Hi,

I'm planning to buy an arranger keyboard as addition to my Korg M3 for playing and jaming just at home. My music style is more Dance/POP/Electronic.
Two keyboards came to my attraction: The Korg PA800 and the Yamaha PSR-S900.

The sounds on both are outstanding. But actually the PA800 wins slightly to the PSR-S900:
Better Keys, more "modern sounding " styles, better build quality, touch screen, design.
The PSR-S900 wins in terms of chord recognition and the possibility to control the bass etc.

How do you think? What arrange would you prefer?

Cheers
Frank

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iMac 20" CoreDuo 2GHz, Focusrite Saffire LE, Korg M3-61 w/ EXB-Radias, Logic Express, Legacy Collection (A/D), Stylus RMX, Addictive Drums

[This message has been edited by Hellrider (edited 07-20-2007).]

Frank, having no experience with either keyboard, but having experience with a similar arranger from each camp, I would lean (at this time) to the Korg. I say 'at this time' because in recent months I have gone thru a Korg iX300, Yamaha PSR2000 and a Roland G70. I like the Korg styles, the Yamaha OS and the Roland sounds. The Korg styles were definitely more expressive. If you threw a G50 in the mix, I would pick the PA800, S900 and G50 in that order.

BUT, I don't think you can go wrong with either of your choices. Only you can make that final decision. My opinions are based on personal preferences and may or may not be similar to yours. Good luck.

Hi Frank
The PA800 is considerably more expensive then the S900 and so they cannot be compared like for like, however both are good at their price points.
I you are looking at the PA800 (Make sure you demo it with the latest OS 1.5) also take a look at the Ketron SD 5 as another option.
In all cases you will need to go for 3rd party styles, (Or create your own) as Arrangers are general purpose and so having a limited range of all different style categories. (Yamaha probably has the most 3rd party styles available)
Hope this helps

Bill

I'd like to hitchhike onto this question. I have a store credit and have to make a decision on a new kb to supercede my Korg i.. I too have kind of narrowed it down to pa800 and s900. I had a very brief 15-min tryout of the pa and was very impressed with the sound quality. I'm waiting for local stores to get s900 on the floor so i can try one. but when I do there will not likely be a pa800 also on the floor that i can compare a/b. As primarily a standards/jazz/latin/blues player who uses only 12-18 sounds, mostly just bass/drum parts of arranger backings, no smf's, no sequencing..no voc harmonizing even though I sing, both kb's offer a whole lot of features I will never likely use. my main concerns are key feel, sound quality, ease of storing and accessing favorite sounds on-the-fly, ease of moving style-to-style, ease of muting parts withins styles, quality of fills and endings, good chord recognition re the bass lines, good "walking" bass lines, logical development of var.1-4, and above all, great bass/drum backing in the genres I play in, not boring clunky rhythms. can anyone give me any insights/advice too?

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Miami Mo

As Abacus said, they are in two different price ranges so they can't be compared as similar. The PA should win hands down when comparing the two because you're getting what you pay for. I would definitely get the PA if you can. I do like the s900 with what time I had on it. I think I will get one in the near future, but my funds are always limited so I can only get a new board every couple of years, if that.

Hope this helps,

Jeff

If you're looking to play "modern music" on an arranger..., without question I'd say buy the Korg PA800. The S900 is a nice arranger (it costs less too), but Yamaha arrangers (with the exception of the DJX line) have been very weak in the "modern style" area. IMO Yammies have always worked better for more traditional styles of music.

The Korg is also going to give you a freakin killer synth engine too--plus the sounds are "Triton Based", where as the S-900's are well.., PSR based (Yamaha to date doesn't go the other way in the sound department with their arrangers). It's not to say the PSR sounds are bad.., they'll be quite good, however the soundset won't be favorable for modern music.

If you can afford the PA-800 I say buy that one and never look back With the synth engine, good effects, modern sounds and styles..., I'd say the PA would fit your needs quite well. To be honest I'd even take a Korg PA-50 over the S-900 if it was "modern music" that I was wanting to do with an arranger.

Any answer to your question is going to be subjective. That doesn't mean it doesn't have value, but......you should treat all the responses as preparation for a live audition of the keyboards. Only your ears, combined with your comfort level with the ergonomics/navigation, keyfeel, style suitability, and price, should be the deciding factor. If you choose to ignore this advice, buy the Korg .

chas

Mo,
For the kind of music you are looking for and for ease of use, the Yamaha sure seems like the choice to me. The other posts so far seem to keep talking about playing more modern music. Korg has been famous for dance, hip hop and synth sounds since the triton was released. Although the 800 does a really nice job on providing acoustic sounds, the Yamaha has great acoustsic instruments and a nice selection of synth sounds as well. It has an easier to use interface and their Swing and Jazz, Latin and other ballads are beautiful to listen to. I still think the articulated Sax and trumpet sounds are more realistic then the PA800. Those that suggest the key feel is better on the PA800, I would think they are talking about the key feel on the older (62 note polyphony) PA1X and PA1XPRO keyboards. The action on the PA800 feels like the PA50, which is a very light, with not much response keyboard. The Yamaha is at least equal to the PA800 action if not a little better.
The other issue becomes if you like touch screens or buttons to choose things. Some feel very strongly either way.
For muting tracks and using registration memories, the Yamaha is in my opinion, easier to use and faster.
Sound wise, both are very good and I think the Yamaha is easier to turn of style parts you don't want and easier to call up banks of registrations that you set up for specific jobs or sets. I also find it much easier to select and program what features you want "frozen" when you hit the freeze button within the registration functions.
At $1599 vs $2699 the Yamaha gives a lot of bang with great sounds and styles. There are more intro's, endings and fill ins on the Yamaha then the Korg. Both have a ton of styles. I like that I can record wave file 16bit demo's of my vocals, midifiles, and styles right on a USB drive. With the new Korg operating system, you can record MP3's but only after purchasing a MP3 board which gets installed in the keyboard.
For midi file playback, the Yamaha is the fastest to find, load and play. Korg takes more time.


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

I am new to this forum and find the info very helpful. I to am looking to buy an arranger keyboard. The PSR S900 was my choice but I have had a deal presented to me for the Tyros2 for 2995.00 US dolars. I think this is a good price but I am not sure how it sounds through the Tyros speakers. How is the vocals thru these and the piano. All the rest seems to sound pretty good on the demos. Any help would be great......