Korg PA 50 User Manual

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Instructions pertaining to a risk of fire, electric shock, or injury to persons

IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS

WARNING

cautions should be followed, including the following:

Location.

result in a malfunction.

• In direct sunlight

• Locations of extreme temperature or humidity

• Excessively dusty or dirty locations

• Locations of excessive vibration

Power supply.

to an AC outlet of the correct voltage. Do not connect it to
an AC outlet of voltage other than that for which your unit
is intended.

Interference with other electrical devices.

uct contains a microcomputer. Radios and televisions
placed nearby may experience reception interference.
Operate this unit at a suitable distance from radios and
televisions.

Handling.

to the switches or controls.

Care.

dry cloth. Do not use liquid cleaners such as benzene or
thinner, or cleaning compounds or flammable polishes.

Keep this manual.

keep it for later reference.

Keeping foreign matter out of your equipment.

• Never set any container with liquid in it near this

• Be careful not to let metal objects get into the equip-

KEEP THESE INSTRUCTIONS CLEAN ONLY WITH A DRY CLOTH

— When using electrical products, basic pre-

Using the unit in the following locations can

Please connect the designated AC adapter

This prod-

To avoid breakage, do not apply excessive force

If the exterior becomes dirty, wipe it with a clean,

After reading this manual, please

equipment. if liquid gets into the equipment, it could
cause a breakdown, fire, or electrical shock.

ment. If something does slip into the equipment,
unplug the AC adapter from the wall outlet. Then
contact your nearest Korg dealer or the store where
the equipment was purchased.

THE FCC REGULATION WARNING (FOR THE U.S.A. AND CANADA ONLY)

This equipment has been tested and found to comply
with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to
Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to
provide reasonable protection against harmful interfer­ence in a residential installation. This equipment gener­ates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and,
if not installed and used in accordance with the instruc­tions, may cause harmful interference to radio commu­nications. However, there is no guarantee that
interference will not occur in a particular installation. If
this equipment does cause harmful interference to
radio or television reception, which can be determined
by turning the equipment off and on, the user is
encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or
more of the following measures:

• Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.

• Increase the separation between the equipment and

• Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit

• Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV tech-

Unauthorized changes or modification to this system
can void theuser's authority to operate this equipment.

CE MARK FOR EUROPEAN HARMONIZED STANDARDS

CE mark which is attached to our company’s products
of AC mains operated apparatus until December 31,
1996 means it conforms to EMC Directive (89/336/
EEC) and CE mark Directive (93/68/EEC).

And, CE mark which is attached after January 1, 1997
means it conforms to EMC Directive (89/336/EEC), CE
mark Directive (93/68/EEC) and Low Voltage Directive
(73/23/EEC).

Also, CE mark which is attached to our company’s
products of Battery operated apparatus means it con­forms to EMC Directive (89/336/EEC) and CE mark
Directive (93/68/EEC).

receiver.

different from that to which the receiver is con­nected.

nician for help.

DATA HANDLING

Data in memory may sometimes be lost due to incorrect user
action. Be sure to save important data to floppy disk. KORG
will not be responsible for damages caused by data loss.

LCD DISPLAY

Some pages of the manuals show LCD screens along with
an explanation of functions and operations. All sound
names, parameter names, and values are merely examples
and may not always match the actual display you are
working on.

and the contents of the instruction manual - the specifica­tions being subject to change without prior notice

LIABILITY

KORG products are manufactured under strict specifica­tions and voltages required by each country. These prod­ucts are warranted by the KORG distributor only in each
country. Any KORG product not sold with a warranty
card or carrying a serial number disqualifies the product
sold from the manufacturer's/distributor's warranty and
liability. This requirement is for your own protection and
safety.

TRADEMARKS

Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer,
Inc. MS-DOS and Windows are registered trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation. All trademarks or registered
trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

DISCLAIMER

The information contained in this manual have been care­fully revised and checked through. Due to our constant
efforts to improve our products, the specifications might
differ to those in the manual. KORG is not responsible for
any eventual differences found between the specifications

SERVICE AND USER’S ASSISTANCE

For service, please contact your nearest Authorized KORG
Service Center. For more information on KORG products,
and to find software and accessories for your keyboard,
please contact your local Authorized KORG distributor.

PA50 ON THE WEB

For up-to-date information, please, point your web
browser to htt

Copyright © 2003 KORG Italy Spa. Printed in China.

p://www.korgpa.com.

THE BALANCE SLIDER

When turning the instrument on, please be assured the BALANCE slider is set to

the center. This sets both Sequencer 1 (SEQ1) and Sequencer 2 (SEQ2) to their

maximum level. This will avoid you start a Song without hearing anything.

HOW TO…

3

Keyboard

…select a Sound Program 26
…select a Performance 25
…play a Sound Program across the

whole keyboard, as with a piano 24
…split the keyboard in two 24
…add sounds to the right hand 24
…mute/unmute sounds 24

Style Play mode

…select a Style 26
…start/stop the Style 29
…select a Fill or a Break 29
…select a Style Variation 30
…see the Style tracks 41
…create a new Style 52

Song Play mode

…play a Song (Standard MIDI File) 27
…see the Lyrics 74
…see the Song tracks 73
…start both Sequencers at the same time 18, 79

Backing Sequence mode

…record a new Backing Sequence (Song) 82

Song mode

…record a new Song 91
…edit a Standard MIDI File 88

In general

…turn the speakers off 125
…change the Damper polarity 126
…select the Arabic Scale 34

4

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Welcome! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Live Performing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Useful links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

About this manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Making a backup copy of system files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Loading the operating system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Reloading the Factory Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Start up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Connecting the AC power adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Turning the instrument on and off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Controlling the Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

The BALANCE slider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Audio Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Audio Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

MIDI connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Damper Pedal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Demo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

The music stand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Front panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Display and User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Display controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Interface structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Message windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Symbols and Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Grayed-out non-available parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Rear panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Basic Guide

Basic operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Playing on the keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Selecting, muting/unmuting and soloing a track . . . . . . . . 24

Selecting a Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Selecting a Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Selecting a Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Selecting a Single Touch Setting (STS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Changing all keyboard tracks at once . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Playing a Song from Floppy disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Shortcut to see the original bank for a Style,

Performance or Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

1 - Playing in realtime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

2 - Playing a Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

3 - Playing a Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

4 - Recording a Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

5 - Editing a Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

6 - The Arabic Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

What is MIDI? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Midifiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

The General MIDI standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

The Global channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

The Chord 1 and Chord 2 channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

The Control channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

MIDI Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Connecting Pa50 to a Master keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Connecting the Pa50 to a MIDI accordion . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Connecting the Pa50 to an external sequencer . . . . . . . . . .37

Playing another instrument with the Pa50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Reference Guide

Style Play operating mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

What’s a Style? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Styles and Performances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Changing and resetting the Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

The DIRECT FD bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Main page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Style tracks page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

How to select Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

The Write window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Edit page structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Page 1 - Mixer: Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Page 2 - Mixer: Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Page 3 - Mixer: FX Send . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Page 4 - Tuning: Detune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

Page 5 - Tuning: Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

Page 6 - Tuning: PitchBend Sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

Page 7 - FX: A/B Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

Page 8 - FX: C/D Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

Page 9 - FX: A editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

Page 10 - FX: B editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

Page 11 - FX: C editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

Page 12 - FX: D editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

Page 13 - Track: Easy edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

Page 14 - Track: Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

Page 15 - Track: Internal/External . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

Page 16 - R.T. controls: Damper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

Page 17 - R.T. controls: Joystick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

Page 18 - R.T. controls: Dynamic range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

Page 19 - R.T. controls: Ensemble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

Page 20 - Style controls: Drum/Fill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

Page 21 - Style controls: Wrap Around / Keyboard

Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Page 22 - Pads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Page 23 - Preferences: Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Page 24 - Preferences: controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

Style Record mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

The Style’s structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Style Import/Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Entering the Record mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Listening to the Style while in Record/Edit mode . . . . . . . .53

Exit and Save/Abort Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

The Write window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

List of recorded events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Fast Delete using the control panel buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Main page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Style Tracks page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

5

Step Record page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Style Record procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Edit page structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Page 1 - Edit: Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Page 2 - Edit: Transpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Page 3 - Edit: Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Page 4 - Event Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Page 5 - Event Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Event Edit procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64

Page 6 - Edit: Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Page 7 - Edit: Delete All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Page 8 - Edit: Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Page 9 - Style Element Controls: Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Page 10 - Style Element Controls: Expression . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Page 11 - Style Element Controls: Keyboard Range . . . . . . 68

Page 12 - Style Element Controls: Chord Variation

Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Page 13 - Style Controls: Mode/Tension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Song Play operating mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

The Songs and the Standard MIDI File format . . . . . . . . . . 70

Transport controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

MIDI Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Switching between sequencers during editing . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Selecting a Song composing its progressive number . . . . . 70

