Thank you

Just a few comments on my new PA3x (previously a Pa2xpro owner for 2 yrs).

I have the 61 key version.
Excellent ... Keybed the same feel as the PA2x.

All styles and sounds have been improved. Most notable the Electric pianos. The Grand piano sounds "different" for sure. Better?? Matter of oppinion.

The TC helicon and voice processor section is terrific!! A huge leap forward IMO. If singing is your thing you will appreciate this part of the KB. The harmonizer is awesome!!

The new panel layout is very very good. For me everything is right were it should be. There is an adjustment from the Pa2x for sure but for the better. The 4 fills (works the way the Tyros does) is something that was on my wish list and I am very satisfied with it. The chord seq works great, altough, activating it with the foot pedal is the only way I can do it.

So many new features! Having a 61 key KB again with the high quality keybed is terrific!

One negative note. My first Pa3x died after 4 hour use. I returned it and luckly my dealer had one more and he instantly exchanged it. The new one has been fine.

I use 2 Bose compacts. Great sound!

Overall it was well worth the upgrade for me. I waited a couple of days before I wrote this to make sure my oppinion would be genuine ... and it is!

If anyone has a question I will do my best to answer.


This KB is exactly what the previous Korg PA's should have been. The balance of the sounds and styles is so much better! The MAXX EQ is a wonderful feature but even without it the KB sounds overall much improved over the PA2x.

There are styles that are missing from the PA2x and 1x but there are new ones that are well done and sound great.

If you are a fan of Korg arrangers then you will love this KB. If you are not then you will probably not like this one.

There are more DNC sounds than before. A great Soprano voice. Improved Scat voice. Improved drum sets. There is an Acustic Swing style that is terrific.

Great review, JC Keeys. You seem very pleased with your purchase so far.

Just one question,

Is the looping fault on the DNC voice, Real Violin still there?

Leigh Wilbraham told me about this problem with the Korg PA3X he reviewed...a "mend" was sent to him, but he said it made no difference.

Ian

Enjoyed your review. At last we can have reviews from
Owners of this keyboard.

Hi, I am a home keyboardist, and I could compare Tyros and Pa3X last week here in Madrid. I Put here some impressions.
Korg keybed seemed much better, and touch screen was very comfortable and intuitive. Beside it, the tyros screen seemed outdated, but bigger and very clear.
Voices are good, but Tyros has better acoustical sounds (SA voices). Piano sound is imho better in Pa3x (and its better keybed helps in that opinion), but flutes, sax, etc. are better in tyros.
About styles, I really liked Korg styles, longer and richer than Tyros. Fills (now 4 fills) are more varied than tyros too. Multi Pads are very good. Unplugged styles are very beutiful ones.
A disapointmet for the Korg was about loading external styles. Tyros read styles directly from the flash drive, and so you may have thousands of styles ready to be used directly. But not is the same in Pa3x: external styles are usually grouped into sets (in Tyros styles are independent, not sets) and they must be loaded first on the keyboard. I seems to me a worse system, especially if you want to listen to many styles. It seems to me Roland does something similar (but not sets): styles must be first loaded into the keyboard and then they may be liestened or used (it was one of bad points of bk7m). Why Korg has not improved that???

About price, Tyros is 3500 €, Pa3x 61-keys is 3200 € (but has no internal hard drive nor video interface, Tyros has both). Pa3x 76-keys costs 3400 € : it has hard disk but no video interface, but it has 76 keys!! All these prices are without speakers.

The OS style loading with sets was one of the gripes I had with my Korg units also and I see now they havn't changed it since the PA 80 days at ...so with this new Korg pa3x it's a matter of weighing the good and the bad features for each person before you think of buying...shame. ...only three Newer TOTL arrangers out there now each with Pros & Cons.....

Ian not sure what you mean by "looping fault"? The real violin DNC function is a little confusing to me. You have two choices hold note octave up or hold note octave down? I would think a "Slide" and a "pluck" might be more useful??? But what do I know!

There is a break in the sound if sustained for several seconds. Apparently it is the only sound it happens on.

Ian

I don't have a problem with that. You can load 1200 styles in the PA3X directly and also important you can remove the one's you don't use or like and replace them with your own styles. Also you can create style sets on your own computer. I don't see the problem here.

Ian ... There is no break in the sound on my KB. Sound is OK. Much better than the Pa2x.