Korg Forums

[DonM]

Always happy to receive thoughts and advice, even after making a living playing arrangers since they were invented! I try to learn something new every day.
I agree that most barely touch the capabilities of what we have.
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DonM

[siebenhirter]

Hello DonM,

sorry about my posting - unfortunately, too late, I noticed that I had answered an old OP, of which I only read the first two posts.

My opinion regarding the sound quality of the factory samples anyway has not changed in the meantime.

On my opinion factory Acoustic Guitars of Pa-Keyboard not are poor. If someone believe that it is a solution to download and install some samples, maybe he get back its own factory samples but with parameters adapted to his personal ideas, done with the built-in tools available to every user.

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Yamaha do much for users who just want to play, but its arrangers do not allow to customize them for one's needs as we can do with Korg arrangers editors for samples and sounds. For this reason for many years I have chosen Korg Arrangers.

On the other hand the supremacy its arranger had over a decade in customizing styleplay features (Cue-mode, Fill-Mode, Velocity-Control etc) in the last five year Korg has lost on my opinion. That is because proven stylePlay features are left or limited in last Pa-series, instead of being a little bit innovative in this area, as can only be observed with competitors (Velocity-Controls, Live-Controls for StyleTracks, Retriggering Main Variation etc).

Korg didn't even manage to activate the "OriginalStyleSound" function for direct access via assignable switches in order to give the live performance a more lively sense of rhythm, instead they even banished the velocity controls of the StylePreferences to the globals and thus limits to one single parameter, which remains usable!
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So I hope that Korg does not also reduce the features of the sound processing, but tries to finally update the features lost for the StylePlayer.

I think it should be recognizable that users continue to value and use those tools that allow an arranger keyboard to be adapted to personal needs as has been the case for decades.

Otherwise we will have to come to terms with the fact that simple preset devices are offered with extensive additional offers that can be reloaded and installed as required.
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kind regards
- siebenhirter, austria -

Interesting facts about styles and stylePlayer functions can be found at http: www.elmarherz.de

[DonM]

Yes, the sounds I downloaded use only factory samples, and one could do the same work himself, but it is somewhat time-consuming, I'm working nearly every night, and leave my gear at the job. Therefore at this time, these edits are valuable to me.
Like you, I'm hoping Korg pays more attention to these points you have made.
I really miss the PA4X, but my aging fingers can't handle the heavier key bed any more.
It seems that after having the Covid 19, the situation with my fingers has worsened. Hoping it gets better again, but it's been four months and hasn't yet.
Thanks for all you do my friend.
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DonM

[Biggles]

Do Note my prior post.

The Op does not have his PA1000, he returned it and bought a second hand T5.

Hence comments will not resolve his issues but do provide information to others.

Stay safe.
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Biggles
Lancashire, UK

[siebenhirter]

[Biggles]

[siebenhirter]

[Biggles]

[Asena]

[Musicwithharry]

Since others have posted on this older thread, I figured that I would as well.

I think that it is fun to read these older comments and also the newer ones.

Yes, the OP has gone onto a Tyros 5, and returned his PA1000. This we all know. He did not like the guitar samples on the PA1000 and returned it. That is too bad.

I really think that the samples are good for almost every sound in the PA series. The only exception to that, in my experience, is the main piano sound. Since I have the PA700, maybe that is not true with the other PA models on offer. I know that the stock piano sounds on my PA700 are not bright and lively enough for my tastes.

I fixed that problem by installing the Yamaha C5 Piano pack from Reuben. It immediately fixed my problems in that department.

I use the guitars quite a lot on my PA700, in both live playing/soloing AND in the sequencer for lead and backing parts. I have also installed Reuben's guitar sounds into my sample area of the PA700 and have modified a couple of them to suit my tastes.

In my experience with arrangers and other synths, the HARDEST part of playing any given instrument is articulating the sounds convincingly. We take for granted the playing of piano and EP sounds because we are keyboard players. I imagine that most of us would do just as well on an acoustic piano as we do on our electric keyboard counterparts.