Realtime and sequencer tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Master Volume, Sequencer Volume, BALANCE . . . . . . . . 71

Effects in Song Play mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Groove Quantize window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

The Write window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Main page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Tracks 1-8 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Tracks 9-16 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Song Select page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

The Lyrics page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Playing a Jukebox file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Edit page structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Page 1 - Mixer: Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Page 2 - Mixer: Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Page 3 - Mixer: FX send A/B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Page 3 - Mixer: FX send C/D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Page 4 - FX: A/B Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Page 4 - FX: C/D Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Page 5 - FX: A editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Page 6 - FX: B editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Page 5 - FX: C editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Page 6 - FX: D editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Page 7 - Track: Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Page 8 - Track: Internal/External . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Page 9 - Jukebox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Page 10 - Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Saving a list of Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Backing Sequence operating mode . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Transport controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

The Backing Sequence, Song and Song Play modes . . . . . . 82

How to playback a Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Realtime Recording mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Chord/Acc Step recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Main Page (Backing Sequence Play) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Load Song page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84

Save Song page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84

Realtime Recording page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

Chord/Acc Step Recording page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

How to delete a whole Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87

Song operating mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Transport controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88

Master Volume and Sequencer Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88

The Songs and the Standard MIDI File format . . . . . . . . . .88

Fast track deletion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88

How to delete a whole Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88

Main page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88

Tracks 1-8 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89

Tracks 9-16 page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89

Song Select page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89

Save Song page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90

Realtime Record procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91

Step Record procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91

Song Record page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93

Step Record page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94

Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95

Edit page structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95

Page 1 - Mixer: Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95

Page 2 - Mixer: Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95

Page 3 - Mixer: FX Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96

Page 4 - Mixer: FX Send A/B (or C/D) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96

Page 5 - Tuning: Detune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96

Page 6 - Tuning: Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97

Page 7 - Tuning: PitchBend/Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97

Page 8 - FX: A/B Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97

Page 9 - FX: C/D Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97

Page 10 - FX: A editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98

Page 11 - FX: B editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98

Page 12 - FX: C editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98

Page 13 - FX: D editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98

Page 14 - Track: Easy edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98

Page 15 - Track: Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99

Page 16 - Track: Internal/External . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99

Page 17 - Edit: Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100

Page 18 - Edit: Transpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100

Page 19 - Edit: Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100

Page 20 - Edit: Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101

Page 21 - Edit: Cut Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101

Page 22 - Edit: Insert Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101

Page 23 - Edit: Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102

Page 24 - Event Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102

Page 25 - Event Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103

Event Edit procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104

Program operating mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Main page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105

Sound Programs and Drum Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105

Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105

Edit page structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105

The Compare function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106

How to select oscillators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106

Erase Program/Oscillator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106

The ‘Write’ window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106

Page 1 - Basic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106

Page 2 - Sample (Sound Programs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107

Page 2 - DK Samples (Drum Programs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108

6

Page 3 - Pitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Page 4 - Pitch LFO1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Page 5 - Pitch LFO2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Page 6 - Pitch EG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Page 7 - Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Page 8 - Filter Modulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Page 9 - Filter LFO1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114

Page 10 - Filter LFO2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115

Page 11 - Filter EG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Page 12 - Amp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Page 13 - Amp Modulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Page 14 - Amp LFO1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Page 15 - Amp LFO2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Page 16 - Amp EG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Page 17 - LFO1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120

Page 18 - LFO2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121

Page 19 - Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Page 20 - FX1 editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Page 21 - FX2 editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

AMS (Alternate Modulation Source) list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Global edit environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

The Write window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125

Page 1 - General controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Page 2 - Master Transpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Page 3 - Assignable Pedal/Footswitch, Assignable

Slider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Page 4 - MIDI Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Page 5 - MIDI Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127

Page 6 - MIDI IN Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Page 7 - MIDI IN Controls (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Page 8 - MIDI IN Controls (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Page 9 - MIDI IN Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Page 10 - MIDI OUT Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Page 11 - MIDI OUT Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Disk edit environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

The WRITE/DISK IN USE LED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Floppy disk handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Loading data created with the Pa80 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Loading older i-Series data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Disk structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132

File types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

File and folder size display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Page structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Navigation tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133

Page 1 - Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Page 2 - Save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Page 3 - Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Page 4 - Erase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140

Page 5 - Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140

Page 6 - New Dir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140

Page 7 - Rename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141

Page 8 - Utilities 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141

Page 9 - Utilities 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142

Appendix

Factory Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144

Style Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146

Single Touch Settings (STS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146

Programs (bank order) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147

Programs (Program Change order) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154

Drum Kits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160

Drum Kit instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161

Performances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173

MIDI Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174

Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175

Dynamic Modulation sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175

Filter/Dynamic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175

Pitch/Phase Mod. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .185

Mod./P.Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195

ER/Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .202

Reverb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208

Mono – Mono Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .210

Assignable parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

List of functions assignable to the Footswitch . . . . . . . . . .225

List of functions assignable to the Pedal or

Assignable Slider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .226

List of sounds assignable to the Pads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .226

List of functions assignable to the Pads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227

Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227

MIDI Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

MIDI Implementation Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .229

Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Recognized chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Error messages & Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Error messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .235

Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .238

Technical specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Alphabetical Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

INTRODUCTION

Welcome!

8

Live Performing

1. WELCOME!

Welcome to the world of KORG Pa50 Professional Arranger!
Pa50 is one of the most powerful arranger available today,
both for professional and home entertainment use.

Here are some of the features of your new instrument:

• Powerful HI (Hyper Integrated) KORG sound genera­tion system, as seen in our best professional synthesiz­ers.

• OPOS (Objective Portable Operating System) multi­tasking operating system, to let you load data while
playing your instrument.

• Operating System updates, to load new features from
disk. Don’t let your instrument get old!

• Solid State Disk (SSD), for any system update–a smart
way to replace the usual ROM memory.

• Direct Style access from floppy disk.

• General MIDI Level 2 Sounds-compatible.

• More than 660 Sound Programs.

• 4 multieffect processor, each with 89 effect types.

• 160 Performances and 1,216 Single Touch Settings
(STS), for fast setting of keyboard sounds and effects.

• 304 Styles.

• XDS Double Sequencer with Crossfader.

• Style Record and Edit

• Full-featured sequencer (Song Record and Edit)

• Integrated speakers, for the most true sound reproduc­tion.

• Wide Custom Display.

LIVE PERFORMING

Pa50 has been carefully designed to be used live. The “real­time” word has its full meaning in this instrument.

mances

keyboard and a suitable Style;
of the keyboard tracks; and
companions for your realtime playing.

allow the instant selection of all the tracks on the

STSs

allow an instant selection

Styles

are the realtime backing

Perfor-

USEFUL LINKS

Your preferred KORG dealer not only carries this keyboard,
but also a whole bunch of hardware and software accessories.
You should ask him for more Programs, Styles, and other
useful music materials.

Each KORG distributor can supply you with useful informa­tion. Just give him a call for additional services. In the
English-speaking world, here are the relevant addresses:

USA KORG USA, 316 South Service Road, Melville,

New York, 11747, USA
Tel:[phone], Fax:[phone]

Canada Jam Industries, 620 McCaffrey, St-Laurent,

QC, Canada, H4T 1N1
Tel. [phone], Fax [phone]

UK KORG UK Ltd, 9 Newmarket Court, Kingston,

Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK10, 0AU

Telephone: [phone]
UK Technical Support Tel: [phone], Fax:

01908 857199
E-mail: [e-mail]

Many KORG distributors also have their own web page on
the internet, where you can find infos and software. Useful
web pages in English are the following:

www.korg.com

www.korg.co.uk

www.jam-industries.com

A place to find operating system updates and various system
files (for example, a full backup of the factory data) is at the
following link:

www.korgpa.com

Other useful information can be found worldwide by access­ing to other KORG web sites, like the following:

www.korg.co.jp
www.korgfr.net

www.korg.de

www.korg.it

ABOUT THIS MANUAL

This manual is divided in three sections:

•A

•A

•An

Within the manual, you will find the following abbreviations:

Basic Guide

ment, as well as a series of practical guides (named
“Tutorials”).

Reference Guide

described in detail.

Appendix

for the advanced user.

, containing an overview of the instru-

, with each page and parameter

, with a list of data and useful information

The parameter can be saved onto a Perfor­mance by pressing the WRITE button.

The parameter can be saved onto the current
Style Performance by pressing the WRITE but­ton.

The parameter can be saved onto a Single
Touch Setting by pressing the WRITE button.

The parameter can be saved onto the Global,
by going to the Global environment (see “Glo­bal edit environment” on page 125) and press­ing the WRITE button.

MAKING A BACKUP COPY OF SYSTEM FILES

Before starting playing with your new Pa50, we suggest you
make a back-up copy of all system data, including Pro­grams, Performances and Styles, in case the internal data is
changed.

