Hi Charley,
On the subject of how the Pa1X stacks up against the i30, I took my Pa1XPro out on the gig last night after having been using my i30 for the past several years, so you might be interested in my in-the-trenches observations.
And the winner is . . . the i30.
You could be tempted to jump to the conclusion that it's an unfair comparison, one night versus nine years, but what are simple tasks on the i30 turn out to be more complex on the 1X. I'm sure you know that simplicity is the name of the game in a live situation where you don't have time to mess about too much in order to keep the flow going.
On the i30, it's a simple matter of pressing the bank number for whichever song you have stored as a performance, say C14, C36, D22 and so on. So three quick button presses and your next song is good to go.
Compare this with the same requirement on the 1X. I have all our songs loaded into the Songbook numbered sequentially from 1 to 144 (more will be added as time goes along). To select a song I first have to dial through the list to get to the one I want and, for example, scrolling from song, say, 12 to, say, song 125 already takes longer than the three button pushes on the i30.
Yes, this could be alleviated somewhat by having custom lists, but then in a live situation where you have a full dance floor, it's not always possible to stick to a set list, not if you're reading your crowd who, in the time it takes to deviate from your list to get to a suitable number, may well have left the dance floor. An example: Let's suppose you've just ended Donna Summer's 'Hot Stuff' and next in the set list is a slow-down number like Eric Clapton's 'Wonderful Tonight', but the crowd is up for another uptempo such as Hot Chocolate's 'You Sexy Thing'. Instead of the three button pushes on the i30, the 1X involves coming out of your current custom list and into another one. Valuable time lost, no virtual segue, and your crowd's back at their tables. Way to kill a party.
Oh, I'm not done yet. The harmonizer on the 1X is a beautiful thing, no question. But again, in a live situation, it has its achilles heel. That is, harmonies are not stored in songbook setups. So, you have to come out of the songbook screen into the main screen, hit the mic tab at the bottom and set the harmony voices you need for that song which, seven times out of ten, will be different from the preceding song, and different again in the subsequent song. More delay. It's been suggested that there are workarounds for this, but it's still more time-consuming than is tolerable.
Now, granted, the i30 doesn't have a built-in harmonizer, so we were using an old Korg ih that was sat on the right hand end of the keyboard. Not nearly as good sonically as the built-in TC Helicon on the 1X, but every harmony is only a couple of button pushes away, and without having to be in and out of screens on the i30.
One other thing, since installing OS 3.01 on the 1X, I've had the keyboard not start up on three occasions (it was fine with OS 3.0). Each time I have had to shut her off and re-power up up to three times to git 'er going. The i30 on the other hand was Captain Reliable for nine years, and never a blink of an LED.
Sorry this sounds like a bit of a rant, Charley, but there's my experiences for your perusal. Just the facts, man, just the facts.
Like Pete, if there was an i30 with the Pa2X engine, I'd be number two in the queue behind him at the Korg dealer.
Cheers, Giner
but I am beginning to agree with you !!!
