algx

I think I see what you are getting at with your first point. If you are using the factory default stage settings most of them have sliders S4-6 as chorus, delay and reverb respectively, pulling these down to the bottom when you load a stage setting should bring their settings to zero. This should be your starting point for then adding the effects you require by pushing the sliders up to a point where you find the sound your after. When you get the effects right you can then press write and save the stage setup. On the second point I think the sax is particularly difficult to synthesise using waves alone, so you may be better off layering the samples already provided using the method i mentioned above. You can also program the modulation wheel and pedals to change volume and filter settings etc to vary the sound and provide swells during a performance which helps make things sound a little more interesting.

Thanks BradMZ for your prompt reply. I always use the PC editor for editing sounds as it is much easier as I'm sure you know. I had looked at the pedal filters in the PC editor and they were set to off, but on reading your reply I looked in the keyboard settings and they were set to on. I then tried and experimented with the settings on and off in the PC editor with the System Setting page open and it does change on the keyboard when I reload with that page tab open. Somehow, at some stage, I must have changed the pedal filter setting and not pressed the reload button, then saved the setting without checking that I had actually reloaded it into the Px5s. I think I assumed that the changes I made in the PC editor were all instantaneously transmitted to the Px5s as some are, even without pressing the reload button, but obviously not all of them. I shall be using the reload button much more frequently in the future for sure!

In answer to your first question I would say that it very much depends on the size and acoustics of the venue in question, especially for the reverb. Experimenting with settings is probably the best way to get good results. Try getting to a position away from the stage and have someone play the keyboard so you can hear what it sounds like for the audience. Bear in mind that the acoustics will change as soon as the place fills up with people, becoming acoustically dampened by the audience. For the second question, you can build a big sax sound by using the multiple oscillators in zones 1&2, 12 voices if you like, plus the other two zones 3&4. In the PC editor select the sax sounds that are found in the oscillator drop down menu for the HEX Layers. You can then set up the faders (1-6) in the Common menu, to control the relative volume of each sax sound. This should be big enough to cut through in most situations. The last question is really hard to answer as there are so many to choose from. The Px5s is very flexible though and a little time spent learning to program it may pay dividends and save you some money. You can zone each of the four voices across the keyboard and have a different sound on each zone. Also check out the patch downloads for this keyboard as you may well find that you could use these instead of having to program sounds yourself. Hope this is of some help

I've had my PX5s for some time now and have just started using the pedals for filter sweeps etc. This is useful and great fun but whatever I set them to do, appears to be global, ie not stored with the particular stage setting. This is very limiting, as what is an appropriate setting for a synth is totally inappropriate for a piano. I find this odd, as all the Common knob and slider settings are stored as you would expect, with the individual stage setting, but the pedals are not. Is this a bug with my particular keyboard or is this a glaring oversight in the performance settings with this keyboard? Considering that the pedal target Common settings are 13 button presses into the menu make this even more frustrating, as it means that for live performance this feature is more or less unusable, which is a great shame. If this is just my keyboard or something that I'm missing? would someone please put me in the picture. If not, is there some clever way out of this so that a stage setting can hold onto its particular foot pedal settings?