Korg USA is located in Melville Long Island (New York) right in my back yard.
As has been stated here a "Million" times ... there is no "Complete" arranger KB!! I have been searching for over 20 years! Ha! Ha!
I have owned most of the top arrangers of today and yesterday, for right now the PA2xpro is the best for me!! I really like the Tyros3 but I also like to use midi files and the play back quality is not on par with Korg, Roland or Ketron. The reason for this has been discussed before on this forum.
The only Aarranger I am anticipating now is the Audya!! Having been a SD1 owner I miss their "Sound"! Hopefully it arrives while I'm still alive!!!

[This message has been edited by JCkeeys (edited 12-12-2008).]

[This message has been edited by JCkeeys (edited 12-12-2008).]

[This message has been edited by JCkeeys (edited 12-12-2008).]

JC

Now why didn't I think of that before...go right to the Korg factory! The techie's sound like they're fairly good arranger players. Truth is, anyone has got to be better than your average GC salesperson. I checked it out on the map...it's only a 40 mile drive. And I'll get a chance to try out my new GPS unit!

I'll call Korg on Monday and see if I can't make an arrangement. If you want to meet me there, that's OK by me.

Either way I'm going to wait and see if the Audya gets introduced as promised before I make a decision.

Lucky

You live on LI? Send me an email JCkeeys @aol.com

I had one for four months and sold it. I work for a Yamaha dealer and could get any Yamaha at 10% under cost and chose the Korg based on what I read from owners and the DEMOS. Sight unseen. I also had a Triton as the heart of my studio for years so I have a respect for Korg.

What I liked...with "Buts"

Its a great MIDI workstation......but if I wanted a workstation I would have bought one. I wanted an ARRANGER. Arrangers use STYLES. More on that later.

It has great features and a ton of them...But I found I wouldn't use most of them. The cross fader,The harmonizer, the XLR mike input,

It has some really nice Drums and some pianos...BUT I found the keyboard generally sounding a little RAW. The acoustic sounds paled in comparison to even the PSR900.

I bought an Arranger for studio use only. In that regard I liked the MIDI implementation but I would go into the store everyday and demo the CVPs, T2 and PSR900 then go home and hear the Korg. When the T3 cwas announced I decided to sell the Korg as at that time they were still being back ordered and I could and did get a good price on Ebay. After returning from Summer NAMM, where I played all the keyboards there, I chose the Yamaha.

I bought the Tyros for much much less as well which was a bonus and have been completely satisfied. The style library is in the thousands which is the very reason I chose an Arranger. Korg just did not have the style support and if I wanted to create my own styles I would buy a Motif and use the 6000 phrases and Arps to create my songs. I press a button on the T3 and Im on the Internet looking for,sampling, and downloading songs, Music Finder files and generic styles without getting up.

The Tyros has, IMO the best and most realistic acoustic sounds of all the boards I heard demoed or played live, I use software synths for some Drums and synthy sounds and other voices I like. Once I get the styles record into Sonar I can send the MIDI information to many places including back to the T3

I finally figured out the MIDI implementation and its different than a workstation and requires a little more forethought and templates but it is just as workable as any workstation in the end.

So there you go. Would I have paid $3500 for a Tyros 3 You bet. DO I miss the Korg or anyting about it. Nope. But I don't perform USING AN ARRANGER live. We will use tracks from it though and play 88 and guitar.

If I did have only one keyboard and had to use it live, the Korg is the better choice.
In the Studio the Yamaha Tyros 3 and a PC based studio has no peer.

I did get the owner of the Store to carry the Korg line and the Bose Systems (sfter I paid well above cost for both) LOL



[This message has been edited by Kingfrog (edited 12-14-2008).]

JC...No, I don't live on Long Island, but I'm within a reasonable driving distance of Melville. Unfortunately, I called Korg this morning and told her I would like to come out there to view the PA2X...

Answer: "We have no facilities here to demonstrate!"

She said she'd have the district manager call me back to "make some kind of arrangement" aside from a factory viewing. I'm still waiting for the return call.

Lucky

Kingfrog...

Thanks for your input here. It's interesting how we all "hear" an instrument differently.

But your comments on the features came in handy. A "user's" description is always more valuable than a factory's polished synopsis. I want to know from another player what you're working with when you're down in the trenches (on a gig...once you've determined that the sound is right for you).

But...I'm starting to understand today's rules of the game:

Rule #1: you have to buy a keyboard sight unseen unless you live near AJ, George Kaye or Frankie (and a few others)...and "sound unheard" unless you're lucky enough to find a salesperson who is a top of the line player and just sells keyboards for altruistic reasons to help others (highly unlikely).

Rule #2: see Rule No. 1 above

Rule #3: see Rule No. 2 above

You wrote sometime last year:

"I live in one of the most busy entertainment areas of the US for OMB and duos."

May I ask where that is?

Lucky

Instead of getting the keyboard that sounds closest to the Ketron, why wouldn't you get the Ketron? Especially since the new one is to be released in a month?

Chony....I started out looking at Ketron's and, after I hear the Korg PAX2, I'm probably going to go back to "looking at Ketron's"....particularly now that the Audya is on the horizon. My only beef with the Ketron is NOT what it sounds like, but it's lack of repair centers and general support of it outside of AJ. And....it's a few years old now. I'm not sure if it's lacking in recent innovations. Newer kb's might not sound as good, but the features they're coming up with are......cool!

Lucky

Not that I've got anything against Kingfrog's opinion (he's as entitled to it as anyone else's!), but because he doesn't always add this caveat, I'll put it in...

Kingfrog does NOT use his arranger for playing live, and does not play in realtime very much (he has said that he uses styles to create sequences, to create original songs for recording and songwriting purposes). This is NOT how most of us use our arrangers.

And while there is absolutely nothing wrong with this (it is ONE way I use my own arranger, too), if you are looking for advice, you need to take this into account. How an arranger works for you LIVE, onstage, with demands about quickness of navigation and simple live control is what so many of us need as a primary prerequisite, and I don't think this is one of Kingfrog's main concerns.

This is not intended as any kind of put-down (as I said, I use his methods as well ), but merely a heads-up to those that might take this advice without the knowledge of his way of using them...

Kingfrog...I have noticed you mention a couple of times you..being an employee of a Yamaha dealer..can buy any Yamaha product for "10 percent under cost"..

My question...why do you believe Yamaha would sell you a Yamaha product 10 percent less than the dealer you work for..pays?

My guess.. you are not privileged ..as in access to the real cost numbers...

It you told me you could buy at dealer cost for your own use...I would believe it...but less then what the dealer pays...no way..

As with many retailers.. the cost in the books are not the dealer cost...usually lowest offer to sell prices..