How Good is the Pa4x

mintjamman · Post by **mintjamman** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 10:20 am

Seems to have been a glut of negative posts about the Pa4x recently but we must all have different expectations of this Arranger.

I was interested to see how many of the Guys and Girls on this Forum who own a Pa4x and gig with it see the positive attributes of the Pa4x from those perspectives ?

What do you consider for the live player are the real strengths of the instrument with regard to operational control and Sound and Feature Set ?
Has the Pa4x been a positive purchase for you and how does it fair on stage?
Would you purchase it again if you had to ?

karmathanever · Post by **karmathanever** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 11:04 am

I think a lot of the negative posts relate to very specific issues relating to specific needs and that's fair enough but to answer your questions:-
(purely my personal opinions)
It is by far the best arranger on the market and I emphasise "by far".
Aside from its outstanding sounds, DNC and fabulous styles, I love its flexibility and ease of use.
Live playing (and recording) is a dream with its superb control surface backed up with the great touch screen options.
I feel that it is truly designed for "playing live", recording and of course just fun.
I believe that the new OS is now far more logically designed and is far better particularly for new owners.

I recently was asked to create music for a new Australian movie - never had anything like this before - very excited and honoured.
I initially thought that the Kronos and Logic Pro would have to be switched on etc....
BUT I just took the PA4X initially - we ended up using suitable styles to get the music structure together and then simply used the sequencer to completely customise the music.
I couldn't believe how easy it was and how effective.
I know that what I do with my keyboards is probably a small portion compared to others on the forums but so far I would have to say that the PA4X far exceeds my needs and expectations.

I've been accused a few times in the past of being too biased and of "working for Korg" but I'll say again - if Roland/Casio/Ketron/Yamaha come up with an arranger equal to, or better than the Korg PA then I'll be the first to switch over.

Yes, if I had to buy again, I would get the PA4X - still nothing matches it as a professional arranger IMHO.

Cheers

Pete

dacca · Post by **dacca** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 4:30 pm

Hello for me is the pa4x one of his best of its kind I have tyros 2 and tyros 4 but that sound still not like the korg if I have to buy again than the pa4x Regards Marc

mintjamman · Post by **mintjamman** » Sun Oct 30, 2016 10:31 am

Anyone else ?

eli125 · Post by **eli125** » Sun Oct 30, 2016 10:38 pm

same me will buy agen but sill hopeing for a little upgrade like auto sustain what yamaha has more flexibility with the guitar parts but i love it power realism is it in one word

chelsea4023 · Post by **chelsea4023** » Mon Oct 31, 2016 2:30 am

Hi,

I sold my Tyros 5 to get the PA4X and I'm really happy with my Korg. As an amateur hobbyist I struggle to get the balance between improving my playing ability and mastering the arrangers features (not enough available time in the day). Not everybody picks things up instantly !!!

Most of the issues users complain about on the PA4X are so advanced that I doubt I would get round to using anyway.
As mentioned previously, I would have liked to be able to use the physical drawbars on both upper and lower at the same time, but it's not much of a problem really.

What I have done is set up a reasonably high quality sound system for use at home which makes the sounds ultra realistic (to my ears anyway).
Denon AVR2310, Q.Acoustic Concept 20 speakers on stands with a Wharfedale SW150 subwoofer. I cannot think of any way of improving what I already have.

I've got a feeling that when Yamaha launch their top of the shop arranger (Genos maybe) in the second half of 2017, Korg will release a major software update/operating system that will introduce some useful features/ addditional sounds, styles, etc to refresh the PA4X for current owners and potential purchasers. Let's not forget that the PA4X is a good £1,000 cheaper (street price) to purchase than the Yamaha Tyros 5.

Chris

p.s. I purchased a Korg EC5 for the PA4X which is excellent. Pedal one set up for Leslie slow/fast.

D575 · Post by **D575** » Mon Oct 31, 2016 8:32 am

"Yamaha Genos" that would be interesting....now owning a Yamaha Montage which I use along side my PA4X, what was very striking where the overall sonic (dynamics, fidelity) differences between the PA4X & the Montage out of the box, the Yamaha just surpassed the PA4X completely in this regard when running the two keyboards together, so I then worked very hard to try to bring the PA4X with the MaxxAudio up to the overall dynamics I was hearing from the Montage, what would help a lot of owners of the PA4X is if korg perhaps hired a mastering engineer to create platter of Presets with the MaxxAudio in the PA4X this will allow all users of the PA4X to have a reference starting point at least, it would certainly be a big benefit to this keyboard, maybe in a future update korg? I'm surprised actually that they have not done this and if there is a new competing arranger keyboard in the wings from Yamaha against the PA4X with the audio circuitry like that of the Montage then the PA4X could get left behind.

Bernie9 · Post by **Bernie9** » Mon Oct 31, 2016 11:42 am

I must agree with D575 in that I changed my MAAX settings as was suggested here previously, and it made a big difference. Having said that, I have been performing for over 50 years as a OMB, and I have never been so satisfied with a instrument for perfomance as the Pa4X, This includes ease of transport, navigation, and overall sound.

