Originally posted by miden:
hi donny, congrats on the new board, can you highlight the pros and cons between the pa800, and the sd1+? i have my own views, as i owned a PA800, but i am interested in what you think...there is a possibility that when the PA2x is released in OZ i will be seriously looking at it, and for the most part i have heard the PA2 will be the PA800, but with that beautiful 76 note keyboard and a few other things...
cheers, and thanks,
dennis
Hi Dennis,
Ignoring all the stupid bullshit posted previously under my initial listing I will try to answer your questions.
AS you know the Sd1+ is a fine arranger with IMHO some of the finest sounds available. Quality build & really nice key bed.....but you really have to know its OS which is very different then any other KB on the market. Its primitive looking compared to all the bells & whistles, colored Icons etc etc but highly functional in its mono-color basic look. Its really a serious arranger with many kool features & also many I longed for too.....like STS & Multi pads to beef up your performance & get more creative....the ancient Floppy drive is very usable but indeed stone-age compared to what we have now with 2.0 USB/Firewire etc. To me the SD1 is a RAW sounding arranger with a very LIVE in your face sound to it sought of UNGATED with sound & styles WIDE OPEN & must be tamed with editing & tweaking very intensely giving the player no leeway, but once controlled can give you a very nice playing environment "If you know what to do" for a 76 its design is the smallest Ive seen.....having the joysticks up on the deck is a hindrance & out of the immediate playing field which I didn't like at all. Compared to the Pa800 & T2 its it no where as flexible in many ways style wise or sound wise.....not that the the SD1+ is bad its just very different. The Pa800 & T2 have a polished CD like compressed sound the Yamaha even more then the Korg. Ive only had the Korg 2 days so far ....but I can tell the improvements over my old Pa80 are very pleasing and very
VERY WELL THOUGHT OUT for the player even more so then the Sd1+ & T2 in so many ways.
Starting with being able to use the SONGBOOK which is so much more then the Yamaha MFD which doesn't allow saving Transpose, & you can also save in one CUSTOME list SMF, Mp3, Kar, this is by far the most powerful feature I have ever seen on an arranger for live performance playing.
The Pa800 Key-bed & feel to me is more comparable to the Tyros 2 then the Sd1+/G70 a bit lighter but sturdy and tight. The Pa800 display & touch screen is a pleasure to manipulate ....plus you have the all the well layed out on-board buttons to navigation as well.....& many ASSIGNABLE sliders/buttons to setup and really make the KB YOUR OWN. The Tc Helicon Vocalizer is second to none ...only the Roland G70/D5 is comparable on an on-Board harmonizer...having Expert view & an EASY View with just the essentials to see on screen is a nice feature also as is the DUAL SMF player with mixing SLIDER to go between 2 songs at once ....this could be very useful. The new styles are very inspiring Im still exploring them all but of what Ive played there are so many that are useful for me & having 3 intro/ending is a plus especially #2 which lets YOU the player create the chords, something like the G70 has also...I was concerned about the sounds coming from some of the awesome ones on the SD1+ like the trumpets & Brass but I have to tell you I was pleasantly surprised with the PA800....the way they have the STS setup which by the wya are ALL Programable as is Everthing on the PA800 are very pleasing, usefull & well thought out and on Par with anything on the Tyros2 excluding SA, but not needed if you play some of the great V sounds on the Korg for example the Rock Organ V is wonderful....if you play lightly you get no Leslie effect, but if you put more pressure the leslie kicks in very kool! ....sonically the Pa800 sounds amazing out of the box with OS1.51 installed...so far Im happy and as I said I need more time to make a better assessment but Dennis I will return with more info on my progress asap OK?
have a nice day
Donny
[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 09-14-2007).]