About the only REALLY significant improvement in the PA2X, IMO, is the doubling of the polyphony. Oh, and the new piano, but you can load that into a PA1X if you want.

But Korg have already acknowledged that, for many of the 'Guitar Mode' styles, you really need that extra polyphony. No doubt, any future styles will be voiced with this in mind. So, for future-proofing yourself for the next few years (Korg are exceptionally good at providing OS updates to add newer model features to older models), I think I would have to recommend going the extra expense and springing for the PA2X, if you are looking for a 76, or a PA800 if 60.

Polyphony is just one of those walls you can't break down.. and will only become more of an Achilles heel as you start to use stereo samples in the sampler, which also is much improved re. it's max RAM and load time. It's funny how probably the most IMPORTANT improvements are the ones trumpeted the least by the manufacturer. Or maybe, do they KNOW we just respond to the glitz, and couldn't care less about about the engine under the hood?

Yeah, I agree. The polyphony is the biggest improvement on the Pa2x over the Pa1x. That and the Guitar Mode. Everything else is just superficial in my opinion. And I was only expressing the 'buzz' that the author of keyboard player magazine was attempting to portray since it is yet to be determined if the Pa2x will indeed supplant the Tyros2 as the latest/greatest high-end Arranger currently on the market. I mean the Tyros2 already has the Pa2x beat in the polyphony department as does my Tyros i.e. 128 vs. 120 for the Korg. The Pa2x has a 'real' sampler of course as well dual sequencers and more keys at 76 but what will really determine a winner is which ones "sounds" the best. In the end sounds always trump features. Even though we know the Pa2x sounds 'good', the full and final evaluation is still forthcoming since it is so new on the market. We'll know more in a month or two... or six.

Best,
Mike

I've owned and gigged with the Tyros 2 and Korg PA800.

I agree on some of the Korg fills are out of no where with volume and the amount of instruments compared to the variation you were on.

the T2 fills were very smooth almost to the point of not even noticing they were there.

The T2 had more styles that were song specific, meaning the style was based on a certain song rather than a style. could be a good point or bad.

The T2 vocalizer was a slap in the face to professional musicians, a $3000 plus keyboard with a $5 vocalizer.

I like the T2 OS but the more I use the PA800 the easier it seems to be.

T2 had some incredible signature sounds that are amazing.

Midi file playback hands down better on the PA series, better deeper fuller bass and drum sounds, I always had to eq each style on the T2, adding bass and treble to the drums and raising the volume.

The PA800 has a more open live type sound, as the T2 was more compressed finished sound.

They are both top line arrangers, of course with the "blue " of the 800 and the Starship lights of the T2, it's hard to see who is the more professional looking.

As for the PA800/2xpro compared to the PA1x series.

I had both series in my possesion for a while and once you really start playing and listening, it seemed the newer series had a nicer tone and overall balance, not by much but it did.
plus the newer USB stuff, Polyphony, lighter weight. May not be much but it is a step ahead.

sorry for the long post

The differences between the Pa1x and 2X are really minimal unless you do a lot of sampling or are likely to import large commercial samples. Of course the polyphony is an extra added benefit but in reality you would not notice it unless you use heavy layered multiple phat sweeping strings and chords throughout a song or sequence.

The Pa range is geared to the all round musician who is comfortable in both live performance and studio/recording/sound creation etc use.

This is where the Korg range diferentiates itself from other arranger keyboards on the market.

Thanks Rikki,

Thanks for the clarification. I thought I was going bonkers there for a minute.

As the resident Style creation expert, where do you rank the Yamaha, Roland, and Korg boards in terms of creating new styles and creating styles from midi files?

Thanks and Regards,
Al





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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.

According to the Korg Rep, the reason the polyphony was increased was because the Guitar mode gobbles it up.
If you compare the PA1x and 2x side by side, you will find the sounds to be quite a bit better on the 2x, (At least when you compare them to Real instruments, rather then other boards) however whether there is a big enough jump in quality to upgrade, each owner will have to decide.
BTW there will probably be some good deals on the remaining PA1x, so don’t dismiss it just because the PA2x has come out. (Remember a great player will still sound great on an older keyboard, and a bad player will still sound bad on the latest keyboard)

Bill

Hi Al,
I certainly wouldn't call myself a style creation expert ( haahaa) stylenut is more like it.
As far as the keyboards go, I can't comment on the Roland, I haven't owned one in years.

For onboard style creation / editing functions, the PA800 leaves my psr lagging behind..
Apart from realtime recording functions which they both have (& I'm not musical enough to use)
They both have the ability to copy a style track from one style to another ie copy a bass track , or a drum track from 8beat 1 to 8beat 2, thereby with this mix n match method, you can create some interesting new styles without a great deal of effort.

The pA800 can copy a complete style part
( not just a track )ie a variation or intro etc to another style. Not sure if my psr can, but the same result can be acheived by copying individual tracks across, just takes longer.

The PA800 has the ability of importing & exporting a style part as a midifle to an external sequencer.
Where I'm finding this handy at the moment is for converting psr styles into PA800 styles & editing the drums.
Where possible I try & avoid using EMC for converting my psr styles.Quite often it really messes up the drum conversion & the minor Intro's & Endings of the style.. Instead I turn the psr style into a midifile, Powertrack Pro 12 splits the drum & percussion into individual tracks. I can then edit the velocity of these tracks & transpose them so the correct drum instruments are playing. I then use the import function in the PA to create the style parts.
Another thing the import smf function can be used for is to create new intro's & endings for styles.
ie if I happened to find a really good intro in one of my midifiles & I wanted to incorporate it into a style, I'd just load it into my sequencer, delete the additional song parts, make sure all the tracks are on the correct midi channels & import it into a style.

One other neat feature is I can copy a pad into a style.
How I'd use this is, it's far easier to create a pad than it is a whole style.
So if I find an interesting guitar track, or piano track just say a set of piano arpeggio's in one of my old psr styles.
turn the style into a midifile. Delete all the other data, Save the arpeggio as a midifile, import it into a pad.
Now I can audition the pad with numerous onboard styles. If I find some styles that the arpeggio pads work well with, I can copy them into the style itself, thereby basically creating a new style of sorts, especially if I also change the intro.
I did this with one of the onboard Bequine styles. Deleted existing guitar & bass & replaced it with tracks from a psr Bequine including an Intro & Ending.

Probably most of this stuff can be done on the earlier PA's also, I don't know as the last one I owned goes back to the i2.
A lot of this stuff can also be done for psr styles , but via external software like OMB, Jorgens Midi2 style, Michaels Stylemaker software.

One thing my psr definately can't do is play drum audio loops ie I can create pads & drum & percussion style tracks from audio files that sync perfectly with a style. Haven't bothered with many just a few jazz brush drum swishes. Midi brush swishes don't compare with audio.

Sorry Al, you did ask haahaa

best wishes
Rikki
By the way I've got at least a couple orso more styles for your forum, I'll send them later today.