I'm not sure if this has been posted before but I found this video of the Audya that was posted on youtube back in February of this year.

I believe the demonstrator is our pal A.J. from Ketron U.S. He does a very good job of demonstrating Ketron's (hopefully soon to be released) arranger flagship the Audya.

Enjoy the Audya Demo !

Best,
Mike

Yep thats AJ in the lab....that video demo is a bout 6 months old...I think it was posted here also. Thanx for the heads up. Maybe soon we will see the final product?

I hope so Donny. It seems like they keep pushing the release date back. The latest I heard was before the end of "this" year. Seriously though, it would sure make a nice christmas present for somebody if it was released before the holidays.

Best,
Mike

Either it was a video quality problem, or an audya problem. but when the groove was slowed down, the drums seemed to be hiccupping a bit. Sounded exactly like what time stretching can do if you choose the wrong algorithm or try to push it too far. And I still would have liked to hear what the guitar would have done if a suspended seventh chord or something other than major or minor was used. It sounds great when it's in its element, but stretch it a little and it starts showing its weak spots.

Aye, i agree to this..

Butt hey are still aiming to release 2nd half of this year...

All UK dealers are saying that the first shipment is still expected on the 1st July
Regards

Bill

I just hope they work the bugs out first before its release.....it will save many headaches after the purchase.....not saying I'll buy one yet , But I will certainly look into it, or maybe go to the lab for lunch with AJ & an on hands demo of the Audya. Time will tell!

Hey, I thought A.J. lived in Phoenix, AZ?? You'll have a looonnnnggggggg way to go if you want to meet him for lunch.

Unless of course the "Lab" is located somewhere in N.J.

Best,
Mike

Last I spoke to AJ he lived in Philadelphia, PA.

Nice demo. It got me thinking how much more AJ (or any of us) could do if these arrangers had a loop or chord sequencer.

No need to disclose where it is....thru the years I have met with AJ & Dan O many times.
Both are first class all the way!



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 06-10-2008).]

July? NOT, those folks are way out of touch!

Maybe Nov/Dec last time I talked to AJ.
I plan on going to Ketron USA office to test one out whrn they arrive(when AJ is there).

Lee

Lets just wait till it is released.....
then I'm sure the bashing will get more intense.....no use getting worked up over something that isn't available yet. The Audya will take you into another direction for sure as far as arranger playing is concerned....BUT do you want to go there? .....many here & in the arranger world THIN OUT their style parts omitting many sounds, some dont even want to confirm playing an Arranger even though they do just to be accepted amongst their peers .......now add & mix in to your style playing all the New Fangled Audio Accompaniments, MP3,Wav,SMF,SFX, Sampling & time stretching features of the Audya & we now have an
Arranger/DJ/Karaoke/Smf/Mp3/Wav/machine all in one! If that's you avenue of music playing then the Audya will be the best thing since sliced bread for you......but, for others it will wreak of Cheesyness beyond belief........it's your choice.....lets see what Audya really brings to the table next year shall we?

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 06-10-2008).]

We've been waiting for "ages" already Donny! People need to bash it while they can since we might not get our hands on the Audya for several more ions. And while we're at it: if the status quo for the Audya keeps up, by the time the Audya IS finally released you may find me and most other members here on this forum in an old folks home.. lol.. And needless to say, the technology used in the Audya will be obsolete, and by then the Audya will only be fit for a museum.

PS: The reason I joke around about the Audya is that I am hoping the big wigs at Ketron will take notice (if they happen to see it that is) and to get their rears in gear, stop procrastinating, and get the Audya finally released; instead of us watching Ketron dillydally and wait for the next Musikmesse trade show in Frankfurt, Germany where they can showcase it for the 3rd, 4th, or 5th time. Or will this next Musikmesse be the 6th time they have showcased the Audya without releasing it?? LOL.. whew!!.. I better quit before I lose my supper..

Best,
Mike

I think it is quite possible the Ketron folk are starting to realize what a huge bite they are trying to chew! So many aspects of this thing SEEM like such a good idea, until you start to realize what the implications are...

