It also applies to keyboards. A good performer will always sound great whatever equipment they use.

I always love this story of a Taylor acoustic guitar that got smashed by United Airlines. Dave Carrol the owner got no satisfactory response from United. So he wrote this song "United Breaks Guitars" and made the video that went viral. United decided to settle the matter and now use the video in their employee training. It's a wonderful song.

As a general rule of thumb, it is pointless changing to a new arranger only one generation after the arranger you already have, as the differences will not be that great, but instead wait for the 2nd generation of the arranger you own, as this will usually be a much bigger and worthwhile improvement. (For even more variation also look at arrangers where the manufactures provide new features and sounds via a software/firmware updates, (Which is much better on the wallet) instead of forcing you to buy a new arranger to get them (Will be interesting to see what Korg adds to the PA4x in the future))

Regarding amplification/PA then this is the only way you will ever get your arranger to sound anything like the demos you heard of it, as the recommended sound systems fall far short of what’s required to get the best out of it. (Unfortunately most good sound systems are not domestically acceptable, hence the reason there are always multiple complaints about the sound from the owners shortly after launch)

Bill

Thanks Graham - I guess Carol has kept me around all these years for a good reason, and as soon as I discover what it is, I'll be sure to pass the information along.

Gary

Bill, I suspect that all of the factory authorized demos are not going through a PA system at all, but instead, directly from the line out to a recording device.

As far as sound systems go, I've never really had one that fell short of MY expectations. They all did pretty much what I anticipated, and I really never had a single complaint about any of them. The only reason I've upgraded so many times is strictly because the newer one sounded a bit better and I figured if it sounded better to a deaf old fart like me, it would really sound great to my audiences. I was right.

Gary