Buy now, or wait?

[Rich Z]

OK, so I have been watching the Pa5X since it was introduced, and apparently being the first on your block to have a new arranger from Korg is not a wise move. I was looking for an arranger back in September of 2021, but really didn't want the Pa4X since it seemed like that was old technology. The Pa5X wasn't on the table, so I bought a Yamaha Genos.

For the money, I think Yamaha could have done better. But don't say this on a Genos forum because the natives will have you for supper. The biggies I don't like about that keyboard are that the transitions between voices when changing the style variation is abysmal. I kid you not, actual screeches will sometimes result if you have a key held down changing between some of them. Then the implementation of the Hammond B3 organ Leslie tone cabinet in their supposedly most advanced organ sounds is ridiculous. No leslie tone cabinet horn ramp up and ramp down. Just on/off tremolo. Just awful. Yamaha MUST know how to do it better, but for some reason decided not to. So anytime I want a good Hammond organ sound, I have to go searching through their legacy selections.

Another thing that is odd is that their intros aren't really simple to complex, 1 thru 3. 2 and 3 and completely different intros from each other. Which I guess could be a good thing for variation sake, but not really what I want.

So I am interested in maybe buying a Pa5X. But I have been reading about the problems with the latest OS update (1.3.0) and not sure now is the best time to buy into this platform.

Is this OS fubar THAT serious? I am not an advanced player, by any stretch of the imagination, and will be noodling around on the keyboard for my own enjoyment. Out and out crashes would be aggravating, for certain, but is that something widespread? So if you were in my shoes, would you buy now, or wait it out to see if Korg takes care of those OS issues first?

And those of you who have purchased recently, any notable buyer's remorse? Yes, I have read threads here from some people claiming some remorse, but is that a trend or just outliers in the large scheme of things?

[Dan MMXVDB]

The OS issue is quite odd. Reading comments elsewhere and here, many, many owners have no issue whatsoever, users have rolled back to earlier OS, others are really, really upset...

Initially disappointed with the purchase of my Pa5X but that's my fault for not having a look at the Pa5X 'in the flesh'.
That said, the OS issues I had have been resolved and I'm a lot happier now!

For home use, the keyboard certainly exceeds much of my needs, it is fun!
I do not 'gig', but have in the past and am tempted to go back out. Hard to say if I would put all my trust in the Pa5X for live work, but others do and sing its praises.

I would suggest to try and get a first hand demo of the Pa5X from a Korg dealer, inspect, try and listen to it yourself, find out the OS installed at the time of demo and what level of support you'd get from the dealer should you choose to purchase.

[Biggles]

I have had my 5X for six months.

Zero issues, nothing, it does everything this home player wants or needs as it is.

Agree with prior comments, suggest to test drive one if you can.

I have played thee 5X and a G2 back to back, no comparison the 5X for me is in a league of its own.

[karmathanever]

Reading all the issues etc, my personal view is that if you are intending to perform at all, then wait, otherwise, for just home use, one can usually tolerate some unreliability.
As I say, just my personal take - I add to my views that I personally refuse to pay such a high amount for a product that is still incomplete and with many bugs.

[deminda]

Totally agree. For home use it will be ok but you will still get issues even with factory styles if you use it with the song book, mixer / output issues with assignable outputs and many more. Its disappointing korg is ignoring these OS issues which is not user dependant. There are many purely OS issues and that is why many people had to revert back to previous OS. Even Korg was not aware the Matrix menu options will disappear after the restore of the back up when they release the update. After a month of the update no news from korg on these " known Issues". Other reliable companies acknowledge the known issues and issue quick patches to fix them. But korg does not.

[Rich Z]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I big part of my concern will be to watch and see how Korg handles this. I already have a Kronos, which is a really nice keyboard, but if they are going to ignore their customers, eventually their customers will start ignoring them.

As for doing any sort of hands on, the nearest authorized dealer to me is 3 hours away. And even then, no guarantee they will have a Pa5X in stock as a demo unit. In any event, I doubt bugs will show up in just a couple hour sitting on a showroom floor. Too many sparkles in the eyes to be seeing flaws.

Probably just a good idea for me to wait it out. Kind of disappointing, though, as it seems every time I had given a thought to buying this keyboard, there were some issues abounding that talked me out of it.

So I will wait and see what the next update fixes as well as what it also breaks.

[rikkisbears]

Hi Rich, I’ve had mine for nearly 2 years. In hindsight I wish I’d waited till I could get the 61 note version. Easier to ship if something major did go wrong. I have 88 notes it’s heavy. I live 3 hrs away from a Korg dealership also.

Anyway when I first bought it it had the initial operating system. I was well aware it wouldn’t do what my prior korgs did. But like yourself I didn’t want to buy a Pa4x, , I had sold my Pa4x when the sx900 came on the market, thinking Korg would probably be not far behind in announcing its replacement.
WRONG , Covid hit , no Pa4x replacement.

So I ecstatic when PA5x finally came on the market.

There were some major issues with initial operating system, but,since I’m only a home hobbyist, didn’t affect me that much. Had a couple of crashes early days while I was trying to work out how to edit my styles, once I worked out what not to do, I was off and running.

Next update made it more stable added, new functions. Happier still. Haha

Latest update, haven’t spent a heap of time on it, I’m sorting through my style library deleting duplicates.

I basically just installed update ie I haven’t loaded any old settings, into it. I keep all my styles on usb stick, I have a strange way of doing my songbook ie all my songbook styles are saved as user styles with the name of the song, so it was easy to put my song book back together.
My user midi settings , I was able to redo.
So far I can’t say I have had any problems.

