The Pa5X 88 is Korg's arranger workstation with a hammer-action keyboard, 88 keys spanning A0 to C8. Aftertouch comes as standard. An aluminium body with wooden side panels houses more than 2,200 sounds, over 600 styles and processing for both a microphone and a guitar. Solo entertainers and function players who cover a whole band alone are the audience.
Sound engine and library
Sounds come from the EDS-XP engine, running 160 voices through multimode resonant filters with three-band EQ on every track. Among the factory content are five multi-layered stereo acoustic pianos, complete with damper and body resonance. Drum kits number more than 130, including ambient and round robin sets. A user area holds a further 768 voices and 384 kits of your own making.
Styles, pads and the SongBook
Over 600 factory styles are installed, each carrying eight tracks, four keyboard sets and four pads. Three intros, four variations, four fills, a break and three endings make up the arrangement, and every part of that is programmable. More than 400 pads and 200 chord sequences sit alongside. The SongBook database ties styles, MIDI files and MP3 songs to artist and genre tags, with user set lists for a night's work.
Microphone and guitar
Singing players are looked after here. A combo XLR input with phantom power feeds a processor developed with Shift Audio, which covers compression, EQ and a gate before anything else happens. Four-part harmony, a doubler, delay, reverb and autopitch follow on. Guitarists get a separate rack of four slots, with stompbox and amplifier simulation.
Players, recording and sampling
Two players run at once through the XDS crossfade system, so one song or style fades into the next under the X-fader. Recording covers MP3 as well, capturing the styles, sounds and microphone parts you used, and a vocal remover is there for backing tracks. Sampling gives you 4 GB of user PCM memory, equal to 8 GB compressed, and loads Korg, WAV, AIFF and SoundFont files. A 16-track sequencer handles MIDI.
Panel and connections
Nine assignable sliders, nine assignable buttons, a strip display and sixteen matrix pads make up the control surface. Audio leaves on balanced main outputs plus four separate ones, all quarter-inch, with headphones alongside. Line, guitar and microphone inputs cover what you plug in at the front end. Video runs to HDMI, and there are three USB host ports for drives. Check your pedal requirements too, since half-damper work needs the optional DS-1H.
See it in action
Specifications
| Keyboard | 88 keys (A0 to C8), hammer action 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® |
| Microphone processor | 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 |
| 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 |
| Chord Sequencer | Factory: More than 200 Chord Sequences Chord Sequence Recorder/Player Chord Sequences can be saved to Style and SongBook Entries |
| 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.
