Anyone know if any stores in TX have a PA600 or PA3X on display? Also I'll be in Southern CA for a few days.

George Kaye in SoCal has all arrangers on display (except high end ones like pa3x and t4.I'm sure he can order one for you .

Good luck here in so California most stores here do not support the arranger market.

Yeah, I guess it's a nation wide. Here in TX all I've found are psr and sometimes some Korg PA.

Paul, come on over and play my PA3X any time.
DonM

Hi Paul, the only stores I ever saw arrangers in around here, were the Guitar Center near the ballpark in Arlington, Murphy's Music on 183 in Farmers Branch, and maybe Mr. E's music on SH 183 near the Bedford Rd. exit.

Honestly the last time I saw a good selection in ANY of those stores was probably 2007 before the economy tanked. The MOTL Yamahas are pretty common (and also very similar to previous models.) Anything else, you almost certainly have to mail order it, and take a chance on the restocking fee. Welcome to life in the modern age. At least we're saving gas money!

Jaman- I've been to Georges store in the valley. I was very impressed with his knowledge of keyboards and he spent the better part of the afternoon helping with a Korg Micro Arranger that I bought used (not from him) I will always remember that.

Don M, thanks so much for the offer. Hopefully we can come out your this summer. It would be nice to see one of your gigs...

Ted, yes I remember that the Arrlington GC had all the Korg arrangers a few years ago. Same with Murphies Music. How things have changed... Have you been to Lancaster music? They do carry some Roland arrangers which are hard to find.

Paul ... get that on your 'bucket list' ... Don's performances are a LOT of fun ...

Paul,
I have the PA600 and Yamaha PSR750 and PSR950 keyboards on display. I do not stock the PA3X because most folks don't want to spend that kind of money for keyboards these days. That's why I'm excited to have the PA600s now. Most of the sounds, styles and features (including the pa3x chord sequencer) are included in the 600. Not a vocal harmonizer, but most of my customers don't use it, and a price point just over $1,000.00. Please come see me if you can't find a store with a PA3X and a PA600 side by side.

A little OT but my biggest issue with the PA600 (besides many bugs reported on korgforums) is that they eliminated some of the chord recognition modes, including Fingered 3. This was a HUGE mistake. The cheap little microarranger actually has more flexible chord recognition than the PA600. If I owned a PA50 or PA500 there's no way I would upgrade. Chord recognition is the defining characteristic, the sine qua non of an arranger. Hopefully they will rectify their mistake in a forthcoming OS update. Otherwise I won't care if those boards go directly from inventory to a landfill. It infuriates me when manufacturers do this kind of stuff. Grr...!

I had the pleasure to see Don play a couple of years ago. It's about time I make it back!

It's about time I make it back!

Yes, me too ... just don't know when that will happen ...

That's understandable George... Hopefully I can stop by your store again this summer.

The Pa600 is my first KORG, so I am not sure what 'Fingered 3' did - but IF it meant that you had to hit 3 notes for the chord to change, then I agree with you ... in either 'Fingered' or 'Expert' mode, I find that I sometimes will hit just 2 notes and the chord changes ... I have to be very careful ...

PS ... some of the 'bugs' commented on at the KORG forum are not necessarily 'bugs' per se, but how the board has been programmed - to the dismay of some users ...
I did complain about a 'bug' which we later discovered was apparently being caused by files other than KORG files or music files resident on the USB drive ...