Time for me to upgrade and looking at both the Roland G70 and Korg PA1x. I currently have Roland Discover5 with Roland VK8M organ module but this setup lacks music styles. I play along with a sax so I have to provide all the background music as well as vocals. What's important to me is midi file modification and playback, clean good quality musics styles, excellent B3 organ, vocal harmony, good quality brass,piano and strings, basic recording, and quality workmanship - can't afford something that is not reliable. Suggestions and advice welcome, especially someone that may have already gone down this road. Also, let me know if I should include another keyboard. I'm in no rush and may wait until after the Summer NAMM to see what comes out of that show.

I own both, so I can let you know as much as possible but once again it's really up to you what will be best.

The Korg is a very professional level board, the sounds are great. the Vocalizer is top notch. the interface takes a little to get but once you do it's great with allot of room to grow. What I feel is lacking is a majority of the styles seem to be somewhat empty, I find myself adding strings or a pad to try to fill it up. and the drums are great but I feel they are not used to their potentional.
Midi file playback is good but you need to adjust most of the files to get it to sound good.

The Roland takes a different route. more buly than the Korg. But the vocalizer may not be as pro as the Korg but the on board controls are instant with dial and dedicated buttons which make adjustments very easy. I feel Midi file handling Roland is the top. Styles are bad to great with the meat of them being in the middle road. As an instrument for a one man band thing, I like them both but I think the Roland has the edge. As for a one man band/ studio / full band/ I would go with the Korg

Thanks for the comparison. How do the organ sounds compare? I rely on them alot and use the Roland VK8M as a benchmark. I've read and heard that the G70 includes the VK8 organ module but not sure. I do not use a leslie - too much to move around - so the leslie simulation is important as well.

Hi Bill,

First let me say that I work for Generalmusic USA. Both instruments you are looking at are quite good. But since you ask for suggestions of other brands, I would like to invite you to take a look at the GEM Genesys Pro. It is a similar instrument to the other two, but does have some unique features that may be of interest.

If you get a spare moment, please visit our website and view the online video demos of the Genesys to get a feel for what this instrument has to offer. By the way, I shot this video using the Genesys Ensemble designed for home use, but the portable version has the exact same features as the Ensemble. Click HERE to go directly to the Genesys Pro area. The video demo is available in one long (45 minute) streaming video in low and high resolution or below those links the video is broken down in sections so you can focus on the features that interest you without having to watch the entire video in one sitting.

If you have any questions about the Genesys Pro or any of our products, please feel free to contact me here or by dropping me an e-mail (in my profile) or by visiting the GEM Community forums (link below).

Best Regards and happy hunting!

Dave


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Wm. David McMahan
Nat'l Product and Support Manager
Generalmusic USA
GEM Community Forums

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Wm. David McMahan
Nat'l Product and Support Manager
Generalmusic USA
GEM Community Forums


[This message has been edited by WDMcM (edited 07-27-2005).]

Hi Dave. I believe the GenesysPro has been out for quite some time now. I remember attending the GenesysPro demo put on by Chris Anthony at Winter Namm back in January 2002. Back then, I was quite impressed with it's rich array of features, keyboard feel, and very capable sounds & styles.

Interestingly enough though, when I finally thought I had a chance to audition & play one first hand, in Sept 2003, Paul Davis, GEM sales manager, demoed the Genesys Pro demo for a group of Synthzone members in Santa Barbara, CA, but the GenesysPro unit's OS kept crashing. Paul was also scheduled to demo the unit here in San Francisco, CA , but because of the OS problems he experienced with his demo unit in Santa Barbara, had to scrub the SF demo. Paul promised me he would return to the SF Bay Area & demo the GenesysPro once things got resolved, but I never heard back from him. I can only hope those Genesys Pro OS stability/reliability problems have now been fully resolved and that Paul, or someone else from GEM, might be finally able to return to the SF Bay Area to demo the GEM Genesys Pro here.

Dave: Btw, have there been any new GenesysPro features added, or significant enhancements/improvements since its initial release back in 2001?

Thanks. - Scott

[This message has been edited by Scottyee (edited 07-27-2005).]

First of all, let's take a look at the street price of the GEM - Yikes! Nearly $2000 MORE than street price on a G70!

Now LISTEN to the demos....... subjective, I know, but the GEM sounds wooly and reverb-y, Roland's demos for the G70, punchy and clean (if still a bit reverb-y for me!)

So what do you get for an additional $2k? Mostly the ability to record audio (at up to 16bit/44k, which is hardly pro, now) and playback audio. Not enough, I fear. The PA1Xpro will do audio at much less than the GEM.

Anyway, to return to your original question, I honestly think that if you have had Roland Discover and are used to Roland's way of working, go with the G70 - I love mine (had a G1000 prior) and the Korg might be your cuppa tea if you REALLY need sampling and audio playback, but to my ears, the Roland's styles are more natural, and the ease of modifying them is outstanding! And the Korg will take a LOT more work to make GS SMF's sound good!

BTW - Summer NAMM seems a total yawner - nothing of much interest to us here.

Actually if you shop around you will find the prices to be close.



As you said, that is subjective. Not everyone likes the same sound. But keep in mind that the sound is adjustable on each instrument.



Not exactly. You also get a very usable interface and much more flexibility than many of the other instruments. And the CD drive is not just for burning audio CD’s, it can also be used for mass storage of SMF’s, MP3’s, User Set-ups, etc. just like the internal hard drive.



Bill did ask for other suggestions, so I don't really feel I was out of line by offering one.

Sorry if I jumped in where I didn't belong.

Dave

There have been several O/S updates for the Genesys. Any new instrument is going to go through an initial set of updates to correct problems that come up. The current O/S is very stable and has been for quite some time. This is a non-issue.

Keep in mind the number of software updates that have come out to repair problems in some of the other instruments that are available today.

The new Genesys S series does have several new features. The hard drive capacity was increased to 20MB. A new DATA BASE feature was implemented to make it faster to locate songs on the hard (SMF's, MP3's, .wav files, GEM Songs) and a Playlist function was added as well. The internal memory was increased substantially. The ability to use up to 3 Multi-Pedals (each Multi-Pedal consists of 6 footswitches that can be assigned to many parameters within the instrument. The Pitch/Mod wheels have been replaced with a Pitch/Mod lever. Portamento was added to the Sound Editor, etc.

The fact that the original Genesys was introduced in 2001 is a good thing. It was way ahead of its time back then and is still very capable when compared to the newly released products of other manufacturers. The current Genesys S series with its newly implemented features can definitely hold its own.

Dave

[This message has been edited by WDMcM (edited 07-27-2005).]

Scottyee and Diki,

Please, I merely was trying to offer another possibility as the originator of this thread requested.

I am not going to suggest something to someone if I don't feel it is of potential interest. I am first and foremost a keyboard player. I just happen to be lucky enough to work for a company that makes some pretty cool stuff.

Dave

Yes, the G-70 has the same organ sounds of VK8. You can assign organ upper kbd, lower kbd and pedals to different keyboard zones and control them by panel drawbars.