To backup the Operating System, please see “Save OS” on
page 141.

To backup the Factory Data (Styles, Programs…), see
“Backup Data” on page 141.

LOADING THE OPERATING SYSTEM

Your Pa50 can be constantly updated as new versions of the
operating system are released by KORG. You can download
the operating system from www.korgpa.com. Please, read the
Readme file included with the operating system itself.

You can see which version of the operating systems is
installed in your Pa50 by keeping the SHIFT button pressed,
and pressing the ENTER and EXIT buttons together. The
operating system version number will appear in the display.
Press EXIT to close the message window.

To load a new system, follow these instructions:

Copy the three operating system’s files in an empty, MS-

1.

DOS® formatted, HD-type floppy disk. These are the
needed files:

• OSPa50.LZX

• BPa50.SYS

• NBPa50.SYS

Welcome!

Loading the operating system

Turn the instrument off, and insert the operating system

2.

disk into the disk drive.
Turn the instrument on. A message appears in the dis-

3.

play, asking if you want to load the operating system.

4.

Press ENTER to load, or EXIT to cancel the loading pro­cedure. If you press ENTER, wait until the loading is fin­ished.

When the operating system is finished loading, a mes­sage appears, asking you to remove the floppy disk and
press any button.

Remove the floppy disk, and press any button.

5.

RELOADING THE FACTORY DATA

Should the internal memory content get damaged, you can
reload the original Factory Data from the backup disks. See
“Restore Data” on page 142.

9

Start up

10

Connecting the AC power adapter

2. START UP

CONNECTING THE AC POWER ADAPTER

Connect the supplied AC
power adapter to the dedi­cated socket on the rear of the
instrument. Then, plug it into
a wall socket.

Warning:

plied adapter, or an adapter
suggested by Korg. Other
adapters may look similar,
but they may damage your
instrument!

Use only the sup-

TURNING THE INSTRUMENT ON AND OFF

• Press the POWER switch on the rear panel to turn the
instrument on. The display will light up, showing a wel­come message.

• Press again the POWER switch on the rear panel to turn
the instrument off.

Warning:

tained in RAM (a volatile memory, used for Song editing)
will be lost. On the contrary, data contained in the SSD
disk (a non-volatile memory, used for Factory and User
data) will be preserved (see “Memory Mode” on page 51).

When turning the instrument off, all data con-

CONTROLLING THE VOLUME

• Use the MASTER VOL­UME slider to control the
overall volume of the
instrument. This slider
controls the volume of the
sound going to the internal
speakers, the L/MONO &
RIGHT OUTPUTS, and
the HEADPHONES con­nector.

Note:

Start at a moderate level, then raise the MASTER
VOLUME up. Don’t keep the volume at an uncomfortable
level for too long.

• Use the ACC/SEQ VOLUME slider to control the Style
tracks (drums, percussion, bass…) volume. This slider
also controls both Sequencers tracks, excluding the
Realtime (Keyboard) tracks.

• By default, you can use the ASSIGN.SLIDER to control
the keyboard tracks volume. This slider is user-assign­able, but is set to the Keyboard Expression parameter by
default.

THE BALANCE SLIDER

The BALANCE slider sets the relative volume of the two
onboard sequencers (Sequencer1 and Sequencer 2).

• Move it fully left to set Sequencer 1 to the maximum
level and Sequencer 2 to zero.

• Move it fully right to set Sequencer 1 to zero and
Sequencer 2 to the maximum level.

• Move it to the center to set both Sequencer at the same
level.

Note:

When turning the instrument on, move this slider to the

center, to avoid starting a Song at the minimum level.

HEADPHONES

Connect a pair of headphones to the PHONES output, on the
rear of the insturment. You can use headphones with an
impedance of 16-200Ω (50Ω suggested). Use a headphone
distributor to connect more than one pair of headphones.

AUDIO OUTPUTS

You can send the sound to an external amplification system,
instead of the internal speakers. This is useful when record­ing, or when playing live.

Stereo.

RIGHT OUTPUTS. Connect the other end of the cables to a
stereo channel of your mixer, two mono channels, two pow­ered monitors, or the TAPE/AUX input of your audio system.
Don’t use the PHONO inputs of your audio system!

Mono.

Connect the other end of the cable to a mono channel of your
mixer, a powered monitor, or a channel of your TAPE/AUX
input of a hi-fi system (you will hear that channel only, unless
you can set the amplifier to Mono mode).

Connect two mono cables to the L/MONO &

Connect a mono cable to the L/MONO OUTPUT.

AUDIO INPUTS

Connect any other electronic musical instrument, a mixer’s
output (non-powered), or a CD/tape player, to the INPUTS
on the back of the instrument. These inputs expect a line­level signal. To connect a microphone, you need a dedicated
microphone preamplifier or a mixer.

Use the connected device’s volume control to adjust the input
level. Be careful not to make it distort (or “clip”). Here is how
to set the volume of the connected device:

• if the sound heard on Pa50’s outputs is too low, you
should increase the output level of the connected device.

• if it sounds fine, it’s ok.

• if it distorts, you should lower the level a little, until the
sounds is fine again.

MIDI CONNECTIONS

You can play the internal sounds of your Pa50 with an exter­nal controller, i.e. a master keyboard, a MIDI guitar, a wind
controller, a MIDI accordion, or a digital piano.

Connect a standard MIDI cable from the MIDI OUT of

1.

your controller to the MIDI IN connector on the Pa50.

2.

Select a transmission MIDI channel on your controller.
Some controllers, like the MIDI accordions, usually
transmit on more than one channel (see more informa­tion in the MIDI chapter).

11

Start up

Damper Pedal

On the Pa50, select the MIDI Setup that best fit your

3.

controllers type (see “Page 4 - MIDI Setup” on
page 126).

DAMPER PEDAL

Connect a Damper (Sustain) pedal to the DAMPER connec­tor on the back panel. Use a KORG PS1, PS2 or DS1H foot­switch pedal, or a compatible one. To switch the Damper
polarity, see “Damper Pol. (Damper Polarity)” on page 126

DEMO

Listen to the built-in Demo Songs to appreciate the power of
the Pa50. There are 16 Demo Songs to choose from.

Press the STYLE PLAY and SONG PLAY buttons

1.

together. Their LEDs start blinking.

At this point, if you don’t press any other button, all the
Demo Songs will be played back.

2.

Choose a page using the PAGE buttons. There are two
different pages in the Demo mode.

3.

Select a Demo Song by pressing the corresponding
VOLUME/VALUE button around the display. The
Demo will automatically start.

4.

Stop the Demo by pressing START/STOP.
Exit the Demo mode by pressing one of the MODE but-

5.

tons.

THE MUSIC STAND

A music stand comes standard with your Pa50. Fit it into the
two dedicated holes in the back panel.

Front panel

12

3. FRONT PANEL

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13

Front panel

1 MASTER VOLUME

This slider controls the overall volume of the instrument,
both of the internal speakers, the L/MONO and RIGHT out­puts, and the HEADPHONES output.

Warning: At the maximum level, with rich-sounding Songs,
Styles or Programs, the internal speakers could distort during
signal peaks. Should this happen, lower the Master Volume a
little.

2 ACC/SEQ VOLUME

This slider controls the accompaniment tracks volume (Style
Play mode) or the Song tracks volume, excluding the Real­time tracks (Song and Song Play modes). This is a relative
control, whose effective maximum value is determined by the
MASTER VOLUME slider position.

3 ASSIGN.SLIDER

This is a freely programmable slider (see “Sld (Slider)” on
page 126). By default, it acts as the Keyboard Expression con­trol, to let you balance the relative volume of the Realtime
(Keyboard) tracks.

4 MODE section

Each of these buttons recalls one of the operating modes of
the instrument. Each mode excludes the others.

STYLE PLAY

Style Play mode, where you can play Styles
(automatic accompaniments) and/or play up
to four Realtime tracks on the keyboard.

In the main page, Realtime (Keyboard) tracks
are shown on the right half of the display. You
can reach the main page by pressing EXIT
from any of the Style Play edit pages. If you are
in a different operating mode, press STYLE
PLAY to recall the Style Play mode. If the
TRACK SELECT LED is on, press TRACK
SELECT to turn it off and see the Realtime
tracks.

This operating mode is automatically selected
when turning the instrument on.

SONG PLAY

Song Play mode, where you can playback 16­track Songs in Standard Midi File (SMF) for­mat directly from disk. You can play “.MID”
and “.KAR” files directly from the floppy disk.
Since the Pa50 is equipped with two sequenc­ers, you can even play two Songs at the same
time, and mix them with the BALANCE slider.

