After waiting patiently for nearly four years, I managed to buy my friend's Audya that he's hardly used.

Al I can say is WOW!!! What an awesome arranger. Now I know why they say it sounds so real, and not only the drums.

Someone send me good midi guitar arps & licks before which I intended to convert to multipads for my Yamaha. Well, let me tell you, the Audya comes with this built in and in an audio format.

Imagine this: Choose any style you like. Now add just the right audio drum track for each variation. Next, add a audio groove track, different one for each variation. Next, add a audio track for channel 4. These can be strings, piano, guitar and quite a few others & once again, different for each variation.

No, you're not done yet. Now choose a different live audio guitar track for each variation.

Now play your new style - AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME!!! And on top of this, many parts of the style responds to how you use your left hand. No more boring styles - PERIOD!!!

Yes, I screw up mine. In the process of installing al these many styles & updates I've collected over the years, I messed up & now I've lost my live guitars. However, this is purely a software related issue & It'll be fixed soon.

But even without the guitars, it outshines everything else I've heard to this date. It is an AWESOME arranger and my hat off to the ones responsible for designing it. I've seen so many bad mouthed remarks towards Ketron. Let me say this, anyone who could even come up with the idea used in the Audya is worthy of appreciation. I guarrantee that as soon as you own one, you'll change your attitude towards this company.

Also, I'm sure that most issues experienced are merely software related. Mine worked perfectly till I started fiddling with the software. AJ now sells complete HD's which is easy to install & will solve nearly every problem listed over the years. And just like with every PC, I'll make a backup of this first so that I can restore should I mess things up again.

If you do not as yet own an Audya, you're missing out big time!!! I'm in arranger heaven & it's nice!!! Ketron, you've got another fan! You guys are AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME. (Notice any overly use of a certain word here - get yourself an Audya and you'll start using this word over and over again yourself)

All the best,
Henni

Their customer service is terrible but I've said many times that it's the best arranger I've ever heard.

Hi,

I think I found my "software" problem. My "enable user live guitars" is set to "off".

I'm so anxious to go home to try to correct. But yes, I find the Audya to be even more AWESOME than anticipated. I sold my Yamaha over the weekend & I no longer have the cravings for a Tyros 4.

If I just think of what could be accomplished with the Audya, I get exited all over again. And then I have not even touched the harmonizer or HD recording features as yet. I traded my Voicelive 2 as part of the deal. Watching the various demos makes me believe I'll no longer need it.

All the best,
Henni

You'll love the harmonizer. I'm glad you got the Audya at last. You deserve the best for the wonderful work you do!
DonM

Tx DonM for your nice comment.

Yup, my live guitars are back. As stated, I suspect that most Audya problems are software related as it allows one to connect a remote PC to it & start fiddling with the files inside, even the system files.

If you have an Audya and you are struggling with it, don't give up. Read everything on the Synth Zone Ketron forum and try what others did.

This is an AWESOME arranger and everytime I play mine I'm blown away by it. It's unlike any other arranger I've owned before. It inspires me and I cannot wait to set mine up for live performances.

Regards to all,
Henni

Hi Henni

I am also happy to hear your reaction to your Audya. I think you made a wise statement about not giving up on ones Audya.

It is still, to some degree, a work in progress. I bought mine from Frank about a year ago knowing that it was revolutionary in it's live sounds, etc.,and was hopeful that mine would be okay.

I am happy I did, as I haven't had problem one, and agree with your assessment.

Bernie

Congratulations, your right- the Audya is awesome! I love those styles!

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http://www.synthzone.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/349842#Post349842
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http://www.synthzone.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/350016/AJ_s_AJAMSONIC_Upgrade#Post350016
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Hi all,

Posted this over at the Ketron forum. However, I'd like to make this known to all.

I should have been an Audya salesman. I'm really not creating hype only. I've listened to most demos of all other new arrangers out there. The Audya surpasses them all.

Before I discovered the AJAMSONIC upgrade demo's, back in my mind I always wanted a Tyros 4 as well purely for those fantastic choir voices. Yes, I know many critisize those, but I have good use for them.

Now AJ offers the same & much more on his upgrade. I purchased some stuff from Ketron so I'm reluctant to spend more right now, but before this month is over I'll also purchase AJs full add-on. It will turn my Audya into something else & I'll no longer miss ANYTHING the Tyros 4 has to offer.

You know how it is with hype - it tends to go away after awhile. My satisfaction with the Audya grows on a daily basis.

Now I'm no special kind of musician, but what I get out of the Audya is stunning to say the least. Hopefully by this weekend I can make some recordings and post here to see if others share in my excitement and to see if it also sounds more real than the norm to them.

I cannot see how ANYONE can be disappointed with what the Audya offers - it's truly in a league of its own. I hope that some of the songs I'll post here can demonstrate that to the non believers. A Professional artist can make any arranger sound good. If I can do so with the Audya, then it MUST be outstanding.

And lastly, ANY arranger that accepts such a huge upgrade as the AJAMSONIC upgrade, has to be in a class of it's own. Something like this has been unheard of till now.

