Just got my PA600. Can't wait to get after it.


Deane

... OH MAN !!! ... I am very happy for you Deanne, but also VERY jealous ...
I just wonder why these boards seem to be getting to the West first ...

Congratulations Deane...you will be busy for the next while.

Ian

Deane, I’m especially looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the Korg PA 600 because you also own the Yamaha 950. I am thinking about getting one of these keyboards sometime maybe before the year ends. Hey, I know this guy that just lives down the I35 from you that would love to take a look at your keyboards

What I like so far - after only 3 hours.

1. Touch screen is very easy to use.
2. PA80 resources load and play but some need tweaking
3. PA3X resources load and play.
4. Backing up and restoring factory resources is easy.
5. Loading resources is very easy.
6. There are lots of Favorite and user slots to use.
7. The size - smaller than my S950 and much smaller than
my Tyros 4.

What I don't like so far:
1. The majority of the styles are not setup for the music I play on gigs.
2. On nearly all the styles the style vs RH lead voice volume balance is
not good.
3. Many of the RH voices are setup in the wrong register and will need to
be adjusted.
4. Rear panel hard to see and get to compared to my S950.


No more time today but I'll post more observations by the weekend. I am not one to suddenly post IMPULSE feelings about new gear. Anything I report I want to be accurate.

Deane

Good on ya, Deane. You think you're happy now? Wait till you get that baby licked into shape for what you do.

Deane,

What styles do you usually play at gigs? I'm especially interested in Big Band and swing.

Tom

Hi Tom,
All my gigs are for folks well beyond 60 years old. My gig sets are based on
the top hits from the 1920s through the very early 1960s. No Disco, Rap, or hard core rock or anything else that is harsh in nature. If the Big Band Styles get to busy or loud they don't work for my gigs. I have many hours to spend with the PA600 before I discover how useful, or not, the PA600 will be for me.
My first observation is that it is a bit more "modern" than I expected it to be.
Time will tell.

Deane

Style issues - pretty standard for arranger section of korgs.great sound,relatively better hardware and look,punchy drums but busy or insufficient bass programming and overochestration ,too much melody going in ac tracks. We need simple ones.getting better but not quite there yet.

Deane congrats.. as I always said you have to spend many hours to tame the KORG units ....do your homework, learn & dig deep into the OS, get it setup right for your needs and you will be truly rewarded with a great sounding unit, all the tools are there.!!!!......
"out of the box" is not gonna work... good luck.

Hammer... why the change to Korg, when the styles issue is a well known, long time design decision? Korg have always been probably the least well supported for overall sheer number of available good styles (out of the Big 3) other than Middle Eastern, and have always been rather more modern in focus and sound. Smooth modern jazz? Probably the best there is... Big band? Not so much..!

I am just surprised, that YOU are surprised! Were you expecting anything radically new?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw4iuHkJpSQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLCo-QUwYrw

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKg8fxjsVQY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3ndtpqaFpE

Now Deane, don't be getting your neck sore by spending too many hours at once on that thing. Interesting about the right hand balance- no slider for that like the pa500. Is the touch screen very responsive? i am having trouble with mine on the 500 after multiple calibration changes.

Sparky,
I find if I use my finger on the touch screen it is not as responsive as I want. But, if I use a fingernail it works just great.

Diki,
I spend hours at my keyboards and it is nice to have something different to break up the shear boredom of hearing the same intros, sounds, styles etc..
I have a Korg MicroArranger with John Smies Resources loaded and it sounds terrific. My PA600 will need a lot of work to sound as good as the little KMA does with John's resources loaded. I have yet to reload the KMA factory resources and do a comparison. But that is next and hopefully with some recordings to detail the difference. But I do understand your point and it is well taken - not much out there to choose from if the factory stuff is not useful to a player.

Right now both my wife and I are rather ill so it might be later this week.

Deane

Deanne ... hope you and your wife feel better real quick ...

Did Deane just indicate that the Micro may sound better than the PA600? Probably not, I'm just firing things up, but I did not realize Korg needed that much 'out of the box' tweaking.

Tony,
If, and when, you ever get the PA600, you may have your work cut out for you...well maybe not work, it's suppose to be fun.
Have you heard ANYTHING about a delivery date?

I think I'll wait on the 600 until I hear more reports.

Deane...you and your wife, take care, and get well.

Hi Larry,
Yes, you heard me right. I am doing side-by-side style comparisons now and the difference is rather amazing. Both keyboards have been set back to out of the box settings and the factory resources reloaded to both. Not all the styles on one are on the other - but those I am finding I plan to record sometime tomorrow and post a link here. Everyone can judge for themselves. I'll record both on a Zoom H2 and will use Audacity to get the volume on them equal.

Deane

I have often said that, when push comes to shove, the available style choice should be your primary reason to get any particular arranger. Features are good, sounds are good, but if you primarily play in arranger mode, nothing is more important than the selection of top quality styles in the genres you use MOST...

And, from everything I've heard, each arranger is better in some areas than others.

There more then enough Korg styles to fit any genre....

Larry ... sounds like I will ... hopefully it will be fun ...
I think we are looking towards the end of the year for delivery ...

LOL, Donny. Don't forget, I've had a PA3X for a while to use. Maybe there's enough styles for YOU... I think I found TWO reggae styles, and they wouldn't get a rastafarian high in a million years!

Remember, we're talking styles here. Sure, you flesh it out with a ton of SMF's and MP3's, you might not notice. But, as several here have said, they have HUGE libraries of Yamaha and Roland styles, many of which are song specific. That is the missing element here...

Don't forget, YOU were the one berating Korg for that paucity of styles while you had your Yamaha's. It's a little late to change horses.

Hi Deane

I did a side by side as well, just try adjusting the EQ settings on the Pa600. The bass is a lot heavier on the KMA which has no overall EQ probably to compensate for the small speakers. The EQ settings on the Pa600 are very comprehensive and make a tremendious difference.

Col

PS you almost had me going till I tried it.

Col,
What settings are you using. I have not experimented with the EQ settings yet.

Deane

Deane this is where the "MAGIC" happens on Korg Units! Setting vary drastically depending on your sound system....
DO NOT use headphones....Play at FULL PERFORMANCE VOLUME THRU YOUR PA when you do this...!! I cant stress this enough,
use your own ears and create a general EQ setting globally then go into each and every style and part to create a killer sound to EACH style & save. It will take many hours but when your finished it will be well worth the time and effort.

Don't forgett to put up a link so the rest of us also can get that sound when you compleat that tuning... *smiles*

The plain trough is that I just don't have the skill to do any good tuning. I can't even read notes or play real accords, so I have a huge learning curve in fron of me...

The on fingered option works fine and I will produce some type of quality (read low) music...

I sold my MicroArranger to the shop and payed $780 for the Pa600.
The M.Ar did't realy fit me as I hade problems reading all the menus when I'm not trained in music. With the Pa600 I get icons and better understanding of whar I can do and/or doing...

Jacob