My Micro arrived last Friday. Out of the box it was ready to go and sounded great. As all the owners have already said, this is NO TOY. It is actually a PA50/60 in a smaller skin. The build is great, very sturdy. Most people ask about the keys; yes they are slimmer and shorter, but no slimmer than an accordion key with a much better keyfeel.

The thought of playing a mini keyboard may turn some people off. I find it exciting and fun. As I said in another post, the keyfeel encourages you to play to the strengths of the board. You can and will adjust to the smaller keyboard if you want to. If you choose to use the Micro as just a sound module, you'll have one dynamite of a sound engine.

The last Korg I owned was a X50, the last arranger was an iX300. Neither of these two boards were as sonically pleasing as the Micro. The sounds may be a good 10 yrs old, but they are good and lively. The Grand Piano, ep's and organs are my got to sounds - these are all stellar. In all, I must say that the soundset and drumkits as as good as - and some better than - my Yamaha s910. The styles have more of a live feel than the compressed, canned Yamaha stuff. Playing a style entices me to play - anything, even creating new songs and sounds.

I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that the MicroArranger is a solid, credible sound source AND keyboard. It is as good as any arranger I've owwned except the G70 - that includes my present s910. I missed not being able to take it out on a job today because I hadn't yet learned all the nuances of the OS that I needed to play seamlessly. Tonight, on the Twelfth Night, I had my Epiphany and now I think the Micro will go with me to the next job.

It has a mini 1/8inch stereo jack for audio input. I haven't decided whether I will attempt to run my mic thru it or thru a Harmony M and then thru the L1 Compact. Everything else on the I/O side is regular size and runs under the regulr Korg OS. If you've never played a Korg arranger, it may take you some time to undertand terms and the screen and buttons layout. Once you understand how styles, song play, performances and STS's work, you'll probably want to play this mini arranger all the time.

Cass, great to hear that you're enjoying your microARRANGER. Congratulations. I agree that this is one impressive sounding little keyboard, offering, esp us Yamaha players, a wonderful opportunity to experince & appreciate Korg's signature sound and for such a low cost of admission to boot. As far as the keys, yes they are certainly playable, but only up to a point. Fine for single note at a time melodies & runs, but definitely not for attempting much beyond that like pianistic style Shearing block chord melodies. That said, I'm now able for the 1st time play 10ths on the microArranger.
Previous to this, I was only able to dream of doing that on the Steinway.

Now that I finally own a Korg I finally appreciate what Korg arranger fans have been touting about regarding Korg's dynamically 'live' vs the CD polished sound of Yamaha arrangers. I personally appreciate having both brands to select from, or combine with when playing.


I'm having good success bringing in my mic into the microARRANGER thru an Alesis NanoVerb and then into the microArranger's 1/8" mini stereo line-in jack . . . a nice clean & clear vocal signal. The Alesis NanoVerb includes an output level knob so I'm able to raise /lower the mic volume heard thru the microArr speakers and microArr's output, as the microArr itself doesn't allow you to alter the incoming line-in volume or apply internal effects to that signal.

Cass, were you finally able to figure out how to play a 'batch' of SMFs on your microArranger now? If so, perhaps you can post how you do this as I haven't even attempted to load or play even one midi file on my microArranger yet.

Scott

Scott....I've been trying for the longest time to put into words my perception of the Tyros. Thanks for doing it for me.

Mark

I had the same issues with the Korg microWorkstaion/synth (same 61 note keyboard)...pianistic playing, in either hand, is a challenge, and tiresome, and though it is nice to be able to reach 10ths on the microARRANGER, it is terribly disappointing if one is unable to transfer them over to one's main axe. Perhaps use the microARRANGER as a controller?

I didn't find the microARRANGER to be as dynamically different from Yamaha's clean, smooth, highly detailed polished CD sound, as I did the PA2X/3X...the itty bitty Korg is using older PA-50SD/PA-80 technology, so it hasn't quite got the sound definition of the newer Korg systems, but hey...whaddya want for 400 bucks?

I'm only hearing on-line demos, so I may be more impressed once I hear it in person...there's a trip to Halifax coming up this month, so I might just get the chance to try one at Long & McQuade in Bedford, if they have one, of course.

Have fun Scott, and it is good to see you with one as you can guide the others as they wend their way through Korg's distinctly different way of doing things...and who knows? You might even grace us with a demo, of comparable quality to the one that was previously posted by one of your enthusiastic Korgian compadres.

May all your octaves stretch into 10ths,

Ian

Thanks Cass.

Hi Ian,

I hope you have better luck in getting your hands on an arranger of any sort at L&M in Bedford than I am in Edmonton. Here, they have a dozen or more synths and pianos of various stripes on the shelves, but the last arranger I saw in there was a Korg Pa800 about three years ago.

Even in their Christmas catalogue with two pages of keyboards no arrangers were shown, but a Pa800 was available on a 'rentals' page at the back of the catalogue.

I'd love to get my hands an a Pa3X but, short of ordering one in specifically, I'm resigned to never seeing one in the flesh.

Bonne chance in da Fax.

Arrangers are pretty popular here in the east, especially Nova Scotia and Newfoundland...of course, we promote them (in my case, Yamaha) quite vigorously so that is helping for sure.

The dealers are pretty shy on bringing in high end Korg as they aren't promoted or supported, and no one wants something they can't sell. Roland flopped very badly with the BK-7m (something I predicted here many months ago) and Ketron is practically an unknown.

Rumor is that Long & McQuade had nineteen PA3X on order across the whole of Canada, with most spoken for; also, it's come to my attention that several were returned, so maybe one will end up in Edmonton. It's is a fine instrument, and it's a shame it isn't promoted more seriously.

