Pa5X OS Update V1.4

[Yamko]

I don't agree with the explanation of "korg2024" but if we are all a little honest to ourselves it is true that Korg has been fooling all its customers with Pa5x for 3 years!!! And now it is high time that Korg stops disappointing its customers and finally communicates with their Pa5x owners!

[D575]

And now it is high time that Korg stops disappointing its customers and finally communicates with their Pa5x owners!

Highly unlikely, unfortunately. It is clear they have no intention of doing so; they are operating from a prehistoric business mindset, and no amount of pointing this out will make a difference. In the meantime, Kentron continues to improve its products, and rumors are swirling around of a forthcoming flagship arranger from Roland (think Zen-Core, as seen in their recent budget lineup).

[Yamko]

I also think that Korg will never change their way of thinking, as for Ketron they are still in the era of 15 years ago.
Now with their audio styles and loops that most brands like Yamaha have stopped a long time ago because they are uneditable for the user.
Roland is doing well with their digital pianos, they have to start over, especially in the arranger world they are at the back.
Yamaha is the biggest brand with an army of programmers who are doing more or less well.
See Genos 1 & 2 that work excellently and do what they are supposed to do, albeit with less editing options, but there are regular updates that generally work well.
I have both pa5x 76 and Genos2 and I am very happy that I especially have a Genos that works and sounds fantastic. Hopefully when update 1.4 is rolled out, the Pa5x can stand a bit worthy next to my GN2.

[chelsea4023]

Hi All,
As somebody who has been quite critical of the PA5X, I am happy to wait until the new 1.4 O/S arrives. That said, these are Forums where people can express their views of the relevant keyboards/synths/workstations/digital pianos they own. I don't see why 'Korg 2024' is being singled out, it's how he currently feels about his PA5X. I have had to have a new circuit board installed in my PA5X as well as having new LED's fitted. I feel quite pleased with how Korg U.K. have responded to my issues and I am also looking forward to finally getting a 'quick Record' feature in the new O/S.
When the PA5X was launched almost three years ago, I don't think anybody expected all the issues that have plagued the keyboard. Hopefully the new O/S will turn the PA5X into the keyboard we all hoped it would be.
Chris

[Yamko]

Dear Chris, I must congratulate you for your patience with Korg when I see what problems you have already had.
Notwithstanding that here and there a device that let's say was built on a Monday morning.
I am currently on my 2nd Pa5x76, where the first one had major problems with the led buttons.
I have also been very angry with korg with what they have brought to the market!!
As for people like "korg2024" who sometimes spit on a product is sometimes acceptable.
I can also partly agree with his comment, but that is not for everyone who is happy with what they have so far.
I too am waiting for v1.40 to eventually be launched, but I fear again for a number of errors that will disrupt things.
But as I already wrote, I have my Genos 2 which is doing very well.

[chelsea4023]

Hi Yamko,
I am a little in envy that you also have the Genos 2. I previously had a Tyros 4, Tyros 5 and a couple of lower PSR keyboards but I'm a committed Korg supporter and now have the PA5X, a Nautilus 88 (absolutely love it) and bass pedals. I try to play my setup 'organ' style but Korg see it as a 'redundant' style of playing, so don't offer it as a standard setup in the midi settings. If I was a Yamaha owner, there are Music Dealers like Musicland in London U.K. that will sell you their Yamaha keyboards in an organ setup (called TRX) and supply software to set everything up. I also envy the stability of Yamaha products. Yes, Yamaha keyboards do have issues but not to the extent that Korg does, and Yamaha will get around to offering an O/S update to remedy any issues.
All this said, I still prefer Korg arrangers over Yamaha. What I would disagree with you over is the fact that in my opinion the new O/S 1.4.0 should arrive with very few issues. That is on the basis that Korg could not risk the criticism they would receive if the O/S is not 100% stable. The future of Korg arrangers depend on it.
Chris

[D575]

Yes, Yamaha keyboards do have issues but not to the extent that Korg does, and Yamaha will get around to an O/S update to remedy any issues.
All this said, I still prefer Korg arrangers over Yamaha. What I would disagree with you over is the fact that in my opinion the new O/S 1.4.0 should arrive with very few issues. That is on the basis that Korg could not risk the criticism they would receive if the O/S is not 100% stable. The future of Korg arrangers depend on it.
Chris

My sentiments are the same.

[Bescki]

Yeah maybe February or March.


Finally ordered Genos 2

[valimaties]

Yeah maybe February or March.