In addition to the Song tracks, you can play
one to four Realtime (Keyboard) tracks, along
with the Song(s). In the main page, Realtime
(Keyboard) tracks are shown on the right half
of the display. You can reach the main page by
pressing EXIT from any of the Song Play edit
pages. If you are in a different operating mode,
press SONG PLAY to recall the Song Play
mode. If the TRACK SELECT LED is on or
flashing, press TRK SELECT one or two times
to turn it off and see the Realtime tracks.

B.SEQ Backing Sequence mode, where you can record

a new Song based on the Realtime and Style
tracks, and save it as a new Standard MIDI File.

SONG Song mode, where you can play, record, or edit

a Song.

PROGRAM Program mode, to play single Sound Programs

on the keyboard, or edit them.

DEMO Press the STYLE PLAY and SONG PLAY but-

tons together to select the Demo mode. This
mode lets you listen to some Demo Songs, to
let you hear the sonic power of the Pa50.

5 GLOBAL

This button recalls the Global edit environment, where you
can execute various global settings. This edit environment
overlaps any operating mode, that still remains active in the
background. Press EXIT to go back to the underlying operat­ing mode.

6 DISK

This button recalls the Disk edit environment, where you can
execute various operations on files and disks (Load, Save,
Format, etc…). This edit environment overlaps any operat­ing mode, that still remains active in the background. Press
EXIT to go back to the underlying operating mode.

7 MEMORY (TIE)

This button turns the Lower and Chord Memory functions
on or off. Go to the “Page 24 - Preferences: controls” edit
page (Style Play mode, see page 50) to decide if this button
should be a Chord Memory only, or a Lower/Chord Memory
button. When it works as a Lower/Chord Memory:

ON The sound on the left of the split point, and the

chord for the automatic accompaniment, are
kept in memory even when you raise your
hand from the keyboard.

OFF The sound and chords are released as soon as

you raise your hand from the keyboard.

This button doubles as a TIE function for the Song mode

(see chapter 13).

8 BASS INVERSION (REST)

This button turns the Bass Inversion function on or off.
ON The lowest note of a chord played in inverted

form will always be detected as the root note of
the chord. Thus, you can specify to the
arranger composite chords such as Am7/G or
“F/C”.

OFF The lowest note is scanned together with the

other chord notes, and is not always consid­ered as the root note.

This button doubles as a REST function for the Song mode

(see chapter 13).

9 MANUAL BASS

This button turns the Manual Bass function on or off.

Note: When you press the MANUAL BASS button, the Bass
track volume is automatically set to the maximum value. The
volume is automatically set back to the original value when the
MANUAL BASS button is deactivated.

14

Front panel

ON The automatic accompaniment stops playing

(apart for the Drum and Percussion tracks),
and you can manually play the Bass track on
the Lower part of the keyboard. You can start
the automatic accompaniment again by press­ing one of the CHORD SCANNING buttons.

OFF The bass track is automatically played by the

Style.

0 SPLIT POINT (<)

Keep this button pressed to open the Split Point window.
While this window is open, you can set the split point, simply
by playing the split point note on the keyboard. Then, release
the SPLIT POINT button.

To memorize the selected split point note, press the GLOBAL
button, then press WRITE to save the Global in memory (see
“The Write window” on page 125).

This button doubles as a PREVIOUS EVENT function for

the Backing Sequence and Song modes (see chapters 12 and

13).

A G.QUANTIZE (>)

Press this button to open the Groove Quantize window,
where you can select a realtime groove quantization to be
applied to the Song (only Sequencer 1). See “Groove Quan­tize window” on page 71.

This button doubles as a NEXT EVENT function for the

Backing Sequence and Song modes (see chapters 12 and 13).

B TEMPO (= LOCK)

This button turns the Tempo Lock function on or off.
ON When you select a different Style or Perfor-

mance, the tempo doesn’t change. You can still
change it using the DIAL or the TEMPO but­tons.

OFF When you select a different Style or Perfor-

mance, the memorized tempo value is auto­matically selected.

C SINGLE TOUCH

This button turns the Single Touch function on or off.
ON When a different Style (or the same again) is

selected, a Single Touch Setting (STS1) is auto­matically selected, meaning that the Realtime
tracks and effects will change, together with
the Style tracks and effects.

OFF When you select a different Style (or the same

again), the Style tracks and effects are changed,
while the Realtime tracks are not changed.

D STYLE section (NUMERIC KEYPAD)

Use these buttons to open the Style Select window and select
a Style. See “Selecting a Style” on page 26.

The leftmost button lets you select the upper or lower row of
Style banks. Press it repeatedly to select one of the rows.
(After both LEDs have turned on, press the button again to
turn them off).

UPPER LED ON

Upper-row Styles selected.

LOWER LED ON

Lower-row Styles selected.

A word about Style banks and names. Styles from “8/16
BEAT” to “WORLD 3”, and from “LATIN1” to “TRADI­TIONAL” are standard Styles, the user can’t normally over­write with a Load operation (unless you remove the
protection; see “Factory Style Protect” on page 142).

“DIRECT FD” Styles are Styles directly accessed from floppy
disk (no need to load from disk). See “The DIRECT FD
bank” on page 40.

Styles from “USER1” to “USER3” are location where you can
load new Styles from disk.

Each button (Style bank) contains 2 pages, each with up to 8
Styles. Browse through the Styles using the PAGE buttons.

Shortcut to see the original bank for a Style. You can see the
original bank where a Style is contained. Just keep the SHIFT
button pressed, and press the lefmost button of the STYLE
section. A message window will appear, showing the name of
the original bank. Release the SHIFT button to exit the win­dow.

Shortcut to see all pages of the selected bank. To cycle all
pages for a selected bank, repeatedly press the bank’s button.

These buttons double as a numeric keypad on certain
pages (see “Selecting a Song composing its progressive num­ber” on page 70).

E FADE IN/OUT

When the Style is in stop, press this button to start it with a
volume fade-in (the volume goes from zero to the maxi­mum).

When the Style is in play, press this button to stop it with a
volume fade-out (the volume gradually decreases).

You don’t need to press START/STOP to start or stop the
Style.

F VARIATION 1-4 (NOTE LENGTH) buttons

Each of these buttons select one of the four variations of the
current Style. Each variation can vary in patterns and sounds.

These buttons double as a NOTE LENGTH function for the
Song mode (see chapter 13).

G FILL 1-2 (NOTE LENGTH) buttons

These two buttons trigger a fill-in. Press them twice (LED
blinking) to let them play in loop, and select any other Style
element (Fill, Intro, Variation…) to exit the loop.

They also double as a NOTE LENGTH function for the
Song mode (see chapter 13).

H COUNT IN / BREAK

While the Style is not running, press this button, then press
START/STOP. This combination triggers a one-bar initial
count, then the Style starts playing.

While the Style is already in play, this button triggers a break
(an empty measure beginning with a kick + crash shot). Press
it twice to let it play in loop, and select any other Style ele­ment (Fill, Intro, Variation…) to exit the loop.

I ENDING 1-2 (DOT, TRIPLET) buttons

While the Style is running, these two buttons trigger an End­ing, and stop the Style. Press one of them, and the Style will
stop running with an Ending. If pressed while the Style is
stopped, they act as an additional couple of Intros.

Front panel

15

Press them twice (LED blinking) to let them play in loop, and
select any other Style element (Fill, Intro, Variation…) to exit
the loop.

ENDING1 also doubles as a DOT function, and ENDING2
doubles as a TRIPLET function, to be used in Song mode
(see chapter 13).

Note: Ending 1 plays a short sequence with different chords,
while Ending 2 plays on the last recognized chord.

J INTRO 1-2 buttons

These two buttons set the arranger in Intro mode. After
pressing one of these buttons, start the Style, and it will begin
with the selected intro. The INTRO LED automatically goes
off at the end of the intro.

Press them twice (LED blinking) to let them play in loop, and
select any other Style element (Fill, Intro, Variation…) to exit
the loop.

Note: Intro 1 plays a short sequence with different chords, while
Intro 2 plays on the last recognized chord.

K START/STOP

Starts or stops the Style running.

You can reset all ‘frozen’ notes and controllers on the
Pa50 and any instrument connected to its MIDI OUT, by
using the “Panic” key combination. Just press SHIFT +
START/STOP to stop all notes and reset all controllers.

L SYNCHRO START / STOP (DELETE)

This button turns the Synchro Start and Synchro Stop func­tions on or off. Press it repeatedly to turn the functions on or
off. The LEDs cycle in this order: START ➛ START+STOP ➛
OFF.

START LED ON

When this LED is lit, just play a chord in the
chord recognition area (usually under the split
point, see “CHORD SCANNING section” on
page 17) to automatically start the Style run­ning. If you like, you can turn one of the
INTROs on before starting the Style.

START+STOP LEDs ON

When both LEDs are lit, raising your hand
from the keyboard momentarily stops the Style
running. If you play a chord again, the Style
starts again.

OFF All Synchro functions are turned off.

