Polyphony END GAME for me...

[D575]

There are certain times according to how I'm playing and have the pa4x setup that I seam to run out of polyphony for example: I have Ballad strs.DNC upper 1 (Oct.transpose -1) and Ballad strs.DNC upper 2 (Oct.transpose -2) + i3 strings lower (Oct.transpose +3) with ENSEMBLE ON upper 1&2 type: Block, playing single notes with my right hand and the chords with my left (in style play mode) all sound's very fantastic then when I engage a style not so very fantastic ? which to my ear is the polyphony running out ? If this is the case I find it strange in this day and age with all the processing & memory power available now that a top professional keyboard like the pa4x would run out of polyphony in this way, I wonder am I on my own with this ??

[mintjamman]

I have managed to max it once and really it's not a problem as with any multi timbal instrument will suffer dependent on what demands are being made, it's just down to planning.

[D575]

Yes planing can easily be achieved by sourcing sound's from some of the other instruments (but was very happy with the pa4x sound creation before style activation) I have using midi in this particular scenario, but my point is should we not be seeing keyboards of this type like the pa4x with double the polyphony by now as a natural progression which could most definitely benefit from (as can be shown in my example) and considering the leaps in the available technology in the last few years, obviously the pa4x is here now and we can not change that on this model, some food for thought korg for the next up and coming pa4x replacement, but unfortunately for now this is frustrating not to be able to continue with the second part of the above scenario once engaging a style, something the designers may like to consider in the future this would allow a powerful feature like ENSEMBLE to be fully used in a keyboard like the pa4x rather than being choked back in this type of application which I have described.

[mstodola]

This side question. I notice you own a Roland integra. Do the sounds match up/mix well with the Korg Pa4x?

[D575]

This side question. I notice you own a Roland integra. Do the sounds match up/mix well with the Korg Pa4x?

I have not done any A/B comparisons against each other as I don't feel the need to, but I can say both instruments reproduce a strong platter of sound very comprehensively and as far as mixing them together then yes they do so very well, the Roland integra 7 is massive and adds a positive dimension to the pa4x .

[D575]

So today im sat here taking a closer look at the pa4x and what is happening with regards to the polyphony maxing out, this time I have three pianos on upper 1, 2, & 3 all in different octave and ONLY have the ensemble (block) engaged with (Note:) ONE of the upper parts and again on the lower part i-string with the pa4x in style play mode with a split point, I start the style with a chord from left hand then play a rif with right hand then after a few moments of playing the rif ..... the chord that is played on the lower part (i-string) drops out to a single note?.... if I'm correct the polyphony is still maxing out and this time with the ensemble engaged on ONLY one upper part, this can not be right?? Is this a massive oversight by korg ? And if I'm correct with my observation the big question is can korg correct this ?? This is hugely limiting and very frustrating to say the least.......or could I have a faulty pa4x ??

[Reuben]

If you have selected pianos with damper resonance then every note will be taking up 4 of the voices. So for instance if you leave the pedal down for just a run of 5 notes there goes 5 x 4 x 3 lots of layered pianos =60 gone out of 128. A solution could be to customise the pianos and leave out resonance.

[D575]

No damper resonance (pedal) used........

[D575]

Unfortunately I feel the time has come to step away from the pa4x what with the shaky start I had which was remedied with a one of the updates and also feeling some of the frustration experienced on this forum and there is plenty to read on here and now faced with the realisation and prospect that this keyboard is polyphony hungry and this is inhibiting the ability to use the ensemble function in conjunction with the Style's, it is now time to sell this keyboard before it depreciates or frustrate's me any more than it is already, I realise there are many here that are happy with the pa4x and I'm pleased they are happy with it, but I feel and knowing the problems that are being Echoed on this forum and despite enjoying many korg product and keyboards over the years I do feel even with the many good thing's the pa4x has going for it, this is now a keyboard i can know longer live with, which is a great shame, with what seams to be some design oversights and also possibly being rushed to the market place which has been covered over the many month by others user's and customers of the pa4x on this this forum, I will resist repeating much of what has been debated already, and simply say it is now time to say good bye to my pa4x .