Finally ordered Genos 2

I hope you'll find the missing features that at least Korg Pa4X had and Yamaha doesn't
I had in the past Yamaha Tyros2, Tyros5, Genos1 and now Genos2. Near G2 I have bought Pa5X in 2023 November.
You will find that

• Style is not so complex as Korg, no such chord variation like in Korg, no edit in realtime for drum parts

• There are only 16 channels to write style, 8 visible to user, 8 hidden - which will be available only thru softs

• While you will write custom chord variation for a channel using those 8 hidden channels (you can use them individually for Bass, Drums, CHD1, CHD2, PAD, PHR1, PHR2, as you wish, and set for them other chords type which will play those hidden channels), but in keyboard's style creator that channel will not be available for edit anymore, only thru PC software

• Some control change are not accepted by style, like sustain, nor portamento for voices, and probably you will find more

• You cannot modify something and save while style is playing. Realtime saving operation while style playing is prohibited

• Guitar mode in style creator is so difficult to write, because it is not like in Korg, where the keyboard is split into different things/sections. In Yamaha guitar mode, you will play 3, 4 or multiple notes (F-G-A-B for example) to get a chord in realtime, but in style creator you will hear them as the sound of those notes, F-G-A-B, which is a ear disaster. You cannot change the capo like in Korg, you must play with octave, and some other parameters of the recorded channel, you will see

• Most of the things, like adding new extra content, like voices packs, will be made only thru Yamaha Expansion Manager (YEM) software, so, only from PC

• You cannot export your installed expansion sets from keyboard, so you cannot backup expansion packs from the keyboard, you must be carefull with your installation in PC. If you loose it, you have to make it from scratch.

• Most of the content on the internet will be sold only for your keyboard and these protected packs cannot be edited, you must play with them as they are

• There is no Sound Edit function in Yamaha keyboards, from Tyros5 to the TOTL, directly in keyboard, as there is in Korg, where you see and edit the samples, multisamples, oscillators, and all those parameters. In Yamaha you can do it only thru their software, YEM, and it is quite limited, not all parameters are exposed.

• Hitting fills / break but not from the first bar in the measure, will play the fill's drum kit from the fill but the rest of the instruments will play the portion of the Main you played before pressing the button. Which means you will hear a drum stop for example from the break, and the rest of the instruments like Bass, Guitars, Pads, and other channels in style will play the phrase recorded on your Main (A,B,C,D, depending on which you were before pressing the fill button)

• All fills are not separated buttons. They are behind Main buttons. So, if you want to play Fill D with Main A, it is really hard to achieve. Maybe using a pedal, like MFC10 from Yamaha, or Behringer's one, and setting pedal buttons to play the fills, and stop the AutoFill button, you can play whatever fill you want on pedal, and then pressing the Main you want to play. But is somehow a workaround, not like in Korg, where each of these fills are separated by main, you can play a Variation and hit whichever fill button you want, without changing the variation

Would you like me to write more "not like in Korg" things?

Edited:
Don't complain too much about Korg, you will complain more about Genos2 after you will see how many functions are missing comparing to Korg.
You will see a lot of things that are missing from Style Creator, comparing to Korg's one, you will have to get used to the main sound, which is definitely more like a studio sound than a live sound. I don't know which kind of genres you play, but I tell you, there are a lot of users which bought Yamaha keyboards and after a time have to go back to Korg, or to another brand. The ear, when you already have prepared with a keyboard sound like Korg, is hard to get used to sound of Yamaha, on a long term speaking. Maybe you will be super excited at the beginning, but you will see that after some time, you will need some functions which you had in Korg and missing in Yamaha and you will not be able to do some things you used to do in Korg.

I hope you made the right choice and won't be disappointed.

Regards,
Vali

[korgmkd]

The topic is Korg PA5x update.
Whether Genos is better than Korg is irrelevant because that is for another topic or maybe it has already been addressed. We are interested in when the problems that most of us users have who honestly paid the asking price for this incomplete keyboard model will be solved. The topic is also about the embarrassment they made themselves by prematurely bragging about the aforementioned 1.4 update for which they probably were not ready.

"Update 1.4 coming soon". Almost 6 months.

[kbrkr]

I wonder if Korg has actually finished 1.4, but are now waiting for the Style Creators to finish their work so they can includes some contemporary styles with the release?

[D575]

One might reasonably wonder, given the social, historical, negative press, and industry skepticism surrounding the Pa5X, what steps Korg is taking to address concerns about its reputation since the Pa5X's inception. It would seem that Korg management may not be heeding the adage, "Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different outcomes." Unless Korg alters its approach to self-preservation, a future Pa5X successor may not be forthcoming.

I remain perplexed by Korg's business practices, especially considering the challenging global economic environment. This is unusual to me and would seem so to many others.

[Jovers]

I don't know anymore what Korg is doing. Perhaps they don't want to sell keyboards anymore? It's a shame that they introduced 1.4.0 at the Namm and still there is nothing coming to the Korg customer.
Perhaps they want to send all the Korg players to Citron or Yamaha. This is not the way to keep Korg players to Korg!

[epereirajle]

Yeah maybe February or March.