So just imagine what the limitations are if any. And on top of this, Ketron, although slow, has been known for their regular OS updates, most of those for free. No other arranger offers same!

I am well pleased with my choice & I've finally found the ULTIMATE arranger.

Keep well my friend,

Henni

Good luck Henni with your new kb........looking forward to hearing your music.

Hi all,

Some DEMOS as promised.

Please note CLEARLY: Monica ALWAYS sings when we perform. I NEVER play melodies with my right hand. We are not as yet satisfied with the harmonizer settings, so please totally ignore melodies played - they serve only to point where in the song you are. Listen carefully to the drums, bass & live guitars. Those are my main focus for these demos for now. We'll post proper demos including vocals later.

In these demos I purely demonstrate the ARRANGER section of the Audya only on styles that I've modified on the fly (very, very easy to do).

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

I find it so awkward that I can no longer edit after awhile...

In any case, if you only want to listen without reading then:

Agnusdei

Ancient of days

More love

The battle belongs to the Lord

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

Henni awesome !!!!I the Audya sounds so LIVE great stuff!!...
good luck with your new KB...I can hear why your so excited to play it...Thanx for sharing your work.

Those styles sound really good ...
Enjoy...

Hi all,

Found this somewhere. Even if the author should choose to fry me for doing so, I want to post over here. So here goes...




...and owned an Audya for nearly two years, playing it on the job nearly every night.

Yes, you are right about the lack of service available, BUT, I can think of very little else that Yamaha has that is as good as anything on the Audya, including sounds. One exception is that Yamaha has better factory OTS settings. You need to mostly do your own on Ketron. Audya does not have multipads, but similar settings are easily assignable to a system that uses assignable keys. In other words, you can pick a note and assign to it anything that is in a multipad, plus much more, including wav and/or midi playback.

The vocal processing is wonderful, the harmonizer is as good as anything I've heard, including dedicated third party models. The lead sounds are authentic instrument sounds. Yes, there is not as much processing done in the presets, but it is there if you want it. The key bed is WAY better than Yamaha. And, I've never heard of having to replace a strip under the keys on a Ketron. they are made of metal and built like a tank.

The drums and bass are like having live players in your band on stage with you. They make variations, if you want them to, in keeping with either key pressure or complexity of right-hand notes played.

There are LOTS of audio drums used in the styles, and have been for many years. (The PSR950 is the first Yamaha to have this, and only on 25 styles.) Also Audya has audio guitars in many styles. (Thus the name). You can use either the audio version or the midi version if you choose to do so, using the onboard style editor. You can do it in real time, while you are playing if you wish.

There are multiple fully assignable switches. There are dedicated hard sliders for each style part, without going into menus.

Audya has your choice of 76-note, 61-note and module configurations.

There are many more breaks and fills than even the Tyros line. In fact there is a choice of 4 break/fills for each style variation, not including the individual fills for pattern variations. You can assign the fills to key pressure if you wish, and you can assign vocal harmony variations to style variations if you wish. For example, maybe a single third above on var. 1, two voices on var. 2, a chorus on var. 3 and a special comedy sound on var. 4.

There are economical, light-weight 7 and 13 switch pedal controllers available. There are multiple assignable outputs in addition to the main outs. Some are splittable, giving the capability of 8 separate out puts for studio work.

The registration system (actually two systems) is far advanced from the Yamaha, and new registrations can be saved with a single button touch (not four separate save processes as necessary on Yamaha).

The start-up file saves EVERYTHING you want it to, including all vocal processing and harmonizer settings, all user preferences, etc.

It plays wav, MP3, and midi files of course, and they can be integrated as you wish with the styles. It has banks of audio loops and samples, also easily integrated with the styles.

Instead of requiring you buy a new model every year or so, they offer many free upgrades and many free additional styles.

These are only a few examples that come to mind of the cutting-edge technology that Audya offers.

Bad news is that Ketron is a small, independent Italian company that lacks sophistication in communications, marketing and customer service. They close totally for two months out of the year and during that time don't even answer the phone or emails.

The US distributors are nice guys, but keyboards are not the mainstay of their business, rather more of a sideline. The US marketing system, and service system, is pretty much non-existent. I DO have AJ's cell number and he calls me back. But there is way too much for one guy to handle, in addition to his other personal projects and interests. Even though he is THE Ketron guy, it is not a full-time position, as far as I can tell!...

That's his opinion and he is well known and respected.




My friend, I hope you can forgive me for taking the liberty to post your stuff here. However, the Audya needs true exposure after all the negative hype and I intend to see to that.

Everywhere I send those poor quality demos of mine, I get "WOOOOooooooooowwwwwww"!!! without exception. When my friend heard it, he wanted his Audya back....Ha ha ha, joke of the year. As if I'll let go!!!


Keep well all my friends,

Henni

Hi all,

Found these Audya tutorial demos

Just for starters, direct after viewing these videos I started playing with my "Guitar Interactive" (or something to that effect) setting under "style mode" menu.

