Ketron Gold Pkg.
I have installed the Ketron Gold Pkg. in my SD7 and love all the styles and voices that have been added. The SD7 is simply a great keyboard
and I am so glad I decided to buy one.

If ever you get the chance to demo. one in a dealers store, please do yourself a favor and try the board. It is my main board and I have
a Korg Pa4X also. Compared to the Korg, I prefer the SD 7 for its tone purity and the lovely colored touchscreen. Lloyd

Tone purity?

While i love the sounds of the ketron instruments, i would say they are sampled with some effects like vibrato and such, which makes them sound better but maybe not as naturall (which often sounds a bit sterile)

Sterile yes, sometimes, but on the other hand this sampled vibrato sounds very natural (only repetitive in the long term), whereas the modeled vibrato of Roland SN-A tones generally sounds artificial, as the modeled oscillations of pitch, filters etc.are just not the real thing.

I think this is one of the things Yamaha SA2 sounds a comparable technollogy to Roland SN/A does a lot better...

Ketron sounds deffinately good with the sampled effects in the sound, tough is less flexible compared to the SN/a, DNC and SA sounds....

Korgman5, congratulations on your purchase!

I was wondering if the SD7's sounds are improved over the SD1. I've not tried the SD7, but I have tried both the SD1 and SD5 a few years back. The styles were very live-sounding and realistic, but the individual sounds (those played with your right hand) had a certain "old sampled" sound to them. I could tell they weren't sampled on every note. This made the sound become unnatural very quickly, as I played up and down the keys.

Any idea if they've improved?

Thanks, and have fun with your new keyboard.

I am with Lloyd on this one. I too own both the PA4X and the SD7 and the PA4X is way behind the SD7 in overall sound quality. Also, for me, the SD7 styles are much more suitable for my gigs and there are many more of them to choose from for variety. I have tried to sell the PA4X but have had no takers so I guess those of us who own one better find a way to fit them into our needs.

I also have the Gold Package and agree about the styles and sounds. However, I found an issue with the sounds that AJ is working on with Italy to resolve. After I installed the sounds my registration setups started replacing the sounds I had setup with some of the new sounds of which most were not a suitable replacement for the style. So, right now I have uninstalled the sounds and am waiting for the fix to come my way.

Deane

Hammer,
I am keeping the Korg Pa4X because, like you, selling the Korg is like selling a refrigerator to an Eskimo. Lloyd

Why is it such a problem to sell the KORG being it's so popular?
I would thik it would be more difficult to sell the SD7 vs the Pa4x.

Donny,
Only 2 offers. Both for $2000.00
Ain't gonna happen.
Deane

wow......did you try ebay yet?

Not a fan of ebay. To many charges.
Deane

but, you get a much bigger audience to sell to much quicker eg: 3 day auction .....
just figure in the eBay charges & shipping into the final sale,...good luck.

Deane, That's disappointing to hear, your Pa4x is brand new when you come down to it.

Here in Germany there are special campaigns by Ebay from time to time, during which they limit the sales fee drastically. Instead of the normal sales fee of 10% of the end price, which is huge for a 4,000€ item of course, presently you just pay 10€ per item for up to 10 items. Every time this applies, I quickly put up something expensive for offer. Doesn't Ebay US have such campaigns?

As I've said on many occasions, I love my PA4X. I also readily admit I love the way the Ketrons sound. Life-like and totally realistic... What I did not love was having the SD7 sold to me before it was finished, having numerous promises made and broken regarding when it WOULD be finished, and finally totally giving up after close to six months of not being able to trust it on the job.
Then I was told I couldn't return it. I contemplated hiring a lawyer, but it would have just cost me time and money. I sold it to someone with more patience than I have, and that made us both happy.
Meanwhile I had to buy another arranger I didn't really want because the 4x wasn't yet available. I bought a used 3x (my second one) from Frank and the next week the 4x started shipping! Guess what, I couldn't return the 3x without losing a thousand dollars.
I won't buy another new arranger without playing it in person, or without having the right to return it if I don't like it.
But then I don't plan to buy another arranger anyway. The PA4X is wonderful for live play, it sounds great and I get nothing but rave reviews from my audiences. The price is right, the size and weight are right, and the features are complete. And it works every time I turn it on.
I wish I could justify buying Deane's so I could have one at home and leave one on the job!

dnj.
I agree with you that selling the SD7 would probably be very
difficult but after owning the SD7 for a year I would never
think of selling it.

