You might want to re-assess that one Fran. The Korg DOES allow any sort of media to be used in its songbook, and subsequent playlists. Along with EVERY setting on the keyboard, including vocalist, ALL ots settings ALL pedal and controller settings etc etc. Adn all at the touch of one Songbook entry.
AND all Songbook entries can be selected via MIDI form an external source (laptop eg) not 144, then you have to change sets.

If you have 1000 songs in the songlist then every one of them can be selected at any time via this method.

The Korg songbook really has NO peer at all. The Roland Im afraid does not come close.

But the Rolands do have other benefits

Dennis

Dennis, I am not sure I have to re-think this issue..

I said reading from a thumb drive ..the media files....not "songbook" where it has to be set up completely to use...I believe that SMF's are in separate folders as are the MP3's....Am I correct? Where the Prelude reads all the formats from the thumb drive...I have not had hands on with the Korg and the use of the MP3 player option card...but I recall reading about it somewhat...

BTW: I know you cannot edit SMF's and save them in Songbook...It will revert back to the original...The Prelude saves any and all changes to the playlist (name for folder) automatically ...

I know the Songbook is popular, but if I recall the E80 with the MP3 option could save all to a user program..so it is on par with the Korg (with MP3 card)..

I don't know of any Yamaha or Korg (under $1,000) that will do what the Prelude does with media files...Does anyone else?

Comparing 3 or 4 times the cost to sorta match the media player of the Prelude...sure seems like an endorsement..

Makes you wonder, though, what someone expects from an arranger under half the price of the PA800...?

Personally, I thought the modern styles on the GW-8 (which has much in common with the Prelude) were very good, but that much of the basics needed tweaking... Not that's it's that hard on a Prelude (probably still easier than most, despite not having the G/E series' touch screen), but still necessary, IMO.

But if you want a lot of rock and dance styles, I think the Prelude/GW-8, especially at THAT price, is pretty good.

Nope they can all (MP3, MIDI, Text file, whatever) be in the same big folder if you like. I personally had them in different folders as that was my preference.

You said you liked any sort of media being in the playlist...I just said that the Korg does allow this too. You said it didn't. As for the Yammie I don't know so I did not comment on it.

That was a misunderstanding of your comment on my part, so sorry about that one. The way you wrote it was a little confusing.

And the E80 is NOT on par with the Korg in my view, as on the E80 you are still restricted to a max of 144 recallable via midi UPG setups, WITHOUT having to load up a new UPS.

As for edited MIDIS, the beauty of the Korg Songbook is, it is a pointer to the data..So all it does is recall whatever file you are using where-ever it is stored. So if the MIDI is edited then the Songbook recalls the edited midi file..

As for the under $1000 , I can only agree with that

Dennis

All Korg has to do is change their folder managment and do away with having to always load by SETS etc .....which is so annoying...

Yes Donny, true. The loading of additional styles via the style and set folder management was always clunky. The PA2 and OS 3.01 alleviated it a LITTLE bit, but Korg could really learn from Roland and Yamaha in this regard.

Dennis

Dennis being a big Korg KB fan for many many years form their beginning arrangers thru the M1/T1,2,3,...PA series to present Ive performed with them all....I really enjoyed them for many reasons....I had hoped they would change the folder system with the PA800 & PA2x but to no avail it remains the antiquated management system to this day...just try to audition a Korg style in EMC or load just the style into the keyboard....it's a tedious amount of steps and when you want to try 20/30 styles it becomes a pain in the butt loading/deleting, user slot assignments.
I hope they can change this process.....
now that the Tyros 4 is released and I know what to expect form the next trickle down S series MOTL unit S920 (?)....I am really looking forward to KORGS next release, as of now my pennies are saving up with nowhere to go ! ...



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 10-24-2010).]

Dennis, there is no 144 user program limit, using the external media and the user program finder..I have 1133 user programs on my G70 ..always available...You just need to use the finder feature..and it also scrolls quickly for the right user program..

Fran what I am talking about is selecting them via a MIDI CC (page 39 i think in the par manual)....You can only select a max of 144.

I know I can select any number from the finder

But with my Music Reader program I can embed MIDI files in the chart and it auto sends the CC command which loads the UPG. Unfortunately on the G70 this IS restricted to 144 per UPS. And the UPS cannot be selected via MIDI

On the Korg I had, at last count, 475 such songs setup. All I did was select a chart and the entire Korg keyboard was setup in a second

Dennis