I changed that value from 100 to 60. Next I played a style, and to my utter astonishment the live guitar part started changing drastically (I mean drastically) depending on how hard I hit the chords with my left hand. I could create all sorts of guitar parts using my left hand only! (i.e. creating a single strum only every time I hit the chord!)

AJ goes on to explain how the Audya would sound different if two people would play exactly the same song using the exact same same style, based solely on their individual style of playing it. The audio drums, bass & live guitar parts adapt and change according to the style used to play both the chords and the melody.

There is NOTHING repetitive on the Audya, and this is what makes it so unique. The more I get to know this Audya, the more it THRILLS me.

Yes, like one member said who used to play his: It's rather heavy. I feel this every time I get up with it on my lap, which is very often indeed.

However, I'm not so young anymore, leaning more over to the sixties, & for me currently this is the most excersize I get, which is a GOOD thing. Everytime I play, I also "gym" a little.

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

I MAY have mentioned the weight on another forum.
I still maintain that no other arranger is even close in overall sound and features.
I love my PA3x, especially for the size and weight, but Audya is in a league of its own sound-wise.
DonM

Hi all,

This MUST be said and understood. There is a BEEEEG misconception here & it needs to be put right!!!

We discuss & criticize the Audya as if it's audio only, when in fact nothing is further away from the truth. This will be an eye opener to most critics.

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

... so you 'gym' when you 'jam' ?!? ...

sorry ... I just couldn't resist ...

Jimmy Jam -famous R&B record producer (along with Terry Lewis).

chas

Yup Tony,

'Fraid you're right. This fantastic piece of technology is rather heavy. I always jam with it sitting in my recliner with in on my lap, earphones on my head & all. Trick to get up is to move it away from me first and to then get up in a single, yet very determined attempt whilst holding onto it with everything I have. To top this all, I know there's a hard drive buried in there somewhere, so I have to be a bit docile too when going through all of this.

Really at first it bothered me, but now I see it as good excersice (it's a mind over matter thing ). Someone once said that we pay someone to cut our lawn, we pay someone to wash our car, we pay someone to clean our house, etc. But then we also pay someone so that we can go & move their heavy pieces of metal around aimlessly over at their place & then we call all of this insanity "gym". Which is the same as digging a hole, planting a tree in it, then digging another hole, uprooting the tree & planting it in the new hole and then start all over again.

To top it all, I'm blessed with an very attactive, much, much younger wife. Ha, I cannot for a moment afford to look like something that's ready to embrace the graveyard. There are too many good looking, really talented & professional arranger players like the rest of you guys out there!

We are all a bit silly I guess...

Keep well my friend,

Hennie

Henni,

The Billie Jean stuff.. is so close to the original. If MJ were alive and heard this, then he would start the moonwalk for sure !!
The other manufacturers need to catch up when it comes to the audio stuff

Henni how is Ketron service in south Africa?

Hi Dnj,

I'm not aware of any dealer over here. My friend imported his direct from Ketron four years ago and I recently bought it over from him. I think my Audya is the only one in South Africa. Folks around here are not even aware of it's existence, not even many of the music dealers. (This is no joke, I've experienced this often. They've never heard the name "Audya" before)

For me, this is no issue. I've had various Roland, Korg & Yamaha arrangers to date and not once did I need support for anything. I find EVERYTHING I need not the internet & I've NEVER had any hardware problem yet.

Keep well my friend,

Henni

Hi Jez,

True indeed. Did you notice the ease with which he created that style? And how he copied the audio drums from the intro section only of the actual song?

Also, that Hard Rock song that Robert performs (and sings) close to the end is AWESOME!!! AWESOME!!! AWESOME!!! Well worth the download or listen.

I must get more bandwidth so that I can download ALL his videos over there. It inspires me for sure!!! This Audya is amazing & he definitely gets the BEST out of it! The possibilities with it is endless and only limited to one's imagination...

How I'd like to have Robert as my "Personal trainer"...

Keep well my friend,

Henni

Hi all,

Listen to those guitars. If you like, get more here Be sure to check out "PurpleRock" also.

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

Yes!!!

Now I have it... This tune sounded all to familiar to me.

I just realize now that Martin Harris played EXACTLY the same sequence on the Tyros 4. Do yourself a HUGE favor & compare the two demos. Audya version attached.

I'd like your honest feedback on this after comparison please.

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

Good luck to you Henni.......maybe its time for Ketron to exploit a new dealership in Johannesburg ?

If Ketron do the same practice of undercutting their dealers that they do in the US, maybe that's an explanation of why there are so few dealers?

Hi Diki,

That might very well be so. I know that my friend contacted Ketron on numerous occasions for updates to no avail. In the end AJ responded, but by then I already took it over from him.

So, I cannot vouch for or defend the actions of Ketron. But I can defend their product as I am well pleased with mine.

I feel sorry for anyone with an advanced arranger that's not also a member of some of it's forums. They would not know of any updates or any new stuff being available.

When I took over his Audya, I already had EVERY update available plus everything else Ketron offered for free as I've collected these over the years. I've had my Audya now for little more than a month, & allready I have many thousands of extra styles for it & everything Ketron has for sale for it in the mail to me. And soon I'll have the full AJAMSONIC upgrade too.