Finally ordered Genos 2

I hope you'll find the missing features that at least Korg Pa4X had and Yamaha doesn't
I had in the past Yamaha Tyros2, Tyros5, Genos1 and now Genos2. Near G2 I have bought Pa5X in 2023 November.
You will find that

• Style is not so complex as Korg, no such chord variation like in Korg, no edit in realtime for drum parts

• There are only 16 channels to write style, 8 visible to user, 8 hidden - which will be available only thru softs

• While you will write custom chord variation for a channel using those 8 hidden channels (you can use them individually for Bass, Drums, CHD1, CHD2, PAD, PHR1, PHR2, as you wish, and set for them other chords type which will play those hidden channels), but in keyboard's style creator that channel will not be available for edit anymore, only thru PC software

• Some control change are not accepted by style, like sustain, nor portamento for voices, and probably you will find more

• You cannot modify something and save while style is playing. Realtime saving operation while style playing is prohibited

• Guitar mode in style creator is so difficult to write, because it is not like in Korg, where the keyboard is split into different things/sections. In Yamaha guitar mode, you will play 3, 4 or multiple notes (F-G-A-B for example) to get a chord in realtime, but in style creator you will hear them as the sound of those notes, F-G-A-B, which is a ear disaster. You cannot change the capo like in Korg, you must play with octave, and some other parameters of the recorded channel, you will see

• Most of the things, like adding new extra content, like voices packs, will be made only thru Yamaha Expansion Manager (YEM) software, so, only from PC

• You cannot export your installed expansion sets from keyboard, so you cannot backup expansion packs from the keyboard, you must be carefull with your installation in PC. If you loose it, you have to make it from scratch.

• Most of the content on the internet will be sold only for your keyboard and these protected packs cannot be edited, you must play with them as they are

• There is no Sound Edit function in Yamaha keyboards, from Tyros5 to the TOTL, directly in keyboard, as there is in Korg, where you see and edit the samples, multisamples, oscillators, and all those parameters. In Yamaha you can do it only thru their software, YEM, and it is quite limited, not all parameters are exposed.

• Hitting fills / break but not from the first bar in the measure, will play the fill's drum kit from the fill but the rest of the instruments will play the portion of the Main you played before pressing the button. Which means you will hear a drum stop for example from the break, and the rest of the instruments like Bass, Guitars, Pads, and other channels in style will play the phrase recorded on your Main (A,B,C,D, depending on which you were before pressing the fill button)

• All fills are not separated buttons. They are behind Main buttons. So, if you want to play Fill D with Main A, it is really hard to achieve. Maybe using a pedal, like MFC10 from Yamaha, or Behringer's one, and setting pedal buttons to play the fills, and stop the AutoFill button, you can play whatever fill you want on pedal, and then pressing the Main you want to play. But is somehow a workaround, not like in Korg, where each of these fills are separated by main, you can play a Variation and hit whichever fill button you want, without changing the variation

Would you like me to write more "not like in Korg" things?

Edited:
Don't complain too much about Korg, you will complain more about Genos2 after you will see how many functions are missing comparing to Korg.
You will see a lot of things that are missing from Style Creator, comparing to Korg's one, you will have to get used to the main sound, which is definitely more like a studio sound than a live sound. I don't know which kind of genres you play, but I tell you, there are a lot of users which bought Yamaha keyboards and after a time have to go back to Korg, or to another brand. The ear, when you already have prepared with a keyboard sound like Korg, is hard to get used to sound of Yamaha, on a long term speaking. Maybe you will be super excited at the beginning, but you will see that after some time, you will need some functions which you had in Korg and missing in Yamaha and you will not be able to do some things you used to do in Korg.

I hope you made the right choice and won't be disappointed.

Regards,
Vali

I agree with many of your statements. Coming from 10 years with a Tyros4, I liked how Yamaha sounded and the SA2 woodwind very much, but after a year owning the PA5X, when I hear the recordings that I made with my old TYROS 5, they sound a bit strange to me, mainly the drums, and the overall sounds are not so nice as I remembered. I have listened to several Genos2 demos on youtube and most of them sound very similar to my old TYROS although of course there were many improvements and new sounds. I took some time to be used to how the PA5X sounds and now I like it much more than my previous Yamaha. I like to spend hours converting new sounds from VSTs, adjusting styles and converting styles from Yamaha and the limit is my creativity and skills. By the way, I use the software CASM to check what are the correct channels and chord variations of the hidden tracks in Yamaha Stykes, so it is easy to convert them with CUBASE including the chord variations. Maybe there are other ways but it works for me.
But of course, PA5X has issues, but I'm happy with it anyway, although I'm not a professional musician.

[Aripearlmusic]

I'm warming up to the idea of switching to the Ketron if there are enough people buying sounds, beats, and specifically full sets. I'm already of the idea that Korg will not be releasing the update any time soon and quite likely are missing the source code for parts of the OS, missing the man power to fix it, and their engineers are very stuck in their ways and completely in denial about any bugs. I've gone back and forth with 2 of them with no progress whatsoever.