Hi All. Just bought a new Medeli akx10. Saw it at a good price and no tax so I went for it. It looks like a pretty nice board for the price. They seem to be having problems w/ the Pa5x and I couldn't afford it anyway. I'll keep you posted. Bye for now

Can you tell us what your previous arranger was?

We look forward to hearing about this new arranger

Diki, at present I have a Pa4x, Yammie psr s970, Yammie psr SX900, Yammie psr 740, Technics kn7000, Ketron Vega & a broke Pa1x so you can see I desperately need another arranger keyboard. I'm going to put a few of them on the market soon. To tell you the truth I don't play well at all so I need every advantage I can get. I'm a singer/songwriter presently working on a massive project which took a big hit due to my bout with colon cancer described in a previous post to you concerning your recent posts on your surgery. I had been considering contacting you for help about this massive project as you seem pretty savvy about things pf this nature. Get well soon Diki, Gerard.

Hi Gerard,
You definitely do sound like you need another one . Haha.
I have seen the Ketron vs Medeli post, it’s mentioned it’s similar to psrs, does it actually load psr styles? Get the impression it has a style editor and a sampler?? Only reason I’m asking I thought I read somewhere it only has a couple of hundred or so styles, but I could be totally wrong.
A few of the guys over on Korg forum seemed pretty impressed with the specs. The price is incredible. ( low not high😀)

Yeah, thanks for your valuable insight about the colon cancer, Gerard.

Please feel free to contact me about your project! I will help if I can…

rikkisbears. I don't have the board yet it has to be shipped. I understand it has 256 polyphony, 280 styles w/ room for 1000 user styles, 1100 sounds, 750mb of memory etc, etc, etc. I listened to quite a few demos on line and they didn't sound too bad to my ancient ears. I also liked that it has a touch screen and it's set up looks a lot like my other boards so I may not have too much trouble navigating it. We'el see about that after receipt. Diki can I send you a private email about the project?

I just purchased a Medeli AKX10 from ZZounds. They have them in stock. I’ll get it in a day or so.

The thing is, okay, room for 1000 user styles, but is the style format capable of reading other brands’ formats, or need a ton of work even if it can?

Being such a new brand, I doubt there’s a ton of stuff out there yet and little at pro ROM level.

I’d be interested in how good and quick the style header editing is. If Roland had an edge in any area, it was that one for sure. And if you import a lot of off brand and amateur user styles, it’s the area that can make or break whether that’s practical…

And Gerard, yeah, send me a PM. If it’s general advice needed, we’ll take it public, otherwise, private’s fine.

Hi, as usual, don’t think it’s available in Aust. Our mainstream music stores stock Korg ,Yamaha,Roland arrangers. Used to have to buy my Technics thru an appliance store that sold fridges and toasters😕, Ketron last time I checked via what looks to be a factory/storage outlet. Maybe I’ll check the Jewellery store for Medeli🤨.

The only clip I’ve seen on it, is really more of a Ketron Event bashing exercise , rather than a full demo of the Medeli. It sure sounded good, though.

The one thing Yamaha has got going for it are all it’s loyal supporters. The 1000’s of user styles, quite a number are conversions thru the EMC style conversion software. EMC style conversion software seems to have disappeared? must have happened during one of the periods I wasn’t checking forums.

If it can only load it’s own style format, no matter how good it sounds, it probably won’t be a serious contender for Yamaha unless there’s going to be a heap more styles for it. I’m pretty sure it has a style editor , in which case perfect for someone who likes to create or edit.

Gerard, I can’t imagine you should have too much problem with the operating system , the utube I saw , the guy was saying it looks like it’s similar to psr’s .

See if I can find an online manual, enjoy learning about new stuff, even if we can’t buy them🙁

Let us know when they arrive guys😀

I think it wasn’t so much a Ketron bashing thing (I really wish people wouldn’t get their hackles up so much at reviews that point out potential issues!) but more a reality check…

When a new arranger comes out, of course the manufacturer or dealer always presents the absolute best aspects of it front and center, and leaves whatever weaknesses it may have for the buyer (if they like the good stuff enough to buy it sight unseen, as that is all you can do with some of the high end stuff) to discover for themselves.

