Hi Deane,
Congratulations and welcome aboard the Korg microArranger train.

I'm curious though,
because I remember you saying that because the microArranger doesn't support automatic STS (1-4) changing when moving from one variation to another,
that this alone would make it a deal breaker for you.
Now that you have the KMA, how (if at all) are you dealing with that, especially realizing how essential it is for you on your Yamaha keyboard.

Scott

I have never been much interested in learning all the down and dirty details of any arranger I have owned but I hope to do just that with the little Korg. For me it is just another way to fill my days when I am not gigging.

The built-in speakers are very poor at best. Sound quality is bad and volume is poor. Even for playing around the house it requires a bit better speaker setup. l am using my Bose L1 Compacts with it and it sounds pretty good. A good pair of headphones would work fine too.

By the way, the SD card slot is in the back of the unit - poor placement in my opinion. Also, the card goes in the slot up-side-down compared to all other SD card slots I have ever used. I am finding the screen usable and not to bad at all but I do miss the lights on the buttons to tell me what is on or off. The keyboard labels would be hard to read in a dark gig environment and will require some sort of lighting. And unlike the PA1X and PA2X pro I owned when you change variations or sounds there is no glitch or pause - it is seemless.

I thought not being able to lock a sound into a variation and have the sound change with variation changes would be a bummer - but I am finding it rather easy to change both when needed. The OS is fast - things load rapidly and there is no waiting for your selections to be playable.

I have a ton of Korg styles and have managed to learn how to load them from the SD card - but I still have not figured out how to load performances from the SD card. I have done a factory restore and that was easy and fast.

To be useful on gigs there has to be a way to create a "playlist" on the SD card and access that. I don't know how to do that yet - but the night is not over. All in all for the money it is a winner - and I have no real complaints. It certainly will be fun to work with and perhaps I will learn how to tweak sounds and even create styles..

Deane

Hi Scott,

Each arranger has it's own uniqueness that lends itself to certain ways of using it. With my Tyros 4 the RH lead sounds are so darn good that it adds to the performance to change them with each variation change. By the way, years back Lawrence Welk became famous doing just that - just about every 8 bars he had his arrangers switch instrumentation. It provided a little more interest in the performance.

Now for the Korg - it is a different beast than the T4 and the variations within the styles often provide all that is needed. However, I have not found it hard to reach up and change both at the same time while playing. Not ideal in my opinion but doable. Perhaps an OS upgrade in the future will change this. Also, I still don't find a lot of the RH lead voices on the Korg very realistic or musical for that part. However, if I learn how to work with the editors perhaps I can change that.

Anyway, I like the little Korg - it will be a lot of fun to play with and for the money you can't lose.

Deane

Deane,
I was wondering when you would buy a KMA, you very little fly past you.

Enjoy the KMA it was made for enjoyment – fun.

John C.

Hi Bruno,
It is not much money and for what you pay you get a lot. If I ever figure out how to setup a gig play list I'll take it out on a gig. I like to have everything organized and flow from song to song on gigs. I have all my Tyros 4 stuff setup that way - just need to learn now to do it on my little Korg. I have found some really good styles to match up with tunes I play but I don't know how to rename them and save them either on the SD card or on free spots on the keyboard. I have also found stuff I'll never use and would like to get rid of that so the setup would be personalized for my needs.

So far I am a happy camper.

Deane

Deanne what I did was just create performances, make your edits, sounds, vol, pan, FX etc... Title and overwrite the factory ones, bank by bank....then you can just go bank by bank for songs viewing by title.......save your sts to the current style also. makes it real easy to use at a gig.

After spending 3 full days with the little KMA I believe it is a keeper. The overall sound of the keyboard is pretty good and I am learning how to get around the OS and make and save the changes I want which is a plus. I should point out that fellow Synth Zone member John Smies has been a hugh help in filling in the missing links in the manual for me. I purchased his package after reviewing a sample he sent to me. Looks to be pretty good overall and comes with some good instructions for the newbie like myself. It is hard to imagine what you get in the KMA for the price.

Deane