Well after testing this board for a week, it is being returned to the shop.
Not for any faults, just I do not think it is enough of an upgrade to the PA1xPro to warrant the price.
Luckily I had only paid 50%, so I was in a position to return it.
I will now wait until after NAMM to get some further info on the Audya and anything Roland might be releasing.
Just a few things about it I will post here...
1.Keybed is different (not better) than the PA1xpro, to my touch, quite a deal "lighter".
2.They have almost halved the T.C.Helicon Harmoniser presets.(according to Korg this is to "keep costs down".
3.The number of available vocal effects have been halved.
4.The MP3 recording rate has been dropped from 320kbps to 256.
4.It can no longer read WAV files
5.The lyrics capability is still stuck in the ASCII text days, no scrolling links can be added to text files (Roland and Ketron can).
6.The guitar sounds (overdrive and distortion) have not changed from the PA1x, and neither have most of the basses.
7.The insert effects routing is still the same, which means if you create a user sound utilising insert effects, it still cannot be accessed via midi with those insert effects intact, all you get is the "base" dry sound preset.
8.It has digital artefacts when loading MP3 files, from either HDD or thumbdrive.
9.The overall sound is about 20% better than the PA1x, again not enough to justify the RRP (Australia) of $7000
10. Markers cannot be added to MP3 files, nor are they read from commercial MP3 song files
11. In summary, it is ,IMO, a Pa1Xpro with some minor sound/style tweaking, USB device/host capability and a new look, which includes the motorised screen. Nothing really new or revolutionary, and in fact it seems more like a transitional keyboard than a totally new release.
I might even re-visit the possibility of the M3 with its 4 Karma engines which gives proper synth capabilities with arrange type functions...I am unsure.
After NAMM it will be clearer.
Cheers (and sorry for the long post )
Dennis

Dennis,

Don't appologize for the long post. It was very imformative, lots of solid information, and very beneficial to everyone that is considering purchasing a PA2XPro. These are the kind of posts that keep the forum moving in the right direction.

Thanks,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

Dennis,
I have fowarded your post to my good friend who is the product Manager for Korg USA to see what his response to your points are. I will let all know as soon as I have an answer.


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

Thanks George...It will be interesting to hear their response...
Dennis

I would agree with the points that you have made Miden which is why i did not upgarde. Actually thats not true. There is so much going on with the PA1X even after 2.5 years ownership that i reckon there is still tons more i can get out of it and still have not learned.

But my question is this.

Did you increase the Sample ram memory to the max 256 mb and did you amnage to test the loading time for samples ? Also although the PA1X handles the 62 note polyphony well, did you find the 120 note polyhony to be very much better ?

Hi Spalding
I did load the Bonus drum kits samples and overall the loading time with autoload PCM and the Op Sys seemed to be about 30% quicker than the pa1x. As for the poly, I really did not have any problems with the PA1x so I did not notice any significant improvement or otherwise with the PA2x. Perhaps the extra voices are just helpful with the additional RX noises.
BTW I should clarify that the acoustic guitars and the unplugged styles on the PA2x are exceptional, but if you don't use them they are pretty useless. Most of the rock styles are almost a clone of the pa1x, as were a lot of the jazz and ballad styles so for me there was no improvement as most of what I do centres around rock, ballads and jazz tunes (yeah I know an odd combination!!!).
Hope that helps
Dennis,
PS Spalding as I mentioned in the OP, I think this is a transitional board. In fact after finalising the return to the dealer today we got to talking about a PA1xpro Elite he still had in stock, and he mentioned a very VERY attractive price, so maybe even a step back to the PA1x might happen too??!!

Yes i certainly could not justify spending £2000 of my hard earned money on basically only 5-10% new features. I am disappointed that the loading times are not substantially quicker.There was talk on the forum that it would be much much quicker. Did you max out the Sample memory? what does it come supplied with ?

PS I believe that the PA1X elite is the best value pound for pound arranger workstation out there in the market right now. I have just bought the Xprodata XMS4 expansion board for my PA1X. The expansion board is the dedicated piano expansion module. I really recommend it. The pianos are outstanding. There are tonnes of them , all very expressive and hi fidelity. In My opinion even better than the PA2X pianos. I really am not tempted to change boards for some time to come. I am just in the stages of looking at what the next set of Korg arranger Secrets DVD's should cover. I am learning new applications for the features of this tremendous instrument everyday.

Hi Spalding
I was talking to a Korg rep when they were demonstrating the PA800, and apparently one of the reasons the polyphony was increased was because of Guitar Mode, which apparently eats up polyphony, and as good as the polyphony management is on the PA1x, (It’s a coin toss between Korg and Ketron on who does it best) 62 was just not enough.

Hi Dennis
To try and beat the competition a lot of manufactures release products before they are truly ready, (The fact that they mentioned cost about the TC Helicon part is a good indication) and so don’t sound at their best until the first main OS upgrade. (Good examples are the Roland G70, which when released was total crap, (I don’t think I heard a good word about it anywhere) but when OS 2 became available this turned into one hell of a board, and made owners proud to own a Roland Arranger, it was also similar when the Korg PA800 was launched (Below OS 1.5 it was crap)
So before making a final judgment, wait until the next main OS update is released.
Isn’t life wonderful?

Bill


[This message has been edited by abacus (edited 12-21-2007).]

Dennis

Sorry to hear your not happy with the Pa2xpro.

I was hoping the Pa2 would compete head on with the Audya in terms of pricing and features, but this doesn't sound like it's the case.

For your interest, I just purchased the Korg M373 and except for the Pianos, I am very happy with this board. It is very inspiring!! Let me know if you have any questions about the M3.



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Al Giordano
http://www.arrangerworld.com


Tyros 2, Yamaha P-250, Korg Triton Extreme 76, Roland VK8-M, DW Collectors Series Drums, Roland SPD-S.

Dennis, likewise sorry to hear that you're disappointed in the PA2xpro. Bill(Abacus) good point on the OS upgrade.