How silly of Ketron to ignore the USB 2.0 question for sooooooooooo long and we find it out through the grapevine from a 3rd party that the Audya does indeed have it!?!?!?!?! They answered most of everything else we asked them about the Audya, so why were they so stubbornly "mute" concerning USB 2.0?? Doesn't make sense, common or otherwise.

3,399.00 GBP = 4,956.58 USD >> $900.00 knocked off so far... That's a start. Keep 'em coming Ketron..

Yes, times are tough as we all know. Not only is the U.S. economy in shambles, the whole wide world's economies are in shambles as well. Depending on how well the Audya sells initially will be a big indicator on how willing Ketron will be in reducing the Audya's pricing even further. If the Audya sells fairly well at 5 Grand then we probably won't see any more discounts in the future until possibly Audaya2 comes out. If the Audya falters because of the economy Ketron might have to act boldly and reduce the Audya's price dramatically for people to be willing to open up their wallets. Considering every other totl arranger currently on the market is at least a $1,000 less than the Audya, Ketron is fighting an uphill battle to be sure. Time will tell..

Now that Ketron has gotten their act together and they have implemented the Audya technology correctly (hopefully anyway ) version 2 of the Audya could make it to market much sooner than it took to bring this Audya to market. And also, less R&D would be needed on Audya2, therefore it should be able to come in at a much lower initial price point. So if people aren't able to afford this Audya, in two or so years you may indeed be able to afford Audya2, especially if the world economy is bustling once again. Plus Audya2 will likely have 256 note polyphony plus around 1GB of WAV ROM and with a Sampler you can actually sink your teeth into with a RAM capacity of up to 2GB. [img]http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/cool.gif[/img] And with an initial price point of around $1,000 less than this Audya comes in at, it may well be worth the wait. [img]http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/smile.gif[/img] Speculation of course.. but that is the way I anticipate it happening anyway. Time will tell.. [img]http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/wink.gif[/img]

All the best,
Mike

The amazing fortune teller, good job, by the way do know the lotto numbers for tonight?

Quite frankly, if the Audya is a penny more than $4000, I don't think it will sell very well in the USA, no matter how good it is.

My guess, is that the street price of the Audya will be $3,500.

I am still astounded about the importance given to the USB speed, which has no impact on live performance whatsoever, especially given that most samplers and arrangers cannot load samples at even USB1's speed.

There are still many unanswered questions of a MUSICAL nature that frothing at the mouth over so unimportant a spec bewilders me... (still no word about which chord types the live guitar loops will recognize, and what happens when you play a type it DOESN'T.... AJ? Any info? )

I do, however, feel it FAR more important that the Audya's sampler is restricted to a paltry 64MB, especially as it's competition easily tops out at 512MB or even a GB. Admittedly, those specs are virtually useless, as load times for maxed out sample sets would be close to an hour , but given that we ASSUME (it's not clear by any means, yet) that the sampler could load up at the same streaming speeds that the live loops are going to use, it's INSANE to limit the sampler RAM to such a 20th century limit.

You want to go ballistic? Go ballistic about this. This WILL make a huge difference, which USB2 won't...

I have never used or had the need for an onboard sampler of anykind....Would someone explain how they use their sampler in a live situation.

Hello Again.

About USB , i read in the site of KETRON SPAIN , http://www.ketron.es/ketron.htm , that the AUDYA as 3 USB 2.0 ports.

But yesterday i test transfer files from my Portable Pc to the AUDYA and now im not so sure about that , its a litle slow to a 2.0 USB port.

About the chord recognition , i test playing some Cap Verdian "Morna" styles with the "Live Guitars" and chords like 6ª , 7ª+ , 9ª & 13ª are correctly played.
If you want , tomorrow i can record a video with the chords you want and share with you.

I made some photos that i put in my blog , and tomorrow i gone upload a video with some musicians from Lisbon testing the Audya.

You can see at www.ketronaudya.wordpress.com
Its in Portuguese language , but you can see the photos and the videos.

The Audya i test is the demonstration version , only in the 3rd week of January is for sale in Portugal.
The price for Portugal is 4380 Eur with taxes ( 20%) , but all the shops will sell about 4100 EUR to 4200 EUR With Tax.

