On an arranger keyboard, the updates that really change your work are rarely the flashiest ones; they are the ones that remove small points of friction on stage. Version 1.5.0 of the KORG Pa5X operating system goes exactly there, and also adds 40 new Styles covering pop, ballads, dance, rock and more.
Pads that ride with the band
Pa5X Pads can now start in sync with a Style or a Song. One Shot Pads play once when the Style starts; Loop Pads keep going until they or the Style are stopped. The setting is saved to User Styles and SongBook Entries, so the setup you built at home is ready at the next gig.
Lock takes it further: a locked Pad keeps playing when you change Styles or SongBook Entries and only picks up the new tempo. In practice, it lets you chain songs or sections over a pad or rhythmic loop that never drops out, which is very handy for dance sets or medleys.
Styles built one piece at a time
Until now, the Pa5X could import complete Styles from MIDI files using markers. With 1.5.0 you can import MIDI into a single Style Element and Chord Variation without touching the rest. For anyone programming their own Styles in an external sequencer or the keyboard's Recording Studio, that means fixing or replacing one part without rebuilding the whole Style.
Along the same lines, Smart Fill sets how the accompaniment responds when you trigger a Fill after the first beat: on, drums, percussion and bass play the Fill while the other tracks keep their pattern; off, the whole Style switches to the Fill. Sound Range and Wrap Around, which set the range and octave of each accompaniment track, move out of Style Edit and can be adjusted straight from Home.
Fewer surprises on stage
Song Edit finally gets Undo, with a five-step history, as Style Edit already had. Search now supports pre-selection: you can mark a file without loading it, check its details and then send it to Player 1 or Player 2 with a dedicated button, which makes loading the wrong file mid-set much harder. Long names are now shortened in the middle, so both the beginning and the end stay visible.
Finally, Fast Play lets you choose whether MID and KAR files start at the first programmed note or play the silent opening measure, count-in included. The update also improves overall system stability and is a free download from KORG's support site.
More information: www.korg.com
