Korg Forums

[Snoopy]

[chelsea4023]

Hi Giner,

Keysounds Leicester don't actually make new styles. What they have done is the hard work for their customers by actually compiling large numbers of styles over a period of years compatible with Korg arrangers. A lot of these will be from alternative Korg arrangers (some discontinued, some current), PA1X, PA2X, PA3X, PA800, PA900, PA300, PA500, PA600. Also they may have used conversion programs to convert styles from alternative manufacturers arranger keyboards (Yamaha, Roland, Ketron, etc). They have then compiled all these styles into an easy to load file that fills up your user sections with styles, sounds and pads.

The dopamine 2.6 file (that I mentioned in my previous post) is probably the largest file available for free (this consists of 1200 styles, 1400 sounds, 760 pads, and 320 perfomances all in addition to your existing factory styles, sounds and pads). You do have to be careful when loading as it can alter your factory sounds, therefore it's important you back-up all your factory resources. Dopamine (a french guy who frequents these Forums) is a very nice guy who provides detailed instructions with all his downloads. Unfortunately he cannot make PA4X specific software as I believe he only has a PA600.

The other U.K. based retailers that have given free style software with their Korg PA4X keyboards are A.C.Hamilton (Preston, Lancashire) and Promenade Music, (Morecambe, Lancashire).

What also needs to be mentioned is that many styles from older arranger keyboards will not be quite as polished as some of the newer styles, but they can all be tweaked to improve them and then saved.

Something that really impressed me with the PA4X is that if you select a factory style and you don't like the sound of the drums, you can go to a large selection of built in drum kits, change the drum kit and the style changes considerably in how it sounds. Trial and error is the key, but clever nevertheless.

Chris

p.s. One point I would like to mention, at the risk of upsetting some Forum members. The PA4X comes with 500 factory high quality styles. The software files that are available free of charge (Dopamine 2.6) which are also compatible with other current Korg arrangers can potentially add another 1,200 styles. This means any Korg PA4X owner can have 1,700 available styles at hand. Despite this, I still see Forum members stating that they do not have access to lots of styles like Yamaha owners do. What do PA4X owners actually want from their arrangers ? 2,500 styles, 3,000 styles, 5,000 styles ? Please could someone take the time to explain to me as I'm truly confused on this one !!!

[mintjamman]

Reading the opening post on this topic whilst I realise that we are all different and have different musical interest's and requirements frankly how anyone could not find pleasure from an instrument like the Korg Pa4x baffles me. The sheer quality of the styles, voices, effects and processing features let alone the programmability available if you can't harness this feature set then you in all probability won't find any instrument that would satisfy you. Who knows what Yamaha might arrive with at Frankfurt but it's going to have to go some to reach into Pa4x territory and shake of the Home Organ syndrome.

The Tyros does nothing for me personally and a couple of friends of mine have just purchased PSR 970's which I had a chance to play last weekend. Bang for the buck it provides a lot of features but it's difficult to drive and sounds lifeless compared to the Pa4x and the Tyros fairs little better in my view.

I suppose you could compare the Pa4x and Tyros to having a manual camera and a point and shoot camera, some folks want to explore, take it to other levels and create whereas others just wanna pick up and shoot.

As Pete said Peter Bartmans makes the Tyros and S970 sound great and if I gave him a comb and paper he would probably make that talk as well.
If I am honest when I was weighing up the whole idea of buying an arranger last year having seem Mr Bartmans putting the Tyros 5 through its paces I was 80% sold on picking up the Tyros 5. That was of course until I went to my dealer and got to grips with the Tyros 5, I ended up hating it, totally the wrong instrument for me and the plastic over produced sounds left me cold.

Enter the Pa4x, it's a game changer for me and just tonight I have had so much fun with it , sure it's deep, of course it's not without a few warts, yes we have some issues which Korg are hopefully working on, BUT all in all it's a instrument that has a lot to give especially in the right hands and for the original poster I would try and pin down the points that you think make it a bad choice for you. There are loads of styles out there and again tonight I have been playing loads of extra styles, there are SETS available as has been mentioned elsewhere and this forum is a place of knowledge, experience and ideas from a lot of creative players of all standards who are focused on the What the instrument can do,

Other than all of this what more could you possibly want ?
_________________
Yamaha S90ES, Korg Triton Pro, EXB Moss, Roland XV5080, Korg EX8000, Korg Pa4x 76, Korg Kronos 88, Crumar MOJO, Logic Pro X, V Collection, Novation SL61,Vienna, Korg Pa4x , EC-5, Vienna, Arturia V Collection, Roland SC88 Pro, Roland D110, Alesis SR16, Alesis D4

[Giner]

Many thanks for your detailed description, Chris. I have the Dopamine set downloaded - a tremendous collection of goodies, indeed. Of the whole package I'm probably using around a dozen or so styles, having added them to my Pa3x in the time-honoured Korg "drill down" fashion.

