SOUND QUALITY: Much better compared to yamaha, Yamaha (imo) sounds like a toy compared to this.. What I like is the Sax, Guitar, electric pianos, what I DON'T like; is the brass, it sounds horrible compared to Yamaha, (except if you layer a few "brass's" together)

DRUMS: Much better and more realistic then Yamaha.

Styles: The ballad's are pretty nice, thought there are some on the Yamaha that I haven't (yet) found on the 500. I didn't check all the styles, as I mainly use my own custom ones...

Ease of use: Horrible. What is on the Yamaha set up in a logicle order, is so confusing on the Korg. What is esp. confusing on the Korg are "Performances" like "Registration" on the Yamaha; and you have to switch between either only "performances" or only "sounds". and it comes PRE PROGRAMED with performances, so you have to overwrite them to make you own.

then there is the "Global" settings, which to me is so confusing, you have to make a "lock" on this, and a "lock" on that, and there is "save style prefs". (Anybody know what that means?)

So overall, the sound is a good improvment over Yamaha, however the interface and buttons are REALLY confusing, and even now, after having it for a week, I still didn't figure out everything.

Oh, I must mention, the "Sax" sound really like the sax on the tyros 2!!! and there is really a big veriaty of them.

The Speakers are not as powerfull as the yamaha, (even though they have more wattage (15 ea.)
Good night.

[This message has been edited by shim (edited 08-14-2008).]

[This message has been edited by shim (edited 08-14-2008).]

When you edit style ( volume change, tone etc..) you have the ability to rewrite that particular style. Korg is the only one that I know of that let's you overwrite all the factory presets. This could be tricky if you screw it up, but overall - it's great to be able to customize the unit to your specs.

If you change a STS, rewrite it into that style with "save style prefs".
Got it?

Enjoy!

Shim. Don't blame the Korg if you can't understand the Korg OS. It takes time.
I have owned Roland, Korg & Yamaha and all the manufacturers keyboards contain different OS systems. It's like driving a different route to get to the same place.
Once you get used to Korg's way of thinking you would find the same difficulty going back to Yamaha.

Shim - I agree with your assessment of sounds, etc.

If you need help on the OS, just ask. There are lots here that have figured out the 'different' system. I now couldn't imagine going back to Yamaha's system. Korg is far easier (IMO) and better suited for live play, but this is after many sleepless nights of cussing and swearing

Shim,
You must be patient. There is also a 3 DVD set to learn the Korg system and it's very good. Also, Once you learn to use the songbook feature you wil LOVE IT! Yamaha's does not even compare.

Also, you need to use the Korg arranger site for questions on OS ect.
http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=50&sid=ff396222f38a30723420b3d1f8379698

Lee

[This message has been edited by leeboy (edited 08-14-2008).]

Come on guys!!!

Didn't you learn the OS on the Korg i30?

It is the same today as it was 10 years ago..

OUCH ..... But Very True

Shim,
When a customer buys a new PA500 I tell them to put an SD card into the back slot and first thing is to save the internal set of performances so that if they change these, you can load them back in whenever you like. Also, if you to a reload of the factory resources, the factory styles and the factory performances get loaded back into the PA500.


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

Perhaps, with improvements. Think what you may. I'm glad not many play the 800 - it keeps me employed.

Thank You Uncle Dave!
and yes I know about Korg Forums,
The thing which I hate the most is that you have to keep changing between performances and sounds, well I'll start a new thread on "the songbook"...