This button doubles as a DELETE function for the Backing

Sequence and Song modes (see chapters 12 and 13).
It is also used to delete the selected character, during text

editing.

M TAP TEMPO/RESET (INSERT)

This is a double-function button, acting in a different way
depending on the Style status (stop/play).

Tap Tempo: When the Style is not playing, you can “beat” the
tempo on this button. At the end, the accompaniment starts
playing, using the “tapped in” tempo.

Reset: When you press this button while the Style is in play,
the Style pattern goes back to the previous strong beat.

This button doubles as a INSERT function for the Backing

Sequence and Song modes (see chapters 12 and 13).
It is also used to insert a character at the cursor position, dur-

ing text editing.

N WRITE/DISK IN USE

In Style Play mode, this button opens the Write window, that
lets you save all the tracks onto a Performance, the Realtime
(Keyboard) tracks in a Single Touch Setting (STS), or the
accompaniment tracks onto a Style Performance. (See “The
Write window” on page 42).

In the Global edit environment, press it to save Global
parameters in memory. (See “The Write window” on
page 125).

This button’s LED doubles as a DISK IN USE indicator,

flashing when the floppy disk drive is in use.

O ENSEMBLE

This button turns the Ensemble function on or off. When on,
the right-hand melody is harmonized with the left-hand
chords.

Note: The Ensemble function works only when the keyboard is
in SPLIT mode, and the LOWER Chord Scanning mode
selected.

P RECORD

This button sets the instrument in Record mode (depending
on the current operating mode).

Q MENU

This button opens the Menu page for the current operating
mode or edit environment. After opening a menu, you can
jump to one of the edit pages by pressing the corresponding
VOLUME/VALUE buttons; or browse them using the PAGE
buttons. Otherwise, go back to the main page of the current
operating mode, or close the edit environment, by pressing
the EXIT button.

See the relevant chapter devoted to each operating mode or
edit environment, to see their “maps” in detail.

R PAGE -/+

After pressing MENU to open a menu, use these buttons to
browse the edit pages of an operating mode or editing envi­ronment. Press EXIT to go back from an edit page to the
main page of the current operating mode, or to close the Glo­bal or Disk edit environment.

In addition, you can use these buttons to select a different
page in a Style Select or Program Select window.

16

Front panel

S VOLUME/VALUE (MUTE) A-H buttons

Within this user’s manual, each button pair is marked with
an alphabetic letter (A-H). See “Display and User Interface”
on page 19 for more details.

A
B
C
D

A corresponding track name is printed over each button pair.
These names show the corresponding track the button pair
affects in the main page of the Style Play mode.

• The left half is for the main page, where you can see the
Realtime tracks, and the Style tracks grouped together:

• The right half is for the Style tracks page, where you can
see each of the accompaniment tracks:

See “Symbols and Icons” on page 21.
Use these buttons to execute various operations on the com-

mands and functions appearing in the display.
SELECTING

VOLUME While you are in the main pages of any operat-

MUTE Press both buttons in a pair to mute the corre-

BossaNova |STS1

Drum/Perc Piano01
Bass01 Guitar01
Acc.1-5 StrngEns2
VoxPad1

E
F

G

H

Use each button pair to select the correspond­ing item in the display (i.e. a track, a parameter
or a command). Use either the left or right
button in a pair.

ing mode, select a track and use these buttons
to change the track’s volume. Use the left but­ton to decrease it, or the right button to
increase it.

sponding track. Press both buttons again to
unmute the track.

SOLO While in the Style Play, Song Play and

Song modes, you can solo one of the tracks.
Just keep the SHIFT button pressed, and press
both VOLUME/VALUE buttons corresponding
to the track you wish to solo.

To exit the solo mode, keep the SHIFT button
pressed again, and press both VOLUME/
VALUE buttons corresponding to the soloed
track.

VALUE Use each button pair to change the corre-

sponding parameter’s value. The left button
decreases the value, the right button increases
it.

T TRACK SELECT

Depending on the operating mode, this button switches
between the various tracks view.

STYLE PLAY MODE

Switches between the Realtime tracks and the
Style tracks.

SONG PLAY MODE

Switches between the main page (showing the
Realtime/Keyboard tracks), Song tracks 1-8,
and Song tracks 9-16.

SONG MODE

Switches between the main page, Song tracks

1-8 and Song tracks 9-16.
The TRACK SELECT LED shows the current page view:
Off Main page (Realtime tracks, or Song controls)
On 2nd page (Style tracks, or Song tracks 1-8)
Flashing 3rd page (Song tracks 9-16)

U SINGLE TOUCH SETTING (F1-F4 FUNCTION KEYS)

buttons

While in the main page of the Style Play or Backing Sequence
mode, these buttons select a Single Touch Setting each. Each
of the Styles includes a maximum of four Single Touch Set­tings (STS), to automatically configure the Realtime tracks
and effects at the touch of a finger. When the SINGLE
TOUCH LED is lit, an STS is automatically selected when
selecting a Style.

In Edit mode, these buttons double as function keys, to

select the corresponding items in the display.

V SHIFT

With this button held down, pressing certain other buttons
accesses to a second function.

W TEMPO/VALUE section

The DIAL and the DOWN/- and UP/+ buttons can be used
to control the Tempo, assign a different value to the selected
parameter in the display or scroll a list of files in the Song
Select and Disk pages. The VALUE LED shows the status of
this section.

DIAL Turn the dial clockwise to increase the value or

tempo. Turn it counter-clockwise to decrease

the value or tempo.

When used while pressing the SHIFT
button, this control always acts as a Tempo
control.

17

Front panel

DOWN/- and UP/+

DOWN/- decreases the value or tempo; UP/+
increases the value or tempo.

Keep the SHIFT button pressed down,
and press either the DOWN/- or
UP/+ button to reset the Tempo to the value
memorized onto the selected Style.

X VALUE LED

This LED shows the status of the DIAL and DOWN/- and
UP/+ buttons.

ON The DIAL and DOWN/- and UP/+ buttons act

as Value controls, to change the value of the
selected parameter in the display.

OFF The DIAL and DOWN/- and UP/+ buttons

control the Tempo.

Y EXIT/NO

Use this button to perform various actions, leaving from the
current status:

• exit a dialog box

• answer “No” to any question that appears in the display

• exit the Menu window

• go back to the main page of the current operating mode

• exit the Global or Disk edit environment, and go back to
the main page of the current operating mode

• exit from a Style, Performance or Program Select win­dow

Z ENTER/YES

Use this button to perform various actions, agreeing the cur­rent selected status:

• answer “Yes” to any question that appears in the display

• confirm a command

[ DISPLAY HOLD

This button turns the Display Hold function on or off.
ON When you open a temporary windows (like the

Program Select window), it remains in the dis­play until you press EXIT/NO or an operating
mode button.

OFF Any temporary window closes after a certain

time, or after selecting an item in the window.

\ CHORD SCANNING section

In Style Play and Backing Sequence mode, use these buttons
to define the way chords are recognized by the arranger.

LOWER Chords are detected below the split point. The

number of notes you should play to form a
chord is defined by the Chord Scanning Mode
parameter (see “Chord Recognition Mode” on
page 50).

UPPER Chords are detected above the split point. You

must always play three or more notes to let the
arranger recognize a chord.

FULL (both LEDs on)

Chords are detected on the full keyboard
range. You must always play three or more
notes to let the arranger recognize a chord.

OFF No chords detected. After pressing START/

STOP, only the Drum and Percussion accom­paniment tracks can play.

] KEYBOARD MODE section

These buttons define how the four Keyboard (or Realtime)
tracks are positioned on the keyboard.

SPLIT The Lower track plays below the split point,

while the Upper 1, Upper 2 and Upper 3 tracks
play above it. By default, selecting this key­board mode automatically selects the Lower
chord scanning mode (see “Chord Recognition
Mode” on page 50).

FULL UPPER

The Upper 1, Upper 2 and/or Upper 3 tracks
play on the whole keyboard range. The Lower
track does not play. By default, selecting this
keyboard mode automatically selects the Full
chord scanning mode (see “Chord Recognition
Mode” on page 50).

` STYLE CHANGE

This button turns the Style Change function on or off.
ON When you select a Performance, the Style

could change, according to which Style num­ber is memorized onto the Performance.

OFF When you select a Performance, the Style and

Style track settings remain unchanged. Only
Realtime (Keyboard) tracks settings are
changed.

a PERFORM.

Press this button to use the PROGRAM/PERFORMANCE
section to select a Performance.

b PROGRAM

Press this button to use the PROGRAM/PERFORMANCE
section to select a Program, and assign it to the selected track.

c PROGRAM/PERFORMANCE section

Use these buttons to open the Program Select or Performance
Select window, and select a Program or a Performance. See
“Selecting a Program” on page 26, or “Selecting a Perfor­mance” on page 25. For a list of available Programs, see “Pro­grams (Program Change order)” on page 154.

