Mike,

I am afraid you got it wrong here. From the Pa800 specs:

"2 Host Front/Rear (2.0 Hi Speed) and 1 Device Rear (1.1 Full Speed) connections"

The two USB 2.0 host ports (one on the front and one on the rear) are for connecting flash drives, external hard drives and cd/dvd readers. They are definitely USB2. I have currently a flash drive and a cd/dvd reader connected directly to my Pa800.

The USB 1.1 device port on the back is primarely for MIDI communication and USB 1.1 is more than fast enough for this.

Kind regards,
Tommy

That's great news, Tommy! Thanks for contributing and WELCOME to the Arranger Forum!
I look forward to owning a PA800 and will order one in the next few days.
Even though I promised myself I would never buy another keyboard without trying it first, I will make ONE more exception, based on my experience with the PA80 and my confidence in the judgement of George Kaye.
DonM

Hi Don,

Thank you for your welcome! I think you will be very happy with your Pa800. I have upgraded from a Pa60 and the Pa800 is really like a "Pa80/Pa60 on steroids". After having it for nearly a month I am still impressed that Korg have been able to put so much great sound into such a small package. And yes, the built-in speakers sounds great with a strong and well defined bottom.

Kind regards,
Tommy

Mike,
I started to read your post and knew you were wrong and as I read I saw Tommy's post and knew he was correct. It is confusing to read the specs in the manual but there are two USB to Device Ports and one USB to Host computer ports on the PA800 and yes as Tommy says, both Device ports are 2.0.


------------------
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

HI,my usb memory sticks work fine on the front &back of the 800,also i use a usb hardrive & a floppy sometimes the both work great , have not tried loading any sample stuff yet , as i am not ready for it yet, right now i am trying to figure out how to run the 800 from the pro, using it to control the 800, i think the make a nice duo in my opinion, best regards , BENNO

Don, is it updated to v3 yet, and if so, any big difference to see / hear??
Just asking cause I'm looking around what to add to my good old KN5k.

Happy playing
GJ

George and everyone else,

I read it straight from the horses mouth i.e. from the Korg.com web site.

Here ya' go..


PA800 - Professional Arranger with Speakers

Keyboard:
61 keys with Velocity and Aftertouch

System:
RX (Real eXperience) Technology
OPOS (Objective Portable Operating System) Multitasking (Load while play feature)
Upgradable Operative System
SSD Solid State Disk

Tone Generator:
KORG HI Synthesis (Hyper Integrated)
120 Voices, 120 Oscillators
Filters with Resonance
EQ for each track

Effects:
4 Stereo Digital Multi-Effect systems
124 Effects types plus VOCODER
Voice Processor Technology by TC Helicon: Three-part Harmonizer, Reverb, Delay, Compressor, EQ

Sounds & Drum Kits:
More than 950, including a Stereo Piano and GM Level 2 compatible Sounds
63 Drum Kits - User area: 256 Sounds, 64 Drum Kits
Digital Drawbars: 8 Footages
Realtime control: Assignable Sliders
Full editing of Sounds and Drum Kits
Sampling: Record, Edit, Time Slice, Load/Import of Korg, Wav, Aiff and Akai files
Export of Wav and Aiff files
PCM RAM Memory: 64 MB standard

Styles:
More than 400 preloaded Styles, SSD-resident, freely reconfigurable
Up to 960 available Style locations including the Favorite banks
Eight Style tracks, 4 Single Touch Settings and one Style Performance per Style
Compatible with old "i-Series" and Pa series Style format
Style Record with Step Record, Track and Event Edit functions
Style controls: 4 Variations, 3 Fills, 3 Intros, 3 Endings, Synchro Start/Stop, Tap Tempo/Reset, Fade In/Out, Bass Inversion, Manual Bass, Tempo Lock, Memory, Accompaniment/Real Time Track Balance Volume, Accompaniment Mute, Drum Mapping, Snare & Kick Designation, Single Touch

Performance/STS:
320 Realtime Performance locations
STS: Memorize Realtime tracks and Voice Processor settings, up to 4 x 960 Styles, up to 4 x SongBook entries

Realtime Tracks:
Four Keyboard tracks (Upper 1, 2, 3, Lower)
4 Pad tracks

Song Play:
Patented XDS Crossfade Dual Sequencer player
2 Sequencers with separate Select, Start/Stop, Home, Rewind and Fast Forward controls
Balance control
Lyrics data can be displayed on-screen, or on an external video monitor (with VIF4 option installed)
Markers
Jukebox function
Compatible with (formats 0 and 1)

