Hello to all ,

My SD1 and my 9000 Pro are proud to announce that they have a new brother (or sister ??)!

Yes, like you said DonM, I'm a beta player
Note that the translation in French from beta is something like "stupid"....

Okay, the PA 1 is like all the keyboards that I played in my life with very very good things and a few things that could be better !

The first thing I can say for this moment that there are styles (bossas for Andrea, certain "new ages" styles for Terry...) that sounds ....mmhhhhhhh

Oh yes , I have no manual in French so all the things that I do for this moment is without manual.. The approach is relatively easy..

Greetings,
JJ

JJ,
Congrats on the new arrival and once you decide gender (boy or girl) or in this case maybe genre is more applicable I'll look forward to more of your thoughts on the latest cool toy. No manual? ....The final frontier explore where none have gone before...I hope for your sake it's pretty intuitive.
Terry

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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

SD1007

So Belgium is the lucky Country to get the first few PA1 XPro, huh? I thought for sure we'd be hearing from Graham from the UK as the 'first' owner of the PA1 XPro on this Forum. One thing for sure, Europe and the surrounding area seem to be the Countries that always get 'any' new high end Arranger first. And of course that is because there are many, many more Arranger Keyboardists in Europe, etc. Congratulations 'SD1007'!. I hope you will fill us all in on the details of Korg's new high end Arranger. Such as are the sounds really as good as some of the latest Demos we've heard? What sound system are you using to output the PA1 XPro to? The sound system goes a 'long' way in articulating the true sound capability of any Keyboard instrument. So for good analysis of the PA1 XPro's sounds would require a decent sound system to judge the true nature of the sound quality. Either that or an extremely good pair of Professional Headphones.

'SD1007', if you don't mind, could you please put the PA1 XPro through some rigorous paces to try and see if the Polyphony issue is relevant or not, ie., "does the PA1 XPro exhibit any 'note drop off' for lack of Polyphony? That is one of the 'biggest' questions on most people's minds is the Polyphony issue. Thank you for being a 'beta tester' SD1007. Please keep us informed and updated often about your likes, dislikes, about the features, instrument likes/dislikes, Sequencer likes/dislikes/, button layout likes/dislikes, opinions about using the PA1 XPro for Live! use suitability, etc., etc. We are ALL looking forward with bated breath to hear your qualified opinions about the new Korg Arranger.

Again congratulations on being the first person on the Planet??!?!? - to own the new Korg PA1 XPro just as Terry was one of the first on the planet to own a Yamaha Motif ES.

Best regards,
Mike

Mike,

I get the impression from JJ, the PA1 is NOT widely available and that he is a Beta tester. Meaning, Korg has sent him a pre-production copy to test. JJ, if that is not the case please clarify.

JJ, please post a review when you get a chance, you know how we fellow arranger keyboardists love to drooool.

Regards,
Al

Congratulations! I know you'll enjoy the new keyboard. Keep us posted please.
I personally think the polyphony will be a non-issue. Korg allocates their sounds differently than Yamaha, as has been documented so many times before, so the numbers don't mean as much.
DonM

Why do I suddenly have this vision of a horde of synthzone members drooling, eyes pooping out while they're reading this thread...?

keybplayer. Sorry to disappoint you, but I never stated I was going to buy one.
Having spent 7 days with one at the Keyboard Festival I was just passing on my experiences to all the people who were criticizing the PA1X yet have never seen one.
I am still very happy with my 9000Pro for the near future.
Graham UK

Hello,

Thanks on all for the kinds words . As you know , English is not my language, so it is not so easy for me to explain correctly what I want to say

No it is not a preproduction to test ... I hope so

A little explanation : I never sais that I was a "beta tester" but a "beta player"....

So I will answer with a great pleasure at your questions, but don't wait soon a complete review ..it's to difficult for me in English

I prefer make for you if you want some demos... Music is an international language !

Greetings,

JJ

Interesting Graham. Apparently the Korg PA1X Pro doesn't justify you selling the 9000Pro for the Korg. Sorry to hear that because from your comments I thought it was not only a Tyros killer but a 9000Pro killer as well. Indeed it may yet still be so, but for whatever reason something has 'held' you back from getting one. Your reasons would be very enlightening to all of us.

