Hey everybody, It's Friday evening here in California and I have my first impressions of the Korg PA-80 for you.
First let me let you know that the PA-80 will not be sold here in the USA until around March when Korg will have new software installed into the keyboard and wil then and only then release this PA-80. Although many of you have read that there is an unboard style creator, Korg admits that there is not at this time. Only after the new software is put in will this feature be available. Because of this major enhancement along with some others I don't even know about yet, Korg has decided not to release this keyboard until the software is ready. They estimate the time to be about another 6 to 8 weeks.
Now, I did play this keyboard for over an hour today and here are some of my first impressions.
It is very nice, but I didn't get as excited as I hoped I would. The keyboard doesn't feel as solid and pro like as the other keyboards I have been playing the last few days.
As you all know, the first sound I always listen to is the Piano. The piano sound was so much like the Triton Grand Piano which to my ear is a bit to bright. I also noticed that unlike the Solton SD-1 and the Yamaha 9000 Pro which really changes in color in the high octave when you strike the key with different velocity, the Korg didn't respond with as much variation as the other two. Now, remember that the retail price of the Korg is $1,500.00 less than the competition so I probably am asking for too much! Ever since the i series has been available, I've always thought the Piano sounded a little to "brittle" for my taste. It is very good, but not as good as the SD-1 or 9000Pro. Listening to the other sounds, I thought they did a fine job with sax's, solo strings, guitars, and brass. The styles were very good, but I didn't get the same excitement as I did when I played the SD-1.
The keyboard looks really nice and the speakers, although I couldn't hear really well because of all the noise (I mostly used headphones) sounded good. I had a problem finding my way around because I couldn't figure out how to turn off the upper 2 sound for several minutes and I got really frustrated. finally I asked one of the Korg Demonstrators and he showed me how to do it. Actually, it wasn't that hard, but it wasn't clearly marked. I have to go to the right of the screen and press two buttons simultaneously as previous korg i series products (i5s and i40 and i50) have done. The problem was that I was looking for a dedicated upper two, upper one function button and there wasn't one. The ability to use two sequencers is cool if you are on the dancefloor and you need to switch smoothly. It is cool that you can have the two sequencers playing either at different tempos or you can sync them up so they play at exactly the same tempos.
You can put in an optional hard drive and vocal harmonizer, but if you don't install the vocal harmonizer, the mic can still be plugged into the back and the Reverb and Effects will still work.
I really liked the fact that now you can multitask with this keyboard which means I can be playing a style, hit the Global button and adjust things as I am playing, where as the older models made you leave the style you were playing, stop the machine and than enter the global mode.
I will play this more on the weekend and let you know if any of my opinions change
George Kaye

[QUOTE]Originally posted by George Kaye:
[B]Hey everybody, It's Friday evening here in California and I have my first impressions of the Korg PA-80 for you.

HiGeorge
Are you sure it was Friday when you wrote this seminal report?
Nabil Aziz

Sorry Nabil,
Of course it was Thursday night and not Friday. I got carried away in my enthusiasm to get info to you all.
Regards,
George Kaye