One has to be a go-getter to get the best out of one's arranger! He had it for nearly four years with nothing whatsoever added to it.

To end off: When I play my Audya, what comes through the headphones to my ears is all that matters to me. I'm not at all concerned or bothered by the Ketron Italy politics. I'm not a dealer, I'm an end user & I'm really greatful for this great product being available to me. Hopefully it would also last just as my Rolands, Korgs & Yamahas did. And I have no reason to believe otherwise.

Keep well my friend,

Henni

Man,

This is well worth the listen. AWESOME stuff indeed!!!

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

Good Stuff Henni enjoyed listening!

Nice, but I'm not as impressed as you are, Henni. Can we hear some full-on styles being played over by someone with a good right hand (not a factory-assembled piece, either) please, much as we'd expect to hear in a live gig setting? Can anyone point us to some demos of that order, please?

I posted some a couple of years ago.
They are here:
http://www.donmasonmusic.com/AudyaSongs/
They were recorded live on the job. I notice that the vocals and right hand parts are a tad loud, but you can get the idea.
DonM

Hi DonM,

Neither Windows media player neither Cool Edit Pro can play your MP3 files.

Keep well my friend,,
Henni

No problem here with WMP playing the mp3's ... always good to hear you sing and 'pick', Dom ...

They are working fine for me! Not sure what the problem could be.
DonM

Thanks very much for those, Don, don't know how I missed them the first time around. It's always better to hear a keyboard in actual use. Sounds very capable indeed. Man, I shoulda been a country (picker) - that style has a certain something. Thanks, again.

Hi 124,

As far as a "good" right hand is concerned, I unfortunately cannot comply.

However, I've put something together for you. Listen to how I contol fill ins by pressing just a tad higher on my right hand. Also listen how everything changes right at the end of the tune by me simply playing a little more violently with my right hand.

If you want, you can also listen here and/or even here

I play ONLY Gospel & I make no excuse for it.

Keep well my friend,

Henni

Thanks for those, Henni. It's been a bit of an 'aha' moment for me. That is indeed a very real sounding keyboard in all departments, the best I've heard. I can understand your enthusiasm for the Audya. Chances of seeing or hearing one 'live' in these parts - zip, I'm afraid. Thanks again.

Hi 124,

We finally made some live recordings with our Audya today. If you want you can listen:

here
or
here
or
here
or
here
or
here
or
here
or
here

Keep well my friend,

Henni & my lovely Monica

Great sounding recordings!
DonM

Thanks for those too, Henni. I'm always in favour of having the drums right 'in there' in the mix. So often I hear recordings where the drums sound like they're down the road somewhere. Not on these, though.

Hi DonM & 124,

Tx for the replies. We've recorded many more songs. If you want to, you can view and/or listen here

However, this one is especially for you as it demonstrates the Audya's live drums, live guitars & excellent harmonizer in a real good way.

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

Thanks Henni,

Really love all these songs.

They are great !!!!

Henni ... the recordings sound VERY good ...
I am not comparing the KBs, but my ancient technics kn1000 had a feature called Dynamic Accompaniment that did something similar in that it changed how the rhythm was played based on what the right hand was doing ... so if I were doing a more 'animated' solo in a song, the rhythm would become more animated as well ... unfortunately, they did not keep that feature in some of their later models ...

Hi Tony,

Thank you my friend - they were done with me sitting in a recliner, Audya casually on my lap & Monica standing in front of me with the microphone. I never realized recordings could be so easy & what you hear is what you record - AWESOME!!! We are not interested in studio like recordings, but rather in recording live as if we perform in real life.

Yes, controlling the style based on how you play is really an AWESOME feature. But it does take a lot of practice to use correctly. I'm trying to do just that. So far I can control drum fills with my right hand anytime I want - this alone is AWESOME!!!

Now I must learn to control those live guitars in a realistic way. In my example, it's way overdone, but I did it just to show that it can be done.

On most of the styles, the effect is much more mild, what I mean it will change into a strum at more or less the same sound level. This I like as I find this very easy to control.

My AJAMSONIC upgrade will be delivered soon. That includes a new auto guitar strumming feature that can be controlled by playing a chord plus one extra key. I'm really looking forward to this. Plus many of the new styles will come in 32 measures, which makes everything sound even more natural.

I'm still blown away by my Audya on a daily basis, & just about everyday I discover a new & neat feature that makes it even more unique. There are a great deal of features on it which are not overly discussed and as such not even known to many of it's owners. That's why AJ's tutorial video is an absolute MUST have for me!

Yamaha blows every little thing they do right out of proportion as if it's a MAJOR breakthrough - I find Ketron to be just the opposite in this regard.

Buying the Audya was certainly one of the best decisions I've yet made in my life. I have NO regrets whatsoever. There is really nothing about it that anoys me, not even in the least. I find the operating system so user friendly & easy to use and what can be done onboard with the styles is just amazing!!!

