I just listened to the video demo of the Audia, and it brought a couple questions to mind, if you are at liberty to answer them.
Do the live player phrases stream from the harddrive, or are they considered part of the 300 meg wave rom?
Do all styles use live players, or is it only 1 or 2 styles per genre? A couple Latin phrases use real guitar while most use synth guitar, a couple pop styles use live drummer while most don't, etc..
How do the live players respond to odd or unusual chord voicings? Mostly what I heard on the video demo was major and minor. What happens if I play a Flat 9 sharp 11 chord?

Has electric guitar been provided as live players? I heard a lot of acoustic demos, but is there electric as well?

Can we make our own styles with live players? This would only be possible I guess if the live players streamed from the harddrive and weren't part of onboard wave rom.

As you can tell, this whole real musician thing in an arranger really resonates with me, and I'm just trying to figure out exactly how in depth this feature can be manipulated/utilized.

Thanks,
Rory

I think you are starting to realize some of the limitations that 'live loop' performances are going to bring to arranger usage, Rory.

300MB does not go very far on a loop library, and anyone that has worked extensively on loop-based audio production knows how difficult it is to change a loop into something it is not.... Time-sliced drum loops are one thing, you seldom need to edit them much, but a guitar or bass loop library? Not a lot of wiggle room there...

For as limited a project as Steinberg's original Virtual Guitarist (which only recognizes a few chord types) it uses over 1.5GB of samples. Do the math.....

I think that what we are going to see in the new Ketron are a few (Ketron say 60 styles, but how many of them use the same loops?) wonderful styles with very little customization of the loop elements, which will gradually get repetitive, especially if they are SO much better than your 'normal' styles that you tend to use them as much as possible.

And if they stream from HD (not stated in the info), I am still unconvinced of the good sense and reliability in constantly streaming audio files off of a HD that is in a device being constantly pounded on!

Having heard some EXTREMELY realistic guitar styles on T2s, and drum sounds from G70s, etc., I think that live loops, while initially impressive, don't offer anywhere near the customization and new style options that a REALLY good sample library and associated MIDI performances can give you. It just seems a waste to have over 300MB of ROM, and burn most of it on a few loops.

If your style needs mesh closely with the provided 'live loops', you may be OK, but for players with wide stylistic ranges, or non-standard (let's be blunt and just say 'non-nursing-home) styles, you may have a harder time making this new technology work. But imagine how realistic a 300MB drum sample library could get. Roland and Yamaha get some VERY realistic sounding drums from FAR less ROM than that....

Another thing I'm wondering. I didn't hear any intros or endings on the styles with the real instruments. This would be yet more phrases that would be taking up memory. I just can't imagine that there can be too many styles with this technology do to the amazing amount of space that would take.

1. Wait until the final version is released as you may find the Wave Rom is for the normal voices and sounds, with the loops having there own dedicated space.
2. You are assuming that all the new voices etc are samples, whereas they maybe synthesis or sound modelled, which takes up minimum Memory but requires a fast sound processing system. (This is the way Wersi have gone with OAS 7 for most of its new voices, although samples are still used to maintain compatibility with previous generations)
3. On the SD 1 you could load in Drum Loops to make up new styles, therefore it is probably the same with the Audia, but just expanded.
4. Technology is moving on at a fast rate, and if you look around, a lot of the manufactures of both software and hardware are starting to move towards the Sound Modelling route. (Yamaha SA voices use basic sound modelling techniques to improve there sampled voices)
Whatever the truth, the future for music keyboards is really exciting. (And yes I will probably still be playing my Abacus 10 years from now, but the sound system and software will be so far advanced I would not even try to imagine what will be available)
Enjoy whatever you play

Bill