My friends in Poland did a great comparisson of these 2 top boards



A 3 part video set that compares the single sounds can be found here.

http://keyszone.boards.net/thread/527/sound-comparisson-ketron-sd9-pa4x?page=1&scrollTo=888

but with arrangers its all about the styles. And i think the PA4x comes really close to the Ketron.

All these demos VS each others, etc, etc, after a while what do they really mean when you can alternatively change, edit, and do just about anything to alter the sound of each KB to where you need it to be so what's the point? At this time many sound terriffic, just buy one and enjoy, after all it wont be you last unit anyway so play & make music.

At the current level they all sound incredible..

Thats why the features and imterface innmy vision have become more important then the minimal sound differences..

These video’s indeed are proof of your statement.
Ketron, Roland, Korg and Yamaha arrangers all sound terrific in all departments.
Only Casio still can’t convince me. They still have to many weak orchestral sounds..

If styles sound great, then, ideally, the guitar parts shouldn’t be instantly recognizable as “keyboard’s guitars”. So far they do not sound so authentic, so there’s a work to be done.

Also, it’s important how an arranger handle changing chords in “wrong” places. You may notice that at ~4:55 it doesn't sound quite natural, but maybe it’s just this specific case.

So hurray we all agree everything today sounds amazing!!!,.....Whew I'm glad that's over with....
until the next Arranger KB at Winter NAMM 2018 is released lol..


Bottom line what does it all mean regarding your playing abilities?

Arrangers sure have come a long way since the early days. The PSR-9000 Pro was quite something when it came out. Today we're leaps and bounds beyond that as far as sound development and feature sets go. Better technology coupled with better sound is a win win scenario. I think the entrepreneurial spirit has a lot to do with it. A passion for being the best reflects not only on the merits of the company itself but also on the people who work for the company.

Competition is good business because it keeps companies on their toes not only in the products they sell but in the services they render to the public. For instance Yamaha has a broad range of customer support during the warranty period and Korg is known for good "after sale" support where they continue to provide free updates to their keyboard and other related products for years to come after the initial release. Pa4x owners recently received a 2.0 OS update and it was a beaut from what I understand. Some have said it's like having a new keyboard. I hope Yamaha will venture down that path because as it stands now they usually just fix the bugs and then go on to the next project. The Genos incorporates new technology so maybe Yamaha will elect to provide better "after the sale" support for the Genos and other keyboard products. They do have the expansion packs but some of them are quite expensive... relatively speaking of course.

All the best,

Mike

Everyone seems to think that the 9000PRO was a part of the PSR line. It was not. There's no "PSR" on the unit. It was a step up in construction, keybed, and overall sex appeal. I had two of them .... miss 'em sometimes.

I agree, actually it was the first in the Tyros/Genos line but Yamaha forgot to give it a real name.

The 're-trigger' notes you hear at ~ 1:13, 4:50, 4:55, 4:57, 5:03 and 6:46 has been an issue the PA series have had since the PA50. It has to do with the timing of exactly when you press any of the FILL or BREAK buttons. Press outside of the 'down beat' and guitar, piano (or any percussion) tracks within the Arraner 'retrigger and stand out' as you've clearly pointed out.

In my opinion, the other arranger manufacturers have better algorithms that result in much smoother transitions when using Fills and Breaks irrespective of what point they are pressed during a performance... in other words, their chord recognition and response is more 'forgiving'!

There have been many discussions about this on the Korg forums..

While being less forgiving, the way Korg implemented this gives the player a tad more controll, because sometimes you want the more direct controll of Korg, i guess.

Personally, i like the way Yamaha and Ketron have implemented this, its one less thing to think off while playing.

And that is what drives me crazy. Why on earth no one at Korg manage to find a way to prevent this happening?! All the others, except for Casio I thought, do not have this issue.
This thing is particularly annoying with ballads or another slow tempo styles.

I think it was assumed by most people that it was part of the PSR line since it was the successor to the PSR-9000. You're right though Dave it did not say PSR on the keyboard.

All the best,

Mike

This thread motivated me to improve the vArranger's FILL IN algorithm.

When you press the fill in button, the variation need to stop, and the arranger need to play the fill in.
But this does not sound so good, because notes actually playing of the variation are cut, and some notes of the fill in have been missed, as you did not played it since the beginning.

So the perfect solution does not exist.

Good news, the new vArranger update improve this a lot, so it is now very smooth. Maybe like Ketron? I don't know

Good news..
Another improvement