I think anyone who points out the weaknesses is doing that potential ‘blind buyer’ a great service. Let’s be honest… arranger buyers on the whole tend to be far less technically biased than say synth workstation buyers. They don’t usually read the manual carefully in advance of the purchase (heck, half of them don’t read it after they buy it!) and the only thing they know is what the dealers show them.

For a purchase the size of a used car!

So, some of the less impressive things about a new model REALLY need exposing, so a buyer can make a more informed decision. IMHO it’s not ‘bashing’, it’s just a realty check. I’ve done it myself. The Event is a technical wonder BUT… unless a style has had ALL possible chord types recorded in audio for the audio part of the style, there’s going to be some more or less detectable changes in sounds as it switches from the audio guitars or bass to MIDI substitute phrases for chords they didn’t record.

Some styles come with a lot of audio types recorded, some don’t. AFAIK, there’s no chart out that says which styles have which chord types in audio recorded, and as of yet, as it’s only the dealer doing demos, I haven’t heard a demo where the audio/MIDI substitute thing gets exposed much.

Now, in my mind, I’m not ‘bashing’ the Ketron, I’m just trying to make potential users aware of a potential (and quite important) issue before they pony up a VERY large chunk of change and find the problem when it’s too late. Restocking fees are up to the individual dealers I think, and with a purchase this big, even if the flaw is discovered straight away, may cost the buyer several hundreds of dollars to return the purchase depending on dealer and your country’s regulations.

So, don’t call it bashing. Call it someone trying to save you a ton of money!

One of the BEST! arrangers for the money, I have one, problem is that it's hard for me to learn, because I am not a Yamaha user, been KORGIE all these years.

Hi, if you’re referring to Medeli ,just in General, or something specific .
I have both Yamaha and Korg and Yamaha to me is easier for playing. Ie the features.
I managed to find a Medeli manual, I think maybe for general playing it is similar to Yamaha, ( ie same sort of layout)but when it comes to style recording it appears to differ. Yamaha’s also doesn’t have the sampler.
Does it have its own style format? I gather it doesn’t load Yamaha styles? Is there anyway if editing styles in a Daw. Haven’t found this type of info in manual, haven’t read it all , though.

I carefully read the manual when these first came out. Medeli does not have Yamaha's "AI Fingered" recognition mode, which is the best, the most flexible and most logical, out of all Yamaha chord recognition modes. To me personally, that alone would justify spending the extra money for a PSR-SX900 (or even a used PSR-S970.)

In fact, I don't remember seeing ANYTHING the AKX10 could do in terms of features, or do better than the higher-end Yamahas. I got the impression that they licensed the Yamaha operating system minus some of the most desirable features, and repackaged it in a different case for less money. That strategy never made Radio Shack a major player in the home keyboard market. Sorry to be a bit negative, but what am I missing? What's the big draw here?

Hi Ted, does it just look like a psr or does it load it’s styles too. Couldn’t find anything on that in the manual.

Rikki it's been a couple of years. But I'm pretty sure that the style architecture, the detailed style control parameters and chord fingering modes as described in the manual were identical to Yamaha's. Too much so to be a conincidence. So it's either blatant commercial piracy, or Medeli is licensing elements of Yamaha's OS. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Medeli can use older (Style File Format 1) Yamaha styles. My point is, why not just buy a gently used PSR?

Either the Medeli imports Yamaha style format, or Medeli need to get some PC software to do that super-pronto! There isn’t exactly a plethora of user and third party styles out there, and style fatigue is imho the #1 reason people change arrangers!

It’s a new brand, so easy Roland or Yamaha style import is going to be essential until there’s a few years worth of old Medeli styles available to fill or flesh out the gaps in the ROM styles… 🎹

Hi, the style format appears to be very similar to Yamaha’s, but no guitar mode setting, that I could see. So think as Ted said, possibly ssf1.
Couldn’t find anything on xg sounds, but there was mention of gm2, yamaha styles use xg, so even if it loads them , probably wouldn’t play them with correct drums .
(The manual isn’t as detailed as korg and Yamaha that mentions every single drum sound etc, ) so , hard to tell.
Good part is it looks like you can event list edit factory styles onboard, which isn’t always the case with Yamaha styles even when they’ve been unlocked with third party software. (Some you have to do in a Daw )
The Medeli editing page reminds me of how Yamaha styles are set out , when I used to load them as .mids for converting to Korg. Maj . style tracks channels 9 to 16.
Min. 1 to 8.
Does have the ability to create styles by mixing tracks from style to another.
Couldn’t find anything on being able to edit style in a Daw.

