I have extensively tested using the Ketron Midjay with a controller keyboard for live performance and thought some might want to hear my opinions.
After taking a day or so to learn the operating system, which is MUCH simpler and more intuitive than the SD1, I began setting up the MJ to suit my style. I first hooked it up to my PC, just a matter of plugging in a USB cable. The MJ appears as another drive on the computer. I then added a hundred or so Ketron styles, in addition to the ones already there. From playing the SD1, I knew there were certain ones I had to have.
I put all the styles in a subfolder of the default Style folder. Then I "tweaked" the styles where necessary. You can easily change style-part instruments and volumes, then either save over the original or save to a new style.
After getting the styles the way I wanted, I then began making Registrations. Again, this is easily accomplished by merely calling up the style and lead sounds you want, setting any parameters such as tempo, transpose mic settings, split, etc., and saving to a registration. You can name the registration on the MJ by using the row of buttons across the top, or you can do it by computer.
You can sort the registrations (or any files) by number or alphabet.
In addition to styles, the Registrations can call up Midifiles, MP3s, WAV files and Sound Effects/Loops. All can be mixed together as you wish in live play by adjusting the dedicated sliders for each part. In all, I set up around 60 registrations in a couple of hours.
At my first performance using it I had some requests for which I didn't have registrations set up of course. I found the appropriate style, set the tempo and played the request THEN before I went on I saved the setup as a registration in case I ever needed it again.
For a controller keyboard, I used the Casio WK3000 which I already had. It transmits on Omni 1, and the it is easy to set the MJ to receive on Omni 1. I even found the Piano button on the Casio calls up the Grand Piano sound on the MJ. Other sounds can also be called up, but were dependant upon which Bank and page of sounds had been selected on the MJ. A truly dedicated controller can easily be programmed to call up all your favorite sounds.
Sounds can be called up directly from the MJ buttons by pressing Sound and either scrolling or entering the number of the Sound you want. This takes only a second or so, but is slower than directly accessing the sound from the controller kb. Also, while the Sound screen is open, it uses the same buttons as the Style screen so you can't change style settings while in the Sound screen. You can control the style parts from the footswitch though. More on that below.
There are some excellent sounds on the MJ, including a really nice Strat guitar than is totally different from the one on the SD1. There are some sounds that are not as good as well, for instance Violin and/or Fiddle. There is no Growl Sax, but there is a "delicious" Liscio Sax.
The MJ which I have borrowed for these tests belongs to HankB, and I want to thank him so much for allowing me to experiment with it.
Hank's MJ doesn't have the Vocal Harmonizer installed. From what I've been told and have read, the options on the MJ VH are limited to three voices, which are either all on or all off. These seems to be a glaring weak spot to me, unless I've been misinformed.
Anyway, I hooked up a Digitech VH to do vocal harmony. I ran a midi cable to it from the Thru jack on the MJ, so the chords were recognized by the VH as I played them on the Casio.
I ran my mic into the MJ and used the dedicated Mic Out to send the signal to the VH. This allows me to use the Mic slider on the MJ to balance the vocal volume with the other volumes. The Mic processor in the MJ is quite good, with Reverb and Echo available, along with 3-band Mic e.q.
The MJ also has overall 2-band e.q. plus effects.
The Midjay can associate lyrics with both styles and midifiles. You can "teach" the MJ to automatically scroll the lyrics with the midifile as it plays. Of course, it also can handle midi-karoake files.
In addition you can place all the lyrics you want into the MJ and call them up when you wish. You can associate them with a style or registration. They must be in TXT format. The MJ doesn't read MS Word.
I didn't take the time to load all my lyrics into the MJ, but I did test this function and it works well.
I used my A-frame kb stand and simply lowered the top tier and tilted it toward me until the MJ almost touched the kb. It was almost like part of the kb and was easily reached and accessed. The overall package is extremely light, with the MJ around 9 pounds, the controller kb 6-20 pounds depending on what you use.
A very important feature of the MJ is the Recorder. It records to the hard drive everything that is happening on the MJ. I set a style, picked a sound and played and sung. Everything was recorded exactly as it was played. A touch of the Wav button and it plays back. Then you can set up a new recording, play back the one you just did and record whatever else you want along with it, maybe a vocal harmony, other kb parts, sound effects, an external guitar or instrument through the aux in, a midi file, an MP3-whatever! You have in effect a multitrack digital recorder with virtually unlimited tracks! The songs are stored in WAV format on the hard drive and can easily be transferred to PC via the USB connection. Of course you can convert them to MP3 and put them back into the MJ to save hd space if you wish.
After I became comfortable with the MJ, I took it on a series of three jobs. I was pretty comfortable with it, although I did miss some of the buttons on the SD1, such as layering sounds (this may be accomplished on the MJ only by creating a sound with the layers you want, up to four). My audiences could not tell any difference in my sound between the MJ and SD1 I normally use.
I have a 6-button footswitch for the SD1 that plugs into the MJ as well. I set it to call up style variations, fill-in and break. The fill-in on the MJ is different from the SD1. The MJ has only one fill-in button, but plays a different fill depending on which variation you are using. The intros and ending work the same way. I believe in most ways that it is a better system than the way SD1 does it.
I have listed many great aspects of the Midjay. There are some drawbacks, at least for me. These include:
1. Not as easy to access sounds.
2. There is no Rotary effect for organs. The organs sound really good but either are a rotating sample or not, you can't speed up and slow down.
3. Not as easy to mute or adjust style parts in real time.
4. The display is pretty small if you want to read lyrics. I'm spoiled by my big ol' laptop screen. Also lyrics, MP3s and Midifiles are easier to search on the laptop. This is only a factor if you have thousands (which I do).
5. The weak vocal harmonizer means carrying an external unit, meaning more cables, more setup, more expense. But also more control and great vocal sound.
6. It uses an external power supply. I prefer standard ac cord.
7. When you hit the Record button, the mic effects go dry. You must press the mic button and move the controls on reverb and/or echo to restore them. I asked A.J., the Ketron guy about this, and he said it was purposely designed that way, so you can set up the effects for the recording the way you want. That doesn't make sense, because all other DSP effects remain the way you already had themset. Why not the mic as well? I think it is BIG mistake and should be corrected with OS upgrade. Sure, it only takes a second or to do adjust, but shouldn't be necessary.
As you can see, the list of drawbacks is quite short!

