Finally bought a Pa3X 76

[jazzmammal]

I've had a Pa1XPro for many years and have been wanting the 3X and now a 4X since they came out. I can't justify buying one of these new so I had to wait until I found a good price on a used Pa3X. The few used one that come up are still too much because I'm cheap, what can I cay? Yes I know the 4X is awesome and I want one really bad but since it's basically for fun at home and not for gigs I just can't justify the expense. I have a ton of boards already and all of my gigs are with full bands for which I use either my Hammond SK2 or my Kurzweil PC3.

My first impressions of the 3x is wow, what a board!. Love it. I was surprised how much smaller and lighter it is compared to my old 1X. Maybe I will use it just for sounds on some gigs. I've been lurking on this forum for a while and have a few questions.

1. When I select a style the display stays on the style select screen it doesn't change to the actual style screen that I selected. How do I get the style screen to display?

2. As a picky organ player I have the same complaints about the organs as other's have posted about. They're better than the 1X for sure but still not all that great. All those patches with velocity switched fast leslie samples really suck as Pete has written extensively about. Has anybody created a dedicated soundbank of tweaked tonewheel organs that sounds good? The leslie effect is too warbly and one of the big missing links is the C/V. I can't believe there's no C/V when Korg is known for having a good organ clone in their CX3. Has anybody managed to create a good C/V using the on board effects? As it is I rank these organs below Rolands VR09 which is a shame. A Hammond sound without a good C3 chorus effect is pretty weak.

3. Several posters have referred to a LatinSwing style and I think I heard it on a YT vid but I can't find it. Since I have a used board maybe it was deleted or maybe it's a 3rd party style. Does anyone have it or point me to it?

4. A final comment most styles have too much reverb and I don't see any front panel controls for it so I suppose I have to go in and tweak the reverbs and then save everything as a new user sound or is there a global reverb setting?

These issues aside I still love this board so far, it's tons of fun to play and sounds pretty good.

That's enough for now, I'm sure I'll be back...

Bob

[karmathanever]

Hey Bob

Congrats on getting the PA3X - you'll love it for sure - it is an amazing and very stable keyboard.

1. When I select a style the display stays on the style select screen it doesn't change to the actual style screen that I selected. How do I get the style screen to display?

You press the EXIT button but you can change this setting in GLOBAL mode to automatically return.

2. As a picky organ player I have the same complaints about the organs as other's have posted about. They're better than the 1X for sure but still not all that great. All those patches with velocity switched fast leslie samples really suck as Pete has written extensively about. Has anybody created a dedicated soundbank of tweaked tonewheel organs that sounds good? The leslie effect is too warbly and one of the big missing links is the C/V. I can't believe there's no C/V when Korg is known for having a good organ clone in their CX3. Has anybody managed to create a good C/V using the on board effects? As it is I rank these organs below Rolands VR09 which is a shame. A Hammond sound without a good C3 chorus effect is pretty weak.

Totally agree - VR09 organs are in a different class - would love those on the Korg PAs - PA4X is better again but still no C/V - the C/V can be achieved using actual FX "Organ Vib/Chorus (Organ Vibrato/Chorus)" - also use "Rotary Speaker OD" FX - it seemed more realistic to me.

3. Several posters have referred to a LatinSwing style and I think I heard it on a YT vid but I can't find it. Since I have a used board maybe it was deleted or maybe it's a 3rd party style. Does anyone have it or point me to it?

Can't say I remember this style from my PA3X and cannot find anything on all our forums referring to "LatinSwing"

4. A final comment most styles have too much reverb and I don't see any front panel controls for it so I suppose I have to go in and tweak the reverbs and then save everything as a new user sound or is there a global reverb setting?

Never experienced this on my PA3X - this is maybe a silly question (sorry) but what are you playing it through? Hopefully no overlooked extra reverb in your sound system

Cheers

Pete

[jazzmammal]

Thanks Pete, appreciate the answers. In my music room I'm using a pair of EV SXa 1's, they're powered PA speakers, no effects. I also have a Spacestation V3 that I keep in the car for gigs. When I'm not feeling lazy I'll bring it in and hook it up but for messing around in the house the EV's are fine. When it comes to reverb, I'm a purist. In listening to many classic records, you hear very little reverb except for vocals.

I found where I heard the Latin Swing style, it's one of Antony Sharmman's sound design vids. I don't know if he created it or if it's from one of the other Korg models but it's a great style. Biab has that too, you use latin for the verse and swing for a bridge or solos. If I can't just find the style maybe I need to look into combining elements of two existing styles and see what I come up with.

Bob