Korg have been slack as far as keeping owner’s informed.
But they’re obviously trying to sort things out or we’d still be waiting for the last update.

There’s a lot to be peeved with, there’s a lot to love. Think my favourite feature probably is the dual style player.

I use it for auditioning style tracks between 2 styles. Great way of creating new styles, also good way of fixing up some of the old legacy styles ,being able to replace the odd bad sounding style track with a factory track.
So handy being able to listen to future edits in realtime.

I mainly use piano for melody, but for something like a big band style I do use the brass keyboard sets. I find they transition smoothly while playing thru the variations. Works similar to OTS in Yamaha.

[Smoothiemusic]

I can't fault this Pa5X.

Home Player, and I've yet to find any issues that bother me.

I tried the Genos 2....Horrible!
How Yamaha have the cheek to ask such a lot of money for a Plastic keyboard......

The Pa5X is in a class of it's own.
Stylish
Beautifully made
Professional looking and sounding.

Get to the shop!

[ckobu]

For the money, I think Yamaha could have done better. But don't say this on a Genos forum because the natives will have you for supper. The biggies I don't like about that keyboard are that the transitions between voices when changing the style variation is abysmal. I kid you not, actual screeches will sometimes result if you have a key held down changing between some of them. Then the implementation of the Hammond B3 organ Leslie tone cabinet in their supposedly most advanced organ sounds is ridiculous. No leslie tone cabinet horn ramp up and ramp down. Just on/off tremolo. Just awful. Yamaha MUST know how to do it better, but for some reason decided not to. So anytime I want a good Hammond organ sound, I have to go searching through their legacy selections.

Seamless sound switching an create a problem when playing, but once you get used to it, this problem can be easily avoided. This video is not in English, but if you turn on the subtitles, I hope you can understand what I'm talking about.

https://youtu.be/O5iUjXMDuhc?si=KQXrj_plXxfwV5X0&t=205

[ExTyrosFan]

I have had my 5X for six months.

Zero issues, nothing, it does everything this home player wants or needs as it is.

Agree with prior comments, suggest to test drive one if you can.

I have played thee 5X and a G2 back to back, no comparison the 5X for me is in a league of its own.

Agreed 100%

[Korg2024]

Don't buy it... I doubt this keyboard will ever be fully functional. With the last update, I realized that the next one will certainly have some new errors and problems. The Korg Pa5x is just as well advertised. Basically, you get everything, and when you add it all up, you can't even use half of it. The instrument is totally confused. I will not comment on the OS-system. It is full of bugs and errors. That keyboard will never be totally fine, 99%. I think that a new Korg arranger will be released soon, and the Pa5x will remain a keyboard with unsolvable problems.

[deminda]

I also feel it will never be fully functional. If we put a side the so called " USER RELATED" issues due to converted SET file from previous PA series boards, still the 5X has multiple issues with the OS. (Probably hardware like processor , RAM etc). It has been two years since the release and still glitches with song book, style editor, mixer effects, user scales, chord variations, audio routing, pedal calibration, etc etc. I don't feel it will ever be a reliable keyboard. There have been leaks of the front panel images long time before the release. Then videos of people performing the Pa5x before release, and recently the video just before the latest update release which describes all update features.. these things reflects the team behind the 5x development has some serious issues.

[jbd59]

Don't buy it... I doubt this keyboard will ever be fully functional. With the last update, I realized that the next one will certainly have some new errors and problems. The Korg Pa5x is just as well advertised. Basically, you get everything, and when you add it all up, you can't even use half of it. The instrument is totally confused. I will not comment on the OS-system. It is full of bugs and errors. That keyboard will never be totally fine, 99%. I think that a new Korg arranger will be released soon, and the Pa5x will remain a keyboard with unsolvable problems.

Go yo buy a Bontempi ! that should fit you for sure !

[pawlikp100]

Don't buy it... I doubt this keyboard will ever be fully functional. With the last update, I realized that the next one will certainly have some new errors and problems. The Korg Pa5x is just as well advertised. Basically, you get everything, and when you add it all up, you can't even use half of it. The instrument is totally confused. I will not comment on the OS-system. It is full of bugs and errors. That keyboard will never be totally fine, 99%. I think that a new Korg arranger will be released soon, and the Pa5x will remain a keyboard with unsolvable problems.

Don't listen the Guy above. He has missed the truth. Just buy and be happy playing and entertaining with pa5x. Don't waste your time for waiting for better.

[Biggles]

Don't buy it... I doubt this keyboard will ever be fully functional. With the last update, I realized that the next one will certainly have some new errors and problems. The Korg Pa5x is just as well advertised. Basically, you get everything, and when you add it all up, you can't even use half of it. The instrument is totally confused. I will not comment on the OS-system. It is full of bugs and errors. That keyboard will never be totally fine, 99%. I think that a new Korg arranger will be released soon, and the Pa5x will remain a keyboard with unsolvable problems.

What a load of Dross, this person is a Troll.

It is not as though Korg has a huge team of programmers capable of working on updating the OS.

Korg simply do not update their arrangers with the regularity that Yamahahaha do! The 700 and 1000 have been around since 2017 and still there is no sign of them being replaced.

I would guess that the Pa5X will continue in production for at least the remaining decade. Given that the market for the product is probably 95% home players for whom it is the greatest keyboard since sliced bread was invented.