Thinking of going from SX900 to Korg PA5X

[Jeff_M]

I'm into my 4th year with my SX900 and it's been great--but it sees a lot of use.  The keys are starting to get a little rattly and occasionally when I hit a button I have to go back and do it again.  I don't want a Genos because I want to stay with 61-key for portability reasons.  I've been looking pretty closely at the Korg PA5X and find it intriguing--although I'm wouldn't look forward to learning an entirely new operating system.  Like the sound and styles, however.  I have a speaker system I can use when it's in the living room, not hooked up to the PA.  Sooooo, seeing as this is a Yamaha forum, talk me out of it.  :-) 

[cyber swine]

Who could talk you out of it?  If you want to stay with 61 keys there could be no other logical choice.  It's all been said before on this forum regarding pros and cons:  as previously stated by others just take all the flak on the Korg site with a grain of salt, there are just a few serious malcontents over there determined to bang their drums.  Most of us who are fortunate enough to own both Genos and PA5X love them both.  And, BTW, the o/s is generally quite intuitive.  Good luck!

[ton37]

Just follow your dreams.. . and don't worry, be happy ...

[BogdanH]

hi Jeff_M,
I'm also considering to buy something better in near future. The main reason is heavy rattling keys on my SX700 -other than that, I'm happy with it (considering the price).
Of course I'd like to stay on Yamaha, so I wouldn't need to learn stuff all over again. Because of that (and the price) I will probably wait on SX700/900 successor (if it happens this year), to see if keybed quality has improved... but how to be sure? Anyway, if I'm not convinced, then I'll get PA5X. Yes, I'm trying to be patient 

Bogdan

[Graham UK]

I have owned KORG-Roland-Yamaha over the past 50 years and always found Korg has better build quality better than Yammy.
I never a problem myself learning a new OS system.
It is unfortunate that the Pa5X had initial software problems but so do other brands.
Yamaha without doubt has a very good customer support which other brand could learn from.

PS. On a similar note learning a new OS, we have a spare Laptop that has hardware not compatible for Windows 11 so have installed a variation available of Linux. And found Linux very good.

[Divemaster]

I own both the SX700 and the Pa5X.
I've had no trouble learning the Korg system, and I still enjoy both keyboards. 61 Keys is one big reason. I don't need or want a bigger keyboard.

Like you, I'm absolutely not knocking the Genos in any way, but the firm aluminium case and much more attractive build quality of the Korg was far more attractive for the money when I was shopping.

When you're spending a good wedge of money on a TOTL arranger, the plastic case and a few blingy lights of the G2 just didn't tick enough boxes for me. The sound of the Korg is outstanding.

Keith.

[Lefty]

Yamaha without doubt has a very good customer support which other brand could learn from.

Hi Graham, just a little dissent.
I wouldn't characterize Yamaha customer support as "very good".  "Very Good" support doesn't leave substantial bugs in the OS unfixed for years, and well known keyboard quality issues unaddressed.


Best Regards
  Craig

[KurtAgain]

One thing to keep in mind when switching from Yamaha to Korg:
Life without psrtutorial.com is possible, but pointless.

[Jeff_M]

One thing to keep in mind when switching from Yamaha to Korg:
Life without psrtutorial.com is possible, but pointless.

LOL, I've thought of that, too.  I can't even register on the korg forum, seems to think it already knows both my emails.  Facebook Korg groups are disappointing.  Plenty to mull over. 

[Toril S]

Hm... I would stick to Yamaha.....!

[Dnj]

I would just wait......Yamaha will release a MOTL unit to replace the SX900 asap..

[Lefty]

I would just wait......Yamaha will release a MOTL unit to replace the SX900 asap..

Dnj, with respect, I just don't understand this.  The OP says his keyboard is just over 3 years old.  He reports that the keybed is rattly, and the buttons aren't reliable.  Certainly, the keybed on the SX series has a poor reputation.  Why buy a newer model of the same keyboard with such a short lifespan?  Loyalty is an admirable quality, but I expect much more from a product that costs $2,400 U.S.

Just my opinion,
   Craig

[Amwilburn]

Hi Graham, just a little dissent.
I wouldn't characterize Yamaha customer support as "very good".  "Very Good" support doesn't leave substantial bugs in the OS unfixed for years, and well known keyboard quality issues unaddressed.


