Here's what actual owners of the SP-500 had to say over at Harmony Central "User Reviews". PS: The SP-500 has been out for about 3 years. I've played it personally and didn't much care for it myself. And I agree that the Grand Piano sound wasn't up to snuff as some have mentioned below:
Price Paid: US Gift
Ease of Use: 2
Presets are not on the same level as other things out there. I completely agree with the reviewer that said the piano sound is muddy and sounds like a refurbished digital piano. I tried editing the piano sound for about two weeks and finally realized it shouldn't be that hard to get a playbale sound. After reading various reviews (magazines and Internet) and speaking with other keyboardist in forums, I realized I would never get the sound I wanted. What shocked me is how many people in Korg Forums told me they use Yamaha or Roland products for accoustical sounds and recommended I do the same. As a whole I was mostly disappointed with the other preset sounds sounds as well.
Features: 1
I was shocked that I was having issues with the polyphony when I was playing. I personally play classical music and I have never had an instrument where the sound died because of polyphony. What a huge disappoinment. It is midi compatible but after all my other disappointments the other features didn't matter.
Expressiveness/Sounds: 1
There are so many better sound options that come to mind. The Yamaha P250 would be an ideal choice for anyone who wants to play a real instrument in this category. I would also recommend the Yamaha S90 first and the Roland XV 88 second as option to people considering this as a purchase. The action of the SP500 is not anywhere near the level of many of its competitors. The action reminds me of the old digital hybrid pianos donated to our high school years ago. Same crappy feel.
Reliability: 1
It's built with plastics, enough said
Customer Support: 5
Mixed bag here. I owned several Korg instruments over the years. Overall they are better than most but still I have had my problems. I did inquire about possibilities regarding the SP500 but with no luck.
Overall Rating: 2
I recently started a studio. The SP 500 was given to me by another studio since they got it free from Korg. (Good write off!) They didn't like it and said it went unused since they had better options for musicians. The same is true for me and I only have a few other keyboard options. One guy was actually going to use it, but his own band mate told him to use the Yamaha S90 instead. He played both and used the Yamaha in the end. I would never purchase this and I can't imagine why anyone else would either with so many better options out there. I guess to each his/her own.
Submitted by Michael Stone at 04/16/2003 10:05
Price Paid: N/A
Ease of Use: N/A
I am going ot make this short and sweet. Piano sound is muddy and almost unusable. It sounds like it was sampled from a reconditioned casio digital piano. The action is horrible and dead. As any sane person will tell you and the keyboard sales will back up almost anything is better than a Korg when it comes to a piano sound. I love my Triton Studio but when I need a piano I have to admit I go to the best sampled piano sound of all, Yamaha. As much as I hate to admit it, I make a living off my music and when it comes to sound I have to have the best. That why I use Yamaha for almost all my accoustical sounds.
Features: 1
Expressiveness/Sounds: N/A
Reliability: N/A
Customer Support: N/A
Overall Rating: 1
Submitted by Being Honest at 03/31/2003 19:21
Price Paid: N/A
Ease of Use: 7
pretty easy but not as efficient like i30 that has sliders or dedicated buttons for realtime control... everything has to use touchview screen and value dial or buttons.
Features: 7
64 polyphony. the SP-500 is very2 beautifully made (made in japan)looks charming and solid, the key action is the same with TRITON STUDIO (graded hammer), touchview interface and all i can say is it has a very superb hardware... to bad it doesn't have pitch bend... it doesnt have any media storage or any kind of dump facility which will be limiting for some user...
now come with my main concern.... the sounds and software interface... first of all it has accompaniment feature, its styles are the same like in the i30... the only difference is it has some pianist styles... very nice but nothing to write home about... it doesnt have variation 1-4 buttons so u got to select it with value button and touch screen... the mixer isnt intuitive like the i30 couse u got to select it with touchview and value dial.
the 500 has user area but the stupid thing is the only parameter u can edit in arrangement or program is... ITS NAME!!! my goodness!!! dont be fooled by its adds... itsn't programable at all!!!! if you're a preset guy you wont care but if you're into programing and tweaking sounds and styles like me-- FORGET THIS BOARD!!!!!
Expressiveness/Sounds: N/A
now... the main problem... i hate it so much even though God knows how much i try really hard to love it... the main stereo grandpiano actually IMHO taken from the same accoustic piano KORG use for i30 and SP-200 but even though they sound quite similar they dont actually the same since they have different multisample zone and filtered differently. i30 have a mono sample piano and the SP-200 and 500 use stereo sampling piano... the SP-500 only have 1 stereo piano program called "grandpiano1" it sounds very nice if you're gonna play pop or classical music, but if you need another piano thats aggresive& bright for cut thru the mix piano like me-- i think you'll be dissapointed. no piano sound thats bright enough for rock or aggresive enough in the 500 (exclude the M1 piano in it that sounds much worse than the original)... i much prefer SP-200 bright piano and all its piano program... they (the piano sounds in sp-200) have better stereo imaging (the sp-500 stereo grand is so narrow that it almost sounds like a mono grand), cleaner sounding (the sp-500 is a bit hissy if you really bang the keys, and react to my touch better even though the sp-200 key action is aint graded like the 500. the stupid things in 500 is some of its piano sounds is very identical... i mean IDENTICAL!, the only difference is its name(grandpiano2 and piano1)... and for me only the main piano is useable (but not for all purpose)...
