Yesterday both keyboards arrived at my store in Southern California. I've been playing both for the past day and I'll give you some thoughts of both new boards.
First, the PA500 sounds just like the PA800 but is lighter in weight and doesn't have a color screen which is OK with me because I find it easier on my eyes. It's buttons are of the same type as the Yamaha PSR900. These are rubber rather than hard plastic and the lights are not in the buttons but rather little red lights just above each button.
Sounds and Styles are just what I expected. Those very good Korg RX sounds and styles. It doesn't have the RX Grand Piano found in the 800 and 2XPRO, but Korg gives you all the great trumpets, Guitars, Strings with the multi layered/sampled articulation.
There are only 2 user banks for loading and making styles compared to 3 on the other models but I am able to load all the styles from the third bank of a saved set into any empty locations I have available and then save this set on a sd card.
The keys are light but they still have a nice feel with a lot of play, better than the PA50.
This keyboard is $100 less than the PSRS900 and although it doesn't have a vocal harmonizer or score screen, it should do quite well for those wanting Korg sounds and styles at a very good price.
The 2X is a much nicer looking PA1XPRO with it's motorized screen, wood sides, beige color with just a little bit of silver at the pitchbend/ modwheel area.
The sounds and styles are the PA800 but with a stock 40GB hard drive, MP3 recorder/player, 2 USB thumb drive ports (one in front and one in back), an extra fader for MP3 volume or a true 9 draw bar organ.
There is now 128MB of memory, upgradable to 256MB.
The polyphony is now 120 compared to 60.
The PA1XPRO was a very good board, but now at a price just $100 more than the old model, this should do great!
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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com
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