Possibly one of them is that Yamaha Arrangers have a broader user base whereby thousands upon thousands of Styles can be downloaded "for Free" to supplement the internal Styles of not only the 9000 Pro but other Yamaha Arrangers like the PSR 2000/2100, and Tyros, etc. The Korg's Styles are pretty much proprietary from what I understand, so additional Styles would be few and far between I would imagine. Whatever your reasons Graham I'm sure they are good ones. The 9000Pro is a tough act to follow that's for sure.

Best regards,
Mike

JJ I think I may have a solution for providing a 'complete' review by you for reading soon on the Synth Zone. Here is my plan: Go here: http://babel.altavista.com/tr? and bookmark this page.

Then type up a complete review (as time allows) of the PA1 XPro by using Windows Notepad or Wordpad, etc. Or you can even write the review within Alta Vista's Translation window and when you are finished simply translate the review from "French" to English by choosing the: French to > English option. That way you can write your review in French "fast" and have Alta Vista translate it into English. If you use Notepad or Wordpad simply write your review in them and choose from the Menu: Edit/Select ALL/Copy then simply 'paste' the review into Alta Vista's translation window then choose French to > Enlish to translate your review into the English language.

I realize some things will get lost in the translation but for the most part we will understand what you are trying to say. And this will provide a way to post a comprehensive review on the PA1 XPro in a relatively short time.

Best regards,
Mike

keybplayer. Well, yes you are correct in stating that the 9K Pro is a tough act to follow. I just do not require the latest thing assuming I am still happy with the present board. If I wasn't then the PA1X is what I would buy.
Another difficult thing is I was brought up to never lend money and never borrow money. My farther told me if I wanted something, always save up and with cash go and obtain it for the best price possible....very solid advice to a small boy of 8 years old.
This brings me to a point of if I want something I now have the money to buy it....but trying to justify that I should have it is another matter...Ha!!!!

Graham UK

Hello SD1007,

Congratulations on your new arrival!

If you are interested in recording some demos for us, I've got a test web server here (it's also a streaming server) that I'd be glad to post them on for a week or two.

Email address is in the profile.

Let me know.

mike

SD1007,

Since it looks like you have probably the 3 top boards, if you can have only 2 which ones would you keep?

Maybe JJ took the PA1 XPro back after he realized what Roel said is true for him also. Either that or he's gleefully playing the Korg so much that he hasn't had time to respond to our recent questions and posts. What's the scoop JJ?? Fill us in, won't you???? Even if you have to speak French! We can use an online Translator to translate your posts if need be.

Best regards,
Mike

Hello Frankieve,

It's difficult to answer because it's a question of personal taste.
I own this different keyboards because I find that any one is perfect...
I found the 9000 pro a very good kb , but I decided to sell it in attempting for the new Tyros 76 keys...(as a pianist I don't like 61 keys)

If I must add something and make a comparison Yamaha is an all-round keyboard ,sure, easy to use ,but with no surprise. I mean everything is allright but nothing special..
SD1 and Korg are not so (for me)all-round but you they can surprise you with styles and sounds. For my taste I find SD1 a little bit more complete but the mixing of the two keyboards is very interesting. The PA1 on the bottom and the SD1 on the top of my stand .I hope my answer was complete .
Greetings,
JJ

Greetings,
JJ

Thanks for you kind proposition ..I'm sorry but I have no time for the moment but I will let you know something later .
Greetings,
JJ

Hello Mike,

I want just say something to you !
I have a job that take very much time of my live, my wife have a surgery and when I have finally some free time I spend it with my keyboards in my studio ...

So please no harassment for the moment....

My goal to say here that I bought the new Korg was not to be proud to say : I have the new PA1 X" !!! No I wanted just say that it was available here in Belgium.

I don't understand why you are so excited to have a report over this kb ?
Polyphony ? I can assert that for the moment I have no problem with that ?
Sounds ? Some like harmonica (the best I've never heard), nylon guitar, church organ, are very good, other like piano (especially at the top),some sax , voices ...are not so good but it's a first impression. Keyfeeling ? One of the best..
Styles ? I agree with Roel , the fill-in , ending and intro's are not special but that is not important for me ! The most of the styles are very good and are for me complementary with SD1.(note : they are awesome styles with acoustic guitars..)
Voilà, that's all for the moment ..

Greetings,
JJ

These days with this economy, even if one finds a keyboard that completely replaces the older one, it is very difficult to buy the new one.