Well I guess by now everyone knows I now have a KORG PA500.
Here is some of my first impressions... I love the size, weight, shape, color, key feel which is a bit firmer then my S910 in a good way it really is nice to play.. The buttons are so much better then the PA800, the PA500 has nice SQUARE buttons that have a nice tacky rubberish feel to them....vs my old Pa800 with small rectangle one...these make it easier to navigate and get around on deck....the display isn't color which i dont miss at all but its nice and bright easily readable sharp & clear with a nice raised angle also.Speakers are good & loud enough for monitor duty on stage..or practicing..This unit has Bass Ports on each side which give a great quality Bass sound when played without a PA system....and really good with thru a speaker system..So far the styles are more then enough factory ones to cover so many genres......I haven't begun to even load any third party or converted styles......sounds are pretty good especially the ones I always use ...pianos,excellent Accordions , harmonicas, elec pianos, organs are super, trumpets, trombones, guitars Nylon is sweet with slides, and brass are real nice although I had to layer a few to get the sound that I require..some saxes are nice, growl tenor isn't as good as the S910 but if you mix it with a bari growl you can get a decent sound..using a tenor with a block ensemble gives a great Miller type sound also..Multipads can be fully edited and assigned to any style......Songbook IMO kills Yamaha MFD by miles nuff said on that great feature..DUAL sequencer works fabulous easy to search songs and load SMF songs if needed, nice bright LYRIC readout also at the touch of a button....menu feature is very thorough and lets you get in there to make all kinds of edits with ease to any parts, sounds, etc ...I have to say that out of the box the unit is very proficient very good sounding unit...anyway I'm a bit tried and need to get back to it bright and early for this weekends gigs and beyond.....
to be continued.....it is certainly a great bang for the buck.
Thanx everyone for the help....l8tr

Yes Donny Mate,


I heard it on the BBC News last night, how did you do that, my Doris said is that SZ King Donny playing KB for Obama, singing Blues

lol yes korg in the White house!!

Up bright and early coffee in hand and back to editing...one more day & I'm talking this baby on stage for the weekend..oh yeah sounding real good now.........


Touch screen is very good but needs more sensitivity, but not as good as my Roland G70 was....as I dig deeper into the OS I'm finding so many features that really make it easy to get the sound YOU want.I cant wait to Open Her Up full force on stage this weekend!!

Donny, I don't recall where but in the control panel is a place to adjust the sensitivity/calibration I don't remember what's it's called?

Thanx Steve FOUND it in GLOBAL under
TOUCH PANEL CALIBRATION....works much better now wow I'm learning new srtuff minute by minute, now I'm also Mastering EQ'ing the KB !!!

Ok .....after a grueling 2 days, 18 Hours, of tweaking, editing styles/ STS sounds, etc, Creating a CUSTOM GIG songbook data base, most of all ENJOYING Playing the pa500...I have finally finished & this musician is READY to command the stage this weekend with a fever pitch baby! I am very impressed with the PA500 and cant wait to take it on her Maiden Voyage to Gigsville with Capt. Donny at the helm.

to be continued.............

Donny ... You are sounding a little too laid back with this new board paesano ... I DO hope you get up for your gigs this weekend ...

Best of luck with the new board ... can't wait to hear the 'post-gig' review ...

Thanx Tony.......Ive done this homework routine many many times with many many kbs of every manufacturer thru the years some harder then others but in the end the outcome is always a great sound or out it goes... Ive become very proficient in each of the OS systems ....little rusty here & there, ask some questions, get some help, etc,.. but when I get going watch out baby...

DNJ,

Have you play with the Drums mapping (Menu --> Style controls or Shift + fill 1)?
Start a Style and then play with the drums mapping + kick and snare. Wonderful combinations are found there. And you can select different ones by variation. That is something that can't be done in Ketron Audio drums.

This sounds very interesting! ...I haven't done this yet but will certainly look into it asap...Thank you for the tip.

Pa500 maiden voyage today, 1hr "tune up" NH gig.......
Sat/Sun full blown dinner dances w/200-300pp....
nice way to slide into a new KB..
I will also be trying out a New Behringer XENYX-FX 1002 Mixer also. Wish me luck!

C'mon, Donny ... you don't need luck !!!
Break a leg ... can't wait to read the report ... take pics !

Ditto!

Donny it's hackers like me that need the luck!

I'll wish you all the luck Donny me old ship mate, not that you will need it, cakewalk for an old professional like you Buddy, they will be rocking in the isles or in their chairs.... BTW "Tune Up " its not got valves in the new Korg as it???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EUytEX_XkE

Tony

Tony ... Where do YOU find this stuff???

It's just rolls off Tony..

I just returned from my first KORG PA500 Gig and I can truly say it was a big success! Coupled with the New Behringer Xenyx 1002 FX mixer this is a great sounding setup for Music & Vocals…..btw if anyone has this mixer try FX setting 91 rev/short slap back delay, Ch 1 mic FX at 1oclock, master at 12 o’clock for a great vocal effect… I started the set a bit apprehensive as first time with any KB makes you hold back a little just to make sure wheat your doing, getting familiar with the navigation, making sure style parts Vol levels are correct, making edits on the fly & writing them as I’m playing here & there…but all in all the PA500 really did a good job sound wise thru my Mackie Pa system, I’m very happy I bought it…each following gig will bring more confidence & fine tuning until its perfect in every way to my standards & liking…there was a standing ovation at one point in the show also ……the PA800 vs the S950 which are both good but very different in sound… Live vs CD..the KORG really has a LIVE sound & feel to it as if your playing with a REAL Band backing you up drums, bass, etc, are outstanding as are the sequence order of the variations which add just a little more to each as it builds up to the end of the song……adding certain seq loop multi-pads are a hugh plus also…anyway so far so good……fun to play…as I said earlier I just set it up for my basic performance now, but in a few weeks I’ll have this baby so fine tuned and 100% ready to kick butt....to be continued………

Killed it at last nights GIG....this KB sounds AWESOME

Pa500 & Me...Perfect Together...

