Well I decided on the Pa5X-61 and it arrived today. All I can say is that I love this instrument.

I basically plugged it in, connected it to my digital interface, the menu came up, I selected the default Pop style, tapped the Chords button to display a pre-programmed chord progression, picked up my bass, and started jamming along to one of its many built-in progressions. Everything so far is well laid-out and easy to navigate. I didn't have to consult the quick start manual or the more detailed user manual at all. Before I knew it, 3 hours of fun had flown by.

This will replace my previous keyboard, also a Korg that had 88 keys but the Pa5X has an octave +/- button which works just fine.

The funny thing for me as a bass player is that this keyboard with it's real-time chord display will actually contribute to my knowledge of music theory. If I play a 3-note chord while a style is playing the rest of the band will instantly follow that new chord allowing you to arrange a song in real-time. Plus, when the screen is configured properly, it will display the chord you are playing. I already built a mini song fragment just by cycling from C to Cm to Csus4 to C even though I didn't know how to construct those chords 4 hours earlier. You just play 3 (or maybe 4 or more) notes and if it's a valid chord it will display it on the screen. Neat technology for sure.

Kudos to the musicians and engineers that designed this, in my mind they hit a home run.

Pa5X

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BiaB 2025 Windows
For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.