Bernie

mstodola · Post by **mstodola** » Mon Oct 31, 2016 3:04 pm

I find the Pa4x to be very good in most departments.
* It tracks better than any other arranger I've played.
* The hard to emulate sounds like trumpet, sax, woodwind, and guitar are now fun to play. I'm amazed at their realism. Overall the sounds are very good.
* The interface/screen is very readable and gives a lot of information. Usually there is a soft button on the screen for everything that also has a dedicated button and there a lot of them. You don't have to go very deep to find a function for the most part.
* The unit is very programmable. It's missing a few things but overall very useable.
* The songbook is very easy to use. It's like having an almost infinite number of registers (Yamaha).
* The keybed on the 76 version is semi-weighted and the keys are such that even organs are easy to play. I had to sand the edges of the keys to make it so it didn't scratch up my hands, but that was easy and now it plays beautifully.
* I like that it has a ribbon as well as a 4-way modwheel. It's very expressive.
* Overall it's a very fun keyboard to play and a great machine for practice and making quick background tracks. I haven't been able to use it live because some band members have trouble keeping track of where they are to the track (especially singers). Why do singers always want the band to follow them?

BR · Post by BR » Mon Oct 31, 2016 3:18 pm

D575 wrote:... if korg perhaps hired a mastering engineer to create platter of Presets with the MaxxAudio of the PA4X this will allow all users of the PA4X to have a reference starting point at least, it would certainly be a big benefit to this keyboard, maybe in a future update korg? I'm surprised actually that they have not done this and if there is a new competing arranger keyboard in the wings from Yamaha against the PA4X with the audio circuitry like that of the Montage then the PA4X could get left behind.

+1

eli125 · Post by **eli125** » Mon Oct 31, 2016 8:58 pm

BR wrote:
D575 wrote:... if korg perhaps hired a mastering engineer to create platter of Presets with the MaxxAudio of the PA4X this will allow all users of the PA4X to have a reference starting point at least, it would certainly be a big benefit to this keyboard, maybe in a future update korg? I'm surprised actually that they have not done this and if there is a new competing arranger keyboard in the wings from Yamaha against the PA4X with the audio circuitry like that of the Montage then the PA4X could get left behind.
+1

++1

chelsea4023 · Post by **chelsea4023** » Tue Nov 01, 2016 1:34 am

Hi,

When I set up my sound system, I found the sound greatly improved when I set the AV amp to Pure Direct sound. The PA4X sounded altogether fuller and bass was improved, despite previously using the amp's Audyssey MultEQ.

Could anyone direct me to how to set up the Maxx Audio to improve the general PA4X sound further. Maybe somebody has a preferred setting they can share with other users.

Chris

tombikadam · Post by **tombikadam** » Tue Nov 01, 2016 9:02 am

keys, sounds, the case, Pa4x is the new king now, outstanding keybed, very easy to play, you will never regret when you buy this arranger believe me

chelsea4023 · Post by **chelsea4023** » Tue Nov 01, 2016 11:08 am

Hi,

While we are on this thread, for me the biggest setback on the PA4X is the method of storing registrations implemented by Korg. It is so inferior to the Yamaha Tyros method I cannot believe it.
Keyboard Sets only store sounds, not styles. The only way to store both together is with the songbook. I have had a Tyros 2, Tyros 4 and a Tyros 5 and have never used their songbook feature. Sadly I am forced to use it on the PA4X.

The facility to store styles to the keyboard sets is an important feature that needs to be included in a future O/S update.

For those that do not know, Yamaha has eight buttons to store registrations in, which are conveniently positioned just to the right of the keyboard. You can store virtually everything in a button, voices, styles, settings, pads, etc. When you have used all eight buttons you can save them under one title and save that title to the internal hard drive. When you store something in a button, the button changes from transparent to a colour (green I think). The benefit of this is that you can save eight registrations for a song, give the eight registrations a song title and save to your hard drive. These can be quickly recalled. So much more intuitive than the Korg method.

I do know that Korg has implemented their system recently as it's different to the Korg PA900. for me, it's a step backwards.

Chris

mstodola · Post by **mstodola** » Tue Nov 01, 2016 1:28 pm

Keyboard Sets are for creating a set of sounds to play together otherwise known on other keyboards as a Performance. It is not a Yamaha register. Groups of Keyboard sets (four at a time) are part of a Style. Styles can be stored in User memory or on a USB chip by way of the Direct Category.

Using the Songbook is more like using Yamaha Registers which stores everything. Yes there are no dedicated buttons for a quick recall of everything like on the Yamaha. And yes I miss that function too. It was very convenient.

But Korg allows you to pull up new Keyboard Sets on the fly without changing Styles by pushing one of the 12 dedicated Keyboard Set buttons. My s710 doesn't do that. I don't know about the Tyros.