This is primarily to stop any further hijacking of the PSR thread by myself and Diki!

I was going to post MORE recordings from the Audya purely for Diki's benefit (everyone else seemed more than happy with those posted 2 years ago in the Yamaha vs Ketron shootout by Ian and myself) but I am not sure its worth doing more. Mainly because what Audya owners and their audiences view as a strength, Diki views as a weakness. When Ian and I did the demo's the consistency of Yamaha's styles was very evident, even down to the repeated fret noise in bars 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 etc regardless of chord change. That does not exist in Audio styles with their 8 bar per arranger part styles.

What many fail to realize is that comparing Midi styles to only the Audya's Live styles is only part of the story. Audya still has a roughly equal amount of midi styles so you have a choice. If you do not want the live feel of audio styles then you can use the library of 1000 or so midi styles available both on the Keyboard and free from Ketrons' website. These can be customized exactly as Diki wanted, you can import legacy styles or use a style converter to make us of Yamaha styles (or others).

Hi all,

I am very much into the audio styles. Like stated somewhere else:

I've found that, for each onboard style, by adding i.e:

1. Different Audio drums
2. Different grooves for each variation - started using these & it's AWESOME!!!
3. Different audio bass tracks including their AWESOME riffs for each variation
4. Different loops for each variation for channel 4
5. Different audio live guitars for each variation
6. The ability to have my live guitars change on the fly purely by the way I press my chords
7. Assigning different vocal harmonies & settings to each variation

provide more than enough AWESOME variation for me, done on the fly & then saved as a single registration that also includes the style in the registration.

One simply selects ANY style found, and this forms only the very basis of what can be created. I can take the very same style, change all the above and you will not believe for the life of you that it started off by being the same style. The same can be done for any midi only style. I hardly use any onboard style as is anymore because of the ease I can create all the above with. And I become better at this with every style I change. Best part is, that whilst using this live, I can make more changes on the fly and simply re-save the registration before playing the next song. AWESOME!!! AWESOME!!! AWESOME!!!

To top this all, the AJAMSONIC upgrade adds another 850 audio drum loops, many, many new AWESOME live guitar loops plus all of the Tyros 4 equivalent human choir voices (not even included in the new Yamaha S950). Plus, Sokratis made available all the awesome SD series drums. I can NEVER be bored with the audio styles coupled with the powerful onboard audio style editor.

Really, one CANNOT appreciate all of the above and it's effects without having the Audya at least for a week or so. And be sure to know what can be accomplished on it before you start to take it for a week long test drive - there's just so many things to explore during this week.

And as Tonewheeldude correctly stated, if you do not like the audio part, you've still got a top of the line midi arranger with more than enough midi stuff to keep you very, very, very busy indeed!

It's a win win situation, anyway you look at it!

Keep well all my friends,

Henni

Can we change the drum kit of any style to an audio kit on the s950

The audio based styles will never allow the level of detailed editing possible in Midi Styles.

As mentioned above, if its best of both worlds in the same arranger then its awesome. There are many other considerations to gigging with an instrument.. but thats another topic altogether.

Hard to pick in this shoot out, and if the keyboard manufacturers provide the same style in both formats then
For Sound => Audio style can put the midi style to shame for the realism and live feel.
For Editing and quick seamless changes => Midi styles definitely has the lead.

Rolandfan, perhaps you can start a new thread for the S950; otherwise its like a hijack into a No-Hijack zone No ill-feelings .. just to retain the topic.

Warm Regards,
Jez

My only reservations about audio loops in styles comes about BECAUSE of their strengths... not because of their weaknesses.

There is no doubt that the realism of most of the audio styles is head and shoulders above most of our CURRENT MIDI arrangers. But that is precisely the problem! If you can't get audio styles in genres that you want to use, you are back to using MIDI styles. And a poorer comparison. Again, all I can say is, if the MIDI styles in the Ketron (and the rest of our MIDI arrangers) aren't noticeably inferior, what's the POINT of the feature? And if they ARE, then style production and editing IS a problem. I have always said... if your needs are COMPLETELY covered by what the Ketron comes with (or covered by the AJ additions), you are good to go.

But, in all fairness, how many of us buy an arranger, and ONLY use the styles it came with? Not many, I would hazard a guess. And here is where audio arrangers have a distinct weakness. Your vast collection of older styles you have used for years, your growing library of style converted from other arranger's styles, your collection of favorite user created styles... NONE of these are going to compare as well to the audio styles.

But... if arranger manufacturers concentrate on using new technology (SSD's, fast RAM etc.) to simply give us MIDI drum kits, and guitar samples, better amp simulators (for realistic overdrive guitar parts) and accurate guitar modes, then all your OLD styles and SMF's get the same boost in realism that the NEW styles get.

This is the main objection to the Ketron (and new Yamaha) systems. It's not that they don't work. It's not that they don't sound great (however, I'm sorry, but mixing and matching audio and MIDI for guitar parts still makes no sense - if you can't tell the difference, why use it? and if you can, then there is work to be done). It's that they are not supported to the degree that MIDI arrangers are with regard to new styles, new genres, and legacy styles.

I don't get it. Please illumine me.

The audio quality in a program like Real Drummer is fantastic, and these drums are triggered by MIDI events.

What is wrong with having a fantastic audio sample that are MIDI generated? It's been years that this can be done on a computer, and it shouldn't be so difficult for it to implemented on a stand alone keyboard.

I would much prefer a several fantastic sounding drum kits on the keyboard that can be substituted in all my current styles than a slightly better audio recording that only comes on 25 styles and that I will have to spend $20 per style in the future to have Audio Drums. It's a no brainer.

Hi ,
only audio styles I've had anything to do with are in Band in a Box, and they sound great. Unfortunately they can't be played in real time like styles on an arranger.
I was able to use some of the drum audio loops in my PA800 for styles. Sounded good , but with the limited ram, I gave up.

NO in the S950.

YES in the Audya