Just Bought A Korg MicroArranger

Having read all the threads and watched all the videos, I ordered one also. This is with no expectations of being my main board, but will certainly compliment my Audya and Kn7000.
It will be handy to bring to church. As the music director there, I will find use for it. I am sure I can use it for some NH gigs, also.

Besides that, I need a new toy.

Bernie

Hell Bernie,

You didn't did you ???? and you with a big dogs Audya.

Never Mind.

Regards

Tony

Good move Bernie...Congrats & welcome aboard!! Whoooo Hooo!

Bernie, nice to receive your Skype call earlier today.
Great to video chat with both you and your lovely wife.
You guys are both looking great. Must be that Florida sunshine.

Welcome to the Korg microARRANGER club !

Scott

Tony
With two of the big dogs back with us(Scott and Donnie), I just had to follow along.

If you believe that -------

Bernie ... wishing you many happy hours of beautiful music with your new KB ...

Neither will bite you Bernie, but you are now in the exclusive Korg Mini Dogs Kennel Club, heee haaaa, BTW Scott never been away.

Regards

Tony

Congratulations Bernie,
enjoy .

How would the following scenario work:
MicroArranger midi'd to laptop with vArranger. TX ch 1 accross the board. Midi into SD2 module.

So far,there shouldn't be a problem as I can control vArranger with my touch screen, and KB just sending note messages. The question is how fast I can switch midi off and play MicroArranger by itself ?

Not knowing Korg well enough, I am wondering if there are too many hoops to jump in live play.

Bernie, nice enjoy. OK you’re the sign that I wait for, I think I’ll buy one.

Two reasons for buying:

1-I need a new toy. That’s one great reason.

2-I intend to keep it simple -- for once I want to take the serious out of playing and have some musical fun. Bernie Korg is different, if you read some of U. Dave’s posts (and others) you’ll begin to understand that the OS is a pleasant and well needed system many keyboard players are looking for. The learning curve is there and then it becomes simple and rewarding; I can do so much with so little effort.

Looking forward to your opinion, John C.

Hi Bernie,

Why would you want to complicate matters when you are not all that familiar with Korg for starters ? I would simply start by playing the thing itself, but in addition hook it up to your major keyboard, both sound and MIDI wise. In such a way you have all the advantages and it is a much more relaxed manner of getting to know the Micro.
See below what I posted in another thread of mine.

Simply hook up the micro both via MIDI and via AUDIO to your Tyros and you do not even have to bother about the small keys and you have improved amplification into the bargain.
Let's assume your major keyboard is a Yamaha (tyros):
You can start by simply linking up uppers and lower via Midi and also the auto accompaniment. (played on the keys of the tyros but stop/start simply on the Korg itself).
Later on you might want to mute the upper midi channels on the Tyros, giving you the following ideal set-up.

You do not link up the uppers but you do link up the auto accompaniment to your lower half of the Tyros. This will give you a choice by playing the Tyros left hand:
1/ auto accompaniment of the Tyros
2/ auto accompaniment of the Korg

While at the same your right hand know has the choice of FIVE upper sounds, three of which on the righthand side of the Tyros and two on the righthand side of the Korg.....

Okay this is about a Tyros, but it goes for virtually any other brand. And I guess that the Micro will be most sought after by current Yamaha, Roland and Ketron players. Anyone playing a major Korg keyboard at present can hardly be interested in the Micro, which however is incredible value for money.

John

Thanks all

John
I had a PA800 for awhile and traded it for Roland G70. I liked the Korg sounds and styles, and was just beginning to learn the OS. The only reason I traded it was because of the reputation the G70 has, and maybe because it is more impressive looking with 76 keys and super keybed.

I have sold the G70 and my Kurzweil and feel like an empy nester. I am sure there will be help available here from my friends.

Bernie

John Smies

I answered John C before I saw your post.

I certainly value your opinion and thnk you for the help. That is good advice, and taken. You are right in that I easily overly complicate things. I will learn to walk, then run.

The only reason I wanted to couple with the vArranger is because it is on my laptop now, and wanted one kb to do double duty. A much more portable setup.
Thanks,
Bernie

John welcome back to SZ it will be good to hear your inputs on KORG units..