I haven't yet dug into the sounds and pads part, time always seems to be at a premium (what else is new ). Mind you, I'm quite satisfied with the main sounds that are resident in the Pa3x, and I've made tweaks along the way on them, so I don't know that I'll do much delving into the Dopamine set.

I imagine that many of the converted styles from those U.K. retailers are not too far off what I already have, then, and would be subject to much tweaking anyway - everyone's tastes are different in that department, as you know.

By the time I've stacked up our playlists in Songbook, I'm probably using not many more than 20-odd styles in which tempos, instrumentations, effects, etc. have been altered, for our catalogue of around 200 songs in a wide variety of genres. Thanks again for your reply.

Best regards, Giner

--------------------------------------------------

mintjamman:

Absolutely in agreement with your views on Yamaha. I too, am at a loss to understand how anyone can bemoan a lack of styles on Korg. As I alluded to with Chris, what the heck would I do with thousands of styles?
_________________
When I nod my head . . . Hit it!
Pa3x-61, Pa1xPro, i30, Micromoog (1975)

[karmathanever]

Hi Snoopy

[shadowhankron]

Hi Guys

First THANK YOU for all your replies to my question, some of you offered very good choices for me to consider.
I had not played the PA4X for 5 weeks until Tuesday night, when I turned on the unit, I thought here we go again...not sounding good, I should explain not sounding good...I NEED SOMEONE WITH GREAT EQ SETTINGS to share to get a lively Tone from my Instruments..so EQ settings I need PLEASE.

I thought hard about exchanging to Tyros 5, but the PSR s970 is not far away from sounds towards the Tyros 5, and I will have the Song Styles I need on the PSR s970....so I will hang on with that exchange possibly until the GENOS appears an check it out.

Chelsea 4023......Pete.... mintjamman you all had great information to offer, however I will need some members to help me with loading styles from USB into the PA4X instead of loading into user slots.
By the way Chris I too am retired and try to keep active so inheritance of my kids money is being spent on keyboards lol.....
So I ask bear with me in future questions, after turning on the PA4X on tuesday I never realised the great Voices within the unit.

Thanks Guys

Ronnie
_________________
KORG PA4X.....Genos ...PSR s970....Roland Integra 7 & Yamaha Motif Rack XS..and Guitars..Yamaha 7 Monitors

[chelsea4023]

Hi Ronnie,

Good to hear from you and glad you are going to hold onto the PA4x for a little while.

Regarding the E.Q. settings, it might be helpful if you let us know what you are using in the way of amplification and speakers to play the PA4X through. Do you have the PA4X soundbar that slots into the back of the keyboard ?
Problem being that everybody will use different amplification and speakers and E.Q. settings will be different for each setup.

Regarding the styles, all mine are loaded into the user sections, but I'm sure someone will post a link to the manual or explain how it's done.

In a previous post I mentioned that I'm trying to get to grips with effects and how to add them. Fortunately Korg wisely set the keyboard up so that when I select a particular sound it already has effects added. Had they not done that, I would have been struggling a little.

Chris

[shadowhankron]

Hi Chris

Thanks for getting back to me. I play the PA4X thru the input of the PSR 9000 which is a good amp tone from it, plenty loud, I also use the brass sounds from the 9000 for certain songs

It is a pity that the pa4x cannot load styles from usb as easy as it can be done using Tyros 2 and PSR s970 keyboards, you just put in usb select folder and WHAM !!! there are the styles.

regards
Ronnie
_________________
KORG PA4X.....Genos ...PSR s970....Roland Integra 7 & Yamaha Motif Rack XS..and Guitars..Yamaha 7 Monitors

[Stilli]

[shadowhankron]

