I am looking to upgrade from a Korg i3. I've looked at Yamaha 9000 Pro and Korg PA80 and have read the various postings comparing these two arranger keyboards. Still can't decide. I use the arranger keyboard when composing contemporary songs - pop, blues and country and would like to get away from the "cheesy" dated styles on the i3. Would the Korg PA80 meet my needs? Any advice would be appreciated!

Jane,
If you have been reading these posts you know that there are alot of opinions as to which is the best. If you are coming from the i3 and it's the styles you are mostly interested in, I'm surprised you are not also adding the Solton X1 in your options. In my opinion, the X1 is still tops in styles, followed by the 9000pro and the PA80 tied for second. The Yamaha and the Korg are both very different. The Korg has very good styles but you might find them to similar to your i3 (as all Korg i series keyboards have very similar styles) and you might find the Yamaha styles a little bland after playing Korg. All in all, it's the Solton styles that my customers prefer. If I had to choose between the two you mention, you will find the yamaha much easier to use. The button pushing to get to style, sounds, effects, etc. is much more user friendly than the Korg, but then the Korg is much less expensive. If you need a really good feeling keyboard with 76 keys go for the Yamaha. My first choice...........Solton X1.
George Kaye

Hi George,
may I ask you why are you advising the X1 and not the SD1?
Do you think that the SD1 has still "youth" problems waiting to be corrected, is the X1 a better value for the money or....?
Thanks
Andrea

Hi all.
It's never too simple to choose if you want to
change for another brand.
As you can see by most of the posts,it's a lot
meanings about what's the best or not.
Also there is different ways to do things such
as make rhythm patterns,edit voices etc.
As I see it,most every brand have things that are
better than the other and oposite way,so at
the end it's what you need and want who matters most.
There are a lot of things to compare,but the
main thing most be: Follow your heart and ears and
look for options you really need and want to have
I think you should try out several keyboards
too see what options who match your needs before
you take the final action.
In example,if the internal styles and sound is the
no.1 thing for you,well focus on that.
If the "battle" is only between Korg ang Yamaha,
then it's maybe more easy,or......
....if you have the same problem as I do,
then it's the bankaccount who is the boss

GJ

PS. I hope you'll be very happy with the
choise you'll going to take.


[This message has been edited by Gunnar Jonny (edited 07-08-2001).]

Jane........I have also been a Korg i3 & i30 user for the past 6 years. I now have a Roland EM2000 which I like very much. I had the opportunity to play around with the PA80 at a Keyboard Festival for a week and I thought it to be very good, but if you call the Styles Cheesy on the i3 you are basically getting the same thing on the PA80.........Don't forget to look at the Roland VA7 or VA76 they have a lot to offer for the price.

Graham UK

Jane states that she would like to get away from the "cheesy dated styles of the i3". In suggesting the X1, I am suggesting the keyboard I think has the best styles first, and at a less expensive price than the SD1. I also think that most players would still rather have an internal pair of speakers rather than not any. I also didn't see that 76 keys was an issue since the i3 is the same size as the X1 (although there are no speakers in the i3).
Also, the suggestion that the SD1 has replaced the X1 or that Ketron will stop "growing" the operating system of the X1 is just not the case. I've said this before....these two keyboards are different and are part of the Ketron Line. Just becasue the X1 has been out for 2 years now, it does not make it an obsolete product. It is still and will continue to be a top notch keyboard. What has happened recently is that the price has dropped a bit so that the SD1 and the X1 would not be at exactly the same price. Most companys, including Roland and Yamaha will restructure their price points after a product has been in the market for awhile and as other products come out. Let me use the Roland JV1080 as an example. We've had these out now for several years and when the JV2080 came out the price was reduced by approx. 20% and when the XV3080 was introduced last year, the price was reduced again. This is still a current sounding product used by most studios but the price needed adjusting to accomodate other newer released products and by no means was this product not up to the current standards.It is still currently in the Roland price list for July, 2001. Another example I often use for my sales staff is that just because something has been around my store for awhile, it doesn't mean that this is not going to be the best product for someone walking in the store. It's so easy for salespeople to get all hung up on the latest and greatest products and forget about the models that are still displayed on the sales floor. I understand the excitment over new products, but this doesn't make models introduced a year or two ago undisireable. If the product sounds great and the price is competitive, I always tell the guys to remember not to just demonstrate this new latest one and try to remember the customers needs and wants. When you are in sales and you've spent months showing certain models, it because exciting to move on to the newest one. However, that person walking into a store for the first time since buying a keyboard 6 years ago, would think any keyboard you show them would be fantastic. I hope this helps explain a few things and why I try to listen to what a customer's needs are rather than just getting excited over the newest model.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

George,
thank you for your reply.
Jane, if you are interested in Roland keyboards, here is a link to my website; I am not a professional musician and so listening to the kind of music people like you make maybe can help you in your decision. If you are looking for "non cheesy" styles check out the song "More"; it was the first song I have ever recorded and actually right now I am a bit ashamed of it, but it'is useful to listen to a cool VA7 style called "Scat swing". The sounds are 99,9% Roland; just on "Dock of the bay" there are a couple of sounds from my Yamaha SY 99.
Hope this helps. http://www.andrearotolo.tripod.com/dreamer/

Hi George, Thank you for responding to my question. I did try out the SD1 and was very impressed. So far, the two dealers I've been to don't seem to be discounting this keyboard as much as the other two, and the price is a factor for me. No one has the X1 in stock thus far in my search. In addition to the korg i3 I have a digitech vocalist (also 6 years old) which I use to do backup harmonies on songs. How would you rate the various keyboards' vocalizers in terms of quality? Does the SD1 have a good one? Jane

Thanks to everyone who replied to my question. This is my first visit to a chat room to seek advice. Your insights were all very helpful and I realize now that I need to look at some other keyboards too before I make a decision. The search continues!