I'm loving the Pa500.....Most KORG factory and other PA model styles work very well.....also Ketron SD1 & Roland G70 Style conversion are terrific too....Yamaha conversions are terrible at best too bad..I now have the best of three worlds and plenty enough styles to cover anything that needs to be covered. That mixed with the excellent navigational feature layout of the Pa500 & Custom Song Book is a players dream......editing, is a big plus too....using the backing sequencer to record songs is so easy..The sequencer provides massive editing power - you can even edit the tone parameters of each track. I never gave my Pa800 a chance a while back,... BUT, I'm so glad I returned to the KORG arranger KB family, actually I was a KORG guy for many many years in the 70's 80's, synths and arrangers as now I know it's perfect for MY arranger KB needs. It's fun to play & perform on stage & gets your creative juices flowing.
Enjoy what you play.

Hi Donny,
I converted a few of my yammies across to PA800. Not many as they take me hours to do. I don't use EMC, for the reason you mentioned, EMC doesn't do a very good a job on converting yammie to korg. Is it the drums that you're having problems with? or just in general.
Any style in particular you're missing, just in case I may have already converted it?



[quote=Dnj]I'm loving the Pa500.....Most KORG factory and other PA model styles work very well.....also Ketron SD1 & Roland G70 Style conversion are terrific too....Yamaha conversions are terrible at best too bad..I now have the best of three worlds and plenty enough styles to cover anything that needs to be covered.

Rikki thanx for the reply....
what do you use to convert styles besides EMC?..
For every Bad Yamaha conversion I usually find 3 or 4 great Ketron or Roland compatible ones, only takes me 20 min or so to get it to the way I want it to sound, nothing major.

Hi Donny,
I convert my Yammies manually from a midifile of the style via a pc sequencer. Have used either One Man Band or just changed the .sty extension to .mid to create the midi file.

I usually run style thru EMC first, if it totally botches it up, then I go to the trouble of manually converting. Really depends how desperately I want the style.

Hi Rikki for me...if it doesn't sound good converted thru EMC I know I'm in trouble trying to get it to sound decent in the KB.. I am now finding that my KORG really has amazing editing tools once you really dig into the OS...with a little work you can make styles sound fantastic...I'm doing style editing adjustments to all parts and drum kits I could never do with the Yamaha S910....every day I'm learning more & more, with a little help from my friends also ......
I don't know why I waited so long to come back to KORG...
I'm really diggin' this KB.

Today I took a few hours to work with some converted
Roland G70 & Ketron SD styles that I needed for my "easy 30" user bank..The style editor on the Pa500 is a Godsend for taking a bad Converted Style & totally remodeling it into a stunning great sounding style...all the tools are there all you have to do is have the time, patience, knowledge, experience, imagination, and talent to make it happen, plus a few good knowledgeable friends also when you get stuck... I have finally UN-YAMAHATIZED myself & I'm really enjoying the key-touch, navigational features, songbook and LIVE sound of the PA500.It's the Overall sound "within the MIX" of lead and accompaniments that makes me happy on stage when I'm playing, This KORG is great for the Singer/Arranger Player that wants the sound of a "Real Live Band" backing him/her up.

Hi Donny,
a few of the yammie styles I've converted for myself, I haven't really had the option of finding a ketron or roland alternative. I use orchestral/piano arpeggio type styles, & I have a number of these in yammie format, so if I want them working properly, I don't have much choice but to do them the way I do.

Definately a lot less work if you can get a reasonable result with EMC first & then just fine tuning with Korg editing functions. They're great.

I think I might have popped up on a few occasions over the years , MENTIONING how great my Korg was. haahaa


Hi Rikki for me...if it doesn't sound good converted thru EMC I know I'm in trouble trying to get it to sound decent in the KB.. I am now finding that my KORG really has amazing editing tools once you really dig into the OS...with a little work you can make styles sound fantastic...I'm doing style editing adjustments to all parts and drum kits I could never do with the Yamaha S910....every day I'm learning more & more, with a little help from my friends also ......
I don't know why I waited so long to come back to KORG...
I'm really diggin' this KB. [/quote]

Had a great time today filming a Commercial for TV for an upscale assisted living facility....lots of fun, the KORG PA500 sounded amazing, they were filming all around & thru me as I played and they danced to different songs....awesome experiences, light & audio guys moving around the room too..can't to see the final edit.

Don't forget to show it to us also ...
thanks in advance ...

PS ... does this mean your rates go up?!?!?

I certainly will Tony .... don't know when Comcast will finish it but I will let you know when its completed..

Today I took a factory unexpected "Shlager4" style and totally edited it to be used with the song Margaritaville,
Under The Boardwalk, Up On the Roof, etc,.... you can find the most improbable things in the most inconspicuous places,
you only have to look, ...

Donny,

Nice find thanks for the info. I'd like to see that video once it's released too!

Steve is that Shlager4 on your pa3x also?..

Donny, No Schlager 4 on the Pa3x but the Alpen Schlager seems to work well for Margaritaville. Haven't tried the others yet. I surprised there was no Schlager 4 on the 3x.

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