I use keyboard in live settings so I need quick access. I don't know how Uncle Dave can cope with this beast day in and day out !!!!!!! I HATE THIS THING already.

I had this KORG for 2 weeks already and about to get rid of it in couple of days.

My gripes

1. Everytime I changed to different style, the transpose setting would change to C even though I had it set at different keys previously. BTW I change the master transpose to OFF but does not help

2. To use the registration memories from the power up, I have to press several buttons so that the settings would come up correctly such as transpose, style settings. First, change to manual bass, turn off OTS, turn on STYLE change and finally, change master transpose to OFF.

3. To recall registration memory, I have to push at least two buttons. The bank and then the actual selection.

4. Not intuitive: talking about operations of basic functions.

5. The fill-in are not smooth sounding.

Pros:
Sounds are good but not awesomely much better than say Yamaha PSR2000.


Any comments ?

lukitoh,
I sold mine. I do not think it was a bad keyboard, but I do like others that I've had better.
Terry

Lukitoh: Sorry to hear of your disenchantment with the PA80. I also auditioned the PA80 and noticed 'some' of your same issues. That's WHY I had recommended the PSR2000 when you asked for kb suggestions earlier. - Scott

Hmmmm heard a lot about the fill ins regarding the PA-80..... What's the issue with them... When people say they lag to they mean the tempo and everything just gets all crazy or slows down? To me that sounds pretty serious.. If you're using a board for live play, having the fills lag on you can really get in the way of the mix..... Has Korg fixed this problem?

squeak,
More then anything else, the fills (only 2 of them)do not match or blend well when going from either one variation to another or even back to itself. So they sound like they don't belong with the style that is being played.
Terry

Geez, that can't be good.. Does the PA-60 suffer from the same problem?

trtjazz is exactly right in this respect... and yes it also happens on the PA60... and as for the break key, why is it even there? its probably the most useless thing on the board. Back to the fill ins issue, something i find very annoying also is when you press fill in early so that it gets ready to come in time, it actually fills in at the wrong point, then when you change variation, even though you pressed the fill in button it does not even carry the fill in 100% unless you press the variation LATE in which could disturb your accuracy in playing because your worrying to much about getting the fill ins right... On the bright note though, i like the idea where if you press fill in 2 times in succession, it fills on all the time in loops which sounds nice, say for example your playing IN THE AIR TONIGHT by Phil Collins, the song actually has multiple fill ins and you dont have to worry about continually pressing it... Same with Intros... so with the bad does come good....

Will KORG ever fix these problems? I have written to KORG USA a few time with one such problem or the other, but they either ignored my email or said something that did not help. I am not happy at all about being ignored after spending more than $2000. The break button IS an absolute joke. Has anybody ever used that in a song?

Shiral

1-That does not happen on mine. The transpose stays put.
2-Registration memories just work that way... I'm used to that part, but I only use a few registrations. I mostly just change drum styles.
3-Many arrangers have the same approach ... two buttons per reg.
4-I agree, but you CAN get used to it. I did.
5-The fill ins leave a LOT to be desired, but I've learned to only use the ones that seem to work. Sometimes only oneis appropriate.
The "break" button can only be used if you are ABSOLUTELY sure you can hit it on the EXACT downbeat. Otherwise - it's horribly out of place and loud.

Fran was in tonight and said the same thing to me .... "How can you play that night after night?"
The answer is: I don't really like ANY of the current offerings, so I'm just sticking with this till something better hits me.
I customized my "easy 8" patterns and that's my staple group .... everything else is either sequenced or live without rhythm.
The easy 8 patterns include:
1-8/16 beat(multi pad turn on the perc to add the 16th feel to an 8 beat)
2-50's ballad 12/8 style
3-Motown - also good for 4/4 rock and some disco in a pinch
4-Shuffle - AKA louie Prima
5-Latin - basic bossa - EXTREMELY useful
6-Swing - a 16 bar pattern that really swings
7-Waltz - like a 3/4 country feel
8-Polka - works for Hora's, bluegrasss and polkas .... as a starting point

That's how I get around it. My 4 OTS buttons are set up as follows:

1-manual bass-NO arranger
2-silent LH - arranger on - rhodes RH
3-silent LH - arranger on - sax RH
4-silent LH - arranger on - organ RH

That's the basic setup and I modify on the fly as I need to diversify. Sometimes I keep the same Rhodes/bass sounds, and just keep switching drum styles all night. Like I had a real band ..... me on Rhodes & Bass and a Drummer. Love it.

