Korg PA800 Review

Today, I spent nearly 2 hours auditioning the PA800. i currently own a Tyros 2. Here are my observations.

I loved the sounds that I tried, particularly the pipe organs (I am a music director of our church), so this was a big plus. The piano had really good depth, strings were great, couldn't find a choir voice that I really liked as much as the Gothic Vox on the Tyros 2. I also missed the SA effects on the guitar that I love on the Tyros - especially for soft instrumentals during sacred times of the service.

The styles sounded great, although I wanted to rebalance the voices to bring the accompaniment through. I really liked the waltzes, a big plus for me since I find the Tyroo waltzes too boom-chick-chick, and also the unplugged styles.

I love the SongBook feature, being able to easily create a playlist of songs with all the settings already there is a wonderful feature for me. I cannot understand why Yamaha have not gone in this direction.

The weight was terrific, and I am really looking for something lighter and easier to set up than the PA system on small Nursing Home jobs. Having said that the speakers are not anything as clear as the Tyros speaker system, so I am left a little anxious about whether I am going to be happy longer term with the sound. If I still end up carrying the PA system I think I'll regret spending the extra money.

Still more research to do. Especially whether I can record and burn CDs as easily as I do today. This is really helpful to provide singers with the accompaniment track for home study.

Thoroughly enjoyed playing the board, and really loved it. My namesake's experience (in UK) will make me cautious and at least one more tryout will be required before I make a decision.

Graham

[This message has been edited by PraiseTheLord (edited 06-08-2007).]

Interesting Review Graham, thanks for your sharing...

Later this summer Korg will release the MP3 board together with OS 1.5. This will allow you to record and playback audio directly on the Pa800. OS 1.5 also gives us a lot of other great features for free. Read more here .

Kind regards,
Tommy



[This message has been edited by TommyF (edited 06-07-2007).]

Tommy, the write-up from Korg talks about an mp3 player. Where did you hear it would be a recorder too?

Graham. The MP3 option is installed with the next OS 1.05, but you have to purchase a MP3 board to install from Korg.

Also OS 1.05 will include a EQ ajustment for speakers & Line output

It has been discussed several times over at Korg Forums. Read the posts by Paolo Tramannoni in this thread . Paolo is an official from Korg Italy.

Kind regards,
Tommy

This is one more reason for Yammie aficionados to sit up and take notice of Korg products. Look at all the new functionality and features Korg is giving the Pa800 by way of OS update 1.5 and the MP3 board add-on! When was the last time the high and mighty Tyros2 was updated by Yammie..hmmm?? Or the original Tyros for that matter?? It's just one more reason for me to consider jumping ship and looking elsewhere for my keyboard needs. Korg is proving (by their actions) that their customers mean something to them beyond the dollar $$$ sign. Kudos to them for taking such a 'novel' approach.

Korg apparently realizes that product satisfaction goes a long way in not only helping the customers who own their products by way of supporting the products they make, but also with the hope of retaining those same customers and in adding additional new customers when those potential customers see Korg's enthusiastic approach to supporting its products by way of frequent and "substantial" OS updates and improvements.

I hope Yammie is reading this and they understand the consequences for their "lackadaisical" support of their products - in the guise of vast multitudes abandoning ship or steering clear of Yammie products altogether because other companies e.g. Korg, etc. offer the customer much more in the way of product support beyond the sale of the product itself while extending that support far beyond just the initial 'bug fixes' that Yamaha seems to relegate the support of its products to.

Bravo Korg!

Best,
Mike

Hi Mike.

I agree with you that Korg offer their customers far more updates than Yamaha do.

T2 owners can still use MP3 songs, but they need to be converted to WAV format for the hard drive to play them back so not all is lost

I wonder ..will Korg make any money on that MP3 board[option] to go along with the 1.5 OS?

Yes I agree that companies that allow update features via OS updates is a great thing for users...but don't confuse the idea, that they are not interested in $$$..

My final decision to buy the G70 was the updated Version3...Many great features are possible with software updates...

Keep an eye on the MediaStation...they have the concept of the future..and maybe this is the direction that Korg and Roland are heading to a certain degree..Although they will always be a hardware base marketing company[s]..

I've been a diehard Yamaha customer but as time passes and the competition allows updates via software I see myself in the future switching brands.

I really like the PA800 also, Ketron has the more traditional latin/european type stuff better.

But I found the styles more believable in a sense of a live band sound. with allot of room to add your own touches.

My tyros 2 was a little to bit finished for me. I also found some of the styles like waltzs almost too much.

29 lbs does help

On the other side of the coin, you could say that Yamaha do not need to bring out updates, as they get it pretty much spot on first time around.
Another way to look at things

Bill

Yeah... I was thinking that, too...

Do the T2 owners have any bugs unfixed? New features are one thing (and very welcome!) but primarily, ALL bugs should be squashed before a company signs off on a product. That's the main issue...

Maybe drdalet's post, 'multipads' concerns a bug in a 3k.