@Machetero: Thank you for your kind feedback. We are not even cose to being pro's, but we really enjoy what we do. And I enjoy sharing these with others, although not too many are interested or impressed by our genre of music. However, to us this is a lifestyle and a passion which brings us much joy & much fulfillment.

Keep well my friends,

Henni

Hi all,

I do not mean to bore anyone, but many contacted me personally already voicing their new praises for the Audya based on these, informing me that this was EXACTLY what they wanted to hear - the unedited live & casual day to day use of the Audya at home.

So then, these are links to all our current songs, oldest top, newest bottom, very casually, & I mean very casually recorded direct live to our Audya. It will let you hear what the Audya sounds like in the hands of a novice. a Pro can make ANYTHING sound spectacular, but these recordings will give you an good idea of the day to day sound of the Audya when used in your own home.

Everything improves towards the bottom as I find my feet with this AWESOME arranger as we progress on a day to day basis. Casual live recordings are becoming a real breeze indeed.

here
or
here
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here
or
here
or
here
or
here
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here
or
here


here
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here
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here
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here
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here
or
here


here
or
here
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here
or
here
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here
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here
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here


here
or
here
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here
or
here
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here
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here
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here
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here

here
or
here
or
here

Our AJAMSONIC upgrade should arrive anytime this week, which will improve everything even more...Hard to believe, but true. This is the MOST realistic sounding arranger I've EVER heard!

And I gather from reading between the lines that Ketron is already busy with another MAJOR improvement - either to the existing Audyas or maybe in the form of a new model. These guys will not be caught with their pants down by any other manufacturer! They will ALWAYS be the leaders in this technology.

Keep well all my arranger friends,

Henni

Great stuff Henni!
I love the Audya, but Ketron isn't always on the cutting edge of technology. They still use a Serial-type proprietary connector for the foot controllers. Until the Audya, they still included a floppy disk drive! And the pre-Audya operating system was really archaic, at least up to the Midjay, when they changed to a more windows-like interface.
Musically though, they certainly have it together.
DonM

Just about all the arrangers out there that use multi-switch pedals all have different connectors. This, compared to streaming audio (Yamaha are only JUST exploring this), key triggered phrases, arpeggiators, etc. seems an awfully minor niggle.

What bugs me mostly about the Audya is that, although technologically way ahead of everything else, what it is trying to do needs technology even MORE advanced. Once RAM pipelines are up to speed, and SSD's are leveraged to stream more, and faster, it may become the thing it just hints at now.

But, as I always keep bringing up, unless Ketron develop and release easy to use tools to allow the user to easily import 3rd party loop libraries to be turned into style elements, it is still going to be a niche product. There is a world of amazing loops out there. Ketron obviously cannot make styles fast enough or cheap enough to compete with the huge Yamaha or Roland libraries, and bottom line, it doesn't MATTER what the arranger can do if the style library is so limited that you don't get to use it much.

A simple to use audio styles creator software package would help this arranger get the respect it deserves.

Hi all,

We put all our latest music on a CD recently & I handed these out to some of my friends at work.

One person who is involved in sound & recording, was stunned by the quality of the recordings (note, I'm not saying stunned by our music, but stunned by the quality in which it was recorded). He found it hard to believe that this quality could be achieved by simply recording live direct to the HD of the Audya.

So, another superb feature of the Audya - the recordings are perfect. Just thought I should share this with you all.



Hi Diki,

Don't forget, I can take ANY style, be it converted from another arranger, & then quickly & easily for each different variation, add:

1. Live onboard drums
2. Live onboard grooves
3. Live onboard bass
4. Like onboard arps & licks
5. Live onboard guitars
6. Live onboard user created drums (already being created by everyday users)
7. Live onboard user created live guitars (yes, only these ones are hard to do yourself)

to it. It is hard to comprehend just WHAT this does for the original style. (Don't forget, you can also attach 18 different wav files of your choice, transposed and synced automatically to the rest of the style, to the different parts of any style as demonstrated in a video somewhere in this same thread.

This procedure is so easy & quick to do that even a child could do it. I need no complex style creation software, neither do I need any more audio loops. There are just THAT many onboard ones to choose from...My AJAMSONIC update is with our customs. I'll have it in a day or two. It brings with it hundreds, if not over a thousand additional live professional audio tracks that can be added to the already impressive variety of ones onboard!

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

Yes Henni... it is the full nature of the audio styles that I was talking about, not just audio drums.

The thing is, I'm not talking of taking already created content and adding it to other styles. I'm talking about making NEW styles. One of the things I have noticed about the Ketron 'sound' is a decided lean towards Euro-centric styles and grooves. There's a lot of stuff that either is under-represented or not represented at all with regard to US styles. Now, this isn't surprising, given Ketron's main market is over in the EU, but as audio styles (complete ones, not just drums) are much harder to produce, the speed with which us more 'niche' markets gets addressed (LOL... the US a 'niche' market!) is pretty slow.

There are some pretty amazing loop libraries of guitar picking and strumming, bass loops and other things out there. Being able to easily import them would help broaden the appeal of the Audya, IMO.

