Pa2X/Pa800 Operating System Version 2 Preview

OSIMO, Italy — Operating System Version 2.0 for the Pa2X/Pa800, Korg's most powerful arranger keyboards, will be released in November 2008. As usual, the new OS will be freely downloadable from Korg Italy's web site (www.korgpa.com), and can be easily installed by the user.

The new operating system includes important new features and enhancements, such as the extraordinary DNC (Defined Nuance Control), a Score Viewer, a powerful Search function – and much more.

• DNC Defined Nuance Control is a great advancement in sound generation and performance control. By assigning special articulations, noises and nuances to a physical control or playing style, you can increase the realism of your sounds.
By playing legato you can call up a different Sound, use after touch or the joystick to call in breath noise or harmonics. Or let the Pa automatically cycle between slightly different samples to add timbral variety to your playing.

• The Score Viewer displays the lead track (or any other track) as clear and plain traditional musical notations with notes or chords, together with lyrics and chord abbreviations. Chord names can also be seen in different languages (English and Italian). For music learners, we also added a function to show note names next to each note.
The Score Viewer automatically adapts the score display to the track’s key and clef, with automatic beaming, spacing and bar placement. Triplets and accidentals are automatically recognized. A sophisticated interpretation algorithm cleans up the score display, to allow for easy reading even with rubato (non-quantized) playing.

• The Search function is a great help for everyone keeping a huge collection of songs or samples in their hard drives. The flexible Search function can scan your disks or a single directory for files whose name includes the entered text string.

Also new are the extremely efficient polyphony manager, the renewed chord abbreviation display system, the programmable Quarter Tone Scale Presets, the MP3 player assignable to the sub-outs, the pedal calibration procedure, and a ninth drawbar added to the Pa800.

The new Polyphony Algorithm improves the overall performance with a sophisticated real time control, which also takes psychoacoustic parameters into account. Chord abbreviations are now easier to read, by following the standard suggested by “Standardized Chord Symbol Notation (A Uniform System for the Music Profession)” by C. Roemer and C. Brandt. Up to four Quarter Tone Scale Presets can be memorized, and easily recalled with on-screen soft buttons. MP3 audio output can be sent to the sub-outputs for separate mixing. Both the damper and the assignable pedal can be carefully calibrated for better response. And, finally, a Ninth Drawbar has been added to the Pa800 in the Drawbar page.

When you consider all the new features now available, it is almost like getting a whole new keyboard – but in the form of a free update!

OS 2.0 follows on from the powerful options and new OS features released since the introduction of the Pa2X/Pa800. Over the years the Pa-Series has become the keyboard of choice for countless professional musicians worldwide who demand the very best. Korg promised an ongoing series of powerful and exciting new features for the Pa2X/Pa800, and with 2.0 we continue to deliver on our promise.

OS 2.0 continues our commitment to deliver RX Technology that brings the most realistic musical experience for performers and the audience. DNC – Defined Nuance Control – takes RX Technology to a whole new level of the real world usefulness: that professional musicians demand. This is why the Korg Pa-Series instruments are the world’s leading Arranger Keyboards!

The Korg Italy Team