Here's a new thread for anyone who has something positive or negative to say about the Audya chord recognition.


Go...

Here's a new one...

Those of you who played the Audya a Shreveport, how forgiving was it to playing chords fractionally late?

Most of our arrangers that use MIDI, you play a chord fractionally late, it still plays the previous chord on the '1', then all the notes bend smoothly, instantly, and without retriggering onto the correct notes for the chord you just played. Most times, this can be almost undetectable. But the mechanism to bend notes doesn't exist for loops.

Did anyone notice any chord 'glitches'?

Here's another...

Anyone try doing a maj - sus4 - maj - sus4 type chord progression? How well did it handle cross-fading those chords in realtime?

We didn't get to play the Audya, only listen to AJ. I did try the keys briefly for feel, but didn't play any styles. Either he didn't hit any chords at the wrong time, or it handled them fine, because I didn't hear any glitches.
DonM

How are any of us to know if no one in the states has one but AJ. Dom didn't hear anything that would trigger a "hey, what 's up with the Auyda". I guess were going to have to wait and see until the Audya arrives here in the states and we demo them. I am going to get my hands on one as so as get to usa, then I'll let you know.

If I wait to play one to find out, I am NEVER going to know. No dealer in my entire area... (I am not driving 18 hours to find out!)

That's why I am committing the apparently unforgivable sin of actually ASKING the manufacturer's reps and demonstrators about these questions. You know, while they are here (unlike SOME manufacturer's reps, anyway! )...

If they want to come here and extol the product, they can answer a few relevant questions, too, can't they? I guess it's the price you pay making yourself available to the public. They might want to ask some tougher questions that you MIGHT not want to answer... (certainly doesn't SEEM like they want to answer it, anyway!)

At the moment, there are no user impressions available, so I'm simply asking the only people who HAVE played it or know of it's technical specs...

Is that OK?

Dikki,
Until more Audyas arrive in the U.S., there is only ONE person who has one--A.J. He is extremely busy right now, but I know he will get around to answering the questions as time allows.
We've been patient (sort of) for about two years now, a few more days won't kill us.
They are making plans to show the Audya in as many regions as possible. We were the first because we happened to get lucky on the timing and they jumped through hoops and paid premium air fare to get it here.
I appreciate it and will wait until I can get my hands on one. Hope it's soon. Ted is thinking February, and that's not far off.
DonM

Sorry, but this is a technical question. I don't expect AJ to sit down at the bloody thing and TRY out all the chords!

As the manufacturer, he should KNOW what chords were recorded. They should be in the manual, or some addendum somewhere, or at least available to Ketron personnel, you know, in case someone actually ASKS this question (what? you thought no-one would care? )...

Why has this essential spec got to be ferreted out by exhaustive playing? It is (at Ketron, at least) a well known FACT...

One they seem reluctant to divulge, though...

You know, the USB 1 or 2 issue was quickly answered by factory reps. Why is this, to my mind FAR more important issue (musically, and that's all I really care about!) taking so long to get an answer for?

The most salient thing AJ has said, for me anyway, (and it MIGHT just be the answer as well to Dikis questions) is this line....


"meaning when you play (e.g an A chord), all extentions/variations of the A chord - (dim, 9th, Maj, Min, Min7th, AUG ... etc) are recognized [AJ's term for PLAY] by the AUDIO and MIDI parts of AUDYA. Because we streem the Audio directly from the HD, memory wasn't an issue here."

You note he says "recognised by the audio AND midi parts"

I think we may be able to deduce that the higher embellishments, or "tension" notes if you like, are more than likely covered by midi data, with the basic chord structure covered by the audio loop.

This makes sense to me as it allows great freedom/variation in chord play, whilst keeping disk streaming to a minimum, as well as sample data.

Now let me say this is NOT the same as having the all chord types recorded as audio loops, and could be construed as a bit of a "fudge" by Ketron, and if it WERE the case I would be a bit disappointed, BUT I can see how that would work, and it may just be the first step along the road to TOTAL audio style play from Ketron.

After all this is a highly complex task they are undertaking and I beleive it has much more work before it is complete. However Ketron DID have to get something released and selling.

Of course I could be wrong, but it does seem plausible.

Dennis

I've got a feeling you are right, Dennis. But getting Ketron to admit it seems like pulling teeth.

Anyone who has used a product like Virtual Guitarist from Steinberg is already aware of some of the issues trying to do this on a realtime basis. However, this may not be a large percentage of arranger players, hence the wild hype about this feature.

Knowledge of these issues won't stop the Audya from being groundbreaking, nor stop it from sounding great. But it MIGHT help to deflate some wildly optimistic expectations before they ultimately disappoint.

Ain't that the truth!!

D