I almost got rid of mine within the first two weeks. That was a year and a half ago and here the board sits. lol. The learning curve was steep coming from the Yamaha OS, but I stuck with it and still haven't seen or tried anything I like better to date. If I may comment on your points...

Point 1. Transpose stays put until I change it no matter what ( maybe yours has a "bug" luk ? )

Point 2 . Agreed, but since it's only at power up, no big deal to me

Point 3. Ok, but it isn;t any easier on the 2000 ( or any other board I had before ) unless you're only using the first 8 registrations .

Point 4. I think in a lot of areas it's a lot more intuitive than the 2000 once you learn the OS and memorize the screens. Remember it also has a lot more functionality, so it is going to be a steeper learning curve. Too many submenus ( and subsequently buttons to push ) to get to a lot of the functions on the 2000 as I remember it.

Point 5. Agreed. 2 fill ins that don;t always match are the worst part about the board. The good news for me is that the styl variations are excellent and many have "mini fills" at measure 4 or measure 8, so I don;t use the offending ones either. The better news. I can replace ANY style in the board. Mine has about 60 pct of the original styles and 40 % converted and user styles. Several of my "replaced" styles are combinations of the PA80 styles and Yamaha / other styles ( particularly the Yamaha / other drums - better fills and less frills ). Style morphing capabilty made this easy to do.

Sounds: I think in almost every area they are as good and some better than the 2000 ( subjective for sure ). A few are even better than their counterparts on the Motif.

I always thought of the PA80 as the best arranger for the composer, ( closer to a workstation by far than any other offering out there ) and maybe not as good for the live player, but Uncle Dave seems to do well with his in live play, and so have I.

Like UD, when someone comes out with something substantially better ( for me ), then maybe I'm a potential customer. There are some things that can be exasperating about this board, but so far none of the offerings I've tried are better for me. The 384 ppq style resolution isn't always quite good enough for me for composing ( fine for live work ). The 2000 has better resolution, but the styles don't reflect it ( they are apparently done at lower resolution than the board's sequencer is capable of and I don't care for them on the whole ) . I've now tried about every brand and current or recent model except for the Ketron stuff ( I'm intrigued by the SD1 and XD9 .. very intrigued ), and I'm waiting to see the Tyros, but none of the ones I have tried to date have some of the functions or sounds ( and edit capability ) that I would miss if I parted with my PA80. The PA80 isn;t the easiest to play out of the box ( maybe the hardest even ). What I like is that I can customize so much of the board to suit me. Nothing else I've tried gives me that kind of flexibility. That's a HUGE plus for me, but it can take a good bit of work to do it. I often see folks saying that they prefer to just play rather than tweek. I prefer to do both. I love to play. I also love to tweek and customize as I see fit. When someone gives me a board that allows me to do both better than I can now, I'm there.

AJ



[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 10-19-2002).]

For the transposition problem, try pressing GLOBAL, page 2 STYLE/REALTIME=ON. Then exit and go to the menu button next to the record button,page 24 set the M.TRANSPOSE to off. Hope this helps.

I am not sure that part 2 is necessary luk as my master trans is always set to on in screen 24 and the transposition never changes when I change styles. Try the first part and see what happens first ( going to global menu, page 2 and making sure that " style realtime " is set to on. If it isn't, change it, and then save this change by pressing the write disk in use button and press global in the menu and follow the prompt to save.

AJ

hi,
i bought a pa60 to replace my i5 on stage. i found that
it really works well with the i5 but i still have reservations about using it alone. please read on before you sell your i30. i would keep it until you are sure that
the pa 60 or 80 will do the job. here's my post on another
forum.
hi everyone:
last month i bought a pa80. i've been
following it's development for the past
2 years. i've been playing a i5s and a
i5m that replace me playing piano, synth,
bass pedals and drum machine. it took a little time to get use to playing this setup.
i had to learn to let the i5 play the rythms,
bass lines and stuff. i first i hated it because the korg i5 sounded better. it opened
up doors to playing different types of music
and sound more like the record. BUT i felt like i wasn't really playing "it was the machine, ie. the i5. when korg dropped the
i series, i heard a lot of bad rap about the
pa 80. alot of frustrated owners. so i finally got the pa80 despite the bad rap. i went thru 3 pa80 in the month. pa1,i had volume problems. took it back to get another.
pa#2 would not save any program changes,this
was confirmed by the store. pa#3 just quit
playing in the first 15 minutes of the set.
not one korg pa80 made it thru a nite. after
the first pa, i learned to keep the i5 close
,just in case. after 3 pa80's, about 40 hours
of cross-matching styles and programming,i
threw in the towel and got my money back.
well here it is less than three weeks later
i come home with a new korg pa60 because i
don't need what the 80 has. (just a basic
arranger for performing). my approach (this
time) is keep it in my studio and enjoy it
for it's sound and take my time exploring
it instead of trying to replace something
that works well for now. i really like what korg is trying to do with the pa series, but
its gonna take a while for me to trust this
machine. i guess changes and progress are for the better, we'll have to wait and see.
i know that the i series are no longer supported(thats why i decided to try again).but sure do miss justplaying instead of programming "sts" and stuff
thanks for letting me vent.

