i think korg always sounded better than yamaha up to the the s950. i never tried another yamaha after that. recently i did play a sx900... my opinion is that now yamaha sounds as good as korg. yes now it has a touch screen, upper 3, excellent speakers, very good drums in the styles.... now i would still go buy a pa1000 instead. why ? because in my country south africa, korg is far cheaper. simple as that.

Korg and Yamaha are two different animals. If people are dancing, Korg. If you wish to invent and create, and you do not play out, it is Yamaha.

90% of my recordings were done on the Kn7000, and Yamaha Tyros 3. None with Korg. Yamaha invites me to record.
John C.

Although Yamaha have seriously upped their game with the Revo drum kits, they have one weakness compared to Korg’s kits...

Korg’s kits have been good for a long time, and do it with basically a fairly standard drum sound layout. But Yamaha’s Revo kits rely on a lot of new sounds on new note#’s for things like more hi hat and snare articulations etc., and the weakness of this is, if you substitute the new Revo kits on older styles, you lose all those extra sounds unless you go in and seriously edit the style.

But replace an old legacy kit from an old style with a Korg PA4X new kit, it’s going to sound better out of the box. I think Yamaha could do themselves a solid by creating new kits based around the Revo sounds, but with the new articulations mapped more to velocity switches on the legacy note#’s, so plug them into an old style, it uses the sounds more without editing...

Unfortunately, across the board, manufacturers are abandoning the old GS note number layouts and everybody has sort of shotgunned the new articulations to non-standard notes, rather than getting together and deciding where these new sounds need to go to continue the cross-platform compatibility that GS helped bring about.

Sadly, it seems that Roland are out of the standardization game now, and no longer have the market clout to essentially dictate to everyone else where drum sounds should go. Somebody needs to step up to the plate, or Korg and Yamaha need to get their heads together and work out a new ‘SuperGS’ standard so we can go back to the ease we used to have...

It’s got to be a PITA for anyone making styles these days to have to seriously remap the drums when making styles for more than one manufacturer!

GM/2 is still the standard used for most mapping as it will work on anything, GS is quite common in studios and software as it was adapted by computer operating systems, however Yamaha have their own XG system (Which has been out as long as GS) which is why their voice layouts vary compared to GS. (Both GS & XG include GM mapping)

Yamaha biggest downfall is that they have to use special sounds (With their own unique articulations) in their styles to make them sound great, whereas every other manufacture can get great styles with just high quality sounds.

Personally the best style performance is with practically everything in the style turned off with the player imparting his own playing style on the performance.

Bill

I have both the Pa4X and Sx-900. I played out with both and find them, as John says, different animals. Technologically, I think we all know the Korg wins, if one is inclined to dig deep. Aside from that, I like both for different reasons.

I like my SX for the Yamaha for the eight registration button, really nice styles, which are freely available, The softer sound for smaller venues, lighter weight, and good speakers(when necessary).

My Korg is usually favored for larger venues, as it does it all in a more robust manner. I do styles, but also play over midi tracks, sing over CDG, and use my harmonica wind controller(DM48). The korg does these better.

I like both of them a lot.

MY LOVE FOR THE Kn7000
Bernie, I like your post, it’s gentle and says it all. There are times when I thought of buying another Korg, but I am enjoying the Sx900.

I am going deep into the Sx900, but not in all areas. I knew the Kn7000 very well, in all areas, and find the Sx900 to have many of the same features; with their own additions.

On the Kn7000 there were 8 regs. and a filter, you were able to save what you wanted to save. The Sx900 is the same, plus more. The Regs. and the Playlist is very much like the SD card on the Kn7000.
Good health my friend, John C.

Comparing a TOTL Korg to a MOTL Yamaha, and liking both a lot, is + for Yamaha.

Very true Larry. When you consider the price difference, the SX-900 is a big bang for the buck.

Bernie

Ah yes, the KN7000 was my favorite for years, due to, in part, the reg system. I wondered why you bought and sold three(I think).

Bernie, I ran with the crowd, got caught with; let’s improve. I spent a lot of time trying to add bottom to the Kn7000. Eq, BBE, and a 15 bass speaker. Disco, rock, the Kn7000 was too thin. Now with age and a little wisdom --- and becoming a home player, I am left with the same question. Why did I sell the Kn7000s??? My last one died in two weeks.
My lesson: You can try to recreate, but it is better to build on what I have.
Take care Bernie, John C.

Thanks John. That makes a lot of sense.

I think at the end of the day it’s what YOU the end user enjoys or likes.

Is it really about what make is better ?

I wonder what it is that always has us using 'versus'?

It's not a bloody wrestling match! It's not the heavyweight boxing title!

It's two totally different keyboards. Which will be played by two totally different musicians with totally different tastes and skills.

How is that EVER going to be a comparison..?

A bad player will make both sound bad, a good player will make both sound good.

Sounds like a draw to me...!

Diki, your post is right on, nice. When did you get that smart? (smile)

John C.

And there, in six lines, is the summation of 50% of this forum over the years. Thank you, Diki.

Yes, agree that Diki has valid points, but maybe it's possible to compress it into 1 line as well:
Mine is better than yours! 😁😁😁

I thought comparing products is just one reason why this forum exists, and continues to thrive. Who really cares about the language used to compare products. "Versus" is used all the time, it's not exclusive to sports.

I find forum members comments helpful and informative when it comes to comparing keyboards, they are not totally different keyboards. They are both arrangers, with a lot of similarities, but of course different OS, which makes "versus" comments helpful, especially from those that have, or had, both.

With the pandemic, and with most stores having limited keyboards in stock, forum "verses" comments and "versus" videos are most helpful, and often times the only way to find out what makes them different.

Finally, to be honest, I enjoy watching videos that compare products, and then reading the comments, it's way better than cable TV but that's just me.

Anything is better than cable TV. Most folks I know have passed on that long ago.

I have to agree with everything Larry said. I think we all are smart enough to break apart areas of pure conjecture from solid facts. Like Larry says, the opinions too, are interesting.

No war needed; Take what you want and leave the rest.

Bernie

But I get what Dikki is saying. The "mine is better than yours" is not really helpful. As far as the video topic goes, Jeremy See makes some good points stating Yamaha is just now catching up to Korg on MOTL features but he does kinda do my PA700 is better than your SX-700, with some added"digs" And that is what I think Dikki is referring to, and I agree with him on that.

Yes, Korg does seem to have a lot features and more editing options, but what if you don't need that stuff? What if you just prefer the Yamaha sound? There is no accounting for personal taste, is there?

Right you both are. That is the reason I have both, the best of both worlds. I, also, realize that some would scoff at this general approach and think if I would extract all I could from the Korg e.g., that I would make it my own, selling the other.

The fact is, I am no techie, and prefer variety on simpler level. It works for me.

I simply believe that a comparison that doesn’t acknowledge the strengths of the competition, and simply touts the strengths of whatever you currently have isn’t actually a ‘comparison’.

It’s just a cheerleader section!

Truth is, if you can’t think of three or four things from a competitor’s arranger that you wouldn’t give your hind teeth for, you don’t know enough about the competition..! 🎹😎