The thing about this technology is, the logical conclusion of it is, ALL style parts being audio. But currently, other than the drums and bass, any chordal style part suffers from the streaming not being fast enough to cope with more than three main chord types, and only on the one Part.

All I am saying is, by the time modern computer standards are implemented (those are some pretty dated specs for data transfer compared to a modern computer), this arranger will finally deliver the promise it holds out right now.

I have always said, if the content the Audya comes with suits you fine, it is an extraordinarily good sounding arranger as is. The problem starts when you find yourself doing music it doesn't really address. For instance, I do a LOT of reggae. There is ONE reggae audio style in the factory list. That's not going to cut it for me. No New Orleans type beats, Cajun, and many other local styles.

If it was easy for ME to make audio styles, I could use it. But if the groove isn't already in the arranger, you are out of luck. There are some people making styles for the Audya, but they tend to be of limited use unless you are Baltic or Mediterranean!

An amazing arranger without sufficient CONTENT I can use is of limited value.

Maybe in another ten years...!

Hi all,

Our latest (note, this is in our native tongue) I think it's our best yet, although we need to practice some more... This Audya is AWESOME!!!

Keep well all,

Henni

Hi all,

My AJAMSONIC hard drive is installed. All my 2011 & 2012 updates back in place.

I spent most of the night watching the two DVDS. AWESOME!!! I learned so much. I never knew such complex things could be achieved with the Audya. Too bad the nay sayers cannot watch these DVDs. They'll be impressed to the very extreme...

There are so many, many new styles. I listened to the intro and only bits of each variation of each style. This took more than three hours, there are just that many. Voice selections are excellent!!! I am very much impressed with these new styles. They are of very high quality indeed!

Next I played with the talking choir voices. They have to be loaded into RAM before one can use them. AWESOME!!! I'll find much use for those. There are close to if not more than one thousand three hundred extra complete drum loops. a Great many new live guitar audio sections. No ways to go through all of these in a single day. I'll report back on these after quite some time after I tried them out thoroughly.

Many, many, a GREAT many awesome MP3s, Midis & waves supplied. They will be handy for anyone in the gigging business.

Have not touched the harmonizer as yet. I'm so tired from the lack of sleep that I do not feel to rig up for singing as yet. I'll re-install all my registries & user styles next.

Will give some more detailed feedback later. I am extremely happy with the purchase & it was money well spent. I'll recommend to anyone without any hesitation - go for it!!!

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

Hi all,

This Audya, & especially my new AJAMSONIC upgrade, keeps on blowing me away. Here is just another reason as to why.

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

Hi all,

Composed a little something last night to demonstrate my new AJAMSONIC upgrade. It's so great to be able to create drum fills anywhere by pushing just a little harder on the chords! Hope you like it.

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

Hi all,

Herewith all new(extra) AJAMSONIC styles, listed by genre for Ver 2.0:

BALLAD:
8 Beat Ballad 3
a Folk Ballad
At the Movies
An Old Beat
Electro Ballad
Golden Beat
Home Beat
Hot Ballad

PARTY:
Ethnic 5_4
Ethnic Dance
Ethnic Pop
Ethnic Tropic
Slow East

LATIN:
1 Drop Reaggae_R
a Bikutssi
a Compa Feeling
a Cuba Salsa
a Kazet Party
a Makossa Story
a New Soca
a New Zouk
a Salsa
a Soca Rumba
a Soca Slide
a Soweto Feaver
a Tropical Island
Another Bolero
An Afro Jazz
Banjon Tropicana
Bachata
Cha Cha Slide
Cumbia
Cumbion
Disco Chacha
Makossa 1
Ndombolo 1
Ndombolo 2
New Mambo
African Mambo
Afro Calypso
All Time Cha Cha
Beguine Train
Bolero Uno
Bossa Schlager
Bossano Dream
Cha Cha Man
ChaCha One
Lambada Brazil
Latin Schlager
Live Salsa
Love Samba
Raggaetone
Real Merengue

POP:
a 50's Pop
a 6_8 Pop
a British Pop
a Guitar Beat
a Hip Hop School
a Hip & Hop Mix
a Mega Rapper
a New Rap
a Rap 1
An 8 Track
An Afro Funk
Be Street Smart
Frank's Pop
Hip n Hop
Hip Hop
Hip Today
Midnight Blues
Midnight Dream
Moonlight Up
Our Beat
Phill Collins
Soft Beat

ROCK:
a 60 Blues
a 6_8 Gospel
a Blues Rhythm
a Blues Bro Rock
a Blues to go
a Country Rock
a Gospel Rock
a Gospel Hit
a Gospel_5
a RnB Fusion
a Shufle
a Soul Blues
a Soul Rock
a Soul Train
R&Blues_3
The Soulfull Bro

DANCE:
a 70's Disco
a Boyz2Men Dance
a Cool Dance
a Dance Fever
a Dance Room
a Disco Flavor
a Disco Heat
a Disco Highlife
a Fresh Dance
a Hot Hit
a House Dance
a Progress Dance
a Real Dance
a Schlager Heat
a Trench Tech
a YMCA Dance
An Electro Dance
An Indian Dance
Afro Generation
Ballad Techy
Dance Ibiza
Dance Schlager
Last Countdown

