I was able to really have some fun with this keyboard last night at a Guitar Center in RI. I actually listened to almost every style using primarily Intro 1.

I currently own a tyros 2 and I'm looking to add a 2nd arranger. I'm gonna get either the PA800 or the Pa2x Pro.

I reviewed this PA800 on the synth Zone forum about 2 years ago. It was loaded with very first operating system. I didn't understand it too much. That combined with the really underwhelming OS was cause for a lousy review.

I have to retract almost all the negatives I had previously stated in that review.

Some of the things I really loved:
1. The styles are much more live sounding.

2. It blew me away when I got 2 different intros based upon starting in a major or a minor chord.

3. The fills are much better than the yamaha line.

4. The organs are much better than the yamaha

5. The digital touch screen draw bars were great.

6. The sts settings were thought out very well. Great Voices by default. The ability to quickly edit them is awesome.

7. I've always loved the brass instruments on the Tyros 2. But the brass ensemble or brass sections or fat analog brass smoke the yamaha.

8. The ability to quickly mute voices that make up sts ( r1,r2,r3 ) by the press of a button.

9. The Rock Bank are some of the best I've ever heard on any arranger.

10. The TC Helicon Harmony is incredible for an included option.

11. Dual sequencer and midi player (BTW, SMF's sound way better on the korg)

Those were just a few of the things I really liked. There are many more. If you want to know just PM me.

Things I weren't crazy about but not deal breakers.
1. Smaller screen than the Tyros 2 not as many colors either.

2. 1/4 " input for the microphone on the PA800

3. Long Time to power up.

4. Onboard Styles are scattered around and not always in the bank you think they might be in.

5. Having only 1 row of style buttons. multiple button presses to get to other categories.

6. Not a huge fan of the blue case on the PA800. The Pa2xpro is Gorgeous!

7. Much less 3rd. part styles available

There were a few other little things that were no big deal.

Hope this helps anyone who hasn't tried one yet.
_________________

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God Bless,
Mikey

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Good review. Hurry up and buy one so a smart fellow like you can help me figure additional things out on this marvel

Mikey,

I owned a Korg PA1X - it was truly an awesome keyboard. I sold it after about 6 months because of the lack of third party style support. If you decide on the Korg make darn sure the onboard sytles really fit your needs because you will be stuck with them. The other issue was how Korg kept a deep dark secret how the styles were stored on the keyboard. I wanted to delete some of the onboard styles and re-organize those remaining and found it almost impossible to do. I even called the Korg support team and they were not able to offer any help.

The other reason I sold mine was because of the weight. I had a really good case on wheels and the two together just about did me in when moving it around.

All in all I really did like the Korg sounds and OS and if the truth was known have often thought about taking another look at the Korg offerings.

There is a world of difference between the PA800 and the PA2X and if I were to buy another it would be the 2X - especially for a pro performer.

Just my thoughts,
Hammer

Hi Mikey,
first up,
with os 1.51 you're missing the NEW DNC Voices,
you're missing roughly 20 or so NEW Korg styles,
If you ever get into serious style editing, you're missing the ability to export a complete style as a midifile , into a pc sequencer,edit, then import it back in.
May not interest you, but, may come in handy for changing a bassline or altering drums etc

There's other stuff also, but the major ones were the dnc voices & the midifile import/export of a COMPLETE style instead of seperate style parts.

OS2 is a FREE Upgrade downloadable online.
It makes the korg even better.

All the styles onboard are replaceable, but when Korg does a complete system upgrade,
( there's been 2 major ones so far in the last 18 months, 1.51 & 2.01) it replaces the operating system as well as the styles , sounds etc. You can load your own back in , BUT it's easier to just use the Favourites & User slots, which can be saved & reloaded much more easily from a USB stick.

The 2 different intro's & endings for maj & min are great. They can even be different lengths.
The intro's are interchangeable too ie intro 3 is a count in, but if for some reason you wanted a song specific intro from a midifile, it could be used for that too.
Don't know if you noticed, but if you tap a fill twice, it will keep looping.

Another thing you may not realize is, a user style can handle multiple time signatures & tempo's.
ie if you wanted to create a medley style, you can copy a 4/4 variation to vari 1, 3/4 to vari 2, a 6/8 to var 3 etc
( I don't think you'll find it in the manual)
You can even set a fill to automatically go to a particular variation.

I really like the korg pads ie being able to use wav files either looping to play in sync with a style or a one shot as a sound effect.
I don't use many audio files as I prefer to keep them resident in my PA800 rather than load & unload.

I probably could go on and on.

The one row of style buttons is a bit of a pain, but you do get used to it.

I've got somewhere between 20 to 30 disco/dance type styles plus similar amount of Rock type styles that I've collected.
They may need a bit of tweaking as they're not something I normally play, so haven't gotten round to fixing as yet. I threw out anything that was really bad.
I only tweak if I need them.

best wishes
Rikki
[QUOTE]Originally posted by mikey_maestro:
[B]

+1 I loved the PA2x but the style support was abysmal. In retrospect I could have kept it had I known I was going to get a Motif XS at the time, however even the Motif dos not have the sonic quilaty of some of the Yamah samples but the drums are far better in the MO and the arps are nice and far more of them.

The wife really liked the Korg sounds for live backing tracks. The MO has the rawness of the Korg though. I would pick up a PA2x used for less than $1500 though if I saw one...in a distressed sale.


[This message has been edited by Kingfrog (edited 04-28-2009).]

The Sound is fine & many of the great on-board features included, that was never a problem for me BUT....I sold my KORG PA800 due to the lack of style support & the unorthodox folder driven too many step OS which I disliked from the PA80 days and it hasn't changed. It's OK for some but not for me on stage for live performance I'll stick with Yamaha for now.