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.