Best Regards
  Craig

As a dealer who has to deal with warranties for Fender, Yamaha, Roland, Korg, Nord, Mellotron, Tama, Pearl, Steinway, Boston, Es***, Petrof, Sauter, Martin, Taylor, Art & Lutherie, and previously Garrison, Larivee, Suzuki (Hammond), Medeli, Schimmell, GEM, Ketron, Kawai,
I can tell you that Yamaha is indeed one of the best at supporting their products. But they are *far* from perfect. Of the brands above, the only ones I'd put ahead of them are Steinway & Martin, and when it comes to electronics, nobody's warranty is better.

But in no way am I saying there don't still leave a lot of room for improvement; they do. *twice* I've had customers wait 10-11 months for a part (it happens to other brands as well, but rarely) and not only did they cover it, they added an extra year to both warranties. Nobody else does that. On the other hand, their incredibly slow response to OS issues *is* frustrating.

I have a customer who complained that his N2, one of the keys stopped working and posted a super negative review on YouTube. People in the comments started to say things like "Get a roland, there's 10 year warranty" and when he asked me about all that, I couldn't help but chuckle: there's *no* in home warranty for other brands in Canada (other than Yamaha and Casio). That means *all* other brands, for a large console piano, you need to pay 2 way shipping yourself to the nearest repair centre (which is 2000 miles away). Not only that, his complaint video was posted approximately 8 years past the warranty.

And after all his complaining? It turned out it was a $100 part. Yamaha didn't even charge labour more than a dozen years after purchase. (if you want a comparison, without pointing fingers at specific other brands, I can tell you that on a $15k digital piano, brand b would have charged approximately $6.5k ($4.5k is shipping), brand c would have charged only about $1k, but ship it to another province yourself (insured shipping of a 300lb instrument to that province and back would privately cost you approximately $4k), brand c approximately $7k (same shipping as brand b), and brand d approx $8k, and brand e,f & g approx $14k (not joking... several brands required customers to ship on their own dime to Europe, I'll leave it at that). and that's *if* they even still have the part; most brands don't keep the spare parts more than 3 years after you've purchased. Yamaha is one of the few that guarantees at least 5 years after discontinuation, and typically they keep parts at for at least a decade.
Yamaha charged $100. Out of warranty. *IN home* service.

Conversely, I also have 2 cases with 20+ year old Clavinovas, and that part simply isn't made anymore (it was only made that way briefly i the early 2000s), and both of those customers were SOL. All that could be done was Yamaha offering a discount on their next instrument.
*far* from perfect.


To answer the OP:

I'm into my 4th year with my SX900 and it's been great--but it sees a lot of use.  The keys are starting to get a little rattly and occasionally when I hit a button I have to go back and do it again.  I don't want a Genos because I want to stay with 61-key for portability reasons.  I've been looking pretty closely at the Korg PA5X and find it intriguing--although I'm wouldn't look forward to learning an entirely new operating system.  Like the sound and styles, however.  I have a speaker system I can use when it's in the living room, not hooked up to the PA.  Sooooo, seeing as this is a Yamaha forum, talk me out of it.  :-)

Not trying to talk you out of it, but there's a huge caveat with "intuitive". One of the biggest gripes I have is that on a Yamaha I can just stick a USB stick in and read styles to my heart's content. On a Korg, you have to install styles. Doesn't take long at first, but as it gets full you have to copy to specific slots (it's a fixed array rather than a dynamic file system like you're used to).

Having said that, the pianos, drums and bass are second to none, and likewise the keys and construction /build quality of the Pa5x. But having to install styles (especially when I often use over 1000 of them... yes that many) is an absolute pain to me. On the other hand, if you like using your computer to assemble styles (and it *is* a much faster way to build styles, on your pc! So no arguments there) then the Pa5x is great for that, but if you like building styles on the keyboard itself, Yamaha would win out there, despite the idoscyncracies.

Mark

[DrakeM]

If you are just a sit and play home user and don't spend your time setting up Custom styles or Registrations, I don't think switching to another brand really will matter to you at all.

But you are giving up this forum and all the helpers here. That's gotta be worth thinking about.

[DaPaleRider]

I owned Yamaha Arrangers for years, including a Genos 2, this one for a short time. I migrated to the Korg Pa5X and don't regret it.
The build quality is amazing.