Here , in the FCMUSICA shop , all musicians that test the Audya , made the reservations to buy in january.
And are musicians with SD1 or SD5 from Ketron , and other with Korg Pa2x or Pa800.

Here in Portugal AUDYA will sell very well.
We play here lots of LATIN Styles , Traditional Portuguese music that had Latin origins , fado , Brasilian Styles and African Styles from ANGOLA , CAp VERT , MOZAMBIQUE , GUINÉ , like morna , Kizomba , Zouk , funana , makossa , etc.
For Portuguese musicians , Audya will be a sucess.

Sorry about my "bad english"
Happy New Year to all of you.

P.S.
One video i upload is now avaible.
is my friend Pedro Teixeira , a Piano bar & Hotel musician yesterday testing for the first time the Audya. http://www.vimeo.com/2655162

The sound was recorded direct from audya , with no Eq. , to my portable pc with a Usb Berhinger connector.

Thanx for the info and Audya Video Demos.
Hope to see & hear more.

I used to use my K2500 on Bourbon St. for the 10 piece I was in... I would load up a bunch of stuff on start-up - basses (I was doing LH bass in a 10-piece... go figure!), rhodes and clavs, some sampled B3 stuff, anything I felt I had a better sample than the ROM sounds. But once it was loaded (it came in about 80MB, and took a minute and 20 sec to load off the HD), that was it... I couldn't reload during the performance because they always go dead while you load (Audya? any different?).

I have an extensive library for the Kurzweil (still have it after all these years!), and have yet to find much that competes in the ROM section of most arrangers. The piano in the G70 is one notable exception, but even there, I have many other comparably good pianos ranging from beat up uprights that the Temptations used, to the same brightened up Steinway that Elton used on 'Don't Shoot Me, I'm only the Piano Player' and several others. Latest is KSounds Vol2 http://www.ksounds.com/Demo/KSV2_Kurz/KSV2_Piano_1_full.mp3
which I think is quite exceptional.

However, for live use with an arranger, well, unfortunately, the G70 doesn't include a sampler, and I am still conflicted about how to use it... Ideally, the thing would load up in a flash, and I could do anything I want. The Ketron 'Live Loop' thing is easy to do on a sampler, just send the trigger notes from the drum track, and you are in business. Strings I still do exclusively on the K2500, never heard a string patch in ANYTHING'S ROM that came close (I have string libraries that cost a grand+!).

Samplers COULD be very cool in an arranger context, just think of being able to replace ANY sound that you consider sub-par with a TOTL alternative, but with most modern arrangers and even WS's load times being even slower than my ancient K2500 (about 1MB/sec from the HD), they just aren't practical for anything other than perhaps a piano sound or something like that that you will use a LOT.

I am disappointed in the Audya's decision to limit the sampler section to 64MB, although the jury is out until I find out load times. If it is computer fast it is still practical, but if the RAM pipe is still mired in hardware speeds, it is no better than a PA2 or T3. Still not fast enough for the 'any song, any time' request ethos of the general arranger player...

[This message has been edited by Diki (edited 12-28-2008).]

Thanx for the great explanation Diki....
I see now why I never needed one as I'm fine with the good on board sounds on most arrangers that I've used...like I said I'm a singer who backs himself up with a arranger KB, SMF, & Mp3's nothing more.
Works very well for me..

Good luck in your search for the ultimate fast loading sampler laden arranger KB.....maybe now yet but in years to come it will be available I'm sure.

Judging by these Audya video demos I wasn't yet impressed were you? Listen real close.



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 12-28-2008).]

Wow!!!!!!! For a Short Raw on the "Street" Demo The Audya Sounds Pretty Awsome in Everything I heard and see...Sure would Love to Try One...Hear one Live...

Ketron Always had GREAT Sampled Sounds...Punchy Drums and Basses...True Quality Styles...Great Keybed....Looks like they took everything to a complete higher LEVEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now if Ketron and Frankie anyway possible can get these keyboards available for arround $3900 Street???...They Will be HOT, HOT, HOT....