IMO, audio is still not up to the capabilities of MIDI. Sure, on what it DOES do, it sounds great. Until you ask it to do something it DOESN'T do well... Then it sucks WAY worse than trying to get MIDI to stretch...

I still believe there is FAR too much R&D wasted on trying to shoehorn audio into a task it is not easily capable of, when just FAR better, more dynamic (more layers) sampled instruments would do the job as well, with far fewer hassles. Just when some of the major players are getting into realistic guitar patterns, and lines that don't 'jump' around so badly, some of the industry flees away from the very thing that is starting to WORK..!

Massive ROM sets are becoming the norm, with the opportunity to use multi-layer drum kits that rival real ones (anyone tried BFD, or DFH2? ) a real possibility. And Ketron GIVE UP, and go a route I think is very premature, if it ever will be viable. It's not that the technology can't work, it's just that the task of preparing these audio Parts and styles involves a MASSIVE amount of work in a studio with talented players (playing very boring repeated parts) to be able to have a large (at least as large as a MIDI arranger) choice of chords and inversion/suspension/extension choices.

You can kiss goodbye to a massive amount of user styles, that's for sure! And kiss goodbye to both a large bunch of styles to start, and next to NONE after the purchase. That's not why we buy an arranger (at least, I don't!). I want something that will grow LONG after I've bought it, and audio loops doesn't seem the way to get this, that's for sure!

So a long gestation for the Audya is highly likely, IMO. And I am prepared to bet anyone that the audio guitar styles are going to disappoint a LOT of you, unless you only ask of them what little they are capable of. For me, the strong point of an arranger is, no matter WHAT whacked out chord, suspension or extension you throw at it, it can PLAY IT. To one degree or another (and usually pretty darn good!). But audio loops will play ONLY what has been recorded, and with a limited ROM and slow sample load up time, you are going to have few choices.

But it'll SOUND good

Me, I'd rather hear an OK C7#9, than a great C7, if I played a C7#9...

I wonder. Maybe they are going to try to combine recordings to get extensions? Take the C7#9 for example. what if they try to do this by putting the C7 chord together with the Eb major chord? Things like that.

Thecnically, that could work, but the voicing would have to be correct to sound right. Maybe it's a simple approach to start the addition of those types of chords!

There have been mentions in other threads that one of the delays was because they were looking to use the best value CPU, (P3, P4 , Dual Core) which would indicate that Audya maybe software based, (Or at least a Hybrid) meaning load times and processing of audio loops in real time is possible. (Still take a hell of a lot of CPU power though)
As to release date, Ketron is a European manufacture, and so Europe will probably get it about 6 months before the US, hence the discrepancy in launch dates.
I am certainly looking forward to trying it.

Bill

CPU's, load times, it's all irrelevant....

Sorry guys, but play a C chord then add an Eb chord IN THE SAME REGISTER. Sounds like mud!

A C7#9 chord can only come from a C chord in a lower register, and an Eb in a much higher one (and a second inversion, at that). Now I don't know about you, but if they can't get a C7#9 chord recorded in the first place, what makes you think they will have several inversions of simple majors and minors?

I think you need to think a bit more carefully about chord construction before you come up with such an obviously unworkable solution as that (and so might Ketron)...

If you are going to use audio for realism, you will ruin the entire effect in a flash with an unrealistic, layered chord to derive a chord that a guitarist would NEVER play that way. Like I keep saying, the more you think about the nuts and bolts of chord playing (if you know anything about chords in the first place), the more you realize that without actual recordings of every chord you might ever want, forget it. It;'s just not going to happen (or sound like poo!)...

I've been using software libraries of guitar strumming for years (since Steinberg's Virtual Guitarist, all those years ago), and trust me, even with gigabyte sized libraries, there are always chords, suspensions, inversions and extensions missing. Why do you think guitarists are still getting work!!

And what is all this super technology going to cost the average arranger player this time around? $4000.00, $5000.00 & beyond?