I am not bashing the Korg Pa4X as it is a very good keyboard
but like Hammer, the SD7 for me has the right sounds and
styles that fit my playing. Lloyd

I'm so glad the SD7 is working out for your needs ......unfortunately for me and others like Don M it just wasn't a good fit for what we do on stage at that time.So sadly we moved on to other things,...I've owned many many Ketron arranger Kbs & modules in the past also.....Good Luck to everyone playing them.
And most of all have fun.

Hi,
On the rare occasion , we've had Free listing days over here.

Must admit haven 't sold anything on. EBay for quite a while, those fees sure have gone up

Gotta have backup, and go pick it up at deans house save shipping too...just sayin'

Hi Don,
Wouldn't that be justification enough, not having to carry it around. Sitting there, ready to go, on the job.

You might actually need both to see you thru , what was it? The next 20 years. Haha

Wish I could justify just getting the one. Still working on him. Haha

I don't need it. I rarely play my kb at home anyway. I've never had an arranger totally fail on the job, although the SD7 crashed and had to be rebooted fairly often, once or twice every night.
The SD7 suited my needs just find, but I totally lost faith in the company as far as support and in selling a product that is ready to use, not in a beta state. I wish them the best though.
I'm only playing twice a week, and if my PA4X ever fails, I can borrow DickieT's; he rarely uses it.
I leave my p.a., stand and lights set up all the time. I bring the PA4X home on Saturday night and take it back on Friday. The valet at the club has been loading it in my Expedition for years. I don't have to do it myself. It's no problem to bring it into the house when I get home.

You got it all worked out Don..... wtg!!

Weight is no problem. I use my little fold up hand truck and it is as easy to transport as my S970 because it is so narrow.

Acomment on the Ketron SD7. After going thru a rough time with
Ketron and the keyboards problems, Ketron finally did come
up with updates that now make it reliable. I believe Deane will agree with me that you can do a gig and not worry about the
SD7 having problems.

Time has healed those early problems and it's not the same SD7 as it was in the beginning. Theres a video from Germany of a
guy (sorry I can't remember his name) that does a concert on
the SD7. One should listen to this as it proves that the SD7
is right there with the best. Just saying, Lloyd

The guys name who plays the SD7 in Germany is Bernie Liwowsky and the concert is in Erfurt. Very good performance. Lloyd

You could be right about what the SD7 is NOW.......this is what we were saying the SD7 should NOT have been released early and just maybe some of the early buyers would still have them,....I don't know if it was a bad marketing move, or if they needed guinea pigs, or whatever, but I hope they learned their lesson and in the future and that goes for any manufacturer to fully test the product before release by a test team of professionals, home players, and technicians who know what their doing months in advance of the release. Don't they see this puts a dent in their reputation?...
and a bad taste in peoples mouth regarding perception returning for future buying? Or is it all about making money and the heck with the end user?....

I think it must be a mixture of being a bit chaotic in their Italian character, having a lack of staff and financial means and being hasty about generating sales.

Hi
Don't think they even sell the sd7's over here. We have one company that sells ketron and as far as I can tell, the most recent models they have on the website is the sd5 and audya.

If they were as readily available as korgs and yamaha's , the new arranger module would definately be worth having a look at,. Doubt I'd ever get to see one,
and if I did, probably in 5 years time .

The player is OK but the playee (the Ketron) is terrific. Why can't Korg capture those kind of styles. Even the drum breaks fit right into the pocket.....endings too. He played a trumpet in one of the songs. I thought it was real, because.......like they say....when you hear all the instruments together they sound AUTHENTIC.

Why on Earth can't Ketron get their act together and push their product. A little financial backing for advertising (and software updating) would put their keyboards right out into the spotlight. Then, like Mr. Trump said, they'll be selling so many of them they'd then be begging musicians to stop ordering 'cause they can't keep up production.