Folks,

I just received my latest Musicians Friend catalog and the new Korg Pa-80 is in it listed at 1995.00. I don't know if they have them yet but they are in the catalog.

Uncle Dave you better rush out and buy it. We'll all expect the review posted on monday. After all I'm sure you have nothing else to do this weekend.

Just as a side, Uncle Dave, you say the Farfisa is a great little board that you would never trade. Do you think Farfisa will be introducing anything better soon?

Regards
Tom

I just received an email from my district manager at Korg USA. I have been calling him almost once a week to find out when the PA80 would be arriving. The price you see of $1995.00 would be the discount price offered by most stores selling this product. With a list price of $2495.00 it is common to see discounts of approx. 20% off the list price. I did a copy and paste of my latest email from the district sales manager. As you can see, the product has been delayed to approx. January, 2001.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music scene
Reseda, ca.

"George,



Just wanted to let you know that I just learned that Korg has pushed back

delivery of the PA80 till January, 2001. They apparently ran into some

problems and decided that January would be better than a mid December intro.



See you soon



Thanks,"



Ken Peveler Dist. Sales Manager

hey uncle dave,
I think that KORG delayed the PA-80 because I don't think they will let Roland,Yamaha,Solton and may be GEM run with their 76 key arranger party.so who knows .may be they are planning for a 76key PA-90 or somthing like that...any ideas?

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vic

Whether or not Korg will come out with a 76-keyer, I doubt the delays are due to that. I am sure they would have released the PA-80 sooner if they could have. Now they will have to share headlines with Yamaha PSR-9000Pro and Solton SD1. These big keyboards will attract a lot of attention, whether or not they are bound to sell well.

My guesses are either that the multitasking operating system needs further work, or they are having trouble getting parts at the prices they need to. Maybe the price point for the PA-80 is too ambitious, with a list price under US$2k for a high-end arranger.

A final note: isn't GEM due for an arranger keybaord? Their existing professional arrangers seem dated, but GEM had some good ones for their time. I would love to see the S2/S3 series revived with modern specifications for ROM and styles.

I guess I understated the list price. Certainly, US$2500 is a lot for a keyboard you plan to use only two weeks, Uncle Dave However, I think the PA-80 list price is substantially below the list price for other manufacturer's high-end arrangers (excepting Casio, of course).

You can get a Korg i30 for $1800 and for most people the styles are much much more professional than the rest. Even those of Solton and definitely those of Yamaha and Technics.

Ilija,
George Kaye said that korg cutted the I30 from long time ago in here USA ,and I don't see any store have the I30(including my delar).if you know any place in here USA that still have the I30, I would be glade if you told me(in florida).


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vic

Vic,
Your memory is good! The i30 is gone from the US market. I think you would have to buy one used if you want one. I only have 2 i40m left in my store. The i40 can load i30 styles, but has no pattern sequencer to record your own styles. It has all the styles from the i30 and most of the sounds. It does have the same 16 track sequencer and backing sequencer and over the i30, there is a vocal harmonizer built in and a guitar effect processor as well. The price is much less than the i30. There is still the quarter tone tuning and all the other functions of the i30. The screen is smaller but basically it is very similar. The retail price was $1250.00, you can email me if you would like a price quote.
George Kaye

Hi all,

I am not for one minute trying to provoke controvesy or argument butI would have to dissagree with Ilija with regard to the styles on the Korg. If as George says the i30 and the 140m which I own have the same styles then they are not in my opinion any more profesional sounding than others of a similar ilk.

Not that I am disparaging the Korg in any way otherwise why would I have bought it,(and indeed elected to keep it after buying new/er stuff)?

I realise that how Styles are percieved/regarded can only ever be a matter of personal taste and after all everyones 'musical ear' is different. However to say that they are 'more profesional' than others like solton Roland and Technics is in my opinion insulting to these very fine Keyboards.

Some of the best styles I have ever used have been on the KN5000 and when I 'test drove' the 6000 it appeared to me that they had only improved.

On the other hand I have found styles on the i40m that have been equally as good (to my ear), but I for one would never presume to suggest that these generalisations on my part should be equally true for everyone.

Loyalty to a prefered brand is all well and good, and I know that there will always be a certain amount of rivalry and corner fighting in this area, but with the advent of programmes such as Styleworks...et al then surely we can all have the best of all worlds?

Tony