+10. Ian is spot on with his observations.

Had there been a Pa4X show up by now I might well have gone for it. I was about to say it would've been a significant upgrade which, vis-a-vis the Pa1x it certainly is in many respects. But on further thought and in the context of day-to-day gigging, my Pa1Xpro is well adequate. I don't need anything further than what my 1Xpro already admirably does.

Its amazing how people get so complacent when there's not much going on regarding arranger kbs....but, the minute even a hint of something new pops up its head the BBs explodes into anticipation and expectations.....then all in the past is thrown aside eagerly yearning for the latest and greatest offerings,....
nothing wrong with that it's human nature to be curious.......

That said all I'm interested in is "NEW FEATURES".... NOT sounds & styles which are in abundance & not needed.

the problem with Ketron nobody has it here in So Cal no see no buy ?????

There are also not many (if any) in South.Africa, yet I'm enjoying mine daily. Never had any regrets!

Just saying...

Henni

Ha ha I've been having the best touch screen in the business since 2000 and it still works. The best sequencer too in the business with copy and paste.

Perhaps they should rebuild the Korg i30 and just put newer sounds for all of you sound freaks here. Ha ha has!

I thought that old i30 was powered by steam....

Still got mine too, Boo. Yep, steam Ian, fired by Cape Breton coal!

There are many additional features that could be added to arrangers but I think it's a case of milking the current standards to death. The Big Three i.e. Yammie, Roland and Korg have so far refused to up the ante regarding polyphony on arrangers. The SD7 has 128 note polyphony even though manufacturers know for a fact that note drop off can and does occur on keyboards with 128 note polyphony. Why are they still stuck in the 20th century when it comes to polyphony? The simple answer, to me at least, is that they continue to "milk" an otherwise obsolete standard for all it's worth even though musicians of all stripes have begged them to increase the polyphony for the last decade or longer.

USB 3/3.1 is another new standard that continues to be ignored by keyboard manufacturers. Much to the chagrin of keyboard players I might add too. Ketron had the initiative and foresight to increase the polyphony on the Audya but there is no Audya 2 waiting in the wings as far as I know. 256 note polyphony is a must for today's full featured keyboards and especially for full featured arranger keyboards which eat up polyphony real real fast. But to this day the Big Three continue to rest on their laurels when it comes to polyphony, which makes you wonder whether the Big Three are more concerned about themselves or the actual customers they're supposed to represent who in this case are being ignored basically. It seems they are more concerned about themselves i.e. their own bottom line rather than the needs and wishes of consumers who without them would not even be in business in the first place.

It appears the SD7 does NOT have a Sequencer which is kind of disturbing. A sequencer is a necessary feature for an arranger in my opinion. I was hoping it would have a Sampler at that price but it's surprising it also lacks a Sequencer too apparently.

Arrangers could also utilize new storage technology such as SSD (solid state drives). That way you could stream live content, such as VSTi's (virtual instruments) for sounds and even videos which could then be routed to an external source during live performances. Audio Drums and audio Styles are nice but having the ability to stream live content could revolutionize the industry even as the Korg Kronos/2 has recently demonstrated. But alas the Kronos is not an arranger obviously and so far Yamaha, Roland and Korg (and Ketron) seem quite content not to rock the boat when it comes to their arranger keyboard lines. Oh well..

Indifference probably plays a part in the scheme of things but overall I'd have to say it's more a matter of "milking" something to death before they finally decide to rise to the occasion to provide consumers the features and functions they've yearned for, in some cases, for decades to acquire, but continue to get the stiff shoulder which is truly unfortunate.

Having said that I still think the SD7 is a reasonable choice if you don't already own a higher-end arranger. The sounds are really nice but obviously the price is kind of steep plus it doesn't have a sequencer as far as I understand which could be a deal breaker for a lot of people.

All the best,

Mike

I have not run out of polyphony in the past 15 years or so, so it is not a factor for me. There are different ways of allocating the notes regarding priority, so maybe they have gotten better at that as well.
I suppose if you layer multiple voices, leave the sustain on, use busy styles, etc., all at the same time you might run out of notes, but I don't do that.
Solid state drive is in my Korg PA900.
Solid state drive is available for Ketrons.
My USB drives work instantly for what I use them for. I don't interface with PC except to transfer files, and I most generally do that by taking the USB gizmo and plugging it into the computer.
I think the "big 3" in arrangers will have to move on without Roland, at least for now. They have no current top of the line arranger, and the BK9, although very good, has many limitations. If there is a big 3, then Ketron is the third, and smallest of the companies.
If one is primarily interested in home or studio recording, using VSTs, multiple layers, multiple recording tracks, etc., then probably the best way to go would be computer software.

I have never run out of polyphony on the Tyros4 and I use layered sounds and custom styles revoiced with lots of pads, mega-voices, and SA/SA2 sounds, especially for my Freestyle styles.

I guess it is possible, but so far, not a problem, even when using multi-layered RH and a LH sound.

Back in the old 64-note poly days (my old PSR-8000) it was an issue for sure, but as DonM says above, they seem to have got better at allocating voices.

Ian