Styles for Yamaha are available in much greater numbers on the Internet. There are not many styles available for Korg. Sufficient for most people, but not nearly as much as for Yamaha. The advantage of Korg is that the styles are much more modern and up to date, while many styles at Yamaha are old and are only updated for new arrangers. Every Korg update also adds new styles to be current again. All styles of older Korg Arrangers are freely available for download on the Internet. I have more than 3000 of them myself. Currently there is no tool in the Pa5X to automatically create styles from Midi files, but that is coming, as they appear on the website. There are plenty of tutorials on how to do this with a DAW.

The Pa5X has much more advanced options for accompaniment and the ability to make your own sounds. But you just have to want that. Yamaha is more for home use and small performances and the Korg much more for live performances.

The Yamaha community is much larger and very helpful, like on this forum.

[richkeys]

Ultimately it's your choice. It's true we can't talk you out of Korg, but we can only can offer our thoughts here.

-"intuitive OS"  is indeed subjective. I saw a review that explains it takes more steps to get things done on PA5X than on Yamaha. It would be nice for PA5X owners here to elaborate on this more, especially those that have both, including telling us how the Korg system works without registrations and what are the advantages and disadvantages of that.

-memory slots are indeed awkward on Korg compared to Yamaha. I had a Nautilus for a week and returned it. I knew Korg's OS just wasn't right for me since I was so used to the friendlier Yamaha interface. There certainly are people who can master both arranger OS's but I am guessing most arranger players prefer to use only one brand.

-sound is subjective. I think the OP indicated he liked the PA5X sounds, that's important

-Korg probably doesn't have the styles ecosystem like Yamaha has. If it exists I haven't seen it

-I hear there is no hold button on the Left voice.....

-5X build quality does have a good reputation but I am hearing issues with the 5X buttons malfunctioning. The tilting screen is described as flimsy in some reviews.

Rich

[Dnj]

Dnj, with respect, I just don't understand this.  The OP says his keyboard is just over 3 years old.  He reports that the keybed is rattly, and the buttons aren't reliable.  Certainly, the keybed on the SX series has a poor reputation.  Why buy a newer model of the same keyboard with such a short lifespan?  Loyalty is an admirable quality, but I expect much more from a product that costs $2,400 U.S.

The problems stated never happened to me as a pro player gigging almost seven days a week using
Yamaha arrangers including the SX900 and so many more. I have also used every other brand available but always returned to Yamaha for many many reasons over the others. Everyone plays differently.... personally I use a light touch & never had any problems for years on end...then again I have friends who BANG the keys as if they are playing a piano and pounding the buttons also which would lead to problems... if this is the case I would recommend spending a bit more on a TOTL unit Genos, Ketron, Pa5x etc that could possibly withstand the harsh treatment while playing.. That said we still have no clue what will be with the next MOTL units from Yamaha changes in keybed, buttons, design, etc, could be in the works we will have to just wait and see...... enjoy what you play.

[BogdanH]

hello Dnj,
The rattling keys have nothing to do with how much someone bangs the keys. If you would disassemble the keybed (I did), then you would see why's that: the way it's constructed, it simply must start rattling after a while. Yamaha actually admitted that by publishing a service bulletin, where it's described how to solve the problem. However, solution is not permanent -after a while the keys will slowly become louder and louder again (those who got the keybed repaired will confirm that).
You don't have thit problem? Well.. it's ok then. However what I think is, that over the time, you have simply adapted to the noise. Maybe you should check a new keyboard in a store (especially black keys). But honestly, if you're happy, why bother.

Greetings,
Bogdan

[Jeff_M]

Well, I appreciate your efforts folks.  However, they were to no avail as I just pulled the trigger on the PA5X which should be arriving by the end of the week.  My SX900 will be around for a while as I begin the laborious process of transferring each of the 100 or so songs I have on the 900--I actually can't transfer them, I have to remake them individually on the Korg.  This will take me a while as I'll also be learning the Korg OS. 

One thing is that there appears to be NO working forum for the Korg, or at least not anywhere near as active as this one and I will definitely miss that.  No good facebook groups, either.  They DO have a good tutorial series on Youtube, but that's still no substitute for direct question-and-answer.  The manual for this thing is over 1600 pages. 

