version 1.2.0 upgrade - initial experience

[leland_iko_music]

After hesitating a few months to upgrade my PA5X to 1.2.0 ... i finally dived head-first into it ... and only just an hour and a half before live stream tonight on Twitch ... I was so nervous about doing it..


My initial takeaways:

- Austrian Grand Piano sound is A ZILLION times better than the original in 1.1.0. I may not need to invest in KST/VST for a Steinway B or Yamaha CFX sound.

- Love the new styles!!!

- Programming/recording chord sequences is MUCH MUCH better ... (in version 1.1.0 it left gaps if you didn't time it just right - 1.2.0 is MUCH more intuitive)


Downsides:

- some of the breaks/fills/transitions betweeen variations in styles are not as prominent as they were before.

- Had to totally reprogram my preferences for default reverb, EQ etc... but that's not too much of a problem.

- The accompaniament for the styles is now just on one slider (number and cannot seem to separate the different parts of the accompaniament across the 9 slider/volume controls. Previous version the slider controls were able to control the various parts from bass, drums, etc. etc.


I was so afraid of bricking the instrument with the upgrade, having seen a few unfortunate posts of failed upgrades rendering the PA5X to nothing more than a $5k pillow... but upgrade was a success.

More later when I experiment more with the new features.


Leland

[JagiChan]

Downsides:

- Had to totally reprogram my preferences for default reverb, EQ etc... but that's not too much of a problem.

- The accompaniament for the styles is now just on one slider (number and cannot seem to separate the different parts of the accompaniament across the 9 slider/volume controls. Previous version the slider controls were able to control the various parts from bass, drums, etc. etc.
Leland

Every software upgrade results in default factory parameters being loaded. So one needs to setup the keyboard again according to user preference. That being said, I do NOT know if it is possible to export the settings into a single file; upgrade and then reimport the settings. Maybe someone with more experience can help us here.

Regarding the accompaniment styles to sliders. It does exist and all you need to do is to switch from the Main to the Style selection (this is the third or fourth button just to the left of the LCD). Then the Sliders are mapped to the various parts of the style; and you can control the volume of the individual parts. By the way you could also use the Matrix to enable or disable the various parts of a style. Remember, you need to be on the page 4 of the Matrix to make that happen.

[leland_iko_music]

Regarding the accompaniment styles to sliders. It does exist and all you need to do is to switch from the Main to the Style selection (this is the third or fourth button just to the left of the LCD). Then the Sliders are mapped to the various parts of the style; and you can control the volume of the individual parts. By the way you could also use the Matrix to enable or disable the various parts of a style. Remember, you need to be on the page 4 of the Matrix to make that happen.

Ahhh.. that's where I went wrong with the sliders ... in 1.1.0 I was in "Easy Edit/DWB" and that worked for the various parts of the accompaniament...

I rarely use the matrix, but rather use mainly the 4 pad buttons instead, depending on what I'm trying to do.

Another plus side that I've found with 1.2.0 is that the velocity curve and aftertouch settings are much more precise. It was really hard to do Ievan Polkka in 1.1.0 with the repeated-key strokes, but with 1.2.0 and setting velocity curve to "soft 1" it's much easier.

Cheers guys

Leland