To my ears they sound like the typical compressed MP3 sound of the Tyros 3, and lack the life and vitality that the music demonstrated requires. (As per usual my comparison is with real instruments and players, not other manufactures boards)
Others will probably have a different opinion, so have a listen and see what you think.

Bill

http://www.yamahapkowner.com/?p=1947

I disagree. It sounds like real instruments in a tight band to me - maybe a tiny bit too quantized.

I'm going to purchase the Pop Mambo style when it becomes available which it is not. A perfect style for Mambo #5.

Beakybird

Unbelievable you have to buy these styles. Korg Germany give you 4 styles a month for FREE. Not to mention many other styles ie from Korg Italy you get for FREE. Thats one of the reasons I don't like Yamaha keyboards. You must pay premium prices for everything.



[This message has been edited by FransN (edited 01-20-2010).]

Well I was very happy that Yamaha was coming out with new styles, every bit as good as the onboard styles. They came out with 4 this month - which comes out to $28. If I paid $28 every month - which I don't - that would come out to $330 extra a year.

And Korg comes out with new styles for free. Are they as good as the original styles?

That's a good deal on the part of Korg.

Occasionally, Yamaha divisions in different countries offer packs of freebies too, but for the most part, they aren't as good as the original styles.

Beakybird

The rock style is a copy of "Sweet child of mine" by Aerosmith.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-AYAv0IoWI

Yamaha couldn't make it sound any closer, or they would get sued.

Yes especially the styles from Korg Germany are fantastic. And most of them are song based just as the Yamaha styles.

Did you get your Korg PA-500 yet, Frans?

Ian

Yes Ian. After playing the PA500 Musikant a month now I can say WOW what a great keyboard is this.

That's excellent, Frans...glad it worked out for you.

Do you do any gigging with it, or is it mainly for home use?

Ian

No I don't gig. I am a hobbyist. Ian if you are interested in a second keyboard forget the Roland Prelude. The Prelude don't even come close to the Korg Musikant.

I tried the Prelude and was unhappy with the keyboard action and the sounds are starting to get old...plus it doesn't have style assembly.

You can make styles on the PA-500?

They are scarce around my area, as the local dealer does not carry Korg arrangers...just synths and digital pianos.

Yes you can create your own styles on the PA500. I know what you mean with the keyboard action of the Prelude. I had the GW 8 who has the same keybed and didn't like the action either.

Ahem, didn't you mean Guns and Roses?

Slash will be paying you a visit, if you are not careful!

I think what Ian is specifically after is not necessarily style CREATION, but the ability to grab different Parts from different styles, and assemble them all Frankenstein-like into a hybrid. Without a computer

Can the Korg do THAT?

Is there an on-line manual for the PA-500? I suspect it will do style assembly, but it would be nice to know for sure.

The $1000 (approx) Yamaha PSR-S710 has on-board style assembly...and it's around the same price as a Prelude.

I can't see why they can't add it to a Prelude with an OS upgrade. Style assembly on the keyboard is far better than in a PC...you can hear the changes real time, and test out all the chords it should play properly.

For the only arranger in their line-up, it's lagging behind pretty seriously...are they that fed up with arrangers?

There must be a PA-500 manual available on-line.

Ian

All the Korgs in the modern PA series can do that.
PLUS you can also overwrite any factory style if you want.
Even if its only to mute a part out.
No need to waste valuable user slots, when you can simply edit the factory style by adding any other parts or deleting parts or muting parts, including ANY instrument, and the re-save back to the factory location, if you want. Of course the option is alwasy there to store it in a user slot too

Can ANY of the Rolands do THAT!!!

And I really have to agree with Ian, the sound of Roland really does get tired very quickly, GW8, G70, VA76 et al, its the same with the Fantom series (all of em, even the G) too, in my view.

Sheesh some of the sounds on the G70/GW8 I played were EXACTLY the same as the old SC55 module I had. And the SC88 after that.

That's a great feature. It isn't as important these days when USB is equally as fast as loading a style as it is from a user location, but it is handy nevertheless.

I've yet to try a Korg arranger...I probably would like them, if only for the fact that they are a little different than Yamaha, especially the styles. They seem to do the fusion stuff pretty good, and I like that style of music.

Ian

Here is the link to the online manual of the PA500 http://www.korgpa.com/pa_root/pdf/pa500/Pa500-110UM-ENG.pdf

Errrrr..... yes, Guns and Roses!!!

All the E and G-series can (as well as in the box style assembly). Also, all those legacy sounds are there in ADDITION to all the new ones. So, if you have legacy styles or SMF's, they can be made to work like the original. But it is also a snap with the Makeup Tools to revoice to the new sounds.

Having been the leader in SMF playback since pretty much the invention of the SMF, Roland pay more than lip service to backwards compatibility...