Have had the board for two months now and have not been playing a lot. However I have programmed quite extensively , full registrations in particular, and just now I thought of recording a few diddies by way of experiment. So just improvising and forgive me for the mistakes, but do turn up the amp and see what you make of it !!!!
https://app.box.com/s/gii2a2evue86n0fqv7teytsmvs5un00v

regards
John

John thank you for sharing your SD7 work.
Listening as I sip a cup of morning coffee...
was this all SD7 or a mix between your Korg midi'd together?
What was your main focus with the extensive editing and .
How do you like the SD7 workflow?

keep us posted on your continued progress

take care

Ah!,just as good as I expected,having the SD40. I was torn between the two,but already had too many keyboards.
Thanks for sharing,John.

Donny,

Nope, it was just the Ketron SD7 all by itself !!!
Great board really, only the string sounds ( you know the mellifluous pads that you find on the Korgs) are missing here...
In programming my Registrations I am for maximum alliance between the righthand sounds ( that is the type of sound) and the style involved. Of course I often also alter/tweak the styles to meet with my demands/preferences....Unfortunately the ketron is a rather closed system and less tweakable than the Korgs. I will add some demos with my old Korg PA later on.....
Still the Ketron is a heck of a machine and imho much closer to a real band than for instance the Yamahas, which, incidentally, sound great as well in their own rights....

Bernie,
count yourself blessed with all the boards that you own. And basically with the SDS40 you have exactly the same as my SD7.
But Donny prefers having one board only, have tried in vain to convince him that at least two different arrangers is a blessing for the home player...

regards
John

John thank you for the summation.....having a preference for using only one KB comes from being a gigging KB player for many years...
If you played out for a living which you do not you would see the logic in using a single unit for many transport reasons, setup, speakers, stands, cases, mixers, etc, in & out each job. Plus I can definitely sound just as good using only one KB for sure. After all the KB is just used as backing for my vocals and take the place of a band.That said I admire your persistence in digging in and taming the OS
on the Ketron SD7.
I wish you good luck and good times using it.

Hi John,

I often wish I had kept my SD7. The SD40 is ok too and I enjoy using it for my gigs.

You are right about the real sounding voices on the SD7.

Deane

Hi Dean... interesting as the sd40 & sd7 are virtually the same......
or is it having to hook up a module vs an all in one kb on jobs?..

Is it my ears ? , find the recording very mono and flat ?

I

YOu are right on the first issue. I have been getting used to Mixcraft and this recording was definitely not Stereo, my mistake it won't happen again. I tend to disagree about the latter remark but that may be a matter of taste. Besides it was a quick on the spur of the moment recording which I did not correct in Mixcraft for example by using the EQ settings. But it is a learning curve...

Donny,
as regards the SD40 versus the SD7 I think they are identical but the SD40 no doubt requires some fiddling about with whatever master keyboard you are using. to the best of my knowledge Deane swapped things in order not having to lug about a heavy arranger keyboard to his gigs....
When I was referring to my preference for two boards I was thinking of my situation and am/was under the impression that yours is similar now in that you no longer gig or rarely anyway which implies approaching things differently and thinking about a set up at home. In such instance a double keyboard is definitely an advantage.
I noticed you are going to give the SX700 a try. Fair enough though I do not thing it will fulfull all of your musical needs but if it does all the better. You could hook up this board or any other board you may turn to with an SD40 module but if I were you and assuming your gigging is down to occasional events I think I would go for a Ketron SD (7 or 9) topped with a cheaper Yamaha, Roland or Korg. Just my two cents......

regards
John

John thank you for your insight although a two KB player I can say with confidence I will unlikely be. Good luck in your musical ventures.

Donny,
The SD40 is compatible with the SD7 in terms of the styles and voices but - the SD7 has many live controls that are not on the SD40. The sound is the same but you must do a lot of pre-gig tweaking to make sure all the sounds are balanced. Yes, the SD40 does have some basic control knobs but they are not easy to use live.

Deane

Deane understood so what is the plan a SD9 next? or?

Deane, that’s the reason I changed from SD90 to SD9, it’s of course heavier, but less thing to worry, I’ve tried gigging with SD90, keep reaching for control on the Roland A800, just can’t get used to it🤓🎹

Hi John, thanks for sharing this, I really enjoyed it like I do with all your recordings and compositions.

I love this keyboard. I really do. It's exactly what I though it would be, it's everything else that both Yamaha and Korg lack, that raw live natural sounding feel to it. Don't get me wrong, I also love both my SX900/T4 & Pa1000 equally as much for other reasons, but the Ketron just fills in the rest of the gaps.

If there is just a slight small teeny weeny issue or criticism I have of the SD7, it's that I think it drops notes sometimes because when I change chords it feels that some of the sounds are briefly muted then they re-appear again, breaking the flow a little. Maybe it's because I am not used to how heavy the keys are in comparison as they are heavier than most, they have a similar feel to the Pa1x that I can remember. So maybe it's me because nobody else has mentioned it.

I have thought about the SD60 a lot, but I am not sure it's worth paying that much for it, because I think it is the most expensive keyboard out there? But that doesn't mean it would also be the best. There's hardly any demos or videos or even much info on this keyboard so I certainly wouldn't take the plunge with limited info available.