Korg Pa 900, Yamaha S970 or Roland Ea-7

[Anosh Salvi]

Hey guys, I'm a keyboard player, and I am looking to buy a professional Arranger and my options are as above.
A little about myself,
I play the keyboard in the church and I'm sort of like a one man band, so therefore I need an Arranger with external speakers, sometimes I plug it directly into the output.
I've heard good reviews about the Korg and Yamaha, but not many reviews about the Roland.
I'm hoping I'll get more information from you all, and looking forward to suggestions and opinions!
Thanks in advance!

 

[Becky]

Just wanted to say hello and welcome to the forum

 

[Robson Reis]

I prefer the PSR s970, the features facilities and the 512mb memory of samples.

 

[Fred Coulter]

There is a huge support community for Yamaha arrangers. These people share new style files, and give lots of advice as to creating your own style files. If all else is equal, I'd look seriously at the Yamaha.

Oh, right. The site is psrtutorial.com.

 

[tassiespirit]

The Yamaha has great sounds, but I do not like the keyboard feel - very cheap, even compared to the older PSR900. The Korg PA900 is great and has the better keyboard feel ( in my opinion) and has better ( read a couple of different) features. One being the slide in the middle to play two different midi / mp3 files. It has a vocal remover ( test it to compare it with the PSR 970) . Also it supports the EC5 pedal board - great for change things with your feet.

 

[Fred Coulter]

The Yamaha has great sounds, but I do not like the keyboard feel - very cheap, even compared to the older PSR900. The Korg PA900 is great and has the better keyboard feel ( in my opinion) and has better ( read a couple of different) features. One being the slide in the middle to play two different midi / mp3 files. It has a vocal remover ( test it to compare it with the PSR 970) . Also it supports the EC5 pedal board - great for change things with your feet.

Can you find the actual keyboards to play? Keyboard feel is subjective, and what tassiespirit hates might not be a problem for you at all. Or you could be in complete agreement with tassiespirit.

(If you're testing out the keyboards in a store, you should buy something from the store to pay them back for the time you spend. Yeah, if you can get the keyboard on line you could save a bunch. But buy your cords or something from the store.)

 

[tassiespirit]

Can you find the actual keyboards to play? Keyboard feel is subjective, and what tassiespirit hates might not be a problem for you at all. Or you could be in complete agreement with tassiespirit.

Absolutely right there, don't rely on my opinion or someone else's but take it with a pinch of salt. But try it our foe yourself before you spend that much money. I would love to have the S970 , as it has some great gear on board , but the plastic soft feel of the keyboard and chunkiness of it is too hard to put up with ( for me) Others have worked around it or gotten used to it. You can lay some sponge rubber under the key-bed (with double sided tape) that will stop the clunk and if that helps great.

 

[tassiespirit]

Anosh, have you tried those keyboards? If so, can you tell us what you liked and bought please?

 

[Doug Lanier]

I've been looking at the same 3 arrangers. I've always been mainly a Roland guy, but after watching lots of demos/etc. on YouTube, I'm kind of leaning toward the Korg, mainly due to their extensive song library. Thoughts?

 

[monchito]

Hi I also play in our church I have a few keyboard myself I went for the Yamaha PSR S770 got it for a great price I love the fact that there are tons of styles online plus the ability to record your own..

 

[Fellwalker]

Hi All,

I have had in the past all 3 of the brands you are talking about and for me personally the Yamaha wins, but it depends on your needs.

I find the Yamaha, Korg and Roland voices are just about equal , with Yamaha just ahead.

For ease of use and availability of styles and extra voices and support the Yamaha wind hands down in my book

So you have a tough choice ahead of you, I wish you well


Brian

 

[Anosh Salvi]

Anosh, have you tried those keyboards? If so, can you tell us what you liked and bought please?

Hey !

So I went and bought the Korg PA 900. So far, I'm kind of getting used to the new buttons because I had a PSR 550, which is pretty old. I wanted to change my taste, I had seen a lot of Yamaha models, and they personally felt the same, this would be my first time with a touch screen and so I went on with it. The keys are pretty good. Overall I think I'm happy with my decision.

 

[Anosh Salvi]

Hey guys!

Trust me when I say this, but this was the hardest decision of my life.

So I went out and bought the Korg PA 900.

It's a major jump for me because I was used to the PSR 550 earlier and the keyboard was not very complicated.

First off the keyboard seems great and I love the finish! I've had it for not too long, and I'm pretty happy with it. There are tons of things I have to learn about this keyboard to make use of it to its full potential. I feel the decision to buy the Korg has led me to a world of new opportunities which would not have been possible with the PSR 550.

Right now I'm looking for ways to add more styles, mainly Indian.
I've checked the official Korg website for Indian styles, however, they're too costly and out of my budget
I'm trying my level best to figure different ways out, like converting Yamaha styles into Korg styles and so on.

I would highly appreciate if anyone could help me out with finding Indian styles and beats for the Korg.

Overall, it's a great keyboard.

Looking forward to feedback from you all!

 

[Anosh Salvi]

Just wanted to say hello and welcome to the forum

Sorry for replying late, but thank you!