here is a great funk demo of the Korg PA1X
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8OAh4plscU&feature=player_embedded#t=43

I put it up here because i see so much talk about the next best thing, the Audya and how live it sounds etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmMCr6sISUI&feature=channel_page

Love this one where he samples Michael Jackson using the fully functional onboard sampler and pays live with it . I almost went out and ordered the keyboard and then realised i already have one ha ha ha !
This is a great demo of how an old instrument such as the Korg PA1X can sound as good and to my ears even better than the latest greatest when in the hands of a competant musician. If you have the time listen to all 10 demo's and then ask yourself if spending $5000 on a new keyboard as opposed to picking one of these bad boys up for a fifth of the price is value for money. Enjoy whatever you play folks :-)

[This message has been edited by spalding (edited 09-27-2009).]

[This message has been edited by spalding (edited 09-27-2009).]

First one's kinda cool. All live except the drums. He's got a good funk sensibility in the LH. Drums are pretty funky. Thing is, with his chops, I can imagine him easily able to do that on just about ANY modern arranger.

Second one, I'm not so much into. There's not a whole lot of Michael accapella on the track that you have much of anywhere to go. It's easy to see that keeping it short made it work. Not sure if it would survive a full song. Anyway, sampling big superstars' voices seems a waste. I'd have preferred to hear what he could do with less recognizable material.

I think what these really do is show that talent transcends equipment. For every guy on a T3 or Audya, there's a guy with a PA1x showing him up. And, for every guy on a PA1x, there's a guy on a G800, showing HIM up. And for every guy on a G800, there's a guy on an old Casio, showing HIM up! And so on, and so forth

Hi Spalding

The sound is showing its age a bit, (Still good mind you) however if he played them on the PA2X then I can guarantee your jaw would hit the floor. (The PA2X is a massive jump up from the PA1X)

I have compared the PA1X and PA2X side by side at the keyboard festivals, and you would not believe the difference if you didn’t hear it with your own ears. (IMO The PA2X is easily one of the best value TOTL Hardware boards out there, as was the PA1X in its day)

Thanks for posting

Bill


[This message has been edited by abacus (edited 09-27-2009).]

I've never heard the 2x but I have always loved my 1x. I think Diki is right, though. If you sound great on one, you're going to sound great on the other (and vise versa), and since the audience won't be A/B'ing them, well........

I've never felt a need to upgrade to the 2x although I'm sure there are some features that represent improvement. I figure it'll be years before I accidently stumble across all the features on the 1x .

I think the message is "an upgrade is not necessarily the solution to your lousy performance" .

chas

well Abacus. i know that for a time the PA1X demos on the Korg PA.com site stood side by side and in many of tyhe demos they used exactly the same demo to show off the instrument and you would be hard pressed to hear the difference. this was the topic of conversation on the Korg forum for many weeks. And many decided not to upgrade because there was uadilbly very little difference between the 1X and 2X. Then shockingly korg took down the PA1X demo's just leaving the 2X ...... The 2X may be better than the 1X because of the sampling memory and the new DNC capability but the difference is not like night and day. Not by a long way.

Hi Spalding
I agree, if I had to just rely on the online demo’s (I think I still have the originals somewhere on my hard drive) then the differences where not that great, however when you listen to them live side by side, (Same sound and speaker system) then there really is a magnitude of difference.

As I have mentioned before, online demo’s very seldom show how good modern boards are. (Most modern boards go way beyond CD quality, and online files (Unless uncompressed) just cant get close (You really do need a 24 bit 96 kHz sound recording/playback system to hear them at there best)

Another good demonstration of this is the old Roland sound engine (E/G series arrangers and previous generation organs (Same sound engine) and the new Atelier range of organs. Online there does not seem that much difference, but compare them live (Same sound system) and there is magnitude of difference.

This is why I never give a solid conclusion of an instrument until I have heard it live.

You should really try and attend one of the UK festivals, (A day pass will do) which I can guarantee will be a real eye (Ear) opener.

Regards

Bill