[D575]

Well today feeling somewhat dissapointed I put my pa4x up for a private sale but later decided to remove it "for sale" because if asked why I was selling it so soon, I would find it difficult to lie and not give the Real reason for the sale ....so do I traded it in with a dealer for something else and take a hit on the value? And I'm shore the same question would be asked "why so soon"....hummm, I did not expect to find my self in this position, even this evening a fellow musician friend has come to see my problem and im stilling wondering how a keyboard like the pa4x professional arranger is not working as you would expect displaying this polyphony problem when using the ensemble feature, so now showing my friend here my problem this time with ONLY upper 1: strings & glock, ensemble On (close), lower: strings, style: fast bossa- variation 4, and hay presto the string on upper 1(right hand) start to loose part of each note but then stop the style and all is OK, you can emphasise this more clearly by turning all the track volumes down on the style when it is still activated when demonstrating this problem, we went through all of the above different scenarios and my friend pulled a face and said "you must be very dissapointed" , YOU BET I AM ....so I guess I'll have to trade it in and hope I don't get asked why......if this is not a faulty instrument then what when wrong KORG? i find this astonishing you never discovered this keyboard needed more polyphony to work as you would expect with the ensemble ??

[Goth Pop]

I totally feel you bro. I walked into guitar center last week sat down in front of one of these and maxed out the poly within 10 minutes after recording a harpsichord concerto with 2 layered string tracks. Honestly, I'm ready to give up on workstations and do everything from the computer with a midi keyboard. With all the advancements in technology, you'd think we could break the 512 threshold or even go to 1024.

Maybe if your Kanye and all you need is drum bass and a whistle, this will work for you- but I personally want to create symphonic masterpieces and not have to worry about playing too many notes!

But the sounds were really nice. If they made a sound module I would have bought one, but I ended up buying this Omnisphere software and I'm in a whole new world. So far, it hasn't restricted my playing at all.

[D575]

Humm....May 2016 I was some what grumpy with my 1st Pa4X what with missing performance banks with its nice workable flexibility like (PA3X) then on top of that "keyboard crashing" and then finding i was running out of polyphony which seemed to be more aparantly than on my previous PA3X....my mood was not light back then!

[tkarlmann]

D575: Did you try the same (similar) thing on your Montage 7 and get different results? The Montage 7 is also a 128-note poly. Have you tried any 256-note poly keyboard(s) and get an improvement? The most prominent 'board I know of that has 256-note poly is the Casio PX-560. Could you try that at the store to see if it also drops out on you?? I'd do all of the above before I sold a keyboard, I think.

P.S.: You could also try another Pa4x in a store to see if that unit does the same as yours does.

[D575]

D575: Did you try the same (similar) thing on your Montage 7 and get different results? The Montage 7 is also a 128-note poly. Have you tried any 256-note poly keyboard(s) and get an improvement? The most prominent 'board I know of that has 256-note poly is the Casio PX-560. Could you try that at the store to see if it also drops out on you?? I'd do all of the above before I sold a keyboard, I think.

P.S.: You could also try another Pa4x in a store to see if that unit does the same as yours does.

Hi tkarlmann probably not a easy or fair comparisons between these two keyboards as they are two different animals and also considering montage dose not have the ensemble function like the PA4X so as this happens with ensemble engaged in style play mode, this is then the trigger to this particular scenario...so again in certain situations with full use across 3 of the upper parts with ensemble engaged this can then impinge on the polyphony depending on a style in use (not all styles) I think to include other keyboards would be difficult to gauge as a comparison because we can not be sure how the polyphony is shared according to individual design of other makes and models of keyboard, I include the PA3X as a comparison because it is the direct predecessor to the PA4X .