Jane,
Where do you live? I'm surprised that the dealers with the SD1 keyboards donot have the X1 as well.
The vocalists inside the X1, SD1 and Yamaha 9000pro are great. I also sell the Digitech vocal harmonizer add on boxes but now most musicians are using the vocal harmonizers inside these new keyboards.
George Kaye

George,
Jane lives very close to Phoenix, Az.

Hi Jane,
Can you "please" tell us WHERE you were able to "try out" the SD1? I have been looking desperately in my area & surrounding 100 mile radius (San Francisco, San Jose, and Sacramento areas: all HUGE areas each with metropolitan populations over a million) and NOT "ONE" dealer will stock or even have a SD1 available to demo (special PRE-paid orders ONLY). So far I know of ONLY two places in the ENTIRE USA who actually has a Solton SD1 available in their store to audition: George Kaye's Music in Southern California and the Guitar Center where Dan O'Neil works(Towson,Maryland store ONLY).

I contacted the US Solton distributor two weeks ago by telephone in New York (Lou) and he had promised me that he would locate or set something up for me locally (right away) so I could audition an SD1 in a store. Two weeks and I have NOT heard back from him at all. I'm beginning to believe there is something WRONG here as far as Solton US distribution/support goes. As I mentioned before, I also discovered there are NO Solton West Coast sales reps. It appears like the entire US Solton operation is run out of one small(?) place in New York.

I had previously asked people on this forum to please come forward to report on any/all known music stores in the USA who are willing to stock the SD1 or have a demo onhand (except for the 2 dealers listed above) and apparently Jane is the ONLY one (so far) to come forward. Jane, can you please tell us the store name and location so we can officially increase it to 3 KNOWN stores in the ENTIRE US which have a SD1 readily available to demo? It appears that the SD1 is truly a RARE find here in the US (like the endangered Panda Bear) for sure - Scott

Hello,

I will call and check to see for sure it was an SD1 that I tried out. Maybe it was an X1, as I tried several that day and was unfamiliar with the Solton name, so maybe I'm mixed up about the model. (I haven't looked at keyboards in 6 years.)

I do live near Phoenix and know of at least one other place in town that is advertising the SD1, so I'll call and see if they have any in stock and let you know, Scott.

George, I'm happy to hear that the internal harmonizers work well because I was planning to upgrade my digitech (which has been much improved in recent years according to what I've read), so now I can factor that into the overall cost of the keyboard. Do the internal harmonizers have the same two options that the digitech does - to generate harmonies by playing chords with the left hand or by programming?

Jane

Jane,
The internal harmonizers recognize chords on the left hand, the right hand, the whole keyboard, when you just sing they can be set for specific intervals or when you play midi files with vocal harmony tracks they just harmonize as arranged on the song. The ability to record chord changes into a sequencer as the digitech does I don't beleive can be done on any of the keyboard harmonizers. Actually I don't think i'm right. If what you are talking about is putting manually the chord changes for a song into a memory location in the digitech, I don't see why you can't record the chord changes only for a song in the keyboards sequencer in step or real time (depending on the keyboard), then go and mute all the volumes down if you don't want to hear any music play, and just sing into a mic and hear your harmony and voice track. I'm not sure about this, I will have to try it at my store. I don't even know if this is what you are asking about!
George Kaye

Jane,

you may want to try Synthony Music in Phoenix (on Indian School) - they have X1, SD1, Yamahas Korgs, and other arranger keyboards.

Hi all. I purchased my MidiMan Omni I/O mixer with Delta 66 soundcard via mail order from Synthony Music and the staff there were BOTH very helpful and very friendly.

I called them today and they "DO" have a Solton SD1 on the sales floor. If you live in the Phoenix, Arizona area, go CHECK IT OUT. Ask for Barry , he's their Solton guy. They also have a Yamaha 9000pro and SD1 to compare 'side by side'.

Too bad George Kaye (Kaye's Music Center), Guitar Center (Towson, MD store), and Synthony Music are sooo far away for me to travel to. I WISH I could find a store locally (within 75 miles) to check out the new Solton SD1. Anyway, I hope more people on this board will now have the opportunity to check out the SD1 and report back to the rest of us here. I guess there are now 'officially' THREE places in the US who have a SD1 demo available on their showroom floor:

1) Guitar Center, Towson, MD
2) Kayes Music Center, Reseda, CA
3) Synthony Music, Phoenix, AZ

Scott

Hi All,

Thanks for passing along the information about Synthony, Alex - I'm glad you were able to get your SD1, Scott! So far, I haven't found any other music stores in Phoenix that carry it. Synthony is a really great place with friendly and helpful people, so I know once I decide on a keyboard, I will go back to Synthony.

Jane

George, this is exactly the information I was needing - thanks for being so helpful. So I could record the instrumental track first and then the lead vocal and then the backup harmonies like I do now. Sounds like a really neat setup. Thanks again! Jane