http://www.keyboardplayer.com

Bill

Got to pay £2.50 for the article...?

Sorry... We get those here for free!

Exactly.We can give more insider input than Jim aikin or Ernie,because we use them everyday,inside out and real world experiences than 1-7 days review with maunual copy -pasting.

not to mention comparism with other similar boards out there.Try tellin them that.



[This message has been edited by jamman (edited 02-02-2008).]

Not familiar with the US, but in the UK the reviewers are professional musicians who as well as playing their own instruments, play many others during the year.

Bill

Well, I guess that puts Donny right in there, wouldn't you say? Along with many of our members...

Professional musicians, who, apart from their own instruments, play many other keyboards during the year...

Writing style may suffer a bit here (not many of us care much about that, from what I read ), but at least most of us are not beholden to our advertisers, nor have much editorial oversight. Other than the natural tendency to pump what we actually play, most reviews of other keyboards seem reasonably unbiased, to me.

Add to this that few of the magazine reviewers ever actually PLAY an arranger in their so-called 'professional' part of their careers, to be honest, I'd set more stock in an SZ review than these things. I'll read it for free, but no way I pay £2.50 to read what a WS user thinks about an arranger!

Other than Donny, who never has a bad thing to say about an arranger (that he owns) UNTIL he gets a new one, most of us here are pretty willing to mention possible flaws, wacky OS choices and poor button layout. You'll rarely hear that from a magazine review.

Sorry, but no thanks... (and to be honest, I take it ALL with a grain of salt - OK, a bag-full! - until I play them myself!)

Hi Diki
You misunderstand, some of the above posts indicated that magazine reviewers are not really qualified to review instruments; however I do know that the reviewers for the 2 main Arranger/Organ UK magazines are qualified.
The Keyboard Player magazine is dedicated to Arrangers, Organs and Electronic Digital Pianos, with very seldom any mention of WS except in interviews with artists that use them.
Keyboard Player also adds in computer music, in such a way that Home Players can understand and try out.
Hope this makes it clearer

Bill

Thanks Bill,
I personally wouldn't have any hesitation in paying for the article if I was planning on buying a PA2X.
But, since I already own a PA800, I know how brilliant they anyway.
thank you

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by abacus:
[B]

So can you give us a short free overview? of the article I mean.

[This message has been edited by mikeathome1 (edited 02-03-2008).]

The reviewer, John Bates by name, seemed thrilled with the Pa2xPRO. One of his most noted adulations was for the Style Programming which he thought was excellent. Korg used what is called "intelligent software" when programming the Styles to create amazing life-like guitar fingered and strum parts into the Factory Styles and this same clever software is inside the Pa2xPRO to allow users the ability to create decent guitar backing parts as well. The author also noted that there is about a half dozen ways to edit the fill/variation feature, altering them to ones own preference and thereby influencing and predicting how a fill is used in context with the variations within the Style backing. Translation: "There apparently is still a glitch in the factory built-in Style fill-in/variation feature on the Pa2xPRO but a person is able to edit and alter the factory settings and thereby hopefully reduce or eliminate the anomaly when activating a fill-in while transitioning between variation(s)." Instead of Korg taking the initiative and eliminating the anomaly themselves they are leaving it up to the user to do it himself if he deems it necessary. Yippee...

The author also noted that when he was playing in a quiet environment he noticed that the keys on the Pa2xPRO made a clattering sound and when he played staccato he noticed that the keys visibly and audibly "quivered" their way back to their initial position. I assume from his reaction that he didn't really care for the clattering and quivering keys on the Pa2xPRO. The trick is to never play it at low volume in a quiet environment I guess...

Also from what I gathered, the author especially liked the guitar sounds and he also mentioned that he really liked the RX Alto Sax and the Brass sounds, which he thought were voiced well. He thought a lot of the Styles were brilliant and oozed with musicality and he also mentioned that the Sliders on the Pa2xPRO could be used as Drawbars for the Organs and that there is a high level of complexity (a good thing) in integrating the functionality of the Drawbars with the Organ sounds via the sliders plus the other uses for the sliders as well. The Pa2xPRO has a vast (and superior) effects section which are entirely programmable as well as every sound on the Pa2xPRO for that matter. The Dual Sequencers have micro-editing capability (such as you would encounter on a full blown workstation such as the Korg M3, etc.) The Pa2xPRO has some ultra smart recording and audio editing/import routines as well. You can import or record and edit audio material into a perfect looped beat. It's not easy to do as the author noted; but it is highly efficient according to him. You can also slice the audio loops so that they can comply with any tempo changes as well.

The author, in his own words, had this to say about the Pa2xPRO: "The Pax2PRO can be, literally, anything you want it to be. It is an istrument that combines state-of-the-art facilities with the art of live music performance and artistic creation. At present, it is in a class of its own."

Okay, everybody start scrambling to get your mitts on the new high-end arranger that has apparently supplanted the Tyros2 as the new KING of arrangers. That's an order soldier!!! Left, left, left right left. Left, left, left right left.. Now appearing at a store near you. If you can find one. No, not the store - the Pa2xPRO... >> It's a special order item only at GC. Not sure if the other big box stores, such as Sam Ash, etc., have 'em in stock either. For a Mom and Pop store I know George Kaye has them in stock. At least he did a few days ago anyway. Although he might have already sold out of them.

Best,
Mike