Ergonomically speaking, the Ketron Audya reminds me of that expression, "A camel is a horse put together by a committee."

I suppose if the camel...eer...Audya sounds great, that these seemingly haphazardly placed controls and buttons will be worth getting used to.

Frank, I imagine the first styles you play should be the guitar, or unplugged styles...just to dispel any doubts about how the audio/midi guitar tracks work and sound on the more complex chords.

That is one of it's main features/selling points, and is obviously where the name "Audya" came from.

Ian

I just don't see anybody in the right state of mind dumping $5000 on this thing! Sounds like another classic case of "well, we think the consumer will like this and need that".

Frank dont worry re the Audya bashing, lots of us are very interested in your explanations of both good and bad on the Audya. I personnaly feel that the price is too high, however one expects that the first buyers will subsidize the r&d to make this board better and cheaper over time, also lets not forget that perfection at this time does not exist with any manufacturer or board, so give Ketron a go as they are probably paving the way for other makers to incorporate better features, however if you bash (and asking questions and for explanations is not bashing) you will turn all makers off trying new things, it will be the the same old everything as per the norms

My flabber is extremely ghasted at the thought that this DOESN'T have a touch screen. Once used to them, the offer a degree of control and flexible layout that transcends the Yamaha inspired design.

No, of course, you still leave the majority of live controls in button and slider format... but offset buttons for onscreen functions has always been a major problem live (your eye tends to go where the screen says it should go), and doesn't allow for anywhere NEAR the density of information on one screen that a touch screen allows. Five buttons vertically, five buttons horizontally... That's not a lot of selectable information on one page. Probably means a LOT of paging around...

I think we are all missing the point as well... although there ARE workarounds for the USB placement, if kludgey and potentially damaging, the more important question should be... 'What kind of drugs were the designers ON? ' And what other bonehead ergonomic issues lie in waiting..? The front panel layout pretty much flies in the face of almost every other arranger out there. I guess everybody ELSE got it wrong, huh?

As much as I take issue with Mike for his fixation with USB2 (especially on arrangers that have NO high speed data needs), I must confess that here, with a sampler and live streaming drum loops, MP3 and Wav file playback, not having this is a real time waster. I don't see the need for it live (samples and loops will already be on your drive, and it ought to play MP3's and Wav's directly, no loading), but at home, you are quite likely to be doing close to GB sized transfers fairly often (as you audition drum loop libraries or sampler loads). Here, I agree. This thing is going to be a pig at home, loading up the HD... One can only hope that at least it multitasks, and you can get some work done while it slowly loads data to the HD...

There's too much stuff on the left side. I'm sorry, but without a Chord Sequence, who of us has much time for button pushing while our LH is tied up playing the damn chords? There are some pretty important controls there, that other arrangers place in the middle or right side. I envision a lot of having to stretch over to the left side with our RH's (and recall seeing quite a bit of that at trade show videos).

Does anyone designing for Ketron actually PLAY? I find it hard to imagine they do...

Finally, I have a big apology to make. (It happens! ). I really didn't think Frank would be as critical as he has been, with these things so hard to get and show (ask George!). He has proven me completely wrong, and my level of respect and admiration has gone up a BIG notch... I only hope that the fanboys that have taken me to task for articulating this level of criticism cut him just a LITTLE more slack than me!

Can't wait for the audio... I know it will be spectacular.

Thanks for the video, Frank.

Frank, thanks very much, what a great way to independently review the different arrangers.

Many thanks

Graham

Hi Frankav,
Many thanks for doing this, I really look forward of hearing some of Audyas styles. I am interested in some of the ballad styles. Many thanks for your work!

Frank,

Thanks for the great Audya review... and a really cool way to present it (youtube)

Since almost everyone is either hot or cold on Ketron, I'm guessing most potential Audya purchasers to be those already familiar with Ketron products. Therefore, how does it compare with the SD1 and SD5 voice-wise and style-wise?

Also, does it have one of my favorite features on the SD5... the ability to kick in fills with aftertouch?

Thanks,
Glenn

i think Frank is too busy having fun with the AUDYA to post his review on styles, and audio samples...

The more I play it the more i'm liking it.

hopefully i'll have another video sample tomorrow.

please call me, it's easier to discuss the keyboard

------------------
www.AudioworksCT.com
203.876.1133

Is the control layout starting to grow on you, Frank? Or do you find, just in general playing, that you are having to reach over more than most other arrangers?

Oh, and does your camcorder have a line in? I am sure your playing demos will sound a lot better if you go direct in (be a good opportunity to hear the mike ins on the Audya). If not, and you are all digital, you might run a Zoom off the direct outs while you shoot, then edit out the camcorder audio and put in the direct audio in a simple video editor... They should stay in pretty good sync if lined up carefully... at least as good as what Youtube does to audio sync, anyway!

I look forward to it all, anyway...