COUNTRY:
a 2 Step Ballad
a Contry Pop
a Country Rock
a Country Surf
a Slow Country
a Soft Ballad
Country Pop

SWING:
a 12_8 Flip Flop
a 5_4 Jazz
a Bepop
a Big Band
a Gentle Ballad
a Live Bigband
a Small Bigband
An Organ Hit
AJ's BigBand
Golden Swinger

R&ROLL:
a 60's Rock
a Rock Ballad
a RockRiffonAll
Rock Horses
Sister rock
Soulful
Downtown

BALLROOM:
Dixie Fox
Fox Trot
French Mussette
Hully Gully
Middle Fix
Moderato
Musette
Pasodoble 3_4
Polka
Tango
Tarantella
Waltz

FOLK:
a Charlston
a Friendly Polka
a Modern Polka
a New Orleans
A New York
a Polka Dream 1
a Ploka Dream 2
a Polka Dreamer
a Polka Fox
a Polka
a Polka Fox Band
Schlager Shuffle

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

Henni.... Oh baby that sounds so good.....
the Audya is certainly one of the best "LIVE" Sounding Arranger KBs on the market today No Doubt!!
glad your enjoying it, I know I am listening here,....
more more more please!!

I have tried a few keyboards with pressure triggered 'whatevers', and I must confess, never got on well with them. I guess I have a pianist's touch or close to it, and I could never stop the 'whatever' from happening when I got into fff passages and started playing strongly!

To keep playing and 'controlling' separate as much as possible, I prefer to transfer to my feet as much of the arranger control as possible. Definitely having all 4 Variations (with auto-fill ON) at my feet relieves my hands (especially my LH) from having to stop playing at least 90% of the time, and in this case, makes sure that enthusiastic playing never accidentally triggers the wrong thing!

I tend to agree with you Diki, most of my arrangers lately have had the capacity to do things with left hand pressure, but it's just one more thing to think about.
I have gotten really spoiled to dedicated foot controllers, on Audya, Korg and Roland. I'm going to have to find one to use with the 950, should I decide to go with it.
I only require 3 or 4 extra switches, to control Vocal Harmony off/on, text page up down, a break/fill or two... I still prefer a larger sustain pedal and occasionally volume pedal.
I'm researching this now.
I'm also researching a VERY small passive mixer, just to have the ability to use an extra mic on occasion, and not use an external mixer. I have a couple I can use, but always on the lookout for something better and smaller.

I must confess, I am a little underwhelmed by Korg's measly 5 button footswitch doohickey. If you think that, at a minimum, you want the Variation/Fill select at your feet, that doesn't leave but the one.

Frankly, I am surprised that none of the manufacturers thinks a 12 button input is a good idea. Imagine something like a Roland FC 200, or a Behringer FCB 1010, but with 12 buttons laid out in a chromatic octave arrangement, and no swell pedals (to keep size down).

Plenty of buttons for full arranger control from the buttons, and as an added bonus, a simple no velocity set of bass pedals if you wanted to kick a bit of bass or hold an ostinato.

Brilliant!

Ketron has a choice of 7 or 13 buttons. I always used the smaller one. In fact I still have it. It is pretty heavy and uses a serial port-type connector you have to screw in.
I like both the Korg and Roland because they are small and light.

DonM

Hi DNJ & all,

Composed another song last night using one of my new AJAMSONIC styles with it's new voices. Hope you enjoy.

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

DNJ,

I gave words to that last song. For what it's worth, here you go:(I like to keep things simple)

I WILL PRAISE THE LORD

When disaster comes
I will praise the Lord
When all hope is gone
I will praise the Lord
I'll remember His Son
And I'll praise the Lord
Be it sunshine, be it darkness
I'll praise the Lord

Hi DNJ & all,

I risk making a nuisance of myself over here. Herewith my latest creation using my new AJAMSONIC upgrade. In future, should anyone want to follow these, then please do so over here.

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

Hi all,

Official AJAMSONIC Audya demos can be found over here.

Keep well al my friends,

Henni

Hi all,

This AJAMSONIC style is so good & outstanding that I'm going to post over here. There are MANY more quality styles in the same class as this one. Here I made extensive use of the "Riff" function. AJ likes to create styles with great riffs!

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

Hi all,

Yet another fantastic AJAMSONIC style. Listen to how I use those fantastic sampled human choir voices in the lower section of the style. I always stated that I have a lot of usage for those. I notice that AJ is beginning to program these into the new styles ala Tyros 4 style, providing much better variation than I can achieve by merely pressing chords.

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

Hi everyone,

Some important additional Audya info. I did not have my facts completely right. She can do more than initially anticipated.

I use "STYLE MODELLING" a LOT!!! It is awesome what can be achieved by it & it is a breeze to accomplish, even on the fly. When done, save either as a new style or simply as a new registry. I prefer the last. However, the choice is yours.

