Hi DonM,

Although I do not own one as yet, I am a huge fan of the Audya. Buit I'm curious though:

How did you compensate for the loss of the HUGE database of styles available for the Yamaha's?

As far as I can understand, there are not too many styles available for the Audya. Do you compensate by using different wave loops along with the same styles, or were you able to find quite a few new styles for your Audya?

I do not intend to hijack this thread, but I'm seriously looking for your answer. You can mail me in private if you care to respond at all.

Henni

Hi Henni,

One of the reasons I purchased the Audya was because of their u.Unique styles. I don't want Yamaha styles in my Audya. They are overproduced and do not sound like a real band.

However, with that said, you can use EMC Styleworks to convert Yamaha styles to the Ketron and use the Audio mapping built into the Audya to use the Audio sounds with the new styles. I have not done this as yet as I'm waiting for my Ketron update from Klaus.
I have other Ketron styles that have been converted which sound fine.


[This message has been edited by kbrkr (edited 10-14-2010).]

We will be A/B'ing both the Audya 5 & Tyros 4 next week.....more honesty to come..stay tuned.

IMO ketron has some great styles but out of every ketron unit I've owned I had to convert too many types of styles for my needs from other units to cover my needs, in return they sound weak & thin............they need to really need to improve some of the Big Band & Jazz, R&b, and a few others ..... a style library would be a nice addition also that you can buy.....they need to know that Better Styles, & More Styles = More Sales & more happy owners.

No problem for me. There are tons of great styles on board, and it's easy to edit them by changing sounds, levels, drumkits and yes, audio loops.
I also have thousands of styles from earlier Ketron models and converted from other brands.
DonM

How many of them hold up to the BEST of the ROM styles?

That's one of the things that gets to me. I want my band consistent. I don't want them to absolutely rock on an R&B tune, but them go all limp and lifeless on any ska, or whatever. Translations and conversions rarely EVER match the quality of ROM styles, IMO.

BTW, you have ACTUALLY replaced audio loops with different loops on an Audya yet? Or are we simply 'assuming' it's going to be easy? I can see substituting one ROM set of drum loops for another, but how about importing in completely new loops? From what we have read, even Ketron themselves haven't managed to get a completely glitch-free operation out of their own loops... Just how 'easy' or perhaps hard is it to get imported loops to line up perfectly?

I don't know where all these wonderful Yamaha styles are, but when I owned an PSR9000, Tyros 1, and Tyros 2, I was always searching for really good styles. Even in the public domain, I was lacking great rock, slow rock, Ballad Rock, Fusion, Funk, R&B and Country styles. If I wanted to play "Singing in the Rain", which was like never, I was covered with the Yamaha styles.

Even looking on YouTube at the new premium styles for Oldies Rock it just doesn't sound real. And now all the styles are going to have Vocal backgrounds in them. I would have to spend hours and hours editing copied ROM Styles to get them to how I would like them.

This is why I gravitate towards the Audya. The bulk of their styles cover most of what I want.

As a drummer playing the Audya styles, I feel a much better/deeper pocket and thus a better groove. When I started playing the Audya for the first time, my wife actually started dancing. She NEVER did that with any of my Yamaha keyboards. So, i guess the proof is in my wives dancing feet!

Please remember, this is just my opinion. You are all entitled to your own.

Al

[This message has been edited by kbrkr (edited 10-14-2010).]

When the Midjay Plus was released, several of the new Plus and SD5 owners, me included, requested that more styles should be made available for the Midjay Plus and SD5. AJ said that Ketron would consider converting SD1 and other Ketron styles for use in the Midjay Plus/SD5. Last September, AJ was asked about the progress of the conversions and he responded: "I'll have to look into this and see where we are with the conversions.
The AUDYA is a huge project that has absorbed most of our Engineers at the moment, but we'll follow up on this.
Thanks,
AJ"
So, it looks like until all the Audya issues are addressed, style conversions and all other Ketron product issues are on hold as we haven't heard anything about conversions for over a year (certainly, breakdowns and other such problems are addressed immediately)... Exasperating!
Ciao,
Jerry

I have always said you need to look to the past to get an idea of where the future is going. Numerically, Ketron haven't exactly been overflowing with new audio based styles on the SD1+, SD5, etc..

And the cost and time to produce new audio based styles must be an order or two of magnitude greater than doing it with MIDI...

I'm afraid it just doesn't bode that well, IMO.

''Italian Engineering!!

All made (not just assembled) in Italy.

There must be a reason(s) for this, right?''

don't know now, but until a few years ago, all these arrangers were made in Italy. The synth workstation were always made in Japan. I am Italian and I think that the reason is because arranger keyboard players were in high demand in touristic places like Rimini, were musicians were in demand in the hotels there.

Don't know now, though, it's been many years that I don't live in Italy.

[This message has been edited by arranger_yes_pc_no (edited 10-15-2010).]