As Diki said they’re going to have to find some way of getting more third party styles.

Worrisome thing is, you'd think that if you COULD import any Yamaha format, they’d trumpet it as a major feature…

Hi Diki, I think you’re right. They mention gm2 not xg. Being able to load yamaha, might be a bridge too far for Yamaha? that’s what Yamaha has going for it, loyal users, 1000’s upon 1000’s of styles. Might turn a blind eye to some of the arranger software around that loads and plays styles, but that’s no threat to them, most people prefer the simplicity of a keyboard, not messing round with vst’s and soundfonts etc.

If everything the video mentioned was TRUE and correct, I would agree with Diki, but since it is not, here is a video showing why:-

Questions and doubts cleared about the new KETRON EVENT:- https://youtu.be/dULXT00bnJM

Yeah, certainly, AJ, before anybody loses their minds, be great to have a point by point refutation of his issues.

Mind you, I did feel some of them were quite legitimate, especially stuff like fewer buttons for style fills, so auto fill is the main way that’s used. Yours is the system that I prefer, and Roland went that way, but Yamaha users (and Korg, I think) have a system where each fill has its own button.

Quite honestly, in normal use, auto fill gives the smoothest most natural transitions, but quite a lot of Yamaha and Korg users create special ‘songstyles’ where each fill is actually a segment of the song, just like the variations. Not being able to call up the fills in any order you want because there’s no panel button for them definitely complicates using them that way.

But anyway, thanks for stepping in and addressing the issues. Good prompt dialog with the manufacturer/distributor and early user reviewers goes a long way to clarifying things. Unless the reviewer comes from a Ketron background, there’s always a certain amount of ‘why is it like this???!!!’ as the reviewer brings their familiarity with a different brand’s OS up against a foreign OS! We all tend to get used to one brand… 🎹

I saw how you deal with addressing the individual fills randomly. Perhaps his issue was simply placement? I know that, for one thing, you spend a decade getting used to a function being close to your left hand (which is having to chord AND run the style control buttons) and now you have a much larger distance between your chord and the button you need, it can get a bit weird.

I went through this when Roland started using touch screens, and panel buttons started disappearing and moved to the center of the instrument on the screen. Maybe that reviewer hasn’t got fully used to touch screens yet? I must say, I’m not a big fan of how so much screen real estate is wasted on pretty pictures on the current SX OS. They haven’t embraced the screen yet for style control, but I must admit, adding that extra distance your chording hand has to move to get to the screen isn’t ideal either.

I’ve always felt a two screen system, one left, one right, if you wanted to go all touch screen (or at least, transfer much of the style control and voice/style selection duties to screens) was probably the most practical (if not the most cost efficient!). Hard enough to hit those fill buttons and get back to the chording when they’re right by the area on the keyboard you play in! Move them to the central screen, much harder…

You don't need 2 screens (Lowrey dropped this) if the screen is correctly sized for use as a split screen, (As Lowrey did on their larger models) plus only needing 1 screen cuts down costs.

Bill

Hi Diki , both Korg and Yamaha have the auto fill option. Sx900 has has 4 variation buttons and the option of having auto fill On or Off.
Korg has 4 variation buttons and 4 fill buttons with the option of auto fill On or Off.

The two screen thing is simply to have each hand move away from the keyboard no more than they currently do. You’ll notice that most button heavy arrangers place the style control buttons VERY close to the left side, and the sound selection and Part selector buttons close to the right. Anything on a central touchscreen forces your hand to move MUCH further than is optimal….

Ideally, you want to be playing as much as possible, so doing much while you play from the touchscreen forces more time not playing. 30 years of refinement in arranger play layout shouldn’t just be tossed away, IMHO. Traditional layout systems took a long time to get where they are now. 🎹