Uncle Dave,

Very good points on the PA80. Having had the board for over year now and having hung on to it even though I was not happy with the earlier OS versions, I find that I agree with your observations. The piano sound is unacceptable to me, but it isn't an issue because I bring the Motif along with me anyway ( superb pianos both electric and acoustic ). I never use samples in a live setting either. In the studio if I really need to use a sample, my software samplers are much easier to use than the samplers on either the PA80 or the Motif.

As for midifiles, I don't use them in the PA80 all that often ( more so in the Motif ), but I've had to rename a few so that I can recognize them inside of the board.

The onboard amplifier / speaker system is okay, but I too notice a bit of distortion at higher levels. The PSR2000 had a better onboard system. I'm not sure what you refer to with the "auto loudness" thing, but I use the third slider to control the volume of my real time voices. Would that help you ?

I agree with the vocalizer thing too, but I happen to like that the PA80's responds to the amount of keys pressed. Works for my style of play I guess. I could bring along the Digitech, ( which also sounds as good if not better than any internal one that I've ever used ) but I can live with the Vocalizer as it is, so it's one less thing for me to drag around.

I agrre about the drum patterns too. Some are excellent but some are a little "out there" . There are so many styles converted already though that it isn't even an issue for me. I can ( and have ) replaced some of the factory styles with user styles. Great feature. Some of the conversions out there aren't all that great on first listen, ( note data is correct but effects, vol levels panning, and patch choices themselves are poor ) but the board itself makes it so easy to add the "spice" needed to make them sound better.

AJ



[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 06-07-2002).]