This is my very brief but hopefully detailed review of the New OS version 3 upgrade.

I have just managed to upgrade my PA1X into the next generation production workstation !!!! All i can say is OH MY GOODNESS !!!! Korg you must have got into my mind and designed modern soulful funky grooves just for me !!! There are approx 64 new styles each with 3 endings (all the styles on the entire keyboard both old and new all have 3 endings) , 4 variations and 4 intro (two intros that play a compltely different pattern if you play a minor chord ). The styles are very much more geared towards the contemporary youthful market. There are a couple of nice bosanovas,and a couple of exquisite unplugged styles. The styles are absolutely playable and kept me up all last night. There were no styles that i could not see myself using.

I dont know if Korg has reworked all the styles because they all sound so well balanced accross all the styles. This really sounds like a new keyboard.

The new styles are just so well thought out and programmed. It has even lifted my own playing skills just through inspiration alone. I am still tuning my ears to the new pianos though as they sound a lot darker than i am used to. The Grand Touch Piano RX has a twin brother called the Grand Touch piano (no RX) I have listened over and over again through headphones and through the internal speakers and for the life of me i cannot tell the difference between the sounds. To my ears they are identical. But played in styles the RX version has noticeable drop outs but the non RX has none. Dont really know why Korg went through the trouble of developing the RX version as genuinley i could not tell the difference. I understand why they needed the Extra polyphony for the new piano (RX version ) but as the "light" version sounds identical i think that the 64 note polyphony and Korgs unique note management system are more than adequate. There is also a mellow piano and a Rock piano RX . The Rock piano RX is brighter and less subtle. The mellow and grand pianos are ideal for jazz music and unplugged styles. They both sound very authentic both within a style and played solo.

The operating system as a whole is much easier to use and operates much more quickly. It used to take 3.45mins to boot up from power on. Now it boots up in less than two minutes and thats using the full 32mb samples on auto load. (i can still just about make a cup of tea in that time but it is a vast improvement.) Merging samples is very much easier and faster. Filehandling is so much more intuitive etc I have spent most of last night and this morning jamming with the instrument and merging my favourite samples from the harddrive to the internal ram.I have some awesome new "real drums" that i downloaded from the Korg website...for free.

The new wave products from Yamaha, the minimo and the mo6/8 and XS were designed (in part) to fill the gap between pro musicians that liked the arranger functions, live full performance available on arranger keyboards but also wanted a more contemporary sound. In steps up Korg with the new Improved PA1X! I am just astounded that the music making world of producers have not stumbled accross this amazing product.

SqueakD in previous posts I remember you lamenting the fact that most arrangers simply did not cater to contemporary musicians and for example you said thatHiphop/Rap music is very difficult to write on an arranger .WEll if you like contemporary grooves, RnB and playable Hiphop then you really need to check this monster out!

This is a huge improvement over an already outstanding machine and to call it an upgrade is really an understatement.

I cant believe that i got this OS upgrade for free !!! I only hope Korg continue to extend the life of its product in this way. I can honestly say that i would have paid hundreds for an upgrade such as this (I hope Korg are not listening ) rather than make a side step to the PA800 which from a players point of view is slightly inferior to its older brother. I know this is still not an open keyboard but the technology works, its sounds great and more than provides for the creativeness of my own imagination.

I dont know if Korg have heard this too many times this week but what the hell........THANK YOU KORG !!!!!!

[This message has been edited by spalding (edited 02-15-2007).]

[This message has been edited by spalding (edited 02-15-2007).]