Maybe the cheap microARRANGER will be brought in (less of a risk)...I will call Kevin Durning at Bedford Long & McQuade before I leave on my trip (which is not work related) as he sells a lot of arrangers and knows (and supports) the product quite well...it's my favorite store to visit. That's where I tried the other Korg mini keyboards.

Hopefully I'll get to spend some quality time on this new instrument, and, as much as I trust the opinion of a few that have it, there's nothing like hands on evaluation.

Ian

Here's the "Korgi" KING ! (woof, woof)



Korg + Yamaha =

Dog Playing Piano and Singing

I’m lovin’ the Micro so far and am anxious to play it out to really see and hear for myself how well it plays. I never really used my other Korg boards much except the iX300 arranger. It was my first arranger and I thought at the time the styles were a little too full and sometimes hokey. The styles on the Micro (PA50) seem much better. I find my creative juices start to flow when I play them. Being predominately a SMF user, the Song Play section was a biggie for me. I finally think I’ve solved my problems in that area. But because the styles are so different than what I’m used to, I may experiment with using some of them to replace a few SMF files.
And last night, after about an hour of frustration, I started reading the manual again. Pages 73 and 74 just popped out at me. I printed them out, but before I could read them again, I picked up the Micro and followed their procedure – voila’, I’m loading a SMF AND I see the Performance sounds. Apparently, there is a screen before page 1 which contains this info. I’m saved. The more I play this thing, the better I like it. Maybe I’ll get me a big brother PA800 if things keep sounding this good.

Cass how do you like the organs & leslie on the micro?

O like the organs a lot, but the Leslie effect escapes me. The pprogrammed sim with the organ is good, but I haven't noticed a lot of change using the joystick. Maybe it's something else I have to work on.

Cass Leslie really works great with the joy stick.....how R U selecting the sounds what mode R U in "Program" I hope?

I have a question for Korg PA arrangers owners.

Do you know if there is a mode to use the arranger as a master keyboard, so when you press some buttons like Start/Stop, fill ins, Sounds... it send a MIDI data (always the same)

But not send all the midi notes of the styles..

Ian, how did you get on in Bedford? Did you manage to play a Micro - whaddya think? Hmmm, nineteen Pa3X's in Canada. Probably means that eighteen of them ended up in the centre of the universe. Oh, and one in Vancouver. LOL!

I won't be going to Halifax/Bedford until the week of the 15th-21st this month...I'll check in with them before I leave, to see if they have one in stock.

I have already played the micro Workstation which has an identical keyboard to the microArranger...it is a bit difficult playing chords in both hands, as the intervals feel so different, and if you are playing this along with another keyboard with normal sized keys, it can be a bit weird.

Tony Hughes posted this video link on another thread with a Korg spokesman playing the microArranger...you can see he's not entirely joyful about the keyboard and his hand position looks a bit scrunched up..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-xTX4PKwhc&feature=endscreen&NR=1

If it is a user's sole keyboard, they will get used to it without too much trouble I suppose, but I wouldn't want to play a 2-3 hour gig with it...plus the lightness in weight may even be disadvantageous as it would have to be fastened pretty securely to a stand to avoid any movement during any kind of vigorous play.

It's not like I'm trying to bash Korg...on the contrary...I think they have really good arrangers, but I also would like to see that anyone considering this instrument for even casual pro usage, would know both sides of the argument.

As it is, it's being touted as a miracle do it all lightweight, and it would probably work well for those who seem excited about it, but the majority of these people intending it for pro use, aren't going to be playing it for the whole gig...they will be using SMF and other backgrounds along with the microArranger.

So, I just want to make sure it isn't misrepresented in any way. I would do the same if Yamaha made one...in fact, I used to demo their PSS line of arrangers, which used mini-keys (a few of the higher end had five octave keyboards), and my criticisms were of the same nature as with the Korg.

I hope I get to play one, and I also hope to get my hands on a Korg PA3X (or PA3XPro)...if there are any of the latter to try, I will PM you here right away, from my hotel, as maybe Long & McQuade could ship it to their store in your area so you could try it.

Ian

I agree with you completly I ave played both micro and 3x and no compairson the micro keys are very small if you play octive in left hand you will be playing 9ths the sound in the micro very good midi file player not too good no score mode , and yamaha files will not track well at all so thumbs down on that as a tone generator thumbs up playing styles with this small keybed nit good as well. it is a good little guy but not for the pro guy.

Cheers, Ian. Sorry, I was jumping the gun on your trip, then. I'm not interested in buying the Micro myself - I currently have a Pa1XPro, so the Pa3X is more in my sights.

Agreed, the fellow in the video does look a mite awkward at times. I guess that to a person with small hands, the Micro would be a comfortable enough fit. Size matters, I suppose, though over the years I've played various keyboards and I have to say that I've adapted soon enough.

Ian,

I've not seen anyone on SZ playing anything vigorously, perhaps we should ask Tostie he's the only young guy left good enough to play things vigorously, I don't think even he would be going down the Mini Arranger route, as someone said early, in a nutshell, this is not a KB for a professional, hey not my words but I think most proffs would agree, make what you want of that. Tyrosman said it was but a toy, mind you like me he has played the mighty Wurlitzer a time or two. Don't worry Ian the Korg Mini Arranger isn’t going anywhere, certainly not professionally, it isn’t going to steal the market and cause the Yamaha range a problem, when the dust has died down and all the frivolities are over common sense will prevail, Roland G70 rules OK, did I just say that!


Now get some sleep Ian and stop dreaming about the Korg

Tony