wrinkles303
Junior Member posted 10-08-2002 02:42 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
oh i forgot to mention that the korg
district rep is very aware of this and has
schedule a meeting with me theis month. i will say the support has been great. stay tuned
----------------------------------------------------------
the pa 60 has no sound hold (bass) like the i5 has. this feature is important to me so i keep my i5 on stage. if i
can get past this problem, i think the pa could be trustworthy, its to early to tell.
UPDATE....10/19/02
WELL HERE IT IS ANOTHER KORG PA FAILURE
WEEKEND. AS EXPECTED IT DIDN'T MAKE IT
THRU THE NIGHT. MAN WHAT A PIECE OF CRAP.
EVEN SAM ASH IS LAUGHING ABOUT THIS ONE. THEY
SAID BRING IT BACK NO QUESTIONS. MY 150 DOLLAR I5S BLEW THIS THING OFF THE STAGE. IT'S REALLY BAD WHEN YOU GET REQUEST OF A SONG AND THEN ASK NOT TO USE THAT NEW KEYBOARD. I'M GOING WITH A ROLAND RD700
SOMETHING THAT SOUNDS GOOD AND WILL BE HERE
TOMMORROW. I HAD AN RD 10 YEARS AGO AND ITS STILL A STRONG KEYBOARD. SORRY TO INSULT
ANY PA OWNERS, BUT AFTER 4PA80'S AND 1 PA60
I'VE HAD IT. I'M GOING BACK TO PLAYING MUSIC
NOT PROGRAMMING.

wrinkles303
Sorry to here the PA story. You my friend are literally all KORGED out. Better luck with your next selection.
Lou

My first PA 80 out of the box went back because the floppy drive did not work. The second one though was trouble free for a year and a half. There are too many quality hardware failures for this series keyboard. It has been a very common story of troubles of one sort or another. I would have thought this far into it, it would have been resolved already.
Terry

just got back from sam ash. they gladly refunded my money on the pa60. i would like to thank RJ. and Danny at the clearwater
fl store for all their support. now i've got to "de korg" myself. thanks for listening
and the input.
dave

Well, I dunno. The ONLY trouble I've had with my PA80 was the first time I tried to install the 3rd party USB drive (not Korg's fault). Korg updates its operating system regularly, and has just posted a new set of very professional files on its site.

The second time was the charm; so far it has worked fine all day....:-). I'ver really enjoyed the instrument; I think the styles are excellent, and programming styles, although not easy, is possible with tools available from Korg and KAT, and other tools available on the excellent www.irishacts.com forums.

Hey, new stuff is coming out all the time, and I look forward to the day when all the AI will be implemented in the PC. And it is ALWAYS fun to have a new toy (depending on your financial resources.)

But a LOT of PA-80's work just fine, and so far I am really delighted with mine........

But, of course, I'm only an insignificant man-guitarist......:-)

BuleriaChk@aol.com

korg's support and its dealer has been great.
i think my problem is that pa couldn't meet my demands and i kept trying to "fit a square
peg in around hole". sorry, if i offended
any owners and fellow arranger forum members.
i think i really am korged out.
dave

Chuck,
at last, there are two people satisfied with their PA80: me and you!!! :-)

and me !!!!

the only keyboards to match the realistic sound of the Korg PA80 would be the Ketrons
in my opinion......
I would love to see the XD9 sitting right next to my PA80, as for the rest, you are all very welcome to them !!!

As to the Korg, check out my latest recordings on my new site:
http://artists.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/johnny_s/index-1.html

regards,
john.

Add me to the list. I still enjoy playing the PA80 like no other arranger I've ever played. I too want the XD9 sitting next to my PA80 and Motif, but the key phrase here is .. "sitting next to".. I don't wanna part with either.

Count me in! Count me in!
I made my best choice selecting the PA80 despite the fact that it lacks some of the features I love to have - but then, I can't have everything

Count me in! Count me in!
I made my best choice selecting the PA80 despite the fact that it lacks some of the features I love to have - but then, I can't have everything

Count me in! Count me in!
I made my best choice selecting the PA80 despite the fact that it lacks some of the features I love to have - but then, I can't have everything