Looking for a new arranger

[NeedyJay]

Goodmorning everyone,

Im looking for a keyboard around the price range of 2000 euros. From what i've seen on the market most of the times people recommend either the yamaha psr-sx900 / sx-920 or the korg PA1000. I really do like the PA1000 but I'd appreciate if you could give me your opinion on the PA1000 and if you would recommend something else.

 

[Biggles]

Welcome.

You have it covered in those two models.

The Korg has been around for a few years now and is a very capable keyboard with plenty of free add ons via the Korg Bonusware site, plus paid for upgrades are readily avilable.

The Yamaha SX is a vastly improved keyboard over the prior models.

There is a third option but it is rather quirky, check out the Ketron range.

Best I can suggest is if it is possible to check them out back to back. I have done this twice, and on both occasions I bought a Korg over a Yamaha as to me the Korg has the best overall sounds, better Styles, a usable Recording system and is built like a tank. Yamaha’s do have a better acoustic piano sound but there is a free sound sample available that fixes that with the Korg.

As you see I have a 5X and that is awesome in every department

 

[NeedyJay]

Welcome.

You have it covered in those two models.

The Korg has been around for a few years now and is a very capable keyboard with plenty of free add ons via the Korg Bonusware site, plus paid for upgrades are readily avilable.

The Yamaha SX is a vastly improved keyboard over the prior models.

There is a third option but it is rather quirky, check out the Ketron range.

Best I can suggest is if it is possible to check them out back to back. I have done this twice, and on both occasions I bought a Korg over a Yamaha as to me the Korg has the best overall sounds, better Styles, a usable Recording system and is built like a tank. Yamaha’s do have a better acoustic piano sound but there is a free sound sample available that fixes that with the Korg.

As you see I have a 5X and that is awesome in every department

Well, if I could afford a 5x I would buy that no second thought. As for the PA1000 I was just very skeptical because of it's age but I've asked other people as well and you all seem to be giving me the answer that it doesn't really matter.
Thanks a lot!

 

[Chelsea 4023]

Hi,
I think a lot depends on if you just want to sit down and play, or you want to spend time 'tinkering with settings' as well as playing. I have a PA5X and I'm reasonably happy with it, although I spend as much time 'tinkering' as I do actually playing.
If I got a second keyboard, it would probably be the Yamaha PSR-SX920. A proper 'sit and play' keyboard with quality sounds and styles. One negative though was how surprisingly poor the keyboard action is on a £1,600 keyboard.
Best of luck with your search, but try to spend time with the arranger before making a purchase.
Chris

 

[amwilburn]

Both *are* really good; in a nutshell I find the PA1000 punchier (especially bass and drums). the Yamaha 'cleaner".

Strings is a very subjective category; I prefer the cleaner 'full bowed' orchestral strings on the Yamaha, mind you some people find that screechy... the Korg wins in 80s polysynths IMO, Yamaha in Sax & Woodwinds, strings (imo), brass, but even 9 after years on the market, nothing beats that low end punch of the PA1000.

Ass for expansion packs, it depends *where* you are; for Korg I can only get Turkish& Arabic, and Indian - one of my buddies has PA1000, loves it, but is *very* jealous of the world sample packs available for PSRsx920, especially the new Cpop Chinese pack (the old Chinese pack 2013 was <20mb, the new one (2025) is 450mb so you can imagine how much better it sounds). And there are *so many* free packs to download; Middle Eastern, Spain & Portugal, Italy, Brasil, Dangut, Indonesia, Celtic, etc.

It is definitely best to try them in person.

Oh, there's a very interesting difference nobody seems to mention: the keys: The PA1000's keys don't feel even as good as the old PSRs970/975, very much on par with the feel of the PSRE series.

*HOWEVER* since the introduction of the Yamaha sx series, while the keys initially feel great, the keys become clackier with time... it doesn't bother most people, but the people that it does bother? It *really* bothers them.

What it boils down to, I've found, is if you play on headphones (and you're listening to the keys before you put headphones on) or playing at low speaker volume, you will hear the clack, especially the black keys. I play with the volume up, pretty loud, so I don't. And yes the new sx920/720 share the same keys as the sx700/900.

