I've heard nothing but good reports about the KORG PA900. I also am interested in the Yamaha S950. Can't find them locally, not even in NYC, so I'm eventually going to have to go to Frank's place where he should have them both.

In the meantime, I came across this video.

Korg PA900 VS Yamaha S950 Keyboard Demo

I can't watch it but the comments were interesting. It seems Korg wins hands down.

Has anyone else heard either instrument or, hopefully, both of them? Is the PA900 much improved in sound and styles over the PA3x? Enough for me to want to take the 2 hour trip up to AudioWorks (Franks store)?

It's so sad we have to go through this now. It takes longer to shop for a keyboard these days than it does learning to play it!

MARK

Mark, pa 900 is below pa3x.You would just waist your money with it.I still don't get what is that you don't like in pa3x??

Yeah, if you don't like the PA 3x, I'm not sure why your interested in the 900.

Plus One

Seems many people want the edditabillity of the Korgs and the sound of the Yamaha´s

The PA900 has the sopund engine of the PA3x, but misses some of the options, Styles and sounds are pretty much comparable soundwise...

The PSR950 has been available quite some time now, and you need to know there should be a replacement instrument probably by the end of the year...

That's all rumored speculation at this point.....Yamaha has a reason and possibly a different direction for not releasing a new model and taking this long compared to previous years...I'm in no rush...
when I see it I'll believe it and possibly order one.

When the S950 gets replaced let's hope Yamaha puts in something other than the sub par VH2. Did a concert yesterday with my S750 paired with my Outboard Digitech Vocalist 4. I have to be very careful stepping through to the right settings and the proper keys but the sound is exceptionally good. When I was ready to buy the 950 I was very disappointed to find that the VH2 was exceptionally not very good. For ease of operation I'm looking into the Korg PA 900 which automatically adds harmony at the touch of a footswitch.. Before buying my PSR S750 I had rented a PA 800 which had the built in midi harmonies. It was very convenient. I can hardly even find a PA 900 here in the GTA of Ontario. Ideally I would like to rent one and check it out thoroughly.

God Bless,
Don

Don, I managed to get very good to excellent results with the S-950, but out of the box it requires a bit of tuning and tweeking to get the VH to sound great. At best, without tuning it's mediocre. You can find setup in formation for the VH at the PSR Tutorial site.

Good luck,

Gary

Yamaha usually follow a 3 year replacement cycle (The T4 was one of the few exceptions to this rule).

If you want OOTB performance go for Yamaha, if you want to make yourself more individual (Editing setups etc.) then go for the Korg.

As has been said the PA900 is just a smaller version of the PA3x. (Personally I would try and find a used PA2x as it was quite a step up from the PA1x, whereas the PA3x just doesn’t do it for me)

Hope this helps

Bill