The leftmost button selects the upper or lower row of Pro­gram or Performance banks. Press it repeatedly to select one
of the rows. (After both LEDs have consecutively turned on,
press the button again to turn them off).

UPPER LED ON

Upper row of Programs or Performances
selected.

LOWER LED ON

Lower row of Programs or Performances
selected.

On the front panel, Program banks are identified by the
instrument names, while Performance banks are identified
by numbers (1-10; 0=bank 10).

A note about Program banks and names. Programs from
“PIANO” to “SFX” are standard Programs, the user can’t
directly modify.

18

Front panel

Programs “USER1” and “USER2” are locations where you
can load new Programs from disk.

“USER DK” is where you can load new drum kits.
Each Program bank contains various pages, each with up to 8

Programs. You can browse them using the PAGE buttons.

Shortcut to see the original bank for a Performance or Pro­gram. You can see the original bank where a Performance or

Program is contained. Just keep the SHIFT button pressed,
and press the lefmost button of the PROGRAM/PERFOR­MANCE section. A message window will appear, showing the
name of the original bank. Release the SHIFT button to exit
the window.

Shortcut to see all pages of the selected bank. To cycle all
pages for a selected bank, repeatedly press the bank’s button.

d PADS (1-4, STOP)

These programmable pads can be used to trigger a sound
effect. Use the STOP button to stop a cyclic sound. (See “List
of sounds assignable to the Pads” on page 226).

Each Pad corresponds to a dedicated Pad track.

e TRANSPOSE

These buttons transpose the whole instrument in semitone
steps (Master Transpose). The transposition value is shown
(as a note name) on the top right of the display.

Press both buttons together, to reset the Master Transpose to
zero.

Note: The Master Transpose has no effect on tracks set to Drum
mode (and, even if set in a different status, on the Drum and
Percussion tracks). See “Page 14 - Track: Mode” on page 46, and
“Page 7 - Track: Mode” on page 78.

 Lowers the Master Transpose a semitone.
 Raises the Master Transpose a semitone.

f OCTAVE

These buttons transpose the selected track in steps of a whole
octave (12 semitones; max ±2 octaves). The transposition
value is shown (in octaves) on the top right area of the dis­play.

Press both buttons together, to reset the Octave Transpose to
zero.

Note: The Octave Transpose has no effect on tracks set to Drum
mode (and, even if set in a different status, on the Drum and
Percussion tracks).

– Lowers the selected track an octave.
+ Raises the selected track an octave.

g BALANCE slider

In Song Play mode, this slider balances the volume of the two
on-board sequencers. When fully on the left, only the
Sequencer 1 can be heard. When fully on the right, only the
Sequencer 2 can be heard. When in the middle, both
sequencers play at full volume.

h SEQUENCER TRANSPORT CONTROLS - SEQ1 and

SEQ2

The instrument is equipped with two sequencers (Sequencer
1 and Sequencer 2), each with its own set of transport con­trols.

<< and >> Rewind and Fast Forward commands. If you

use them while the Song is in play, they make it
scroll back or forward.

When pressed once, these buttons move the
Song to the previous or following measure.
When kept pressed, they make the Song scroll­ing continuously, until you release them.

In Jukebox mode (Sequencer 1), keep
the SHIFT button pressed, and press these but­tons to scroll to the previous or next Song in
the Jukebox list (see “Page 9 - Jukebox” on
page 79).

PAUSE Pauses the Song at the current position. Press

PAUSE or PLAY/STOP to start the Song play­ing again.

PLAY/STOP Starts or stops the current Song. When you

stop the Song, the Song Position goes back to
measure 1.

In Song Play mode, pressed while
keeping SHIFT pressed, starts both sequencers
at the same time.

Display and User Interface

Display controls

4. DISPLAY AND USER INTERFACE

NEWNAME.SET |
LIVE.SET
ETHNICA.SET |
FD LOAD OPEN CLOSE

Disk:Load

19

The display shows the current status of the Pa50 and its per­formance and editing parameters. You can select each param­eter by using the VOLUME/VALUE (A-H) buttons on the
side of the display, or each page command appearing along

Status icons area

BossaNova |STS1

A
B
C
D

Drum/Perc Piano01
Bass01 Guitar01
Acc.1-5 StrngEns2
VoxPad1

the last line using the F1-F4 buttons. You can vary many of
the parameter’s values by pressing the left (-) or right (+)
button of any VOLUME/VALUE pair.

E
F

G

H

Style (accompaniment/backing) tracks

DISPLAY CONTROLS

VOLUME/VALUE (A-H) buttons and display parame­ters. These buttons are used to select the corresponding

parameter or command in the display, to change the parame­ter’s value, or to change the volume of the corresponding
track.

While you are in the main page, these buttons can select a
track, change the track’s volume, or mute/unmute a track.

See “VOLUME/VALUE (MUTE) A-H buttons” on page 16
for more information.

F1-F4 buttons. When in an Edit page, these buttons may be
used when there are four parameters in a row, as in the fol­lowing example:

Mixer:FX Send

- - - - - - C:100 D:050
A:127 B:020 C:100 D:050

- - - - - - C:100 D:050
C:100 D:050

First, select the line using a VOLUME/VALUE (A-H) button.
Then, select a column using the F1-F4 function key.

Realtime (Keyboard) tracks

In the Disk edit environment, the F1-F4 buttons can be used
also to select one of the page commands appearing in the last
line of the display.

See “SINGLE TOUCH SETTING (F1-F4 FUNCTION KEYS)
buttons” on page 16 for more information.

PAGE. The PAGE buttons select the previous or following
edit page. When selecting a Style or a Program, they select a
different page of Styles or Programs. See “PAGE -/+” on
page 15 for more information.

MENU. The MENU button opens the current operating
mode or edit environment’s Menu. When in a Menu, you can
use the VOLUME/VALUE buttons to select an edit section to
jump to.

TRACK SELECT. Each of the operating modes have a differ­ent number of tracks:

Style Play 4 Realtime tracks, 8 Style tracks, 4 Pads.
Song Play 4 Realtime tracks, 2 x 16 Song Tracks, 4 Pads.

Display and User Interface

20

Interface structure

Backing Sequence

4 Realtime tracks, 8 Style tracks, 4 Pads.
Song 16 Song tracks.
You can only see up to 8 tracks in the display. So, use the

TRACK SELECT button to switch to the other (hidden)
tracks. For example, when in Style Play, you can use this but­ton to switch from the Realtime tracks and the Style tracks.

INTERFACE STRUCTURE

Thanks to its multitasking operating system, the Pa50 user
interface is structured in “overlapping”, active layers. From
the lower level:

• operating modes (Style Play, Backing Sequence, Song

Play, Song, Program)

• edit environments (Global, Disk)

• selecting windows (Style Select, Song Select, Program

Select, Performance Select).

When opening an edit environment or a selecting page, the
current operating mode is still working in the background.

Operating modes. (See diagram at the bottom of this
page). At the lowest level, an operating mode is always active.
The current operating mode is indicated by the lit LED on
the STYLE PLAY, B.SEQ, SONG PLAY, SONG or PROGRAM
button in the MODE section. The relevant icon lights up in
the display.
An operating mode is divided into a main page (the page
where you usually play a Style, a Song or a Program), a menu,
and a series of edit pages.
Press MENU to access the Menu. Use the MENU and PAGE
buttons to browse across the various edit pages. Press EXIT to
go back to the main page.

Operating modes

BossaNova |STS1

Drum/Perc Piano01
Bass01 Guitar01
Acc.1-5 StrngEns2
VoxPad1

Main page Menu Edit pages

Style Play Menu

Mixer RT Ctrls
Tuning Sty Ctrls
Effects Input/Pad
Track Edit Preferences

Mixer:Volume

|||||| 127 ||||| 090
||||| 100 ||| | 092
|||||| 127 || || 086
|||||| 112

21

Display and User Interface

Message windows

Edit environment. (See diagram at the bottom of this
page). When you press GLOBAL or DISK, an edit environ­ment overlaps the current operating mode. Press EXIT to go
back to the current operating mode.
An edit environment is made up of a menu and a series of
edit pages. Use the MENU and PAGE buttons to browse
across the various edit pages.

Selecting windows. When you press one of the STYLE or
PROGRAM/PERFORMANCE buttons, you open a selecting
window. This window closes after selecting one of the items
in it, or after pressing EXIT.

If the DISPLAY HOLD LED is light up, the window doesn’t
close after selecting an item. Press EXIT to close the window,
and go back to the underlying page.

MESSAGE WINDOWS

Sometimes, a message appears in the display, warning about
an error or a wrong operation:

Not a Standard
MIDI File

Press ENTER or EXIT to exit one of these windows.
Other messages ask for an answer, as in the “Are you sure”

window below:

Realtime/Keyboard track (Upper 1-3, Lower).