*AND* the PA1000 has channel after touch; the PSRsx's do not. And the keys never develop a clacking issue (neither did the predecessor Yamaha PSR-S series, but they also lack A.T)


Finally, for me, the deal breaker is whether or not I can chain registrations together for continuously updating the sound scape as I play, like in my youtube videos: This registration sequencing is only on Yamaha's for some reason.

But that's for *me*. I doubt most people ever even use this feature.

*Conversely* the Korg's have seamless sound switching, the Yamaha's don't (which is doubly ironic because you really need that with registrations)... I achieve no pops when switching through some aggrivating techniques; Korg *does* have song book, which lets you instantly recall a registration, I think 16 on a single screen? But you just can't chain them hands free the same way; but if you only need to load a song setup at the start and don't change on the fly, you're good!



Mark

 

[NeedyJay]

Hi,
I think a lot depends on if you just want to sit down and play, or you want to spend time 'tinkering with settings' as well as playing. I have a PA5X and I'm reasonably happy with it, although I spend as much time 'tinkering' as I do actually playing.
If I got a second keyboard, it would probably be the Yamaha PSR-SX920. A proper 'sit and play' keyboard with quality sounds and styles. One negative though was how surprisingly poor the keyboard action is on a £1,600 keyboard.
Best of luck with your search, but try to spend time with the arranger before making a purchase.
Chris

By spending time you mean try it out at a shop? If yes I completely agree with you but even after playing the keyboard for over 10 years i feel very uncomfortable playing when other people are around. Weird, I know .

 

[NeedyJay]

Both *are* really good; in a nutshell I find the PA1000 punchier (especially bass and drums). the Yamaha 'cleaner".

Strings is a very subjective category; I prefer the cleaner 'full bowed' orchestral strings on the Yamaha, mind you some people find that screechy... the Korg wins in 80s polysynths IMO, Yamaha in Sax & Woodwinds, strings (imo), brass, but even 9 after years on the market, nothing beats that low end punch of the PA1000.

Ass for expansion packs, it depends *where* you are; for Korg I can only get Turkish& Arabic, and Indian - one of my buddies has PA1000, loves it, but is *very* jealous of the world sample packs available for PSRsx920, especially the new Cpop Chinese pack (the old Chinese pack 2013 was <20mb, the new one (2025) is 450mb so you can imagine how much better it sounds). And there are *so many* free packs to download; Middle Eastern, Spain & Portugal, Italy, Brasil, Dangut, Indonesia, Celtic, etc.

It is definitely best to try them in person.

Oh, there's a very interesting difference nobody seems to mention: the keys: The PA1000's keys don't feel even as good as the old PSRs970/975, very much on par with the feel of the PSRE series.

*HOWEVER* since the introduction of the Yamaha sx series, while the keys initially feel great, the keys become clackier with time... it doesn't bother most people, but the people that it does bother? It *really* bothers them.

What it boils down to, I've found, is if you play on headphones (and you're listening to the keys before you put headphones on) or playing at low speaker volume, you will hear the clack, especially the black keys. I play with the volume up, pretty loud, so I don't. And yes the new sx920/720 share the same keys as the sx700/900.

*AND* the PA1000 has channel after touch; the PSRsx's do not. And the keys never develop a clacking issue (neither did the predecessor Yamaha PSR-S series, but they also lack A.T)


Finally, for me, the deal breaker is whether or not I can chain registrations together for continuously updating the sound scape as I play, like in my youtube videos: This registration sequencing is only on Yamaha's for some reason.

But that's for *me*. I doubt most people ever even use this feature.

*Conversely* the Korg's have seamless sound switching, the Yamaha's don't (which is doubly ironic because you really need that with registrations)... I achieve no pops when switching through some aggrivating techniques; Korg *does* have song book, which lets you instantly recall a registration, I think 16 on a single screen? But you just can't chain them hands free the same way; but if you only need to load a song setup at the start and don't change on the fly, you're good!



Mark

Thanks for the in depth reply. Ill check the videos as well! Can you explain what the chain registrations are?

