http://www.jazzhooves.com/2011/04/korg-pa3x-pro-review/

and also a video here http://www.youtube.com/user/MusicStoreTV#p/u/1/YT8yyy2n-pU

Thanks Bill...I have sent these links to friends of mine who are a bit on the fence about the PA3Xpro.

Ian

I always suspected the pa3x got the
G70 curse....

The thing I don't get about the G-70 is that it flopped, but on the second hand market it is a huge success. I tried to get my hands on one a couple of weeks ago - it sold for $2.5k - this is a six year old board - four generations behind todays TOTL arrangers - and it still gets top dollar and rapid sales on the second hand market. Why is that? I see Tyroses, Motifs, Fantoms and other TOTL products for $0.8k - $1k all the time. It's just weird....

DocZ

I honestly don't see the point of comparing this arranger to Yamaha. Let's face it, if you LIKE Yamaha's sounds and styles, you are going to get one! The whole POINT of this is to be different. I really loved the comment about the drums being TOO real! That pretty much nails where the reviewer is coming from...

His ne plus ultra is Yamaha. I'm honestly a bit disappointed. I would expect a review like this from Ian, but someone who's JOB it is to do a review, you are supposed to be a little less biased. There are plenty of us out there that want a punchier, more lively, more upfront, and dare I say, more REAL drum sound in our equipment. Many of us play quite a lot with real drummers, and only feel comfortable, if we HAVE to use auto drums, etc, that it sound as close to a real drummer as possible. We don't play in our living rooms, playing ALW or light pop. We ROCK! We ROLL! And we want to sound like our drummer does, too..!

Let me just help everyone out there sitting on the fence.

If you like Yamaha, don't get anything else... Guess what? THEY ARE DIFFERENT! Now, if Yamaha's leave you feeling like you are listening to Muzak, then a Korg, a Ketron, even a Roland (that BK is a sleeper!) may be just what you are looking for. But if you LIKE the Yamaha's, very little else sounds like them. And, I'm sorry, but in MY book, that's a GOOD thing, not bad! But if that's the sound you are after, just buy one. Make Ian happy!

I think this reviewer is hired by Yamaha. A 6/10 hahha what a joke.

My take on the G70 resurgence is that I think a lot of live band players (got two locally who just bought one) are getting into them. IMO, they are one of the few arrangers that hold up comfortably to a full band, but you can go out and do a solo or duo on them as well (which you can't with a WS, easily), if perhaps a HAIR handicapped compared to say a T4. And, as a live performance keyboard with a band, easily the equal of anything in the WS market sound-wise (with an SRX card in), and ease of use is light years ahead of any WS.

I'm glad I got my spare. I do everything from full size real band, studio work and solo's and duos on the same piece of gear, I never have to deal with a learning curve for one keyboard for one job and another for another. Everything that I set up for live band use (splits, layers, sounds that are gig tested against a REAL drummer) I then use for solo and duo work, so I get to set the drums where the real one would sit, and my sound changes little.

That's what I'm shooting for. If I HAVE to work with a machine, I'd like it to sound as close to the live drummer as it can. G70 nails this as good as anything I have ever played. TBH, what is surprising is that ANY G70's are out there for sale. Probably home players getting rid of them. But every live band player I work with has nothing but questions about my G70. 'Where can I get one?' I'm asked all the time.

I really think Roland screwed the pooch with their marketing of the G70. They stuck it in the Mom and Pop piano stores with the KR's, and that's NOT its market... If they had kept it in MI stores, and sold it as a 'Live Stage' keyboard with TOTL SMF playback and decent arranger capabilities as an extra, it should have sold much better. MUCH better...!

I can understand why the reviewer scored the Korg so low.

Simply put, the Tyros4 has incredibly expressive sounds, and each iteration of the Tyros has arrived with more of them.

Notice I didn't say they were "better" than the Korg's.

That's because what I like to hear coming out of my speakers, is different than what someone else wants, and what I like to hear is Yamaha's characteristic overall sound.

The reviewer's disappointment in the Korg wasn't based on it not sounding as good as Yamaha...it was because the instrument did not show much improvement over the previous series...he said, "Playing the Korg takes me back to PA80. There seems to be little all change since then."

I'm not familiar with earlier Korg's so I can't agree or disagree, but I do concur 100% with his statement that "styles are the heart of any arranger keyboard".

He says, regarding the Korg, "The overall style sounds unbalanced and too clunky"

If the heart of the instrument is "unbalanced and clunky", no amount of cool features and chord sequencers will fix that...maybe a lot of reprogramming on the part of the user, but this sounds suspiciously like the issues with the PA-800/2Xpro whereby the styles didn't transition very well.

As I said in my earlier posts, I would love for the Korg to be terrific...it would have to be to compete with the Tyros4...Yamaha did their homework and improved the parts of the arranger that are most important to the intended buyer; styles and sounds. They were markedly improved from the previous models. Maybe non-Yamaha users wouldn't notice the bigger improvements, but Yamaha users did, and consequently, they wanted to buy. Not being a Korg user, I may not notice the changes as mush as a Korgian would...but the latter better darn well notice them, or they ain't gonna buy!

Did Korg do improve their sounds and styles?

So far, it doesn't appear that way, at least to the reviewer, who says he is familiar with the earlier instruments.

Maybe, another reviewer will feel differently than the one at JazzHooves?

It's still only early in the PA3Xpro's launch, so maybe Korg needs to do an OS update?

Roland had a similar issue with the G-70, but finally managed to correct it with updates, although it did have a negative effect on sales. The Roland G-70 sounds are now dated (it does have one great piano), as are the styles, but it still sells well second hand mainly because of the 76-note keybed. E-80's and E-50's aren't anywhere near as popular.

As for the PA3Xpro?

Time will tell...

Ian

I still fail to hear any TRULY significant change in Yamaha's sound since the T2. Subtle improvements, yes. New sounds, yes. A paradigm shift in Yamaha's sound..? Not really.

I'm just not sure why ONLY everything else is supposed to be radically different each new model. If incremental improvements are good enough for Yamaha, they should be good enough for every other manufacturer, too.

It really doesn't matter if YOU hear the significant changes in Yamaha's sound from Tyros to Tyros...it's hardly surprising, since you don't play them enough.

However, the changes were definitely significant enough for Yamaha users.

In Korg's case, since it's only early in the launch, it would be fair to say the jury is still out.

However, since the reviewer is equally familiar with both Korg and Yamaha arrangers, and has had hands-on experience with both, I suspect he may be right in his assessment of the Korg...certainly more accurate than I could be, since I have played only the Yamaha, and far more accurate than you, as you have played neither.

Ian