You're joking right? If that were true then my 9000 Pro would never have had any issues which definitely wasn't the case. Yamaha's total lack of support for that flagship product forced me to sell my 9000 Pro and move on to greener pastures (Wersi). In hindsight Yamaha did me a huge favor by showing me how little such a large corporation cares about their customers and products. I'd never have known just how much more advanced the Wersi OAS systems are if I had kept my Yamaha 9000 Pro. Thanks Yamaha for doing me a big favor!

Could you be as so kind to give some insights on the superior operating system over the 9000pro,Ensnareyou?

[This message has been edited by mr9000 (edited 06-11-2007).]

If you look at all computer driven products, such as routers, computers, and such, there are always some type of software revision,

To say that a company did it right and there are no possible enhancements of fixes is a pretty bold statement.

Sure the T2 works great without any "bugs" but is it perfect, NO. Could things be enhanced or changed , sure. Because if the answer is no, then there is no reason for a T3

Ive always had a love /hate relationship with Korg...Ive owned many of them thru the years since the early 80's......love the sound but hated the difficulty in Navigation with the multiple steps real time OS.....
what has improved on the Pa800 vs the older PA80?

If a manufacture gets it right first time, he does not need to keep bringing out updates, and can therefore concentrate on developing the next generation model.
Enjoy whatever you play

Bill

Once again, I tend to agree... A manufacturer is not obliged to revise a working product. Where is the profit in that?

However, as new feature development progresses slowly towards a new model, manufacturers will sometimes (especially when they HAVE to bring out a new OS to correct poorly designed features and squash bugs) incorporate some of the new features to 'beta-test' them before the new product launch. And you will often see this when a new generation of product first appears, like my G70.

However, the T2 is a second-generation product, so many of the 'fixes' and improvements from the T1 have already been incorporated, leaving them with a mature, reasonably bug-free product (or at least, T2 owners are VERY tight-lipped about any unfixed bugs, unlike us Roland users!), so unless Yamaha want to lose sales of the T3 by releasing the new features for free, they are likely to just wait until the new model is ready...

Have had my T2 for nearly a year now. It has worked flawlessly, so I don't see a need for an update ( unless they wanna add some mmeaningful onboard sound editing or a few new styles to the mix ). I pretty much like everything about it, sounds, multipads, accessibility. I think it's good at what it is supposed to be and what it's supposed to do. I guess if it mattered that much to me my only complaint might echo some of the others that say that perhaps some of the styles sound too polished.

I cure that easily enough by turning off the parts I don't need and playing my parts along with what's left. I also sometimes add a repeating multipad or two for a little different flavor. I could have just as easily been happy with the top end Korg or Roland products ( they sound great to me too ) but it doesn't really matter that much to me because keys are my primary instrument and I pretty much can play whatever I need or want to, on any of them. I just like something that feels and sounds good, and for me the T2 is it.

I suppose there are a few things I miss from the days when my PA80 ( which I still have ) was my main arranger. I'm in the vast minority who likes the Korg OS a bit better than Yamaha's, and editing sounds was much easier to do with my Korg ( no computer needed ), but I don't miss some of the fills that sound completely alien to the PA80 style it's supposed to enhance. I don't miss the guitar sounds at all. I'm glad to have multipads that play real musical phrases, and I'm glad for all the user add ons that can be had for a Yamaha.

Still, if I had a lot of extra money to burn, I'd give the PA800 a serious look. Instead, the money I have probably would be better spent elsewhere.

AJ



[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 06-11-2007).]

Diki thats exactly right!

Honestly YES I wish Yamaha would release new OS upgrades that would give us more sounds / styles, features. who wouldn't right?

But in a real world, why would they do it? I don't expect them to, if i didn't like the product in the first place I wouldn't have purchased it.

If they released a Tyros 3 (or whatever u want to call it), they probably COULD release a new OS that will bring the T2 up to spec but then again they would be shooting themselves in the foot.

Nick

Styles are another matter... Yamaha LONG promised it's USB and web connectivity would supply the buyer with an endless supply of new styles and registrations, but have largely failed to live up to that promise. User styles abound, and that's a good thing but it would be nice to see a few more factory quality styles being available...

What is it now? Three years since the T2's introduction? How many new factory styles have become available (and how useful are they)?

One of the upsides to being an early adopter of a new generation arranger is that, as new models start to come out, all THEIR ROM styles can get used either directly or with tweaking, and there is a healthy supply of new styles...

Not Three years, but two years now.
If there are no problems ,you dont have to fix them.
Tyros 2 still the leader of the pack.

Impuls

the exactly same here!

OK, 2 years (is it only that long? how time flies!), but more to the point, just HOW active are Yamaha at releasing new styles?

To be honest, I'd MUCH rather have another batch of hot styles that any 'guitar mode' any day! Somehow, third party commercial styles STILL don't seem to quite get that 'factory fresh' scent, at least IMO...

As long as the features the arranger DOES have work flawlessly, more styles before new features, for me!

AMEN to that.

chas