Tom,
YES...you are right on...give me a few absolutely great voice...WITHOUT quality issues and I would be happy. Of course I am talking about the bread & butter voices, we still need all those others for various times, but the bread and butter ones need to be near PERFECT...Yes, It can be done, audition a Kurzweil PC3...you will hear quality sounds. The reason we seem to want expansion is because the manufacturer's miss the mark on those quality sounds. Of course it's subjective... You know what I'm saying.

The software synth sounds available are remarkable! It can be done in our arrangers too. MEMORY IS CHEAP! When will they wake up to that.

Of course we can add the soft synth to our arranger...maybe that's the answer? But then we have a PC to deal with all the time.

Lee

Lee,

A quality sax voice played like a piano will still suck. A middle of the road sax voice played like a sax player would play it will sound great.

Tom

it's not how many sounds one needs,

it's the type of music one plays

if i need my AUDYA to play lots of cutting edge dance, techno, pop tracks, i don't think the AUDYA will cut it

now if we have a "modern" sound expansion which has 808, 909, in-your-face bass, raw techno-ish sounds, then that would be awesome

if we have a middle-eastern sound board then those needing those sounds would have them

if we had a latin board with tons of great brass, percussion, etc. you get the picture,

i just feel that Ketron has the Best bread-and-butter sounds, now we need expansion options,

i mean, why wouldn't you want perhaps a better sax, better organ, better accordion, super articulated voices down the line,

you wanna play the same sounds for the rest of your life?

breath some new sound into your repertoire,

having new sounds is like getting a new keyboard at a fraction of the cost...

no, 20 great sounds does not cut it for me..
maybe you guys use a dozen sounds, not me.

that's why i hate seeing other bands, duos , trios play,
they swap between 3 or 4 sounds the entire night

how about exploring your keyboard?
use different sounds.
stop being lazy and playing same stuff with same sounds,

yes we want expansion board, we want more sounds, we want better sounds...

do not limit the keyboard,

if we could have thousands of styles to choose from, let's have 1,000's of sounds to choose from

if the AUDYA is gonna be the ULTIMATE arranger,
then it better have the ULTIMATE, cutting edge sounds for ALL types of music... not for the type YOU play, but the type EVERYONE else may play

thats my .02 cents

Tom,
OK, I give...how do you pay a sax like sax should be played...on a keyboard?
Lee

Wrong? Probably nothing. Mostly, I just find it uninspiring. It could be that for my needs, all the nice 'workstation' features are wasted on me. I find the 'bread and butter' sounds no better than my SonicCell, the GM2 sounds the SAME as the SonicCell, the keybed no better (if as good) as my ancient A70, RAM expansion uses hard-to-find last generation memory, pianos that are average (hundreds of pianos but none I'd classify as excellent), at best, organs that are sub-par, drums that, in my opinion, are not as authentic-sounding as those on my PA1x (again, lots of kits but I tend to stick to standard or jazz kits), need mouse for easy and quick navigation, no touch screen (I, for one, love them), poor navigation for live performance unless meticulously set up ahead of time (probably like most true WS's, too complicated for life performance), LOUSY implementation of USB drive for storage and transfer, computer is a must for full utilization, long learning curve, no direct HD support, did I mention 'uninspiring' sounds.....the basic patches (single mode) are, ummmmm, basic. Of course, layering is dead easy and sampling is fairly well implemented if you're already pretty familiar with sampling technique.

I haven't touched this thing for a week and it's fairly new; that tells me a lot about how I feel about it. Sadly, I'm not inspired enough to want to learn it in-depth, which, no doubt, would lead to a much greater appreciation for the instrument. It's probably a great board for producing Hip-Hop, Rap, funk, maybe even Rock. For jazz, latin, etc., there are probably better choices. I go back and play some of the multi's on my ancient Triton Classic (w/Moss) and it blows the Fantom away (especially El. Pianos) in terms of 'Phatness' (balls, if you will).

Of course, this is just my opinion. I probably haven't given this beast a proper shot. You know how it is; some keyboards you just like, others just leave you cold. I didn't return it 'cause I tend to be a packrat, but I probably should have. It doesn't help that I'm not sure what I'm looking for (Nord Stage, maybe?) but when I go into my 'studio' just to relax, I always reach for my Nord C1 first (and usually stay there). Also, I have consistently refused to add other voices for gigs (maybe I just want to keep it pure). Maybe I only like Organ and piano, maybe I'm stuck in the past, maybe I'm nuts (my wife votes for number three). Who knows.

chas

Lee,

You have to think like a sax player. If anyone has heard Don Mason play the "guitar" on his keyboard you would know what I mean. He plays it and thinks like a guitar player.

Tom

Hi everyone,

Allow me to chime in here - I've just finished listening to the demos. Wow!!! Wow!!! Wow!!!

They make all other demos of any kind that I have obsolute. I'm a BIG Yamaha fan, but their sounds and effects come nowhere even close to what is presented in this demo.

If this was a true arranger keyboard, I would have dropped all my Yamaha aspirations in favour of it.

Unfortunately, I'm just an average arranger keyboard player and as such a synth would not mean a lot to me.

But, as for Ketron - I want to compliment them. Any company that could create something like this is in a league of their own and do not need to present excuses for being small. Well done Ketron!!!

Henni

Hi all,

I've search the net for more info on the Audya - it seems to be able to function as a true arranger as well:
http://ketronmusic.co.uk/products/ketronAudya.html

Do yourself a favour - listen to the live guitar demos and the new age style. This thing is currently really blowing my mind!!! Price = 3800 pounds.

I know where my next money for a new keyboard is going. I'll always love and have a Yamaha in my life (Yes, if I can afford also a Tyros 3), but as for this thing; I just HAVE!!! to have one.


Henni

3,800.00 GBP = 5,708.31 US
U K Pounds United States Dollars

WOW,

way too expensive,

it's gotta be under $4,000 US for me to consider