Thanks again to everyone for your responses....I'll still be hanging around for the time being.  :-) 

[richkeys]

This Korg forum is still active I think:   http://korgforums.com/forums.htm

Let us know here in this forum how you like the PA5X compared to SX900.

[DaPaleRider]

Well, I appreciate your efforts folks.  However, they were to no avail as I just pulled the trigger on the PA5X which should be arriving by the end of the week.  My SX900 will be around for a while as I begin the laborious process of transferring each of the 100 or so songs I have on the 900--I actually can't transfer them, I have to remake them individually on the Korg.  This will take me a while as I'll also be learning the Korg OS. 

One thing is that there appears to be NO working forum for the Korg, or at least not anywhere near as active as this one and I will definitely miss that.  No good facebook groups, either.  They DO have a good tutorial series on Youtube, but that's still no substitute for direct question-and-answer.  The manual for this thing is over 1600 pages. 

Thanks again to everyone for your responses....I'll still be hanging around for the time being.  :-)

I am also on the Korg Forum. I you have questions about the Korg you know where to find me. I know the Korg very well

[Jeff_M]

This Korg forum is still active I think:   http://korgforums.com/forums.htm

Let us know here in this forum how you like the PA5X compared to SX900.

"Active" but not "accessible."  I tried to register and was told my account (which I never had) had been deactivated.  I sent the requested email to no avail.  Too bad. 

[Lacko]

"Active" but not "accessible."  I tried to register and was told my account (which I never had) had been deactivated.  I sent the requested email to no avail.  Too bad.

I looked there too, but saw that ,,latest news" are from March 2013.

[Jeff_M]

I looked there too, but saw that ,,latest news" are from March 2013.

I know, and yet there are posts from the past several days, including today.  It's still a useful forum but apparently hasn't been maintained for quite some time. 

[Oldden]

Try .
http://www.korgforums.com/forums-frame.htm

[rphillipchuk]

http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=90

[dacca]

Well, I appreciate your efforts folks.  However, they were to no avail as I just pulled the trigger on the PA5X which should be arriving by the end of the week.  My SX900 will be around for a while as I begin the laborious process of transferring each of the 100 or so songs I have on the 900--I actually can't transfer them, I have to remake them individually on the Korg.  This will take me a while as I'll also be learning the Korg OS. 

One thing is that there appears to be NO working forum for the Korg, or at least not anywhere near as active as this one and I will definitely miss that.  No good facebook groups, either.  They DO have a good tutorial series on Youtube, but that's still no substitute for direct question-and-answer.  The manual for this thing is over 1600 pages. 

Thanks again to everyone for your responses....I'll still be hanging around for the time being.  :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMXT9zgOesM

[dacca]

Well, I appreciate your efforts folks.  However, they were to no avail as I just pulled the trigger on the PA5X which should be arriving by the end of the week.  My SX900 will be around for a while as I begin the laborious process of transferring each of the 100 or so songs I have on the 900--I actually can't transfer them, I have to remake them individually on the Korg.  This will take me a while as I'll also be learning the Korg OS. 

One thing is that there appears to be NO working forum for the Korg, or at least not anywhere near as active as this one and I will definitely miss that.  No good facebook groups, either.  They DO have a good tutorial series on Youtube, but that's still no substitute for direct question-and-answer.  The manual for this thing is over 1600 pages. 

Thanks again to everyone for your responses....I'll still be hanging around for the time being.  :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMXT9zgOesM

[dacca]

Well, I appreciate your efforts folks.  However, they were to no avail as I just pulled the trigger on the PA5X which should be arriving by the end of the week.  My SX900 will be around for a while as I begin the laborious process of transferring each of the 100 or so songs I have on the 900--I actually can't transfer them, I have to remake them individually on the Korg.  This will take me a while as I'll also be learning the Korg OS. 

One thing is that there appears to be NO working forum for the Korg, or at least not anywhere near as active as this one and I will definitely miss that.  No good facebook groups, either.  They DO have a good tutorial series on Youtube, but that's still no substitute for direct question-and-answer.  The manual for this thing is over 1600 pages. 

Thanks again to everyone for your responses....I'll still be hanging around for the time being.  :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMXT9zgOesM

[Jeff_M]

Try .
http://www.korgforums.com/forums-frame.htm

No go, that's the one that won't let me in. Thanks.