Worldwide the ketron Audya 5 arranger KB very successful yet it still sneaks under the radar for musicians in the know who love that great live sound.. The big two now that Roland is out of the way for TOTL units obviously has a bigger customer base, brand loyalty, service, etc, BUT, it's like the
Aesop's Fable story of the tortoise and the hare race,....
The story concerns a hare who ridicules a slow-moving tortoise and is challenged by him to a race. The hare soon leaves the tortoise behind and, confident of winning, takes a nap midway through the course. When he awakes, however, he finds that his competitor, crawling slowly but steadily, has arrived before him.

If you have an Audya please share your experiences pro;/con...

Personally I have demoed the Audya 5 when it was first released and although I couldnt get one at the time I remain really impressed with it's sound, styles & features. Ketrion Audya 5 remains a VERY Serious contender in the
Arranger Keyboard market.

I dont own an Audya 5, but an audya 4. Thats the module version of the Audya 5.

Why ? ..... Because i personally think it has the best arranger styles available, and those that suite my need.

Long long time, i have tought that one day there would be an arranger synth that would have the best off all worlds. Now i realise how foolish this was. So far i have found that every instrument has its own strenghs, and being a homestudio player the total weight of my setup is of no concern at all. Thats why i have settled for a broad range of instruments.

Korg KronosX 88, great keyfeel, awesome strings, synths and pianos
Roland Vsynth GT2, most versatile hardware Synth.
Yamaha Motif ES rack, vith VL and DX expansion boards (barely used nowerdays)
Roland Integra 7 for their supernatural sounds
PC with 24" touchscreen for running ableton cubase and a wide range of Vst
Ipad.

Anyway, from my Audya in general i only use the styles.. They are on par with the other instruments, but the Audya solo voices dont add much to my total repertoire.

Nice rig, Bachus. Agree with the opinion of the Audya. Good styles (if you dig them the way they are), not so good RH sounds (hear that piano at the start of the first Audya video? Ouch!).

Have you had any success linking the Kronos's loop/arp ability with the Audya's style section?

I got the Karma running in sync with the audya, if that is what you mean, but the audya styles are pretty complete as they are. So you dont need more then one or 2 Karma tracks And Karma is an entire beast of its own, i barely touched the surface of it. Still figuring out how to use it more like an arranger instead of a simple arpeggiator.

I have an Audya76, but essentially the same.

I have owned every major brand, and find my Audya to be far and away the best sounding. The OS is much easier to grasp than Kurzweil and Korg. The keybed is very good for me, second only to the G70. The styles are very good, plentiful, and fully editable.

In this area, the G70 was a little easier, but not as difficult as the Korg and Kurzweil. I must admit that they might be more editable if one can grasp their difficult OS.

I have never had a problem with my Audya, and have taken on hundreds of gigs.

I think the audya are selling better overseas, Europe especially. I think audya would had a larger network of retailers if CMC knew how to handle the distribution of Ketron. I don’t know how the owners of Ketron are not pulling their hair out on how their product is being handled. Well what do you expect when CMC sells ketron and gumball machines!

I have an Audya 5. Its the first arranger I have owned for years. When I was with Hammond I was fortunate to work alongsde some of the best musicians on the planet. The problem is, the more time I spent with musicians the more I hated arranger keyboards - the styles on the PSR8000 I had sounded so tacky. I tried an XE1 too, but I just did not enjoy playing it because of the Midi styles and gave up playing for quite a few years. The Audya was fresh and exciting due to the Audio Styles and is the closest thing I have found to playing with other musicians. Although I appreciate the rest for the markets they are designed for, personally have zero interest in anything else currently available. I don't even touch the Midi styles on the Audya unless its to add live percussion and guitars.

HI, I have the Audya 5, used it many times on stage being a one man band and playing mostly country and rock and party, I also had the ketron SD1 plus and comparing the sounds correct me if I'm wrong here, but the SD1 I thought far out weighed the Audya 5's sound engine, overall though there is a lot more going for you I find when editing with Audya 5,but the one thing that upsets me when editing styles with the 5 is the arranger volume level sliders, wwhat should they be set at when editing to ensure great performance and control, I'm not cutting the Audya 5, I do think it's an excellent keyboard,

I have an Audya 5 now … Just came from an SD1Plus that I had for years. I had several different brands over the years and I agree with all the points that Bernie made. I would add that another reason, for me, is AJ and his generous support.

Here is why:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyKnBCEBvyE

I have had my Audya 5 for at least six years now. No problems at all. I also have had a tyros 2, PSR S950 and now an SX900.also a Korg Havian, and Micro Arranger. All very nice keyboards but nothing sounds as live as my Audya 5.

As much as I love the Auday here's a few cons:

The keys are extremely sensitive. If you make the slightest finger slip while playing chords, you well get some unforgiving results.

Also I do feel that Audya is not a good choice for a nursing home or background music at a restaurant. Too live, so I use my Yamaha for that kind of stuff.

This is probably of no concern to most members of synthzone, but Ketron has very few styles suitable for regional/popular Mexican music. That's why I still need a Yamaha. But Ketron totally kills the tropical Latin styles, but I wish they'd make some more.

Awhile ago I put up an add to sell the Ketron because I really needed money, luckily nobody made an offer and I got back to work so I don't need to sell it anymore.

I'll leave a little sample of something my wife (vocals) brother in law (sax) did a while back with me on the Audya.

Enjoy.

To adjust the 'sensitivity' of chord recognition, to to CHORD MODE and select MODE 2 (more forgiving due to slight delay in recognition - giving player time to make sure). Also play with he VELOCITY curve to choose that which suits you better. Coming from using YAMAHA, the sensitivity is quit different - also due to the semi weighted keys on the AUDYA 5.

Thanks,

AJ

AJ, to clarify... You're advising to use "Fingered 2" instead of "Fingered 1", correct? Can you please post a link where I can download the complete manual? Thanks!!

Yes, Fingered 2
www.Ketron.it
Keyboards
Audya 5