I have an accordion customer here in California looking for an Orla XM900 arranger module. In all my years, Orla has not been a brand name I've been familiar with. Do any of you know about these and if you do, what do you think?
There seem to be only two stores here in the USA, one in New York and one in Florida selling these.
I would like some opinions.
Thanks,


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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

George, I met the owner of Accordions and Keyboards in Clearwater, Florida. John Gaunt is his name and he has a great selection of accordions and that type keyboard. I think he carries Orla. Give him a call or drop a line. He was very congenial and helpful to me.

Accordions and Keyboards

Orla XM900

[This message has been edited by cassp (edited 04-11-2008).]

i've known john for years. he's a good man and he knows accordions. he's also a ketron
dealer.

Hi - I am in Raleigh, NC and have a local friend who is selling a module that was used with a MIDI accordion. I think it's a Ketron module, I can check. The person bought it about 2-3 years ago. I remember that it seemed very powerful (in features, sound etc.) I know it was made primarily for MIDI accordion but he did sometimes tie his KN-7000 to it.

Email me if you want to know more.
jimlaing@mindspring.com

Hi George,

I play accordion and used an Orla XM900 for a short time.

The sounds are good, for the most part, and the styles are good. If I remember correctly, two sounds can be layered + a lower. It is fairly easy to operate.

The major down side, IMO, is that there is no third party support, and no third party styles that I could ever find. Even if there were, the user style area is limited. Also No USB or memory card, strictly flopy disk.

I think about $1300.00 or $1400.00

Here again, if this persson is any kind of player at all he/she will get tired of the Orla in short order. My opinion!

Ketron SD3 without hard drive is not much more expensive.

Peter at Accordions O Rama in New Jersey sells Orla. There is also an XM400 which is newer and smaller but just as limited.

Don P

I play midi accordion and looked at the orla a few years ago ,but did make a purchase because of all the reasons that Don ...stated

regards ........Giovanni

After contacting the Italian Manufacturer and speaking with a few folks and downloading specifications, I think I'm not interested. I contacted the customer of mine who has an older one, bought an XD3 from me about 2 months ago and doesn't like how hard the Ketron is compared to his Orla and found out that all he uses his orla for is for sounds. He likes that he can layer quickly and easily and adjust with the faders the sounds he wishes to use. I explained to him how you can layer sounds in the program mode of the Ketron but he doesn't want to have to pre-program things before hand and this is why he uses and likes the orla better.
After finding out that they come with only 90 built in styles, 3 variations and not very many user locations to store your own styles, I've decided this is not for me or my customers. The majority of my customers are keyboard players and want styles. That's why they buy arranger products. This customer doesn't use styles at all.
Thanks for all you advice.


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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

One other major point you bring up and so did my customer who already owns an earlier orla. Product Support! He says that he's contacted Italy for parts and it took 6 months to receive and it is very difficult to reach anyone it Italy.
When I promise customer support to my customers, I must know that I'm being backed up by local distributors and their tech support and service teams.


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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

The newest version of EMC Style Convert does
convert styles to- and from Orla.
So an Orlaplayer can have a lot of Userstyles.

Hi George,

I want to thank you for all your support regarding researching the ORLA. Even though I was not satisfied with the XD3 for my purposes and the type of music I play, I will be happy to refer your store to anyone looking for new equipment in the future.

I am glad to say I traded the XD3 for an new ORLA XM900-DLX and will be happy to offer my reviews once I receive it. My XM800 has been a workhorse for many years now but it was time to upgrade. For me, the simplicity of the ORLA design far outweighs any better sounds or flexibility offered by the XD3. From my perspective, the number one frustration with both brands is documentation. Anyone wanting to start a side business writing comprehensive, well written and understandable documentation would do well. Something gets lost in the translation.

Thanks again.