Sequencer:
Quick Record (Backing Sequence), Multitrack and Step Record functions
Full-featured sequencer
16 tracks
Up to 200,000 events
SMF native format

SongBook:
Fully programmable music database, based on Styles, SMF, Karaoke with automatic selection of Style Play and Song Play modes
User-definable custom lists
Filtering options

Compatibility:
"i-Series" models: Styles
Pa series: Style, Performance, Program/Sound, Song, SongBook

Multi Pad:
4 Assignable Pads + Stop Button.
Pad Record function

Help System:
Hypertextual, Contextual, Multilingual

General Controls:
Master Volume, Real Time-Acc/Seq Balance Volume, Ensemble, Octave Transpose, Master Transpose, Style Change, Quarter Tone and Arabic Scale memorized inside Performance/STS
Realtime controllers: Joystick (pitch + modulation), 2 Assignable Sliders, 2 Assignable Switches, Dial, Up/+, Down/-


Control Inputs:
Damper Pedal (Support Half-Pedaling), Assignable Pedal/Switch, EC-5 (Programmable Multi-Switches)


Analog Output:
Unbalanced Jack Left/Mono, Right, Out 1, Out 2, Headphones


Analog Input:
2 Unbalanced/Balanced (automatic switch) Jack Line In with separate Gain control

MIDI:
In, Out, Thru standard MIDI connectors
USB MIDI using the USB Device port
Individual track assignment
8 user definable MIDI Setups

USB:
2 Host Front/Rear (2.0 Hi Speed) and 1 Device Rear (1.1 Full Speed) connections


Hard Disk:
Optional 2.5" ATA Hard Disk Drive


CD Player/Writer - Floppy Disk:
Optional standard USB CD-Drives to be connected to USB Host port


Display:
320 x 240 pixels, Color TouchView Graphic Touch Screen

Amplification:
2 x 22 W
Loudness
Fixed EQ


Speakers:
4 Speakers (10 cm Woofers + Tweeters)
2 way in Bass Reflex Box

Consumption:
40 Watt

Dimensions:
43.7" (W) x 13.3" (D) x 7.1" (H) inch without music stand

Weight:
29.3 lbs

Accessories:
Manual, AC Power Cable, Music Stand, CD-Rom

Specifications subject to change without notice

PS: I do see though that there is one USB 2.0 (To Host) connection on the front and also one USB 2.0 (To Host) on the back instead of both both USB 2.0 on the front as I stated previously. I was correct in stating that the USB 1.1 (To Device) is on the back of the Pa800.

>> So apparently Korg is wrong when they list the USB specs as "2 'Host' Front/Rear (2.0 Hi Speed) and 1 'Device' Rear (1.1 Full Speed) connections"??

PS: I realize that Manufacturers do post incorrect specs once in a while. If it is indeed incorrect information then Korg needs to correct it ASAP.

Best regards,
Mike

Slightly off track guys but - PA 800 v PA1X Pro - Sound differences ? I don't really want another 61 note KB but I am not sure about the PA1X sound quality ...can anyone tell me the difference between the sounds on PA1X Pro and the PA800...brass and piano particularly..
Thanks

Mike,
the usb on the front is a usb 2.0 to device and so is the other one on the back. And also on the back is one usb to host. the wording on the specs is not easy to understand.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

Yeah it's very confusing to say the least George. Korg should correct it by re-phrasing the wording.

Okay,.. well I'm really glad that there IS two USB 2.0 to "Device" connections on the Pa800. I wasn't complaining at all I was just stating the info from the Korg site.

This is really a breakthrough for Arrangers in that the Pa800 to my knowledge is the first and only Arranger ever to have USB 2.0 capability built in. The Lionstrac Mediastation has USB 2.0 but according to their web site it is through an external interface instead of internal and I'm not sure if it's To Host or To Device either.

Kudos to Korg Italy for giving the Pa800 two USB 2.0 To Device connections although I would have liked to have also seen the To "Host" connection USB 2.0 too.

Now if they would just re-word the manual and their web site it would go a long way in alleviating any confusion to consumers.

Best regards,
Mike

[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 12-10-2006).]