Drum track (Style track view).

Percussion track (Style track view).

Grouped Drum and Percussion tracks.

Bass track (Style track view).

Grouped accompaniment tracks. This symbol
indicates the five grouped accompaniment
tracks (Acc1-5).

Accompaniment tracks (Style track view).

Sequencer tracks.

Selected track or parameter. When this symbol

appears, you can execute any available opera­tion on the selected item.

(no icon) The track is in mute, and can’t play on the key-

board.

GRAYED-OUT NON-AVAILABLE PARAMETERS

Currently non-available parameters are now shown in “gray”
in the display, i.e. with a “ghost” texture. Here is an example
of a grayed-out parameter, compared to a normal parameter:

Press ENTER/YES for Yes, or EXIT/NO for No.

SYMBOLS AND ICONS

Many icons and symbols, on the custom display, show the
status of a parameter or the display content.

Edit environment

Disk Menu

Load Format
Save New Dir
Copy Rename
Erase Utilities

Disk:Load

NEWNAME.SET |
LIVE.SET
ETHNICA.SET |
FD LOAD OPEN CLOSE

Text in solid black

Text in gray

Menu Edit pages

Rear panel

22

5. REAR PANEL

12

345678

1 AC POWER ADAPTER CONNECTOR

Plug the supplied power adapter into this connector.

2 POWER switch

Use this switch to turn the instrument on or off.

3 MIDI INTERFACE

The MIDI interface allows your Pa50 to be connected to an
external controller (master keyboard, MIDI guitar, wind con­troller, MIDI accordion…), to an expander, or to a computer
running a sequencer or an editor. For more information on
how to use the MIDI interface, see the MIDI chapter.

IN This connector receives MIDI data from a

computer or a controller. Connect it to an

external controller’s or computer’s MIDI OUT.
OUT This connector sends MIDI data generated by

Pa50’s keyboard, controllers, and/or the inter-

nal sequencer. Connect it to an expander’s or

computer’s MIDI IN.
THRU This connector sends an exact copy of the data

received on the IN connector. Use it to cascade

the Pa50 with other MIDI instruments.

4 ASSIGNABLE PEDAL/FOOTSWITCH

Use this to connect a continuous or footswitch pedal, like the
KORG EXP2 or XVP10. To program it, see “P/S (Pedal/
Switch)” on page 126.

5 DAMPER

Use this to connect a Damper pedal, like the KORG PS1, PS
or DS1H. To change its polarity, see “Damper Pol. (Damper
Polarity)” on page 126.

6 OUTPUTS

Use these unbalanced connectors to send the audio signal
(sound) to a mixer, a PA system, a set of powered monitors,
or your hi-fi system. Set the output level with the MASTER
VOLUME slider.

7 INPUT 1 and 2

Use these unbalanced connectors to input another keyboard/
synthesizer, a (non-powered) mixer’s output, or a CD/tape
player (line impedance). The signal is automatically routed to
the speakers, the Audio Outputs and the Phones.

8 PHONES

Use this connector to connect a pair of headphones. You can
use headphones with an impedance of 16-200Ω (50Ω sug­gested). Use a headphone distributor to connect more than
one pair of headphones.

BASIC GUIDE

Basic operations

24

Playing on the keyboard

6. BASIC OPERATIONS

PLAYING ON THE KEYBOARD

Just play on the keyboard. You will hear the Realtime tracks
playing. There are four Realtime tracks: Upper 1-3 and
Lower. They may play all at the same time, or just one or a
few of them, depending on their Mute status. If you cannot
hear a track, check the mute status of that part.

Tracks can be set in different ways: use the KEYBOARD
MODE section to select the way they are configured on the
keyboard.

• Press FULL UPPER to play the Upper 1-3 tracks on the

full range of the keyboard, just as you would on a piano.

Upper 1

Upper 2

Upper 3

• Press SPLIT to let the Upper 1-3 tracks play on the right

of the Split Point, and the Lower track on the left.

Upper 1

Lower

Upper 2

Upper 3

SELECTING, MUTING/UNMUTING AND SOLOING A TRACK

Selecting. Use the VOLUME/VALUE (A-H) buttons to

select a track.

A
B
C
D

The selected track is shown with a solid square surrounding
its status icons.

If you can’t see the track you are looking for, use the TRACK
SELECT button to scroll up or down the tracks, and find the
hidden ones.

BossaNova |STS1

Drum/Perc Piano01
Bass01 Guitar01
Acc.1-5 StrngEns2
VoxPad1

Selected track

E
F

G

H

Split Point

• Keep the SPLIT POINT button pressed, and play a note

to change the point where the keyboard is divided in an
Upper and a Lower part.

Lower Upper

To memorize the selected split point note, press the GLOBAL
button, then press WRITE to save the Global in memory (see
“The Write window” on page 125).

Mute/unmute. Press both VOLUME/VALUE (A-H) but­tons to mute or unmute a track. For example, if you are in the
main page that appears after turning the instrument on, and
you want to mute the Upper 1 track, press the E (UPPER1/
ACC2) buttons together.

The mute/play status is shown by the relevant icon in the dis­play:

Play status; the track plays on the keyboard.

(no icon) Mute status; the track doesn’t play on the key-

board.

Solo. While in the Style Play, Song Play and Song modes,
you can solo one of the tracks. Just keep the SHIFT button
pressed, and press both VOLUME/VALUE buttons corre­sponding to the track you wish to solo.

To exit the solo mode, keep the SHIFT button pressed again,
and press both VOLUME/VALUE buttons corresponding to
the soloed track.

Basic operations

Selecting a Performance

25

SELECTING A PERFORMANCE

A Performance is a set of Programs and settings for the Key­board and Style tracks, that makes selecting complex combi­nations live fast and easy. When the STYLE CHANGE LED is
on, a Performance can also select a different Style.

It is always advisable to use Performances, rather than single
Programs, when playing even a solo sound, since a Perfor­mance lets you select the right effects, transposition, plus
many other parameters, together with the Programs.

Data type Parameters

Realtime
Tracks

Style
Tracks

Other “performance” parameters are saved in the Global.

Global Chord Recognition Mode, Memory Mode, Velocity

1. Press the PERFORM button. This changes the PRO-

GRAM/PERFORMANCE section into a Performance
selector.

Upper 1, Upper 2,
Upper 3, Lower

Drum, Percussion,
Bass, Acc1, Acc2, Acc3,
Acc4, Acc5,

Trigger, Lock

Master Transpose, Pro­gram, Volume, Pan,
Octave, Scale, Detune,
Pitch Bend, Poly/Mono/
Drum, Int/Ext, Damper,
Dynamic Range, Joystick
C&D Effect Send level,
Type, Parameters
Program parameters
Pads

Program, Volume, Pan,
Octave, Detune, Pitch
Bend, Poly/Mono/Drum,
Int/Ext, Wrap Around,
Keyboard Range
A&B Effect Send level,
Type, Parameters
Program parameters
Drum Mapping,
Kick&Snare Assignation

10, upper LED turned on), or the second row of ten
banks (11-20, lower LED turned on).

3. Press one of the 1-0 buttons to select the PROGRAM/

PERFORMANCE bank containing the Performance you
are looking for.

The Performance Select window appears. There are 8
Performances for each bank.

Last selected Performance

StereoGrand

StereoGrand Blue
ClupPiano Legend
ForrestStr MrJazz
ResonPads OxydBrass

4. Select a Performance using the VOLUME/VALUE (A-H)

buttons.

5. If the DISPLAY HOLD LED is on, press EXIT to exit this

window.

The STYLE CHANGE button

When you select a Performance, the Style may or may not
change, depending on the status of the STYLE CHANGE
button. (When you save a Performance, the current Style
number is always memorized).

• If the STYLE CHANGE LED is on, the Style memorized
in the Performance will be selected.

• If the STYLE CHANGE LED is off, the Style doesn’t
change.

2. Use the leftmost button of the PROGRAM/PERFOR-

MANCE section to select the first row of ten banks (1-

Basic operations

26

Selecting a Program

SELECTING A PROGRAM

You can select a different Program (i.e., sound) to be played
by a track. Before selecting a Program, you must select the
track you want to assign the Program to.

Note: To assign different Programs to the Style tracks, press
TRACK SELECT to see the Style tracks. If you select a Program
while grouped tracks (Drum/Percussion or ACC) are selected,
the Program will be assigned to the last selected track.

Each Style Element (Variations, Fills…) can have different
Programs, so your selection might be automatically reset
when selecting a different Element. To avoid this reset, see
“Prog (Program)” on page 49.

1. Use the VOLUME/VALUE (E-H) buttons on the right

side of the display, to select the Realtime (Keyboard)
track you wish to assign a different Program to.

