Dave, I have to agree with you here. I had a lengthy conversation with my Korg Distict Sales Manager this morning regarding the issue of 62 voice polyphony. Here's what he had to say:
First, all Triton products have no more than 62 notes of polyphony. Even the Triton Studio 88 has just 62 note polyphony, although there are two seperate boards in this instrument each having actually only 60 notes each. So, if you think you have 120 total notes to work with, you are wrong because you can not "share" the polyphony with the same kinds of sounds. Piano, etc. have their own 60 notes and other sounds have their own.
Now, regarding voice allocation, Korg uses the system of "least significant allocation" which means the sound with the lowest volume will be dropped if needed. Because Yamaha uses many sounds with 4 waveforms per foice and Korg never uses more than 2 waveforms per voice, Yamaha sounds can use up more polyphony with the same number of fingers being used for sounds. He also reminded me of how many Tritons are being used in the world and that the issue of lack of polyphony has not been a problem that Korg have received calls about from users.
These are just a few points I wanted to share with you.
For whatever reason Korg has, the Triton chip and polyphony issue is remaining unchanged for the time being and Korg must have decided that to change the manufacturing process at this time would be too costly.
When I think of how many i30's i've sold and in the past year how many PA80's I've sold, and most of my customers are pro players using these keyboards for playing live in resteraunts and clubs, I have not heard complaints about notes being dropped off. I would hope that many of you will hold out and get to try this keyboard when it hits the market in October.
My rep also told me that it is quite possible there will be a PA1X with 61 keys and speakers possibly in other countries, but as often is the case, the USA division has only choosen to bring in the pro 76 key model for now.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California