So far I hear no mention of improvements to the “two styles at the same time“ feature.

I have mentioned many times, I think this is the most groundbreaking improvement in arranger technology in 40 years! The end of “style fatigue“ and the exponential potential increase in different sounding styles, simply by combining two similar but different styles, and muting and unmuting different parts.

For this to live up to its potential, EVERYTHING about the system needs to be storable in the songbook. Currently it isn’t. To use the feature, there is a boatload of manual stuff you have to do every time you start one up. This is simply unacceptable live. You need to be able to select which intros will play, which endings will play ( and if they are of different lengths, the muted intro should get overridden by the sounding one). You need them to start in sync together. (this was addressed earlier, but is still buggy from reports) you need to be able to address which parts get assigned to the volume sliders.

It’s a great idea, and if I was still using styles, heavily, if it was made to work seamlessly, it would be a no-brainer for me to buy a PA5X. This feature alone makes it stand hand and shoulders over everything else. I think Korg themselves do not realize the power of this feature. Imagine creating four or five styles that are all related and then by combining two of them with the feature, you have an almost infinite range of choices on your live performance. Halftime and double time beats on demand, breakdowns, and builds at your command. The potential is endless.

The reality certainly isn’t…

There have been many times, with many different manufacturers, that I have stood back, and seen brilliant ideas wither on the vine, because the developers simply did not appreciate the power of what they had created and failed to polish it into something really useful. There are times when I honestly believe that the people developing the code simply do not play arrangers out of choice!