Congrats to you Bernie and to those who also are getting or have already gotten a Microarranger. For those who have never played Korg arrangers, or maybe have had a PA80 or PA50 and enjoyed playing it, this should be a nice addition. Or for someone who wants something ultra small and portable that will sound like a pro quality arranger board, this is probably it. The price is great btw.

Ironically though, for me personally, I pretty much came to the same conclusion as John. For a few minutes at least, I toyed with the idea of parting with my old PA80 and replacing it with a micro arranger. I have also had a PA800 and now have a PA3x. Then I thought a little more about it and I decided that I would be gaining nothing except having a cut down version of the PA80 ( actually PA 50 right ? ) in a smaller package. That in itself is kinda cool, but I have no particular need for it personally. I don't play the PA80 any more, but my grandkids have it along with my original PSR500, and they love them both. The PA80 still sounds and works just like it did the day I took it out o the box brand new.

I came to the conclusion that for me wanting a Micro arranger probably has more to do with my nostalgia for the old Casio and Yamaha PSS dept store mini sized keyboards of the 80's. Most of them were true FM synths that can become quite useful with the addition of external circuitry to morph parameters not available on the boards themselves. I have to say though that I don't mind playing the mini sized keys at all. The appeal for me was that they HAD some older cheesy FM sounds but some of these boards also had some pretty cool analog sounding stuff in them as well. If anyone has any of those laying around and doesn't want or need them, I might be interested. The nostalgia runs deep for some others as well, enough so that a few VSTi's of the earliest Casio's have been created and released.

Welcome back John! Thank you Nigel!!
DonM

Congratulations on your new keyboard, Bernie. Should give you many hours of enjoyment.

Ian

Thank you Donny, Don.

Well you said it as well Bluesplayer, not much point in having a Micro on top of a PA800 or PA3X. As a matter of fact I did the "topsey turvey " thing by purchasing a secondhand Yamaha PSR3000. ( the downgraded version of the Tyros 1 or so I am told). And I am quite pleased with it though I have never been a true Yamaha fan or player. But currently I own a brand new PA800 (last summer) plus the Yammie PSR3000 + Ketron SD2 module for a price below the (barren) PA3X. I have two decent internal speaker systems, two different vocalisers, two full fledged keyboards and the sound and style sytem of the both of them. So yes, I am quite content. If you purchase the Micro not owing any Korg you will have virtually the same set up as I have bar the mini keys on the one keyboard. Still, and I am not getting paid by anyone for saying this, I would heartily recommend any Yamaha,Roland keyboard player to pick one up, certainly at the current retailing prices in the US of A.

John

P.S. my choice for the Pa800 was quite intentional as I already had the choice between the PA800 and PA3X. But for my home playing purposes and in view of all the things just mentioned I prefered the choices that I made. One thing's for sure however with Korg, either Micro or PA3X, if you do not take to kindly to (rather in-depth) programming and tweaking, better go elsewhere...........................

It couldn't be any worse than Kurzweil. This is not a negative for either. Both are deep operating systems whose secrets are not readily revealed.

Hi Bernie,
can't see why you couldn't use it.
As you said midi out to sd2, midi in korg ( via your laptop)

I haven't used my V arranger for a while ( I mainly bought it so I could get my ketron styles into midifile format).
I'll double check, but I think you'd just set your microarranger to sequencer or single instrument mode? Can't remember off the top of my head what setting I used with my PA3x. I'll check it out when I get a chance.

You'll have a perfect little setup going there. Korg, Varranger ( ketron/psr styles) & hopefully one day soon Roland.

Rikki
That is swell of you to help. Deane posted on the vArranger forum for some clarification of the same idea. He wants an excuse to buy one also.

BTW, Klaus sent my update link right away, thank you.

Bernie

I have been waiting for DNJ to show me his MicroArranger....I got tired waiting..so I just ordered one...

Fran congratulations on your new micro arranger.....sorry I couldn't get out to you due to my busy gig schedule...penciled you in for next week lunch and demo...but I see you beat me to it...good move plug into the BA330 & watch out! Under your arm right into the club !! enjoy

Hi Bernie,
I'll get on to it as soon as I can.

