Well I guess by now everyone knows I now have a KORG PA500.
Here is some of my first impressions... I love the size, weight, shape, color, key feel which is a bit firmer then my S910 in a good way it really is nice to play.. The buttons are so much better then the PA800, the PA500 has nice SQUARE buttons that have a nice tacky rubberish feel to them....vs my old Pa800 with small rectangle one...these make it easier to navigate and get around on deck....the display isn't color which i dont miss at all but its nice and bright easily readable sharp & clear with a nice raised angle also.Speakers are good & loud enough for monitor duty on stage..or practicing..This unit has Bass Ports on each side which give a great quality Bass sound when played without a PA system....and really good with thru a speaker system..So far the styles are more then enough factory ones to cover so many genres......I haven't begun to even load any third party or converted styles......sounds are pretty good especially the ones I always use ...pianos,excellent Accordions , harmonicas, elec pianos, organs are super, trumpets, trombones, guitars Nylon is sweet with slides, and brass are real nice although I had to layer a few to get the sound that I require..some saxes are nice, growl tenor isn't as good as the S910 but if you mix it with a bari growl you can get a decent sound..using a tenor with a block ensemble gives a great Miller type sound also..Multipads can be fully edited and assigned to any style......Songbook IMO kills Yamaha MFD by miles nuff said on that great feature..DUAL sequencer works fabulous easy to search songs and load SMF songs if needed, nice bright LYRIC readout also at the touch of a button....menu feature is very thorough and lets you get in there to make all kinds of edits with ease to any parts, sounds, etc ...I have to say that out of the box the unit is very proficient very good sounding unit...anyway I'm a bit tried and need to get back to it bright and early for this weekends gigs and beyond.....
to be continued.....it is certainly a great bang for the buck.
Thanx everyone for the help....l8tr

Yes Donny Mate,


I heard it on the BBC News last night, how did you do that, my Doris said is that SZ King Donny playing KB for Obama, singing Blues

lol yes korg in the White house!!

Up bright and early coffee in hand and back to editing...one more day & I'm talking this baby on stage for the weekend..oh yeah sounding real good now.........


Touch screen is very good but needs more sensitivity, but not as good as my Roland G70 was....as I dig deeper into the OS I'm finding so many features that really make it easy to get the sound YOU want.I cant wait to Open Her Up full force on stage this weekend!!

Donny, I don't recall where but in the control panel is a place to adjust the sensitivity/calibration I don't remember what's it's called?

Thanx Steve FOUND it in GLOBAL under
TOUCH PANEL CALIBRATION....works much better now wow I'm learning new srtuff minute by minute, now I'm also Mastering EQ'ing the KB !!!

Ok .....after a grueling 2 days, 18 Hours, of tweaking, editing styles/ STS sounds, etc, Creating a CUSTOM GIG songbook data base, most of all ENJOYING Playing the pa500...I have finally finished & this musician is READY to command the stage this weekend with a fever pitch baby! I am very impressed with the PA500 and cant wait to take it on her Maiden Voyage to Gigsville with Capt. Donny at the helm.

to be continued.............

Donny ... You are sounding a little too laid back with this new board paesano ... I DO hope you get up for your gigs this weekend ...

Best of luck with the new board ... can't wait to hear the 'post-gig' review ...

Thanx Tony.......Ive done this homework routine many many times with many many kbs of every manufacturer thru the years some harder then others but in the end the outcome is always a great sound or out it goes... Ive become very proficient in each of the OS systems ....little rusty here & there, ask some questions, get some help, etc,.. but when I get going watch out baby...

DNJ,

Have you play with the Drums mapping (Menu --> Style controls or Shift + fill 1)?
Start a Style and then play with the drums mapping + kick and snare. Wonderful combinations are found there. And you can select different ones by variation. That is something that can't be done in Ketron Audio drums.