamaha and Casio, but a friend of mine is thinking about getting a PA-800 whilst on a trip to Toronto, so I may finally get to try one out for myself...that should be interesting.

Ian

Thanks for all your input! To be fair, remember that I bought probably the FIRST PA800 in the U.S. The Korg rep personally delivered it for me.
Obviously the OS upgrade has made a major difference in sound. I had a PA80 some years ago and loved the sound of it.
Several people who's opinions I value listened to the 800 when I had it and the assessment was univeral - nobody liked it. I gave it my best shot for a couple months and just couldn't get it to sound right, so I sold it.
I am quite happy with the Yamaha S900, but when I get a chance I will listen to a "new" PA800 again.
Since I got my replacement S900 I have had no problems so far. My first one had obvious damage to the case, so I don't think you can throw it into any lack-of-quality category.
DonM