Korg Forums

[wowresults]

Hi Bill G and all helpers,

I am drawn to pa 900 after listening to some demonstrations of it.

Can you Please share more of your experience of pa 900 vs 950.
On specs, pa 900 beat s950 in almost all categories except lack of so good and simple registration of yamaha.

Pa 900:

Con: no registrations ( can Korg have true alternative for 8 banks of live registration for each song performance with just one touch?)

PRO:

Semi-weighted keys & After-touch...allowing the feel
Of keys and notes playing.

Great DNC Sounds for great feeling like real instruments.
Great editing capacity of sounds, styles, performance...sampling.

3 RH layers: almost infinite combinations of sounds ( only found on 2, 3 times more expensive arrangers)

Manual bass

Other live performing buttons

Ensemble feature (maybe like Tyros 5?)

20 watt x 2 speakers
Light...23.7 lbs

SD card besides USB on front panel
Plus other extra (non-essential) features...

Thank you very much in advance to you Bill and all who can share their experience on pa 900.

Victor
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Victor

[PraiseTheLord]

The "lack of registration" is not a real con. The Pa900 Performance and Songbook provides more than a replacement, see other threads discussing this. I came to the Pa900 from a Tyros4 and have never missed the registration feature.
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Graham (Pa1000)

[wowresults]

Thank you very much Graham.

I’m trying to find all sorts info on Performance and Song Books around here and in pa900 manual. It's getting better but not enough detailed info yet.
_________________
Victor

[BillyHank]

Victor,

Graham is right on about the song Book feature on the Pa900 as it provides what we have been asking for from Yamaha for at least the last 10 years and that is making the registrations accessible from the Music Finder.

You have already produced a pretty good list of the Pro's and there are more of course.

Many folks believe the styles to be better with the Korg - I think they are at least just as good as Yamaha and better in some respects.
Making your own styles with the Korg is light years ahead of Yamaha.
You can add and make your own voices - not available on the s950 - need a Tyros for this, but having owned the T2, T2, and T3 I never found this to be a really doable task on those keyboards without much stress and frustration.

I especially like the touch screen and the way Korg organized the OS as it is very easy to navigate around this keyboard and get things done.
And - there is so much more that you can do.

Half pedaling is available with the correct pedal and this is a very important feature for those who use a lot of piano in their song playing. This is not even available on the new Tyros 5 - go figure.

In the first week I owned the keyboard I was able to make several styles using the on board style making feature and even quicker using the ability to make them in your Favorite DAW and import them - I downloaded from the net several Sound Font SSF2 files and was able to load them right into the keyboard and make my own voice using those. That was impossible on all 5 Tyros keyboards - you had to use wave files and make a waveform one sample at a time - you can also do it that way on this keyboard, but you have alternatives and lots of available resources out there.

Did I mention that both the S950 and the Pa900 were the same price.

Hope this is a good start for you.

Bill G

[wowresults]

Great info,
Thank you very much Bill.

The challenge is to find a display at some music store to try out.
The worst case is to buy from guitar center and try for 30 days as they suggested to me.
_________________
Victor

[BillyHank]

Far as i know Guitar center will charge you a restocking fee and I have never found an arranger on display at any Guitar Center. Lot's of guitars though.

[Fransman]

Unfortunately there was no PA900 available in the (huge) store I went to today, so I'll have to be patient to play one.

But it gave me the chance to play PSR S950. It looks great.
I thought it maybe would sound better than the S910 I had over a year ago.
Keybed action is still (very, very) bad... cheap plastic with almost NO key action.
Sounds are OK. Styles... I like the Korg styles a lot better.
S950 is like playing a toy instead of a professional keyboard.

I also played Roland BK9; I do like the keybed/key action (a lot!), but that's about it.
The styles I tried couldn't convince me. Some sounds are ok, but a lot (very) average to my ears.
System management seems very user unfriendly to me (no touch screen).
I also found this instrument looking and sounding a bit 'toy-ish', a bit cheap.
I had expected a lot more of it.

I wouldn't want to trade both instruments with my Korg PA800, no way.
_________________
Musical grtz, Frans

Play in style.

[BillyHank]

Frans,

This Pa900 has made me hungry for the Pa3X, but if I buy the Pa3X and Korg makes the Pa4X first of next year, I am going to be very disappointed.

So I have just been enjoying my Pa900 and it is everything I expected just from reading the Owners Manual before buying.

Now the keybed feel has never been an issue for me as I am not a piano player and I do notice some difference from keyboard to keyboard, but it does not take long to get used to a new keyboard for me.

Bill G

[Fransman]

Hi Bill,

Wait for PA4X if you're happy with your PA900 now.
It will take a while before it arrives (maybe years), but by that time you'll be familiar with the Korg OS.
PA900 and PA3X are on about the same level soundwise.
PA4X will be a huge step forward, I guess.

Great to have something to dream about!
_________________
Musical grtz, Frans

Play in style.

[BillyHank]

Oh Frans the Pa900 does sound very good, but look at all those other goodies you get with the pa3X.

I'm a tweaker more then a listener I guess and I really enjoy all those other things the Pa3X can do. I especially want to be able to use the DSP's on an individual ACC voice in a style and you need a Pa3X to be able to do that. I just think the Pa900 is a bit short on DSP's frankly - perhaps I have been spoiled by having all those Yamaha arrangers for the last ten or twelve years.

The Korg arranger OS is so well done, that I have already managed to try out just about every feature the Pa900 has on board. There is no doubt about it, Korg has a winning system coupled with the touch screen in a very easy to learn manner.

All the functions are grouped in a logical manner for me.

Bill G

[Happy Jack]