John Smies - WELCOME BACK!

Fran - What took you so long? How much are you listing it for on eBay? lol

Hi Bernie
I had a fairly complex setup going in PA3X arranger mode, using sts's.
Wouldn't want to use it on stage, too easy for something to go wrong.

I've played around with it a bit, I tend to think maybe the most foolproof way of doing it , might be in sequencer mode.
This should enable you to hopefully switch between the 2 setups.

VArranger should be set to receive midi channel 1.
Midi In korg
Midi Out Sd2

Korg will need some adjustments.

In Global
Midi Setups
Create your own user setup.
Choose "Default" Set Up,
Simply Change
Midi Channels Out
Channel 1 Track 1.(ply1 Tr 01, is mine)
Turn All the other channels to OFF
Save it as VArranger ?? to one of the slots
Preferrably the slot that sequencer normally defaults to.
( My case it's setup 3 ) if not, just make sure that "varranger" is your midi setup whenever you use the setup.
You shouldn't need to change anything else unless your Settings are different to mine.

Next I created a default Song in sequencer mode.
You don't record anything,
Goto Track Controls
Choose " External" Track 1
Save your song as Varranger

You just Load this song & midi settings when using Varranger.

Hope makes sense.

Where is everyone buying their MicroARRANGERS? I called my local Sam Ash and Guitar Center and they not only didn't have it "listed" in their computers, but they didn't even know it existed. P.S. I called Korg in Long Island about their "distribution" to the stores and got the usual Korg "double-talk." I'm not sure THEY even know what they're doing?

So....where can I see one or is everyone just ordering them online?

Rikki

Thanks so much

I have printed out your great instructions for the arrival of my Micro.

It is who you know that counts.

Bernie

Hi Gang

I must say I'm amazed at the amount of people on

this forum buying this micro arranger. .

First of all let me say, from what I've heard, it sounds very

professional and it has a lot of great sounds and styles.

But these small keys where all the "action" takes place, is this not making life more difficult. Maybe I'm getting it

wrong, are these people using it only as an expander for their main setup.

Let me say though, I'm very interested in getting it's bigger

brother Korg Pa50 SD as a possible piggy back for my G70, to be

played as an independant arranger, think of the variety of

styles and sounds one would have at a gig, if I can get a

stand strong and safe enough to hold them.

Here is my option..great full size keys....when the mini keys get to me...I am hoping one hour gigs I can use the mini keys, but if not..another 17 pound controller is an option..

After talking with Uncle Dave, I pulled my A-33 from EBAY...I had several people wanting to buy it...sorry folks..


Call Frank in the east...or George in the west..they have Korg Micro arranger..

I would relate the keys on the microARRANGER to playing an Accordion, the Length isn't a prob because the Width is good.

I really like & miss the live KORG sound, I could even be talked into a trade for another nice cond PA800 like I had a few years ago for my excellent condition Yamaha S910 if anyone is interested in some kind of deal.. lets talk.

onemanband52@yahoo.com

Smart move Fran!
I still have my A-33 and keep it in reserve for possible: 'call to duty'.

In addition to getting the Pa50's classic live Korg sound, I really appreciate the micro-Arranger's flexible versatility:

1) microArranger alone thru headphones: personal entertainment, composing.

2) microArranger alone thru built in speakers: casual entertainment for a few friends. Grab and go 9 lb all in one take anywhere portability.

3) microArranger thru any home stereo system: casual entertainment for "house parties".

4) microArranger thru a small PA: light entertainment for small events & nursing home gigs

5) microArranger + Tyros 4: Weddings, Corp Parties, et al

6) microArranger + my Roland A-33 76 note keyboard Controller: trad. pianistic style playing venues.
Total weight of this combo (microArranger + A33): is only 27 lbs!
As far as I know, there's no single 76 note arranger unit this light.

Scott great synopsis....the microARRANGER is the Swiss Army Knife
of the Arranger Kb world..

Scott, the E-60 is 26 pounds...

I have the music rack for the A-33..I am thinking I could place the Micro on the music rack...Viva...KN 7000