Korg puts the Pa5X 61 at the top of its arranger range. The keybed spans 61 semi-weighted notes with aftertouch, and the shell is aluminium with wooden side panels. Solo performers and function bands are the intended users. Not a beginner's board.
Engine and sound library
Sound generation runs on EDS-XP, giving 160 voices from 160 oscillators, with multimode resonant filters and a three-band equaliser on every track. More than 2,200 factory sounds are loaded from new, among them five multi-layered stereo acoustic pianos with damper and body resonance, GM and XG sets, and over 130 drum kits. Nine footages of digital drawbar come with percussion, leakage, vibrato and a rotary speaker simulation. Sampling memory takes another 4 GB of your own material in KORG, WAV, AIFF or SoundFont form.
Styles, pads and the SongBook
Over 600 factory styles ship on board, and every one can be reprogrammed or recorded from scratch. Each carries eight tracks plus four keyboard sets and four pads. Beyond that sit more than 400 pads and 200 chord sequences ready to drop in. SongBook ties the lot together as a database tagged by artist and genre, which is where set lists for a night get built.
Playback and recording
Two players run side by side under Korg's patented XDS crossfade system. An X-fader moves between songs or styles without leaving a gap. Lyrics, score and chord data appear on the screen or on an external monitor over HDMI. The 16 track sequencer handles MIDI, while the MP3 recorder captures microphone and guitar alongside everything else.
Microphone and guitar channels
If you sing, the chain developed by Shift Audio is the reason to look here. It runs compressor, equaliser and gate into a four-part harmoniser, doubler, filter, modulation, delay, reverb and auto pitch. Guitarists plug into a rack of four effect slots with stompbox and amplifier simulation. Phantom power is on board.
Hands on control
Nine assignable sliders and nine assignable buttons sit under a strip display, backed by 16 matrix pads and four preset keys. Pitch and modulation go to a joystick, and there is a ribbon plus three switches you can map yourself. Quarter tone and Arabic scale presets recall from any button or footswitch.
Connections
A main left and right pair, four separate outs and a headphone jack all appear on quarter inch connectors. Inputs take a microphone, a guitar, a balanced line pair and a stereo mini jack. MIDI arrives on IN, OUT and THRU sockets. Three USB type A ports and one type B deal with storage and computers, while the damper input supports half pedalling when the optional DS-1H is fitted.
See it in action
Specifications
| Keyboard | Pa5X 61: 61 keys (C2 to C7), semi-weighted keys with Aftertouch |
|---|---|
| Case | Aluminum case with wooden side panels |
| Sound Generator | EDS-XP (Enhanced Definition Synthesis-Expanded) Multimode filters with resonance, 3-band EQ for each track |
| Polyphony | 160 Voices, 160 Oscillators |
| Effects | Keyboard Tracks: 3 Insert Effect; 3 Master Effects Style/Song: 10 Insert Effects; 3 Master Effects Master EQ and Finalizer for Songs and Styles Final Mastering Effects: Waves MaxxAudio® |
| Mic Processor Technology by Shift Audio | Mic Setup: Compressor, EQ, Gate Four-part Harmonizer, Doubler, Filter, Modulation, Delay, Reverb, AutoPitch |
| Guitar Processor | Guitar rack (4 effect-slots) with stompbox and amp simulation |
| Sounds / Drum Kits | Factory: More than 2,200 Factory Sounds Five multilayer Stereo Acoustic Pianos with Damper/Body Resonance, GM/XG Sound Sets, more than 130 Drum Kits including Ambient Drums and Round Robin-based Drum Kits User Area: 768 Sounds, 384 Drum Kits Digital Drawbars: 9 Footages, Percussion, Key On/Off, Leakage, Vibrato/Chorus, Rotary Speaker with Amp Simulator Natural Ambience Drum Sounds, Round Robin features Defined Nuance Control (DNC) Technology Quick and Full Sound Editing, Drum Family and Full Drum Kit Editing |
| Sampling | User PCM Sample memory: 4 GB of data, equivalent to 8 GB linear when compressed Loads KORG, WAV, AIFF and SoundFontâ„¢ formats Saves KORG, WAV and AIFF formats Full Edit, Time Slice, Sampling features |
| Keyboard Sets | Factory: More than 500 Factory Keyboard Sets, freely programmable Combines four Keyboard Sounds, plus Effects and settings Library accessible from front-panel buttons "My Setting" special Keyboard Set |
| Players | Patented XDS Crossfade Dual Player with X-Fader Balance control Crossfading between Songs and/or Styles |
| Styles | Factory: More than 600 Factory Styles, freely programmable Eight Style Tracks, 4 Keyboard Sets and 4 Pads per Style; Programmable Sounds, Effects and Style parameters Guitar Mode 2, Parallel and Fixed NTT (Note Transposition Table) Style Record and Event Edit Style Elements: 3 Intros, 4 Variations, 4 Fills, 1 Break, 3 Endings Style Controls: Play/Stop, Synchro Start, Synchro Stop, Tap Tempo/Reset, Auto Fill, Memory, Bass Inversion, Manual Bass, Bass & Lower Backing, Drum & Bass, Individual Style Tracks Mute, Style to Keyboard Set Set |
| Songs | Patented XDS Crossfade Dual Player with X-Fader Balance control Supported formats: MID, KAR, MP3 + Lyrics, MP3+G Lyrics, Score, and Chord data can be displayed on screen, or on external video monitor Markers with Add, Delete, Edit, Loop and AutoScroll functions Jukebox function Full-featured, 16-track Sequencer, Song Edit |
| MP3 Player / Recorder | Double MP3 Player and MP3 Recorder Records MP3 files, including Styles, MIDI Songs, MP3 Songs, Keyboard Sounds, Pads, Matrix, Microphone, Guitar, Effects Transpose (+6/-5 semitones), Tempo Change (±30%) Vocal Remover |
| SongBook | Fully programmable music database based on Styles, MIDI Songs (MID and KAR files), MP3 Songs with Artist and Genre tags Filtering and sorting options User definable Set Lists |
| Pads | Factory: More than 400 Pads Four Assignable Pads + Stop Buttons Pad Record function |
| Control Section | 9 Assignable Sliders, 9 Assignable Buttons, Strip Display; 4 Preset + 1 User settings |
| Matrix Section | 16 Matrix Pads, 4 Preset buttons |
| Control Inputs | Damper Pedal; supports half-pedaling with the optional KORG DS-1H pedal 2 Assignable Pedal/Footswitch |
| Audio Inputs | Mic: Mono with Gain control and Phantom Power (Combo XLR, balanced) Guitar: Mono with Gain control (1/4" jack, unbalanced) Line 1: Left/Right (1/4" jacks, balanced) Line 2: Stereo (1/8" mini-jack, unbalanced) |
| Audio Outputs | Line: Main Left/Right, Separate Outs 1/2/3/4 (1/4" jacks, balanced) Headphones (1/4" jack) |
| Video Output | HDMI connector |
| MIDI | IN, OUT, THRU standard MIDI connectors USB to MIDI, through the USB Device port 16 User-definable MIDI Presets |
| USB | Type A (Host 3.0, for storage devices and controllers): 1 front, 2 rear Type B (Device 2.0, for personal computers and tablets): 1 rear |
Specifications from Korg. Appearance and specifications are subject to change without notice.