A
B
C
D

BossaNova |STS1

Drum/Perc Piano01
Bass01 Guitar01
Acc.1-5 StrngEns2
VoxPad1

E
F

G

H

5. Browse all the Programs in the selected bank using the

PAGE buttons. There can be various pages for each
bank, containing up to 8 Programs each.

6. As you find the Program you are looking for, select it

using the VOLUME/VALUE (A-H) buttons.

7. If the DISPLAY HOLD LED is on, press EXIT to exit this

window.

SELECTING A STYLE

A Style is a set of rhythm and accompaniment patterns. You
can select a Style from the internal memory, or from a floppy
disk (see “The DIRECT FD bank” on page 40).

1. Use the leftmost STYLE button to select a row of Style

banks (upper, lower).

2. Select the STYLE bank containing the Style you are

looking for.

The Style Select window appears.

2. Press the PROGRAM button. This changes the PRO-

GRAM/PERFORMANCE section into a Program selec­tor.

3. Use the leftmost PROGRAM/PERFORMANCE button

to select a row of Program banks (upper, lower).

4. Select the PROGRAM/PERFORMANCE bank contain-

ing the Program you are looking for (Program banks are
identified by instrument names).

The Program Select window appears. See “Programs
(Program Change order)” on page 154 for a list of Fac­tory Programs.

Last selected Program

Selected track

Jazz Waltz 1

Mod.Swing1 Slow Blues
Mod.Swing2 Cay Blues
JazzWaltz1 St.LouisB
JazzWaltz2 Big Band1

3. There are 2 pages for each bank, each containing 8

Styles. Select a page using the PAGE buttons.

4. As you find the Style you are looking for, select it using

the VOLUME/VALUE (A-H) buttons.

Note: The new Style will enter at the next strong beat.

5. If the DISPLAY HOLD LED is on, press EXIT to exit this

window.

The SINGLE TOUCH button

When you select a Style, the Realtime (Keyboard) tracks can
be changed or not.

• If the SINGLE TOUCH LED is on, the Single Touch Set­ting (STS) #1 is automatically selected, and the Realtime
tracks are changed. Programs, and the Keyboard Mode,
may change.

• If the SINGLE TOUCH LED is off, Realtime tracks don’t
change.

Piano T:U1

Piano1 E.Piano2
Piano2 E.Piano3
Piano3 Harpsi
E.Piano1 Clavinet

27

Basic operations

Selecting a Single Touch Setting (STS)

SELECTING A SINGLE TOUCH SETTING (STS)

A Single Touch Setting (STS) contains Realtime (Keyboard)
tracks’ settings. Four STS are included in each Style, and can
be recalled by pressing the SINGLE TOUCH SETTING (F1­F4) buttons under the display.

Note: You can select a STS only when you are in the main page
of the Style Play or Backing Sequence operating mode.

CHANGING ALL KEYBOARD TRACKS AT ONCE

Select a Performance or a Single Touch Setting (F1-F4 but­tons, when you are in the Style Play main page) to change
keyboard Programs and effects at the touch of a button.

PLAYING A SONG FROM FLOPPY DISK

1. Insert the floppy disk containing the Song into the

floppy disk drive.

2. Press the SONG PLAY button to access the Song Play

mode.

No song

S1: Piano01
S2: Guitar01
Lyrics StrngEns2
VoxPad1

3. Press the A (S1:) VOLUME/VALUE button to open the

Song Select window.

Song Selection

CLUB |
BALLADS
0001 MYSONG.MID |
FD SELECT OPEN CLOSE

Page commands

Note: You can access the Song Select window also by press­ing the PAGE+ button from the main page. You can exit
this window either by pressing EXIT or PAGE-.

4. Press the F1 button to select the floppy disk drive (FD).

The disk content appears.

5. Use the TEMPO/VALUE controls, or the VOLUME/

VALUE (E-H) buttons to scroll the list. The E-F buttons
are the Scroll Up ( ), while the G-H buttons are the
Scroll Down ( ).
Move the file you are looking for to the first line of the
display.

6. If the file you are

looking for is in a

0001 MYSONG.MID

folder (a file whose

name begins with “ ”), move the folder to the first
line in the display, then select the F3 (OPEN) command.

Select the F4 (CLOSE) command to close a folder and
go back to the upper level.

7. When the file you are looking for is in the first line of the

display, press the F2 (SELECT) button.

8. When the Song appears in

the S1 line on the main page

S1:MySong

of the Song Play mode, press
the left (SEQ 1) PLAY/STOP button to start the play­back.

Note: If the BALANCE slider is all the way to the right,
Sequencer 1 is at the minimum volume and can’t be
heard.

9. If you wish to play a different Song on the Sequencer 2

at the same time, press the B (S2:) VOLUME/VALUE
button (press it twice if a Song is already selected for
Sequencer 2), and repeat the above procedure to select a
Song for Sequencer 2. Use the right (SEQ 2) PLAY/
STOP button to start/stop the second Song. Use the
BALANCE cursor to mix between Sequencer 1 and
Sequencer 2.

10. Stop the Song(s) using the PLAY/STOP button for the

corresponding Sequencer.

SHORTCUT TO SEE THE ORIGINAL BANK FOR A STYLE, PERFORMANCE OR PROGRAM

You can see the original bank where your Style, Performance
or Program came from. Just keep the SHIFT button pressed,
and press the lefmost button of the STYLE or PROGRAM/
PERFORMANCE section. A message window will appear,
showing the name of the original bank.

Release the SHIFT button to exit the window.

Tutorial

28

1 - Playing in realtime

7. TUTORIAL

This chapter is fully devoted to step-by-step instructions, that
we hope may be useful to learn the basics—on-field.

1 - PLAYING IN REALTIME

As soon as you turn your Pa50 on, it is in Style Play mode,
and you can play it in realtime. Please follow me…

1 Play on the keyboard.

When you turn the Pa50 on, Performance 1-1 (“Ste­reoGrand”) is automatically selected. This sets the Realtime
(Keyboard) tracks for you. In this case (unless someone mod­ified this Performance earlier) you get the Upper 1 track play­ing on the full keyboard range, with the Grand Piano
Program selected.

You may know there are four available Realtime tracks:
Upper 1-3 and Lower. Upper Realtime tracks may play on the
full range of the keyboard (the selected KEYBOARD MODE
shall be FULL UPPER). Otherwise, the Lower track plays on
the left of the Split Point, and the Upper tracks on the right
(KEYBOARD MODE shall be SPLIT).

If you are not satisfied with this setting at startup, just select
another Performance. Or change the track’s settings—as you
will see in this tutorial—and save them into Performance 1-1.
You’ll soon see how to do it.

2 Select a different Performance.

Is the PERFORM. LED switched on?

the pointing arrow. You will hear the Dark Pad Program play
together with the Grand Piano.

SoftBeat |STS1

Drum/Perc GrandPiano
Bass01 DarkPad
Acc.1-5 StrngEns2
AnalogStr

Press the F VOLUME/VALUE buttons

5 Press SPLIT on the KEYBOARD MODE section,

and play.

Now, the keyboard is split in two parts: the Lower part on the
left, and the Upper part on the right. The AnalogStr Program
is playing on the Lower part, while the Grand Piano and the
Dark Pad are playing on the Upper part.

6 Set the split point.

Not happy with the current split point? Keep the SPLIT
POINT button held down, and play the new split point on
the keyboard. You can even save this setting in memory (see
“The Write window” on page 125).

7 Mute/unmute various tracks.

Press both H VOLUME/VALUE buttons. You will mute the
Lower track.

If so, press one of the PROGRAM/PERFORMANCE buttons,
and select a Performance with the VOLUME/VALUE buttons
(on the side of the display).

StereoGrand

StereoGrand Blue
ClupPiano Legend
ForrestStr MrJazz
ResonPads OxydBrass

Select a Performance with the VOLUME/VALUE buttons

Go on trying with the different Performances. We provided
160 of them for you.

3 Select Performance 1-1 (“Grand Piano”) again.

As above: press Performance bank 1, and use the A VOL­UME/VALUE buttons to select Performance 1-1.

4 Unmute the Upper 2 track.

Press both F VOLUME/VALUE buttons.
The Upper 2 track will be selected and
unmuted. The Play icon will appear, sur­rounded by the “selected track” frame and accompanied by

SoftBeat |STS1

Drum/Perc GrandPiano
Bass01 DarkPad
Acc.1-5 StrngEns2
AnalogStr

Press the H VOLUME/VALUE buttons

Press them again to unmute the Lower track.
Try also with the Upper tracks, using the E, F and G VOL-

UME/VALUE buttons. You will notice the sound becomes
more or less fuller-sounding, depending on the number of
tracks muted or unmuted.

SoftBeat |STS1

Drum/Perc GrandPiano
Bass01 DarkPad
Acc.1-5 StrngEns2
AnalogStr

Press the E-G VOLUME/VALUE buttons