I have an SD5 and although it has been out for a few years now Ketron have not bothered
developing or offering any new styles for this board.
All the talk and hype has been about the Audya and indeed it contains a bundle of compatible styles from other products.

So how about it Ketron... Although SD5 is a nice sounding keyboard why are the people who can't afford to buy an Audya limited to the on board styles that the SD5 has to offer.

Maybe AJ has an opinion on this.... or has anyone with an SD5 got a bundle of extra styles they would share or sell?

BTW Tony .........we are still on version 1 op system years on with SD5 and it still has a few minor bugs (occasional lock up/display showing two overlapping pages etc...

Best wishes ..JDX.

May, 2009:
http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum22/HTML/001214.html
http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum22/HTML/001285.html
http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum37/HTML/019802.html
http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum37/HTML/019635.html

... And, there are several other inquiries like yours that have gone unanswered ...
Ciao,
Jerry

Nice to here from you John hope you are OK, I was in Liverpool this week at the Fire Brigade HQ in West Derby. I raised this question about SD5 with Darren on Ketron UK and he said he didn't think there were any updates for the KB, I don't know about Styles, I have a feeling it's a loser, AJ is the man but he is off on one unitl the big bang OS4. Darren also said don't mess about with the SD5 or you will bugger it up I am not cetain what he meant, why not put a thread on UK Ketron.

Perhaps you might like to tell SZ why you sent your Audya back, and got your money back, if not then its OK. John I think I got your Audya sold to me as brand new, it was about the same week as you returned yours.

Regards

Tony

Email me if you want or ring.



[This message has been edited by Tony Hughes (edited 03-03-2010).]

This is the double edged sword of audio styles... (SD5 has some of those, doesn't it?)

While on the one hand, the live loop helps push the style into sonic territories that other arrangers can't always match, and Ketron's own style team is very talented at certain genres that other arrangers don't really 'get', on the other hand, it also makes user styles completely beyond the capability of even the few capable of creating a decent MIDI style from scratch, and ups the cost dramatically for those commercial style houses that make MIDI styles for a variety of arrangers.

Add to that Ketron's minuscule user base compared to say Yamaha, and you have a recipe for what has basically gone on. I have said it before, I'll say it again. Until the industry develops watertight copy protection for styles, few are going to go to the bother of developing audio styles for the Ketron (and few do it even for MIDI styles) as a real BUSINESS. If styles get traded around as soon as ONE is bought, how can the style creator make a living?

On a platform as low in numbers as Ketron's are, the problem is compounded until you see the inevitable result. The factory can't afford to give them away, they have too small a user base that the few honest users can still support the process (unlike Yamaha), and third party style makers either don't do it because of the cost/return ratio, or only make them in niche styles of little use to all but a small market where demand is high.

So, anyone coming to Ketron from say another manufacturer with better third party style support, you had better think about this VERY carefully. Take a look at how well ( ) Ketron have supported the SD5 and other models with new styles, and extrapolate what their likely support of the Audya (an even LOWER volume arranger than others in their lines) will end up being, no matter WHAT they say at this point.

Bet you they hinted that there would be lots of new styles for the SD5 when IT was brand new, too...

Hi Tony....
In reply to your question re the Audya....
If you got the one I had for a short time I am not surprised you are unhappy.
I honestly believe it was a faulty unit as well as being totally littered with bugs.

I appreciate it was one of the first ones off the line and that all makes of arranger keyboards have teething problems but that Audya had too many bugs to be considered acceptable for sale.

The product knowledge of dealers for Ketron in the UK is very poor and trying to explain all the faults occuring on the Audya was too much hassle so I returned it.

As you realise by this thread I bought an SD5 because despite everything I love the live sound of Ketron keyboards.

Diki you are correct in assuming that Ketron did promise that styles would be made for the SD5 but all this time later SD5 owners are left out in the cold.

AJ also said on this forum that SD5 styles would be produced in the future (we are several years into production on this product)we are still waiting.

AS I said initially in this thread my SD5 has a few bugs that I have to live with but overall it seems to me that Ketron produce great sounding products that are every bit as good (if not better) than Yamaha Korg and Roland..... but in terms of fixing bugs and producing extra styles they are way behind.

Best wishes ..... John.

Diki,
FYI,SD5 has live audio drums, but not instruments.
The entire set of Midjay Plus styles works on the SD5.
DonM

John,

The first Audya I had I think was yours, but it kept locking up so it got changed for another one, yours got reloaded with the latest update and got sold to someone else, none of them went back because it was all software based problems as you state, that's life. DonM appears to know a lot about SD5 so I would listen to him, he's a great guy also and he will help you all he can I know that. John, I should have sent mine back and got my money back, it would have gone to a good home somewhere, I have left it too long now i am biting the bullet and the lads are giving me a good kicking on SZ and I deserve it, I am a big style numpty.

Kind Regards


[This message has been edited by Tony Hughes (edited 03-04-2010).]

[This message has been edited by Tony Hughes (edited 03-04-2010).]