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

Henni,

I love some sounds on the Audya, but those drums are too much could not hear the RH, maybe it's my hearing aids, too much drums are in the ears of the beholder, IMO. post #354189 Hennie03

Where are you spending Christmas Henni?

Tony

On the left hand side there is a slider labelled DRUMS, if you move it towards you the volume magically goes down...amazing these modern keyboards.

TWD,

Yupe my Audya had one of those sliders too, maybe Henni's is an earlier model without the slider...

Hi Tony

Load the style on your T4, have a listen, and you will find why you cannot hear the RH sounds.

BTW it would be great if you could upload an mp3 of it, so that we can hear how the original sounds.

Bill

Hi Tony,

I purely demoed each variation of the style only. Nothing played on the right hand. Did you notice that stunning bass player? I had to do nothing other than to only select him. Did you notice those stunning drum fills at the end of each variation? Nothing to do with me, my drum player does that completely on his own. Need I go on...

I've now already improved 10 or so of my EMC converted styles. They all now sound amazing. However, I'll not bother everyone over here with those.

I just wanted to show everyone how easy MAJOR style modifications could be done direct on the Audya. Simply highlight the part, turn the wheel on each track & listen to what's available & replace with something superior. It's far easier than copy & paste!!!

Keep well my friend, we'll be home for Christmas. We'll braai & swim, me & my lovely wife. Have a blessed time yourself.

Henni

Hi Henni

You’ve spoilt it now; I wanted Tony to find out for himself that there was no right hand playing, ahh well!

As to your modified style, it does still need some work done on it as it is still rather unbalanced and the instruments chosen don’t mix well together. (At least not to my ears)

BTW do you mean you can change the track parts by just touching it or just select a different sound?

Have a good Christmas, and may your Audya serve you well.

Bill

Hi Bill,

You can do one of three things for each track:

1. You can select it, change the voice, volume or all the other normal midi things. The voices can be onboard midi, or INS (the new super solo sampled extra voices), which uses much more RAM. Mine, without the extra RAM, can hold roughly 18 of these voices.

2. You can double click the track. Now you have access to the audio & arps&lick libraries. This applies for EVERY single track. Now you can use the wheel to scroll through the HUGE data base until you find something to your liking. Then you replace the midi part with that. Should you later change your mind, simply double click on it again & your original last selected midi part is back.

3. You can change the effects for each little section above, also different for each part, right on the fly, same as you select the different parts.

You can have audio drums, midi drums and two different combinations of groove drum loops playing either individually, or even together if you wish...

This is AWESOME!!! And so easy, even a child can do it. And remember, ALL of the above apply to every single track of the style, for every variation, fill, break, intro & ending individually. You can have different parts assigned to each one of those seperately. Variation 1 can have midi, variation 2 audio and so on...

I do not believe any other arranger out there can do the same.

Keep well my friend,

Henni

Hi Henni,

Just wondered since you use the same thread most of the time if there is an SZ award for most viewed thread? lol

So,

Why should I use a new thread? This thread is all about my Audya and how impressed I am with it. Should I rather discuss this topic in 20 different threads then... It contains a wealth of information for anyone even remotely considering an Audya.

I like to keep things nice & tidy - can't see anything wrong with that? Rather in future don't read here if this topic does not interest you & we'll all continue to be happy.

Someone once remarked to a brilliant person: "A cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind", to which he replied without hesitation: "Yes, and a empty desk is a sign of a empty mind" I'll leave you with those words...


Henni

I think it may be the "AWESOME" part in the title that may annoy some people. Makes it seem as though you need to reemphasize that a gazillion times a day in perpetuity. I know that it has become more of an informational thread at this point and that's good, but with that title, I'm afraid it's going to be a continuing source of annoyance for a lot of people. Maybe you could get Nigel to change the title for you to something like 'Audya Highlights' or something or maybe just move the whole thing over to the Ketron board.

We don't want to start a dangerous precedent here, like say.....Fran starting an unending thread on how 'awesome' the Roland 'anything' is, or Ian on how awesome the Yamaha (and Tyros4 in particular) is, or Donny on how awesome......Donny is (kidding, guy), now do we? Just saying.



chas

Well Chas,

I think you know for sure that a thread can no longer be modified after a few minutes only. If that was not so, I would gladly change the topic header to something more appropriate.

As for moving it over to the Ketron forum, I think now you are really throwing your toys out of your cot!

Nigel, if you want you can maybe change to something like: "Interesting facts about the Audya" or something to that effect. You choose anything less offensive.

As for me: Quite a few will testify that they've purchased Audyas and even AJAMSONIC upgrades based on the facts that I've listed over here. Not one of those has any regrets for doing so. And no, I received no commission or special favours for doing so. I do it purely because I believe in these products.

So, to the original complaintiff: what have you achieved lately over here? Some have nothing of value to say, but they go ahead & say it anyway... Let me rather stop here now. I also have a nasty side to me if I'm provoked enough.

Henni

Well Henni, I definitely don't want to provoke your 'nasty' side as I'm not ready to 'fly forever' quite yet. I was just trying to point out how it COULD become annoying (the title, that is) if repeated often enough.

Have a nice holiday.

chas