If we played the guitar sounds as a guitar player might, maybe all of these guitar sounds would be more pleasing to us. Maybe that is where Yamaha has the edge because the nuances seem to translate better during live playing than they do on a Korg. When I play an acoustic guitar sound on the PA700 I hear some fret and string noises, but they are somewhat less than how I would really play a real acoustic guitar (which I also play). The same also applies when I am 'strumming' an electric guitar sound on the PA700. The up/down strum action is different and to my knowledge, the ONLY guitar that takes that into account on my PA700 is a Strat sound that features both up and down strum samples.

I do not think that it is fair to say that the keyboard should do these things for us. I believe that takes a lot of math in order for the keyboard to figure out what we are playing and try to translate it. I know that Roland has the SuperNatural stuff going on, but its implementation is a bit spotty for some sounds, guitars included. If we articulate the sounds we are playing the mindset of the instrument that we are playing, maybe our sounds would be more convincing.

In my experience, one of the hardest songs to accurately play guitar on is 'Another Brick in the Wall - Part II' from Pink Floyd. That signature rhythm Strat strum that David Gilmour is playing is VERY difficult to play on our keyboards. It almost always comes out sounding electronic. The nuances of playing that strum pattern convincingly is difficult. Sure, we can get the tone pretty close, but the actual PLAYING of that part is very difficult. It is something that I am still working on. Even sequencing it is difficult.

Maybe this is where the Guitar Mode feature in our arrangers comes in. For a strum, the Guitar Mode is really spot on.

I wish that the strum mode could be activated in sequencer mode. Maybe it can, but I seemed to have missed where/how to implement it.

I use the sequencer A LOT on my PA700. I have programmed well over 350 sequences in it and adding more each week. My intent is to use these for a trio that I am putting together where we are basically a variety group that plays almost any style of music. That includes ballads, acoustic numbers, rock, and even hard rock.

One of the hurdles for me has been to get convincing distorted rhythm guitar parts, i.e. power chord strums and chugs. The EFX do a pretty good job at adding the crunch, but they could be better. I know that if I grab my Strat and chug some power chords, it is more convincing. My EFX for my Strat are easy; I use the Roland VG-8 modeler. Since I play keys much better than guitar, I would prefer to use my keyboard to do this.

With that said, I have no problem playing 'Workin' For The Weekend' by Loverboy or 'Rainbow In The Dark' from Dio on my PA700. I also do A LOT of Journey and they, for the most part, come across pretty well. Keep in mind that I am still using a Korg M50 for most of my lead guitar sounds (until I buy another PA700 to take over that duty). The M50 does not have any of the DNC sounds for the guitar sounds like the PA700 does. The M50 does not do slides, etc. that I take for granted on the PA700. I have programmed a 'slide' emulation on the lead guitar sounds by adjusting the pitch during the 'key on' on the M50. It approximates it but is CLEARLY not a dedicated sample sound. I also cannot figure out how to trigger those types of samples from the buttons above the joystick on the M50 either...

The EFX section of the M50 is actually better than on the PA700 because I can have up to 5 IFX on the M50 and the PA700 only allows for 1 or 2. In a sequence, it is easy to see how rhythm guitar stuff in the sequence could use 2 (in EFX A) and that leaves only 1 insert effect in EFX B.

I had a problem with triggering external MIDI from the sequencer and siebenhirter helped me to use my sequences in Song Mode and that took care of the problem. I trigger an external drum machine to bolster my drum sounds on the PA700. I may also start using the M50 (or whatever keyboard) to layer over the sounds being used in the PA700 for the sequences. I have yet to do that, simply because of the enormity of programming 350+ new sound templates on the M50... and the M50 only allows for up to 128 templates in the sequencer mode anyway...

While I have written a novel here (not uncommon for me), it is in this novel that I hope that some of my experience with the PA series can help others. I think that, by and large, that is what we ALL are trying to do here in this forum.

While my entry here may not be technically as long as 'War and Peace', it is still a long read

Grace,
Harry
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