Well I sold my Yamaha psr s900 today. I have to say that it was a very nice keyboard and it did its job very well for the last 3 years. I'm now looking for a new keyboard and I have some options.

but of course the Ketron family...... I would like to see something new from Korg, but I'm not banking on anything new from them for a while. Roland is pretty much out of the running and I'm not sure if I want to jump into s910, since its not that much different from the s900.

So that pretty much leaves me leaning toward Ketron. I have to say though I don't want to wait until the Audya 4 or 5 comes out. My max waiting time is two weeks since I'm booked in May. so I guess Ketron here I come, lets see what your packing, wish me luck!!



[This message has been edited by mc (edited 03-31-2010).]

mc,

AUDYA? nice

man, i would so wait for AUDYA5, if 61 keys is cool with you.

but i guess you can't wait.

if you were close i'd lend you my XD3

i'm thinking the AUDYA4 is in my future :-)

mc,

espera meu amigo,
o novo teclado vai ser melhor em quase todos os aspectos :-)
e tambem em preco

OMG! You only have FOUR WEEKS to purchase and program up a keyboard for a gig?

The Ketron's won't be available for quite a while unless you go the full Audya 76 route, and will cost a FORTUNE compared to your S900. In your shoes, I'd get an S910 NOW, start transferring in all your styles and setups from the S900 (you did save those, didn't you? ), and wait for the Ketron until the dust settles. You can't POSSIBLY have missed all the furor about the Audya's buggy state at release, it's only prudent to assume maybe the same this time around, if a gig depends on it. OS4 is imminent and who KNOWS what problems that is going to have come with it...?

Once the dust settles, your S910 will still be worth most of what you paid (particularly if you look around for a used one), sell that and get the Ketron. But if you wait til the last minute to get the Ketron, you are going to be on a VERY tight schedule to prepare a totally unfamiliar arranger for a gig...

I have a Ketron SD5 for sale, reasonable.
It's almost unused.
DonM

MC, contact me about an Audya for sale, showroom condition. Email is in my profile.

Well, I save everything from every keyboard that I ever owned. I still have the regs & styles saved from the Ketron X1 from almost 10 years ago, so that shouldn't be a problem.

I have to say the 4 weeks is cutting it short but a buddy of mine needed a keyboard and I wanted to get rid of the Yamaha sooner or later, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity while it was still worth something, now that s910 is out. I guess my choices from what’s available on the market in a mid-range or flagship arranger is s910, SD5 or the Audya.

The SD5 & s900 would be the easiest of the 3 since I still know the OS fairly well. The Audya may take a little longer to get things up and running. My biggest issue with the Audya right now is the price. My wife has been laid-off from work for a while now and a $5000 want, would be a hard sell. I have to do some accounting and see what my earnings were from last year’s gigging and project what my earnings maybe this year, for starters. I’ll start making my rounds this weekend testing all three. Sound wise I’m sure the Audya wins hands down, but if it ends up being something out of reach, SD5 or s910 will surly do the job.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

mc, what's wrong with the T3? Or would you prefer to use a S910?

When I originally purchased the s900, I want the T2. But having them side by side, I came to the conclusion that the s900 had everything I needed at the moment and the extra 2k for T2 was not worth it. I have spent some time with the T3 and yes there are many differences between the T3 & s910, I still feel that s910 is much better bang for the buck and the extra $$ for the T3 is not required.

Thanks though!

That's a fair comment, maybe I'd say the same if I owned a Yamaha prior to the T3, I was coming from a Korg so I wanted something fresh & different. I think maybe S910 is your best bet especially if you need to get prepared for gigs, just seems logical even if it's only temporary.

If the money works out, go for Bill's Audya. You can save quite a bit of the retail price. I know why he's selling it and it isn't because he doesn't love it!
If you like the X1, you will love the SD5, and the Audya even more.
If the Audya doesn't fit the budget, the SD5 will be a great bargain.
DonM

Really, the Audya, hands down, is THE best arranger I have ever seen. If I get another one soon, it will be Audya. I still have my s900 and it is fine and has its selling points. But I'm a guitar player... and my plans over the next several months are guitar only. But, as Don said, the SD5 is good, too.

Thing is, the X1 data is extremely unlikely to work in the SD5 or Audya. Only the S910 is going to allow you to use what you have previously created in the way of styles or registrations.

If the Audya's price is a sticking point, maybe go back to something familiar, yet still quite improved (Ian swears by how much better the S910 is over the S900) and in the same ballpark pricewise (even an SD5 is a BIG jump up in price compared to an S910), and just keep salting away what you can until you can actually afford what you WANT...?

At least that way, you will have time to see if the new mini-Audya is more affordable and more in line with what you need - the SD5 is definitely 'yesterday's news' by Ketron standards.

I could be wrong, but its disappointing how Ketron pretty much gave up on the SD5. I’m hoping that they release some sort of package for the SD5 users. It is still a great sounding keyboard and has some pretty neat features. But now that a 61 key audya is soon to be released, I guess that it is bye, bye SD5! I guess ketron needed to fill a avoid between the XD9 being discontinued and the release of the Audya 76.

[This message has been edited by mc (edited 04-01-2010).]

MC

Send me an email to "axa130@hotmail.com" with the subject "AUDYA".

MC,

You have mail!

Hey, AJ...

You EVER going to post that copyright information, or were you just blowing smoke up my *** when you emailed me?