I have a PSR-740. Should I keep it, and get A PA-80, or trade the PSR-740 for a PSR-2100?

Opinions Welcome.

psr2100 is the "make sense" upgrade for you.

Either the PSR 2100 or Tyros would be my choice...but there is nothing wrong with the PA-80 if you don't mind taking the time to learn the navigation.
Eddie

How many user styles can be stored/accessed on the PSR2100 without loading from a floppy? On the PSR-740 there are only 3 spaces available for user styles which is not enough. I can't bring myself to pay more than $2,000 for any keyboard-no matter how good it is so Tyros is out of my price range.

I say exactly the opposite is true in my case, which is why you should go to the music store and play them both so that you can see which one YOU like better. I had the 740 and PA80 together for a while, until I upgraded the 740 for the 2000. Each one has it's distinct qualities and advantages. I recently tried the 2100 out and found that the 2100 has a few added features / sounds / styles over the 2000, but is very similar to it.
My take :

PSR2100: Pros: easier OS to understand and navigate, especially coming from a 740, ( but not necessarily easier to operate in a live setting ). Good sounds overall: for my tastes superior on ac pianos, woodwinds / sax. Good styles, that work well for a variety of songs. Less expensive than PA80, basic synth sound editing features. Fully programmable multipads that can play short phrases and are dynamic and very useful. Lot's of useful aftermarket products and apps made available by users.

Cons: Poor key feel, not a very sturdy feeling piece of equipment. Drums and bass sounds are useful but bland ( for my tastes ). Not very good for detailed editing and creation of synth sounds. Harmonizer is fair but adequate for live play.

PA80: Pros: Excellent soundset overall. Detailed editing capabilities for making very good emulations of other synths or for making unique synth sounds. Styles have more life and can be useful for composing original songs. Excellent organ, drums, bass, guitars, synth pads / leads. Good electric pianos, strings brass sounds. Decent key feel. Velocity controller that can be set up to trigger fills. Very functional and intuitive pattern sequencer. Decent harmonizer, but less options for triggering chords. Multipads can be used as controllers for midi / style data. Good support / extras from users and from Korg. Any of the internal styles can be replaced by user styles. Lots of power overall to customize the board as the user sees fit.

Cons: Multipads are limited to "one shot" sounds, no phrases and no user pads. "Break" button only silences the style that is playing. Fair piano ( but can be edited ). Only 2 fills per style. Styles are a little more complex, but that isn't necessarily desirable when trying to emulate a range of cover tunes. Some fills aren't good matches for styles. OS learning curve can be difficult for a user not accustomed to it, but the board is intuitive once you learn it.

Ok there it is. If you like the styles and sounds and OS of the 740, you will probably like the 2100 too. It's a very worthwhile upgrade, as the 2000 series has much more functionality than the 740. The PA80 is a very different animal, and coming from the 740 you may not like it at all, or, like me, you may love it.

AJ

I actually did get to play around with the PA-80, enjoyed the musical differences in the styles, and how it got me thinking in different directions than my psr. However, I'm not sure if it is worth $900.00 more than a psr-2100. I think I will get the psr-2100 now, and I hear a rumor of a PA-X 61 key board with speakers coming out in the future. If Korg can release that board for around $2K I would be interested in having that board in addition to the psr-2100.

There is NO load time to play styles. Unlike your PSR740 which makes you load from disk up to 3 user styles on the PSR2100 you can have a few dozen in the user area OR you can just select them in the floppy disk area and at the beginning of the next measure the new style is playing. If you have 65 styles on the floppy, you can play all 65 in real time. I hope you understand this. You can also do this on the Korg PA80. You can load 48 into user style area OR you can hit the floppy disk button and call up styles from the floppy disk while playing other styles. If you install a hard drive, you also have access to 3 complete sets of styles on the hard drive.
I sell both of these products and I know alot about both. Please call me if you have any questions or email me.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566

Hi, look at new Technics KN2600 too.

It is same priced than PSR2100, and it has with a great great plus: SD card. You may store a lot of Mb (for reg, styles, songs, audio!!!, mp3!!!) in this "little thing", and loading from it is very speedy, a lot more than from a floppy. It is like to have a Hard disk, or more, not only one Hard Disk, but more (all sd card you buy).
Afterwards, its key feeling is good, if you don't like it in PSR.

By the rest, you may read a recent review and comparison in this forum
http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum37/HTML/006798.html

Good look

Do yourself a favor and get a psr2000. Save yourself $200 bucks from getting the PSR2100. You can get one for $900. I can't even call myself a musician but this baby has allowed me to compose songs I thought I was not capable of.
Psr2000 all the way.
DJ

Just wondering why you would want to move to a different keyboard. I got my PSR-740 in preference to the 2000 as I found it much more ergonomic for my personal style and the extra features and sounds didn't add anything for me. From what I can see, most PSR users don't use a tenth of what's available on their keyboards. I'm sure most would disagree but I wonder what they would say if they were really honest about it (and I mean REALLY honest - no strutting of male egos allowed).

Bryan