Hi Chony,
not sure whether the PA1X has the new Guitar Mode function.
Makes guitar style tracks sound more realistic. Also added additional guitar sounds to the PA800.

You'll really need to talk to a PA1X owner or better still an ex PA1x owner who now owns a PA2X.

best wishes
Rikki
[QUOTE]Originally posted by chony:
[B]Congrats!

The new OS for PA1X has Guitar Mode added, and some samples (I think) to go along with it, but Korg admit that the doubled polyphony is a big help in using it, AND being able to play a bunch over the top. If it proves to be a problem, you could always record just the backing to MP3, and then play on top... Best of both worlds!

Al,
congratulations on your new purchase: I am sure that you will love it!

My experience so far has been that, unlike the Tyros (but like the G-70), the PA2X Pro leaves the end user a lot of freedom to tweak it to his/her liking. Translated in plain words, it's like the folks at Yamaha have thought: "This keyboard is intended for this kind of users, who like these features and don't care for the rest. So let's give 'em what they want." And it's true that they have done all the homework before and the result is that you have a keyboard that out of the box sounds good or very good to 90% of buyers; the negative side, on the other hand, is that once you start dwelving in it, you discover how little choices you have to tweak it in depth and make it "yours".

From this point of view the PA2X Pro is a tweaker's heaven; it's true that the folks at Korg apparently haven't done a good preliminary job like the folks at Yamaha, but it's true that in the past they have always updated their OS's on a regular basis (see the PA1X Pro), taking in account most users' requests. The end result is a product that is less subject to obsolescence (because you can import new styles and sample or import new sounds, including those from its concurrents, Tyros 2 or G-70 ) and is much more customizable.

Final consideration: one thing that bothers me when I record something with my Tyros 2 is the risk to sound like countless of other Tyros owners, because the overall sound of the keyboard is the same, so you have to play your a§§ off to sound different, and also come up with special ideas about the arrangement, etc.
This risk of "sounding the same" is not so pronounced with Roland or Korg, because you can customize and personalize even the way the keyboard sounds before you actually start playing notes.

Hope that this makes sense.

P.S.: Al, have you tried to load the set called "Real Drums?"

Thanks Diki,
the styles that now use guitar mode tracks on the PA800 ( after the 1.51/1.50 uppgrade ) sound better than they did originally.

So I thought I'd mention it, just in case.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Diki:
[B]The new OS for PA1X has Guitar Mode added, and some samples (I think) to go along with it,

"The new OS for PA1X has Guitar Mode added, and some samples (I think) to go along with it, but Korg admit that the doubled polyphony is a big help in using it, AND being able to play a bunch over the top. If it proves to be a problem, you could always record just the backing to MP3, and then play on top... Best of both worlds!"

I dont think thats correct Dikki. They planned to adapt the guitar mode for the last and probably final OS for the PA1X but this hasnt materialsed yet. WE are still awaiting the final OS update. I guess Korg have their hands tied up at the moment in trying to stabilise the OS and pssobly hardware issues (bad Ram) with the PA800/PA2X.

Incidentally guitar mode has nothing to do with the guitar programming in the PA1x/Pa2x factory styles. The programming is identical.

The difference is that guitar mode can be used for owners of the PA2X to programme their own styles with realistic up and down strokes and scrapes.

The factory styles on the other hand are programmed using real musicians with their guitars midi'd up to respond to the RX technology to translate those scraps,plucks slides etc in real time sound.Guitar mode cannot duplicate this realism but it does get us closer to simulating the real action of a guitar.

Scott,

I just eye-balled the width. The bottom line is that there is only the width of 3 keys separating a 61 key keyboard with a 76 key keyboard?

Al






------------------
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.

Thanks Dreamer,

BTW, I listened to your song samples on Createsongstyles and they are terrific! Very nice.

I have not loaded those RealDrums as yet off the CD, but I did notice they were there and quite intrigued by what they offer. I'm still trying to figure out why my microphone goes silent without the Harmony button pressed???? I actually have to power down and back up to restore the Microphone. I'm sure some performance setting is either muting the MIC or lowering the volume to zero (0).

The other issue I'm having going from the Yamaha to the Korg is in selecting voice parts. On the T2, it's easy as pressing the voice part button, then just selecting a sound to go with it. with the Korg you have to make sure your on the home page on the screen, press the voice part, then Un-Mute it, then press sound source, then select the sound patch you want. Maybe i'm not doing it correctly, but that seems more difficult than on the Tyros 2.

Al

Andrea.....that was a dead on summation for sure....great post that explains it all in a nut shell.

Al,
thank you for listening to my demo's.

The Real Drums are a special drumset that goes with a bank of tailored styles that have a "special" groove. I have a feeling that you will like them. I haven't found anything similar in any other arranger, Ketron included. A little over the edge maybe but... what the heck!

Hi Spalding,
in that case , there must be a difference between the PA800 & the PA1X/PA2X guitar programming.
There's over a dozen reprogrammed styles with the 1.50 resources upgrade & some of the guitar tracks must have been programmed using guitar mode. Just as an example
Guitar Bossa Variation 1 , Instrument track 2.
I' m not a guitarist but I doubt it could have been recorded in realtime?

I did an event list edit of the track a while back to try & figure out how guitar mode worked. The notes in the track have nothing to do with playing chords as such.
As you mentioned , they trigger different types of events, strums plucks etc.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Spalding 4:
[B
Incidentally guitar mode has nothing to do with the guitar programming in the PA1x/Pa2x factory styles. The programming is identical.