Korg Forums

[keyofZ]

MP3 is sooooo Substandard. For Live work.
Korg. Why Do You want to Diminish your Beautiful Sounds? By having MP3 playback as Backing tracks. Anyone That Hears it . Will Be less than impressed. By the PA series. Live music is Supposed to. Be exciting. Not Loss compressed.
In the first place. Standard CD wav files are way less than real music provides. Sound wise.
U Have to be at 96K or above. To replicate Real sounds of live music.
So Playing a MP3 backing is Counterintuitive.
So this means . Playing The style Live at all times. Well I am not perfect. And No keyboard Player I have ever met is Perfect. Make a tiny mistake. While playing to a style live. And The Whole accompaniment. Falls off the stage with You.
Make that same tiny mistake. Playing to a backing track. And No one Notices it. That is Why U use backing tracks. To play live to.
The only thing MP3's are good for. Is practicing.
But again. If I go out to play live. I will have to bring a Computer. And Play my backing tracks From the computer. To make sure the backing tracks. Are of high enough Sound quality. The arranger is supposed to replace this need.
Korg using MP3's. Is like taking a couple steps back in time.
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PA900, Sonar Platinum, Live 9 suite, Keylab 61
RME interface, And.......

[OnivalPortugal]

I installed an 8GB SD Card on my PA 700, formatted it, and there I put several mp3 files, 128 kbps. I created a set list on the jukebox and ... everything is perfect.
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[Reuben]

If you do a quick midi record from a Style in Sequencer Mode (you only need to do it once) then your playback will effectively be wav.
As an added bonus you can add markers to your midi and repeat any section you want (as well as having many other options like changing key) giving you more flexibility than a wav file.
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[Musicwithharry]

The MP3 feature on the PA700 is just fine. You can up the sample rate and use the 'highest' setting option and will give you at least 192k rate. I think that it goes higher than that though. People are not going to notice the difference anyway.

I remember the push for everyone to switch to CD from cassette and such and how the CD was so great and now it's barely passable?

MP3 files were all the rage too because of their portability and superior sound over CD and now MP3s are barely passable too?

While it is true that WAV is clearly the best, people are not going to talk bad about your music simply because you are using an MP3 rather than a WAV file. Like I said, no one will notice the difference, especially if you use a high rate for the recording. Most websites that promote music (CD Baby and others) still use MP3 for their downloads (granted, they're at 320k, but they're MP3s nonetheless).

I think that you are trying to find issues with an otherwise great arranger.

I use mine for up to 50 gigs a month and have never had an issue at all with MP3 playback, sequencer use, or playing the styles live.

Cheers
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Alesis Vortex Keytar, Alesis QS6.2, Alesis QSR, Alesis SR-16, Behringer Deepmind-12, Ensoniq Avista 7600, Ensoniq VFX, Ensoniq VFX-SD, Ensoniq SQ1+, (2) Ensoniq SQ-R+/32, Korg i3 (2020 Version), (2) Korg Kross 1-61, (2) Korg Kross 1-88, Korg Minilogue XD, Korg Minilogue XD Module, Korg M50-61, Korg PA700, Korg X5DR, Korg Z3, Kurzweil SP1, Lowrey EZP3 (bascially a Kawai), Roland D-05, Roland E-09, Waldorf Streichfett, Yamaha Reface CP, Yamaha Reface CS, Yamaha Reface DX, Yamaha Reface YC

[Biggles]

Musicwithharry
Sorry you are way off the mark.

MP3 files are vastly inferior to the same song on a CD and the difference between a CD and analogue is as vast.

Data rate plays a very large difference to an MP3, at 192k its listenable especially on a portable device with headphone or earplugs, put the same MP3 file through a decent HiFi and its limitations become crystal clear.

Ramp up the data rate of the same songs MP3 to 320k and play it back to back with the 192k and you will find a large difference.

Same outcome with the files on the HiFi.