Hi Stilli

I don't use a mixer or PA System...Have always played the Tyros 2 thru the PSR 9000 without much trouble and sound was good.
The PSR s970 has its own sound system built in...Took awhile to get right eq sound with help from forum members,so am hoping someone on this Korg forum can send me reasonable settings for the PA4X.
Thanks Stilli for replying

Regards

Ronnie
_________________
KORG PA4X.....Genos ...PSR s970....Roland Integra 7 & Yamaha Motif Rack XS..and Guitars..Yamaha 7 Monitors

[shadowhankron]

Hi all
Thanks for advice

Regards

Ronnie
_________________
KORG PA4X.....Genos ...PSR s970....Roland Integra 7 & Yamaha Motif Rack XS..and Guitars..Yamaha 7 Monitors

[bobeld@aol.com]

I am fortunate enough to own both a Pa4x (61) and Tyros 5 (76).
The Tyros 5 was too heavy and bulky to carry to gigs so I went back to gigging with the Korg Pa4x. I've owned a Korg 01W, and i3, and an i30 and was looking forward to returning to Korg technology.

But there are things I miss that are on the Tyros that the Korg just does not have.

I use both styles and midi files. The Tyros lets you use both simultaneously so if there is a great drum groove in a style that improves a midi, I can punch it in. The style locks into the tempo of the midi.

Both keyboards can transpose a midi, but only the Tyros will transpose the score. When I am playing a midi that I have transposed for singing or playing lead over (by turning off channel 4) I would like to be able to see the score in the transposed key. I know I could set the keyboard to transpose as well, but it sounds odd to me to be playing in the key of C and have the sound come out in the Key of Ab. I much prefer to play the song in Ab. I am hoping that Korg will allow the score to transpose too in a future update.

I like the sounds of both keyboards although I will say that the vocal/choral sounds are more realistic on the Tyros. Originally I was disappointed with the "flatness" of the sounds on the Korg until I tweaked it using the MAXX equalizer. Now they have "punch".

The Korg will play mp3s and CDGs whereas the Tyros will not.

The dual players on the Pa4x make it easy to have a song cued up and fade in if I so desire. This has never been available on the Tyros.

Korg also wins hands down for vocal processing with it's TC Helicon engine.

So for now the Tyros stays in my studio and the Korg goes out gigging with me.

[shadowhankron]

Bobeld.....Many thanks for your comments. Interesting your views on Tyros 5 and Korg PA4X..Nice to own the cream of keyboards in your case the two models.
You use the Tyros 5 in studio with Tyros song styles ,so how do you play song styles of certain hits on the PA4X, for gigging that you enjoy on the Tyros 5..
You mentioned after you tweaked the MAXX on the Korg it came to life, is there any chance you could offer the settings used for those tweaks,please..
Kind regards
Ronnie
_________________
KORG PA4X.....Genos ...PSR s970....Roland Integra 7 & Yamaha Motif Rack XS..and Guitars..Yamaha 7 Monitors

[bobeld@aol.com]

Hi Shadowhankron,

I got the EQ settings right here about 6 months ago. I will look for them or, the next time I set up the Korg Pa4x, I will copy down the settings and share them with you.
As far as using styles as songs - I don't do that much.

As for styles, I use midi files for my songs and solo over the lead with either the right hand keyboard or my voice. Kind of like karaoke on steroids. I have the keyboard set to automatically mute channel 4 on midi files (which I can unmute if the melody is on another channel). In my gigs I often have to play and sing in several languages (Spanish, Portuguese and Italian) as well as cover the standards (Sinatra, Martin, Bennett, Cole, Fitzgerald etc) and pop mostly from mid to late 20th century (Billy Joel, Elvis, Elton, Paul McCartney, Chris Rea etc.) It's pretty eclectic and I don't use a set list - I choose my songs as I go along depending on the crowd. I do take requests. (Besides private parties I've had a steady gig since 1991 at a particular restaurant.)
It would be too much for me to have a style for every song I perform - having the songs in midi format makes it much easier.

[bobeld@aol.com]

Shadowhankron,

I found the settings I used. They are from member Jonyblues on Monday July 25, 2016.

He posted them here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1fD9_7S1ptNaUdTcWFfR09IQTQ

There are 4 screen shots of how to fine tune MAXX settings.

Enjoy
Bob Eldridge