 

[Biggles]

Unlike ammilburn in his post I totally dislike Yamaha strings, to me they sound like a cat in pain, scimilar with the brass So do check out in person.

A Korg Pa benefits from the Eq being turned on, the 700 & 1000 have a flat slightly muted response straight out of the box.

With a Korg 1000 you have all the sounds but Korg also uses them in what they call Keyboard Sets which are basically Combi’s.

All of the Keyboard set library is available which playing.

 

[NeedyJay]

Unlike ammilburn in his post I totally dislike Yamaha strings, to me they sound like a cat in pain, scimilar with the brass So do check out in person.

A Korg Pa benefits from the Eq being turned on, the 700 & 1000 have a flat slightly muted response straight out of the box.

With a Korg 1000 you have all the sounds but Korg also uses them in what they call Keyboard Sets which are basically Combi’s.

All of the Keyboard set library is available which playing.

The sounds probably depend on individual preferences . As for the other things you said I did not understand them well, what is the EQ thing and the whole paragraph.

 

[eric enfield]

If you can find a Roland BK9 at a good price check it out. The drums don't sound fake. Play your own bass lines. What a loss that Roland dropped this line.

 

[Bouncingogre]

Don't discount the Korg Pa4X.
There are several for sale in Europe.

Make sure that whatever keyboard you buy that is hasn't been gigged.

Gigged means used for performing. It will probably have had a lot of use, and constant moving about, so dents, scratches etc.

 

[Biggles]

Don't discount the Korg Pa4X.
There are several for sale in Europe.

Make sure that whatever keyboard you buy that is hasn't been gigged.

Gigged means used for performing. It will probably have had a lot of use, and constant moving about, so dents, scratches etc.

The Pa4X is a great keyboard and here in the UK they still command a high second user price.

£2000 can be expected and as at its lowest a 61 key version new was less than £2400.

 

[Biggles]

The Eq is off by default, enabling it as shown above gives 6 presets which are available to use.
Each one is configured for different environments but they are general and each can be re-configured to suit.

 

[Biggles]

Getting ones head around a Korg Pa or any Korg for that matter takes a lot of effort.

I suggest that you download the Manuals for each keyboard that is of interest and study them.

Keyboard Sets are Korg’s versions of Registrations. Additionally Korg Pa keyboards have the Songbook and Playlist feature onboard.

There is software in the Songbook Editor which is very useful.

 

[Biggles]

What these Korg Video Manual series of Tutorials.

Steve McNally is the guy and he produces all of the official tutorials for all their keyboards.

 

[nakeyer]

Anyway arranger keyboard is a kind of computer. So - my choice is GigLad https://deltarray.com/ or vArranger https://www.varranger.com/ There are so many free VST synths - no need to spend money. Simple MIDI keyboard and the Pocket with Windows.

 

[Bouncingogre]

Each to his/her own taste I suppose, but for me actually playing a keyboard, synth organ, piano or whatever other instrument is more than just pressing buttons on a screen.
There are finger skills to learn, chords to experiment with, reading music, and the sheer physical and mental pleasure of playing a professional grade Arranger keyboard.

 

[nakeyer]

Each to his/her own taste I suppose, but for me actually playing a keyboard, synth organ, piano or whatever other instrument is more than just pressing buttons on a screen.
There are finger skills to learn, chords to experiment with, reading music, and the sheer physical and mental pleasure of playing a professional grade Arranger keyboard.

No problem I really can not understand what is the difference - to press buttons on touch-screen of laptop or on synth My mental pleasure is to operate thousands of VST-synths with soft-arranger and MIDI keyboard.

 

[Biggles]

Yamaha have their own take on videos related to their products.

This link is their tutorials Playlist

https://uk.yamaha.com/en/musical-instruments/keyboards/explore/arranger-workstations/psr-sx920-720/media-library.html#d2319117

 

[NeedyJay]

Don't discount the Korg Pa4X.
There are several for sale in Europe.

Make sure that whatever keyboard you buy that is hasn't been gigged.

Gigged means used for performing. It will probably have had a lot of use, and constant moving about, so dents, scratches etc.

They are great, but unfortunately even used ones are out of my price range