Now the same song in WAV or AIFF and there is a huge difference compared to the MP3 files

I have done the above comparisons myself and the differences are as I have written,

That is not to say MP3 is unsuitable for playback via a PA series keyboard but for backing it should be OK.
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Biggles
Lancashire, UK

[Biggles]

Musicwithharry
Sorry you are way off the mark.

MP3 files are vastly inferior to the same song on a CD and the difference between a CD and analogue is as vast.

Data rate plays a very large difference to an MP3, at 192k its listenable especially on a portable device with headphone or earplugs, put the same MP3 file through a decent HiFi and its limitations become crystal clear.

Ramp up the data rate of the same songs MP3 to 320k and play it back to back with the 192k and you will find a large difference.

Same outcome with the files on the HiFi.

Now the same song in WAV or AIFF and there is a huge difference compared to the MP3 files

I have done the above comparisons myself and the differences are as I have written,

That is not to say MP3 is unsuitable for playback via a PA series keyboard but for backing it should be OK.
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Biggles
Lancashire, UK

[Musicwithharry]

Maybe I was a bit off the mark when comparing MP3 files with CDs. For that, I apologize. I failed to clarify. I was trying to talk about the portability and ease of in the difference of the formats. Once again, I apologize.

The point I was trying to make was that playing back an MP3 on the PA700 (whether it's from a freshly recorded song using the Styles or Sequencer on the PA700) will be fine. It is obvious to make sure that you are recording with the highest rate available. With the lower rates, much more data is compressed and omitted.

I remember a similar discussion in the 90's when it came to the DCC and MiniDisc formats, and how they were going to take over the place of the CD. The CD withstood those wars and many artists, including myself, still get CDs pressed when we release an album. I personally had two different DCC Recorder/Players and a DAT that I recorded at 48K. I preferred the DAT and went to the CD from the DAT before MP3s/WAV files came along. The format I use now (and have for a long time) for the files that end up on any CD are WAV. I also offer digital downloads of my albums and they are in 320K MP3 format, directly converted from the master WAV files.

With regard to HiFi systems, many of them are known to boost up certain frequencies in what it is reproducing in order to make it stand out a bit more or make it more 'listenable' in different environments. This may be more on the part of the speakers and their design/crossover frequency points/placement rather than the amplification itself. Compared to a good set of studio monitors, many/most home speakers come off as sounding colored in their sound. That is why I have three pair of monitors in my studio: a very good pair of designated studio monitors, a pair of medium quality studio monitors and a pair of home speakers that have also been called studio monitors. If needed, I have two other pair of home speakers that I can use to further test the quality of my recordings.

In my studio, I always mix down to WAV files. From there, I will burn a CD to listen to in different environments (auto, home, music player). I also export those WAV files to MP3 for listening on portable music players.

Another thing to consider when recording an MP3 in the Korg using its built-in feature: make sure that you do not have the limiter turned on too much. In my experience, it really messed up the recording and I realized that I had the Final Limiter and EQ on. When I set them to flat, the recording process went just fine.

I seriously doubt that in a live situation a listener would come up and point out that one's performance might have been a bit better if they had used WAV files instead of MP3 files...

Cheers...
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Alesis Vortex Keytar, Alesis QS6.2, Alesis QSR, Alesis SR-16, Behringer Deepmind-12, Ensoniq Avista 7600, Ensoniq VFX, Ensoniq VFX-SD, Ensoniq SQ1+, (2) Ensoniq SQ-R+/32, Korg i3 (2020 Version), (2) Korg Kross 1-61, (2) Korg Kross 1-88, Korg Minilogue XD, Korg Minilogue XD Module, Korg M50-61, Korg PA700, Korg X5DR, Korg Z3, Kurzweil SP1, Lowrey EZP3 (bascially a Kawai), Roland D-05, Roland E-09, Waldorf Streichfett, Yamaha Reface CP, Yamaha Reface CS, Yamaha Reface DX, Yamaha Reface YC