Last week we took a family vacation from Kansas to Central Florida. I had some free time during one of the rainy days and got to see the Genesis. I called the store ahead of time to confirm that they had it in stock. The woman salesperson (owner?) said they did. I came in later and met the same person I talked to on the phone. Her first question, before she even showed me the keyboard, was "Are you going to buy it?" I told her that I had not even listened to the keyboard yet. We went over to the keyboard and she showed me a few things. After listening to her give a poor demonstration for about 15 minutes, I asked her if I could play the keyboard. She looked at me with a frown on her face. Finally, she said she would assist me. She stayed hovered over my back the entire time.
I only spent about 20 minutes with the keyboard so I can't give a review. I will tell you that given the $8,000 USD price tag, I was underwhelmed by everything I heard. While the grand piano was very nice, most other sounds I heard were weak. The guitars were poor and the saxes were fair. The choirs/vocal were the worst. One was labeled "scat" and I was hoping it was like the wonderful scat vocals I've heard on a few Roland keyboards. No such luck ...it was awful. The styles also left me cold. I couldn't wait to get out of the store.
Now for the other side of the story...
I called the USA Ketron distributor before my trip to see if there were any stores in Central Florida that carried the SD-1. I was referred to their local rep, John Deep. I called John expecting him to recommend a local dealer. Instead he invited me and my family to come to his house to listen to the SD-1! He even offered to cook dinner! I couldn't believe it.
I went to his house and he patiently answered all my questions. He also encouraged me to play as long as I wanted. After that he invited me to stay and listen as another performer came over to his house to rehearse for a Christmas gig. John had nothing personal to gain from this. He just wanted to help someone who shared his enthusiasm for music and for Ketron keyboards.
As for the SD-1, it's all that people have been saying. It's a big improvement over the X-1...easier to navigate, with improved sounds, styles and features. I will get one as soon as OS-4 is out.
This is to thank John Deep publicly for his wonderful hospitality!
Bob
[This message has been edited by Bob Wheeler (edited 12-15-2002).]
Previous Topic
Index