Hello everyone,

I want to buy a new arranger around the price of 2000 euros. From asking on other forums most people recommend either getting the Korg PA1000 or the yamaha psr 900 / psr 920. I personally find the korg more interesting but I would like your opinion as well. Which one do you suggest? Any other suggestions are welcome.

I've owned them all, and over the years, Yamaha has always done the best job for me as an onstage performer. My best advice is to "Try before you buy."

Good luck,

Gary

Roland has the most logical and flexible chord recognition systems, which permit playing the broadest variety of chords and complementary bass notes with a minimum of keys pressed. This translates to a lesser workload on the player in "real time" and facilitates fast and accurate playing of difficult chord progressions with a minimum of hand movement.

Roland's system does not require you to play "extra" notes that are not part of the chord, and they also do not penalize you for playing all the notes of the chord if you know how to do so. There are also "pianist" modes which are designed to recognize chords even if you're playing two-handed piano in a natural way. With third-party accessories the chord recognition system can be changed on the fly (mid-song) by depressing a foot pedal, which makes it even more flexible. Their only really "current" model is the E-A7 which dates to 2015 and retails well below 2000 euros.

All that being said, I think the correct answer depends on your specific goals, your skill level, and your willingness to put time in to practice, learn the features of the keyboard, tweak styles and one-touch settings, etc. Why 2000 euros? If that's your budget there are a lot of used top-line arrangers and even full-sized organs (if portability isn't a concern.) We can't really help you unless you provide more insight about yourself and your musical goals.

Roland is out of the midline and up arranger market (for nearly ten years). Korg hasn't come out with a new midline arranger in 8 years or so, and its latest TOTL arranger is still a buggy incomplete tragedy three YEARS after launch.

The only recent midline arranger is the Yamaha PSR-SX920.

And in truth, only Ted has issues with any other chord recognition system (he's married to Roland's one finger systems long abandoned). Yamaha and Korg players have no problems. Ted's problem is he can't be bothered to learn another system. And Roland are no more!

The Korg is more versatile, with a better sample and considerable support with the ethnic music communities (Middle East, Balkan's etc). The Yamaha is more slanted towards Western music, and is perhaps the better experience 'out of the box'. Its support community is probably the largest.

If you're VERY experienced programming, and want to experiment with the synth and sample engines, the PA1000 is likely your better choice. BUT... the writing seems to be on the wall at Korg, they seem to show little interest in the arranger market, and I for one wouldn't be surprised if the existing models are their last,

So if you go Korg, you may find yourself locked into Ted's shoes... mired in a system that no longer exists and isn't adopted by anything else. So any attempt to move on is going to mean you will have to learn a completely different OS... 😱

Quite honestly, at this point, if you think an arranger might be what you want to create music with for a while, Yamaha are the only brand I think has any future...

I have them all Roland,Yamaha,Korg,Wersi,Ketron and the only arranger that is the easiest to learn and professional on stage is KORG, and although people are complaining about the PA5X it is the best of the best price and features, complainers mostly have buggy sets that load incorrectly, Yamaha comes in 2nd for me.

Despite its initial release 10 years ago, the E-A7 is readily available new in the US and foreign markets. An OS update to maintain regulatory compliance was issued in 2024, so Roland still regards it a current model. The same chording system is used in much more recent Rolands like the FP-E50 and Go:Keys 5. So it doesn't appear to me that they have abandoned their intelligent chord recognition. Besides that, Casio models like the current CT-S500 have about 95% conformance to the Roland system--almost all songs can be played without learning full or different fingering. I'll readily admit, the E-A7 isn't the most user-friendly for a newbie, and there's a lot that it doesn't do. However most of the missing features can be overcome by adding outboard gear.

I didn't go into this hobby with a bias. Since 2005 I've spent tens of thousands of dollars to own and test arrangers of every brand. I've also spent hundreds of hours reading technical manuals and performing detailed tests, looking at MIDI output both recorded and real time. Roland's Chord Intelligence was among the first such system to be used in a "professional" arranger, circa 1991. It's ALWAYS more ergonomic and less mistake-prone to press one or two keys instead of three or four. And since you can play all of the notes that comprise the chord without penalty it facilitates learning, making some better off without really making anyone worse off. It's highly logical and it has merit.

TEN years later Yamaha debuted their current proprietary system known as "AI Fingered". It entails some strange compromises, perhaps deliberately to avoid patent infringement. There are several posts on the Yamaha PSRTutorial forum where owners ask (and grouse in disappointment) because they can't play a simple major chord with one key. We all don't have your talent Diki! Yamaha has a lot of marketing muscle, tremendous shelf exposure in US chain stores like Guitar Center, and the corporate hubris to match. But their system is NOT better overall and is just as brand-specific as Roland's if not more so. Even to those who practice "full fingered" chording, brands have subtle differences in how they recognize inversions (e.g., Am7 vs C6; whether sus4 chords are recognized in all inversions, etc.) It would be better for everyone if the manufacturers offered more customizability to address these situations and to facilitate transitioning between brands.

We don't know Jay's (the OP) background. I exhort you to think about arrangers (going all the way back to the Hammond S6, circa 1950) from the perspective of an analyst or engineer, rather than that of a professional musician. What are your musical goals? You no longer have to learn stick-shift to get a driver's license. They don't teach navy cadets "the ropes" on sailing ships anymore. Arrangers are force multipliers; musical automatic weapons that sit on a spectrum of interactive tools somewhere between home organs with bass pedals and button-pad clip launchers. If you don't want assisted chord input or real-time style pattern transposition, then why buy an arranger at all? You would probably be better served by a performance synth like a MODX, a combo organ like the VR-730, Band-in-a-Box software, or something else. This is an Arranger forum, and I'm adamant that assisted chord input has always been one of the defining characteristics of the breed. I posted today so that prospective buyers like Jay can make an informed decision with the benefit of what I've learned.

Alright, thanks!

Hmmm very interesting, Ill definetly keep that in mind.

Truth is that my Roland E-09 which ive had for 17-18~ years has been an extremely good purchase and very worth its money. Ill keep everything in mind, thanks!

I wish I could afforh the PA5X i'd immediatelly buy this one no second thought. What about your PA1000, do you agree with Diki's response?