is it really that much better? I'm thinking of getting one. (the s700)

anybody?

Absolutely a better keyboard. To name just a few features you get on the 700:

Megavoices
USB to device (for importing songs & styles)
IDC (internet direct connection)
Virtual organ drawbars

...plus lots more - Go for it!
Tim

what about the voices in general? Do they sound better then the 1500?

and is there more ROM/RAM (whatever it's called..) on the s700? (which would mean better quality voices)?

Thanks for the reply Tim.

Larger ROM does not translate to better voices. a 64mb sound set can sound better than a 175mb sound set. It's all in the quality of the raw waveforms themselves.

The S-700 is going to give you Mega Voices.. That alone is a biggie. Those Mega Voices will make some styles stand out more on the S-700, plus they're just darn fun to play with too.

But 175MB of Yamaha waveforms invariably sounds better than 64MB of Yamaha waveforms...

They might not compare across different manufacturers, but especially a model or two up from an earlier one from the same manufacturer? You can guarantee that more waveform ROM equates to better sounds..

Get the S700, or even better, save just a bit more (or buy used) and get an S900... Those SA voices are worth every additional penny, alone... Mega voices aren't easy to play from the keyboard, but SA ones ARE

It is probably better to get the PSR 3000 than to get the S700. They don't make them new, but you can probably get 'em used on Ebay.

I used to have a psr 2000 and recently bought the s700 it also has all the cool, live and sweet voices. It cost me less, Brand new, than a used psr 3000, I used to have the 3000 also.

I also bought a TC helicon harmony m for the vocals and still spent less than a used s900.

Of course I don't have the SA voices though. But obviously I don't care about the SA voices because I use mine mainly for backing tracks.

Shim,
The PSR 1500 doesn't have megavoices but has Usb to device, Usb to host, IDC and Virtual organ drawbars. I would not upgrade a 1500 for an S700 because you only get 10 megavoices (which are great) for the styles and 29 extra voices among sweet, cool and live voices but the 1500 has 273 regular voices and the S700 only 254. Of course if I was buying a new keyboard for the first time I would choose a PSRs700 or even better an used PSR3000 with many more features than an S700 including 15 mega voices, more sweet and live voices, color display , vocal harmony and smart media card. Depending on what you want to spend, an S900 would be a much better upgrade. Read the specifications of each model before you decide. Good luck.

Victor


[This message has been edited by vagro (edited 07-19-2008).]

[This message has been edited by vagro (edited 07-20-2008).]

Hi,

I just went from a PSR2000 to an S700. The sound quality of the mega voices and USB and IDC options were an upgrade for me.

However, going from a PSR1500 you would be getting Mega voices technology only. The mega voices do make the styles sound better but I don't see any more options other than the mega voices that are on the S700 that you do not already have on the PSR1500.

I would stay with the PSR1500 or upgrade to the S900. If I had a PSR1500 I would not have upgraded to the PSR700 at all.

It was suggested that I go for the S900 and not the S700 but the additional $600 was an issue for me and the only option I would have used would have been the articulation voices. I could not justify an additional $600 for that.

Hope that helps.

-Linda

Thank you all, I'm G-d willing getting a Pa500 from Korg next week...

Good choice Shim. I have a PSR 1500 and a month ago I added a Pa500 and I'm very happy with it. At home I always play both at the same time with a lower controller keyboard which allows me to play styles either from the Korg or the Yamaha arranger.

From what I understand from korgpa.com, it does have USB To Device... Does that mean it can handle flash drives?

[This message has been edited by shim (edited 07-29-2008).]

The Usb port is available to transfer data from the computer to the SD or MMC card or vice versa(the only storage unit apart from the internal memory). You can also use this connector as a MIDI port. You can't use a Usb flash drive as far as I know.

[This message has been edited by vagro (edited 07-30-2008).]

Thank you Vagro.

Does the pa500 also have a "Woofer" as in the 1500? I think a woofer really pumps up the sound even if the sound quality of the board isn't good.

My psr 1500 didn't have tbe best sounds. In my opinion, it was basicly a "4 variations" version of all the cheaper Yamaha boards, with basicly the same sound quality. But the woofers it had really added a punch to the music.

Does the PA500 have woofers?

When you say "woofer" are you talking along the line of something like a sub-woofer. The PSR-1500 has decent speakers, but part of the reason it pumped a bit was because the 1500's amp was (12w), and many of the previous PSR's were running on half of that.

I think the PA-500's amp is (15w), but based on the specs the speaker configuration for the unit is 2 dual cone speakers... The 1500 had its tweeters separate from the main speakers. With a 15w amp I can't imagine the PA-500 not thumping.... However isn't the EQ on the 500 fixed?

Shim, the Pa500 has a pretty decent pair of speakers. I can't see through the cover if the speakers are separated or not (like in the Psr1500) but the arranger has two lateral windows for the air of the low frequencies and I guess those are for the sub woofers. I don't hear any thumping at high volume though I always use my keyboards with external amplification and speakers. I connected the Pa500 line out to the PSR line in to compare both speaker systems with the same sound engine but the sound was too low to compare. The Yamaha sounds crisper and clearer (better to me) and the Pa500 drier ("duller" if the word is correct)

The Pa500 has a master 4 band EQ.