the electric piano is very ugly, its taken from some of the i30 e.p. collection but they only included a few of them and they put the ugly one... they sounds ugly becouse in sp-500 all the program dont have its own effect, the 500 use 2 master effect setting for all the program and arrangent!!! (remember i5S?) so its very hard for its program to sound charming like the i30 since all of them will be naked, maybe only got a little chorus or reverb from the global master effects.now... the main problem... i hate it so much even though God knows how much i try really hard to love it... the main stereo grandpiano actually IMHO taken from the same accoustic piano KORG use for i30 and SP-200 but even though they sound quite similar they dont actually the same since they have different multisample zone and filtered differently. i30 have a mono sample piano and the SP-200 and 500 use stereo sampling piano... the SP-500 only have 1 stereo piano program called "grandpiano1" it sounds very nice if you're gonna play pop or classical music, but if you need aggresive, bright and cut thru the mix piano like me-- i think you'll be dissapointed. no piano sound thats bright enough for rock or aggresive enough in the 500 (exclude the M1 piano in it that sounds much worse than the original)... i much prefer SP-200 bright piano and all its piano program... they (the piano sounds in sp-200) have better stereo imaging (the sp-500 stereo grand is so narrow that it almost sounds like a mono grand), cleaner sounding (the sp-500 is a bit hissy if you really bang the keys, and react to my touch better even though the sp-200 key action is aint graded like the 500. the stupid things in 500 is some of its piano sounds is very identical... imeand IDENTICAL!, the only difference is its name... and for me only one is useable...
the electric piano is very ugly, its taken from some of the i30 e.p. collection but they only included a few of them and they put the ugly one... they sounds ugly becouse in sp-500 all the program dont have its own effect, the 500 use 2 master effect setting for all the program and arrangent!!! (remember i5S?) so its very hard for its program to sound charming like the i30 since all of them will be naked, maybe only got alittle chorus or reverb.
now... the main problem... i hate it so much even though God knows how much i try really hard to love it... the main stereo grandpiano actually IMHO taken from the same accoustic piano KORG use for i30 and SP-200 but even though they sound quite similar they dont actually the same since they have different multisample zone and filtered differently. i30 have a mono sample piano and the SP-200 and 500 use stereo sampling piano... the SP-500 only have 1 stereo piano program called "grandpiano1" it sounds very nice if you're gonna play pop or classical music, but if you need aggresive, bright and cut thru the mix piano like me-- i think you'll be dissapointed. no piano sound thats bright enough for rock or aggresive enough in the 500 (exclude the M1 piano in it that sounds much worse than the original)... i much prefer SP-200 bright piano and all its piano program... they (the piano sounds in sp-200) have better stereo imaging (the sp-500 stereo grand is so narrow that it almost sounds like a mono grand), cleaner sounding (the sp-500 is a bit hissy if you really bang the keys, and react to my touch better even though the sp-200 key action is aint graded like the 500. the stupid things in 500 is some of its piano sounds is very identical... imeand IDENTICAL!, the only difference is its name... and for me only one is useable...
the electric piano is very ugly, its taken from some of the i30 e.p. collection but they only included a few of them and they put the ugly one... they sounds ugly becouse in sp-500 all the program dont have its own effect, the 500 use 2 master effect setting for all the program and arrangent!!! (remember i5S?) so its very hard for its program to sound charming like the i30 since all of them will be naked, maybe only got alittle chorus or reverb.
there are about 37 effect like rotary, phaser, flanger, overdrive, delay etc but only adjustable for its dry or wet or any value in between (not fully tweakable) so they aint sound that great.
Price Paid: US $1429
Ease of Use: 8
Very simple to use. Sounds can be accessed via touch screen, rotary dial or program group buttons. For some reason, some of the sounds have been randomly put in the USER program rather than in the logical location with other related samples. Owner's manual is only fair. It has that "translated from Japanese" sense to it and I still haven't figured out how to save custom set-ups (or if it can indeed be done). There is essentially NO editing of patches, not even EQing. Do not get this instrument if you want to tweak your sounds on the keyboard.
Features: 9
The SP-500 has 64 note polyphony. This seems to be more than adequate. The "Real Weighted Hammer Action 2" plays very much like a real piano. Keyboard split and layering are both easy to use (but can't be used at the same time).The built in effects and reverbs are very satisfactory and are very simple to use. The "rotary speaker" effect is disappointing. There are no expansion capabilties. The SP-500 has MIDI in and out. There is an onboard recorder that appears fairly simple to use. Multitrack recording up to five tracks is possible. There is six levels of touch control. One of the best features is that it weighs only 43 pounds.
Expressiveness/Sounds: 9
I compared side by side Korg, Roland, Yamaha and Kurzweil stage pianos. I prefered the piano sound and touch of the Korg. The "grandpiano1" sounds best via headphones, but the "piano2" is a nice, very bright sound that sounds better amplified and "cuts" through very well playing with guitar, bass and drums. There is a HUGE variety of sounds (412). One disappointment is the extreme variation in the quality of the various sounds. For example, the "melody tenor" is a beautiful expessive jazzy sax, but the french horns are very fake sounding.
Reliability: 10
The only problem I have had is a broken headphone output that only happened because I left the headphones plugged in and stepped on the cable.
Customer Support: N/A
Overall Rating: 9
Overall a good value compared to its competitors. I would probably buy this keyboard again but would look at new alternatives.
I have been playing 35 years. I primarily play jazz and blues. My other gear is a pair of Mackie SRM-450s and a Mackie 1202 VLZ PRO mixer.
Great variety of sounds. I primarily use the piano, EP, and organ sounds. I wish it could save some of my set-ups (e.g. I use the keyboard split to set up a B3 two manual organ) so that I could not have to go through 3-4 steps every time.
_________________________
Yamaha Genos, Mackie HR824 MKII Studio Monitors, Mackie 1202 VLZ Pro Mixer (made in USA), Cakewalk Sonar Platinum, Shure SM58 vocal mic.
Previous Topic
Index