Hi, I have a ketron X1 oriental and I find it the best in the oriental keyboards market. the sounds and styles are the best I have heard. I used to play on a gem wk2 oriental but when the x1 came out the gem wk2 looked like a toy.

The only problem that the x1 oriental have is the high price, not all arabic musicians can buy it.

There is some rumors that eddy (the guy that made the x1 oriental concept) is now preparing a new oriental program much powerful, I don't know what it will be, but better than the oriental program that we have is something interresting. One of the guys that works with eddy said that they are working on a big project that covers all oriental music styles and sounds(WAW).

Does the SD-1 have the oriental possibilities of the x1? I saw the picture you put here but I don't like the color and the absence of speakers.

I think the coming year will bring good stuff to the arranger keyboard market.

Hi Ahmad

Does "all kinds of Oriental" include East Asian? (e.g., Chinese and Japanese).

Also, consider looking at the MIDI-Style-Atlas eGroup. This group is collecting styles for all arrangers and organizing the styles by geographic region and culture. The group has(including hundreds more to be uploaded) lots of Arabic styles, although mostly in Roland format.

My current thinking is that my next arranger might be the Solton SD-1. I will wait until I see what Roland comes up with next. However, if the Solton SD-1 is strong ethnically, that will be my likely choice.

Clif

Hi Cliff, I don't know really if the new oriental program will include chineese and japanese styles. I will try to get more info. The oriental styles on the x1 are using oriental drumsets that we have on a flash card eight megabytes, if the flash card is absent the styles will not work, also the oriental sounds are in the flash card too. when I bought my x1 and that in Lebanon(my country), they told me to keep the flash card in the keyboard as along as I am using the oriental sounds and styles. My friend know one of the guys who helped in the making of the oriental program, he can get for me the new info which are top secret.

Hi Ahmad

Thanks for the info and get us informed. I tried out a Roland E40OR a couple of days ago. It had a sort of an octave's worth of keys on the deck to accommodate Arabic tunings. I noted that the Korg PA80 has a system where you can go into an "Arabic" mode and pick keys for lowering the ptich by one-quarter tone. How does the X1 switch between Arabic tuning modes?

Clif

Clif,
I have also noticed that in the new manual of the PA-80 their is a new Arabic drums kit and sounds too.

P.S clif I will give you the styles and you upload them .

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vic

The X1 have a separate box with thirteen switch, I connect it to the pedal board connector and I can detune any desired notes directly, and on the screen I can see the detuned notes. I also received a call from the shop where I bought my keyboard and they told me that there is a new sotware makes possible to store 13 arabic scales and select them directly in live performance.

I called my friend to get some info but he told me the guys who are developping the new oriental software doesn't like to talk about it in public and he told me that probably the new oriental program will be using up to 16 megabytes of oriental samples.

Thanks Ahmad and Vic

Vic, I look forward to receiving the styles from you for me to upload to the MIDI-Atlas-Styles site. My e-mail is ClifAnd@aol.com.

The 'Atlas eGroup will have to contend with the fact that not all the sounds required for Arabic and other styles are not well represented in General MIDI. I think GM Level 2 includes an Arabic drum kit, maybe also a Gamelan Kit for Indonesian music. I myself have a Roland XV-5080 with a World Card and an Asian Card installed. I have room for a Middle East card if they make it. I note that some sample CDROMs have "ethnic" instrument samples in both Traditional and Western tuning. Which you use depends on whether you want to be authentic or evocative.

Ahmad, I guess it is obvious that Keytron/Solton does not want there top secret project detailed here. However, your "leaks" have sure increased my interest in their products. It seems that everyone but Yamaha has something Oriental to offer. The biggest favor Solton could do for the world music types is to allow import of Akai patches.

Cliff,
Yamaha offerd the PSRA3 a couple of years ago here in the USA. I sold a lot of them, but I was only one of a few dealers who ordered and sold these arabic keyboards. They were low priced and featured sounds, styles, quarter tone tuning, etc. When Yamaha realized that only a handful of dealers could sell these, they stopped bringing them into this country. I urged them to continue, but it was not. If the demand was there, they surely would build another keyboard with oriental features.There are many arabic musicians using Yamaha Keyboards because all models from the 540 and up have the ability to use arabic tunings and they are programing arabic styles in the style creator.

George Kaye

Hi George

Thanks for the correction and apologies to Yamaha.

Clif

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ahmad:
[B]Hi, I have a ketron X1 oriental and I find it the best in the oriental keyboards market. the sounds and styles are the best I have heard. I used to play on a gem wk2 oriental but when the x1 came out the gem wk2 looked like a toy.

The only problem that the x1 oriental have is the high price, not all arabic musicians can buy it.

Hi Ahmad
Did you have to pay for the standard X1 then for the oriental operating system separately as happens here in Europe? Are you able to tell how much did you have to pay for it in Lebanon?. Also, I hear that the scale converter is not professionally designed, is this true?
Nabil Aziz