I think you did a great job on these songs Wings. Nice to hear some ( very good ) real time playing as opposed to just playback of standard midi files or stock demo's.

I think that some of the stock sounds surpass what I have in the PA80, while others sound pretty close. I think the drums are very good and I don't find them to be "off" at all. Rather, they give a live feel. I spend a good deal of time programming drums in my own tunes, and the PA1x gives a nice rendition and doesn't feel mechanical like some of the other arrangers I've played. I'd actually USE some of the drums coming from these styles on my own compositions, albeit with a bit of editing in some places. I can't say that about many other arrangers, including sometimes my PA80. Too much editing is required to get a good real performance feel for my tastes.

The piano sounds like a Korg piano to me. Either you like it or don't.. ( It's ok for me ). The guitars sound good and the basses sound more realistic to me than most of the other arrangers I've heard. I've always liked Korg strings. I think the organs have potential, but some editing may be in order. I have them sounding a little more to my liking on the PA80 ( after a lot of editing, as I'm a little fussy about organ sounds in general ). I still wouldn't use them as my first choice in a studio production ( but only because I have other organ sounds I like better at my disposal ), but they make me happy enough for live work.

Synth sounds are vintage Korg, which for me is about as good as it gets without using the "real" thing ( real thing for me being an analog synth ). For all the great sounds on my Motif ES, I still think that my PA80 beats it on synth sounds ( that is until I factor in the Motif's add on an150 analog modeling board )

I don't think Korg always does the best job in certain instrument groups on some of their presets. It's always been this way ( for me ) since my days with the M1. On that note, I might make one suggestion if it's ok. I found that I could get a lot more out of my PA80 by editing some of the stock sounds. . In some cases, I didn't do a lot of "synth" parameter editing. Simply combining two ( or more ) similar ( but different ) sounds to form a combination ( performance ) , and / or adjusting effects. Sometimes simple editing of performances .. maybe changing the cutoff freq a little, tweaking the resonance just a tad... etc One thing I'm sure of is that the PA1x will have plenty of editable parameters to tweak. I know that beautiful sounds come out of that PA1x and the potential is likely there to get better ones as well.

Yep, I like it. I'm still not tempted at this point to upgrade from the PA80. I think it's likely a nice improvement over the PA80, but I'm not sure ( for me ) whether it's 3000 USD worth of improvement ( minus what I could get for my used PA80 ).

If I was going in cold and getting a new arranger though, the PA1x would certainly get my attention and would likely be a tough choice for me vs the Tyros. I suspect the PA1x would probably be my choice in the end.. but I'd have to play it.

Good work Wings,

AJ


[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 01-12-2004).]