To sum up a long story, the Midjay would be great in live performance for many people.
I have no real problems using it. If I didn't already have an SD1, I would buy one in a minute. However, since I DO have an SD1, I think I will stick with it for now and see how soon Ketron brings out a new one. I reserve the right to change my mind at any time!
Excuse the long post, but I thought my thoughts might be valuable to some.
DonM

[This message has been edited by DonM (edited 11-13-2005).]

Don, thanks so much for your excellent Midjay review. Have you or Hank had success with incorporating wav or mp3s into midi or style playback?

I'm with you as far as waiting for the SD1 sequel. AJ has pretty much told us that it's coming, tho my guess is that it's at least a year off. Meanwhile, living with my SD1 plus PSR 3000 for backup or variety works fine for me.

Glenn

Glenn, haven't tried it, but I read the manual about it and it seems to be quite easy to do.
The new 3.0 operating system supposedly facilitates this function.
DonM

Don. Very informative review....thank you

Don,
thank you for your exaustive review.
I have a question for you. You wrote: "In addition to styles, the Registrations can call up Midifiles, MP3s, WAV files and Sound Effects/Loops. All can be mixed together as you wish in live play by adjusting the dedicated sliders for each part."
Now, the Midjay manual only mentions the possibility to add a wav file or a loop to a midifile, not to a style, but from what you wrote it looks that registrations provide a shortcut to associate a vav file or a loop to a style as well and this would be very cool, at least for me.
Could you please confirm this, based on your own experience?
Thanks,
Andrea

Dreamer,
You can be playing a style and also play a WAV, MP3, midifile or loop at the same time. For instance I brought in applause and audience reactions whenever I wished. I BELIEVE that the loops will coordinate with the styles, but I will check it out to be sure.
DonM

Thank you Don for your Midjay review.....I enjoy it and it was very educational to me.

Will Hank ever see it again?

Thanks for the review Don,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

I guess I'll find out this week

Hank came to visit it yesterday. I have as much of his equipment as he does! Between us we have enough stuff to stock a music store.
Off the top of my head, we have:
1 Bose PAS
2 Barbetta Sona 31Cs
2 Barbetta Sona 32Cs
2 sets Logitech Z2200s
1 Samson Expedition pa
1 Behringer 1204 FX Mixer
1 Behringer 1222 FX Mixer
1 Mackie mixer
1 Studiomaster rack-mount mixer
1 Toa rack-mount mixer
2 JBL Eon powered 10s
1 Nady Pa system
1 Ketron SD1
1 Ketron Midjay
1 Yamaha PSR 3000
1 Yamaha PSR 2000
1 Casio WK3000
1 Yamaha PSR 580
2 Digitech VH vocal harmonizers
11 Keyboard stands, including 2 Standtastics,
3 Ultimate A-frames, 4 X-stands, 2 of those brown folding stands
6 sets speaker stands
1 rack-mount pa system with 1000-watt power amp, 16 channel stereo graphic, double effects unit and mixer
1 Behringer bass amp
1 Behringer guitar amp
2 electric guitars
1 acoustic/electric guitar
2 bass guitars
4 pole-mount monitor speakers
3 sets lights that follow music beat
Mics include 4 Sennheisers, 3 SM58s, 3 Samson R11s, 1 Samson Q7, 1 Crown 311A, 1 Samson Airline transmitter that makes any mic wireless, 2 more wireless mic sets, 2 Evs, 1 Shure SM87 condenser, 2 SM57s, 2 older EV condensers, probably more
1 8-channel Fostex digital recorder
2 Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox 3s
1 " " " Jukebox 1
1 Karaoke machine (it's HANK'S!)
3 Rack Bags
Numerous mic stands and booms
Various foot pedals, volume pedals, sustain pedals
1.38 miles of assorted cables
4 rack-mount power supplies, 1 with lights
1 Piano Bar!!
I know there's a lot more, and MOST of it is for sale!
DonM