I am thinking of adding a keyboard to my set-up, and was wondering if the Korg PA80 is has good as the Triton - taking into consideration the price/Sampler (or lack of). It is the sounds itself I am very interested in, and I wondered whether it has some good Triton sounds - like the triton itself - or maybe just a scaled down "Engine" of the triton? I could buy a triton, but it is a few hundred more than the PA80 - and without speakers. Could one say that the Korg PA80 has a "Top arranger" tag? - Since it is $1000+ (lots) less than Yamaha 9000 pro? Do the sounds compare to the triton I ask! Don't need a sampler anyway, so could that be why the PA80 is less money? - Or is it just an "All in one" bag of tricks - which I may grow out of quickly? Good pads/strings/Electric pianos are what I'm after, but also, Big sounds like the Triton itself.

Sorry for many questions - but running out of ink


Andrew


[This message has been edited by Nimrod (edited 08-13-2001).]

The pA-80 have "4" OSC. ,Triton only have "2"."they are close".Piano are better than the Triton.all the other sounds, sounds good too, like the Triton.

[This message has been edited by vic83 (edited 08-13-2001).]

forgot to mention that they are the same Engine(Triton and PA-80). infact I feel that the mother board of the PA-80 is more faster.more stable.and the PA-80 have a very good Composer with 100,000 notes of memory Comparing to the 38,000 notes of the 9000PRO.plus nice Functions and other very Impressive things that will help you in live preformance.

I explain it like this to my customers:
The PA80 has the same oscilators as the Triton (these are the raw samples), however, on the PA80, because it is an arranger keyboard, the sounds have been created to cover more "main stream" sounds, such as Pianos, Organs, strings, brass, and they have included fewer synth type sounds as used for hip hop and dance type music. Also, there is no combination mode on the PA80, so you can't create sounds using up to 8 programs like you can on the Triton. However, you can create performances on the PA80 where you can have up to 3 programs layered. There is no arpegiator on the PA80 as on the Triton. Will you ear hear a difference? The answer is probably you will, but it is because the two machines are as different as a station wagon vs a sport utility vehicle. I don't recommend customers who come in looking for the Triton to buy the PA80, however, if they want the Triton to produce songs and they don't play drums well, or play bass well, I then suggest the PA80 for all it's arranger possibilities.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

This time I do not fully agree with George,
I think the PA-80 will suit your wishes to a
T. In particular the sounds you mentioned are amply there and in very good quality.
The arranger section is among the very best, if not the best in the present line of top arranger keyboards. I just bought one, and seem to even favour it over the much acclaimed Solton SD-1.
And as in "three in a row" seeing it is always mentioned here in the same breath, the yamaha Pro9000 falls short of these in my humble view. And as you pointed out so rightly, the Korg is substantially cheaper than the other two topkeyboards. Furthermore they are very up-to-date with their operating system, I have meanwhile loaded their most recent, and second update, since it hit the market earlier this year.
GO FOR IT !!!!

john.

For a while I have both PA-80 and Triton hooked up to same sound system and they are identical in sounds Triton is much more flexible but I am talking about presets here some sounds are even better in PA-80 especially flute, violin, sax now don't forget that Triton have more flexible effect routing than PA-80 but if we are talking about sounds they are exactly the same Triton can be more expressive due to its ribbon controller and arps...

Thanks for the info. If the PA80 is the same Sound Engine as the Triton, then at many $$100$$ for the same sound seems good to me. Same as I said, I'm not bothered about the Sampler at all - so that would save a bit anyway, nor the arpeggiator (seem like gimmicks to me do these). I will seriously consider this PA80. However, Two sequencers on one Keyboard aren't what I had in mind!

John: is the Korg PA80 "Better" than the SD1 & Pro 9000? - Even if they were at the same price? - Or are you taking this into consideration? And is it easy to get two arrangers running at once - without a jumbled up sound? (My KN5000 (which I brought a month ago) + PA80 it would be).

Arbaz: Are the String/Pad sounds etc as good as the triton? - As the KN5000 caters a lot for the Solo sounds. (Maybe the PA80 is better than the KN5000 - I don't know). Also, what I want from the PA80, are these Synth sounds that George says are a little absent in the PA80 - by comparison to the Triton that is. Nice Wurly/washy/Spacey pads! - That would be very nice. I'llrepeat that! Nice Wurly/washy/Spacey pads!

George: you say the "PA80 has the same oscillators as the Triton" whereas Vic says: The pA-80 have "4" OSC. , Triton only have "2".". Me a little confused on this one.

Also George, you say:

"The sounds have been created to cover more "main stream" sounds, such as Pianos, Organs, strings, brass, and they have included fewer Synth type sounds as used for hip hop and dance type music".

Since I want a Triton for these Dance Synthy sounds, then this would disappoint a little bit (note that the arpeggiator/Sampler is bottom of my agenda). I already have a keyboard with good solo sounds in the KN5000. I will have a good look. A Triton rack would be tempting mind you - if they weren't nearly as expensive as the keyboard itself!! (Triton that is)

Vic: Since you say that "they are the same Engine(Triton and PA-80). infact I feel that the mother board of the PA-80 is more faster", ..then it can't be bad!

Thanks everyone.


Andrew




[This message has been edited by Nimrod (edited 08-14-2001).]

I don't think you will be disappointed with the dance/synth sound on the PA80, which is one of the reasons I bought it. There are 16 preset styles for dance: techno, house, disco, and plus there are at least 8 hipop styles that are very good. Of course, you can always build your own style using PA80's drum kits.

Andrew,

as to your first question:
To me a tentative conclusion would be that indeed the Korg is the best one out of the three mentioned, but of course this is entirely a matter of taste. The PA-80 is indeed a complex arranger keyboard, but which one isn't in this day and age, however the possibilities of tweaking SOUNDS AND STYLES are tremendous. the sound quality has already been praised by many here, and I can only emphasize once more, that the possibilities of adjusting the styles to your own taste are out of this world. The only thing missing here, but that's is very personal,is the so-called DYNAMIC ARRANGER, which can be found in Roland and Solton keyboards. (and in the past in Yamaha and TEchnis keyboards).
As to your second question;
I think the Korg is a very good addition to the KN5000, they complement one another perfectly in my opinion, and playing with two keyboards (of different makes!!!) should be any performer's dream ! !!!!
so once more, just go for it son !!!!

john.

The PA=80 may not have dynamic arranger, but you CAN set the touch sensitivity to trigger the fills.
DonM