Topic: New TOTL Arranger from Ketron

[musicman01]

What attention to a self-playing keyboard, is that what you want???
A good advice! buy some cd's and you will have almost the same!!!
My opinion is, you buy a keyboard to play yourself, and not let it play.
What are musicians still needed for??

[Jeff Hollande]

What attention to a self-playing keyboard, is that what you want???

Did not know it was a " self playing keyboard " ! 
Sorry, I do not know what you mean.
Plse advise. Thanks JH

[soundphase]

Did not know it was a " self playing keyboard " ! 
Sorry, I do not know what you mean.
Plse advise. Thanks JH

Hello Jeff

In the Ketron/Event sax demo you promoted on another current thread (PA5X one), the player didn't play the main sax part, but the piano accompaniment part.
That's also a "self playing keyboard" for me.
And I'm not interested at all.

Regards
Soundphase

[Jeff Hollande]

Thank you very much, Soundphase, for your reply.
Now I understand what has been meant.

BTW, it has never been my intention to promote the Event.
I only was interested in John's ( UK ) comments and impressions.

For many reasons the Event will not be my next arranger keyboard.

Best wishes, JH

[mikf]

Soundphase - you have completely the wrong end of the stick here. The video you refer to was to demonstrate the quality of the voice on the Event, not that the Event is a self playing keyboard. Doesn’t matter whether it’s a midi or a style part or some other function that lets the keyboard play automated parts, the voice quality is the same, so it demonstrates it well. And neither was it posted by Jeff.
The Event is no more a self playing keyboard than any other arranger. They all have some capability of playing parts or even  full songs ‘by themselves’ either by styles, midis or other features. But their primary purpose is to be played. I assume you already have an arranger which has some or all of these features, so some level of self playing, even if you are driving. That’s what arrangers do. 
Mike

[Lee Batchelor]

Agreed, Mike. I assume the Event has a mixer where parts can be lowered or turned off. Some of the Genos styles have equally "busy" backgrounds, which can be tempered to nothing.

[ugawoga]

Hi
Put VST with Genos and it blows the cobwebs off off anything

[soundphase]

Soundphase - you have completely the wrong end of the stick here. The video you refer to was to demonstrate the quality of the voice on the Event, not that the Event is a self playing keyboard. Doesn’t matter whether it’s a midi or a style part or some other function that lets the keyboard play automated parts, the voice quality is the same, so it demonstrates it well. And neither was it posted by Jeff.
The Event is no more a self playing keyboard than any other arranger. They all have some capability of playing parts or even  full songs ‘by themselves’ either by styles, midis or other features. But their primary purpose is to be played. I assume you already have an arranger which has some or all of these features, so some level of self playing, even if you are driving. That’s what arrangers do. 
Mike

I don’t like arranger demos where the player is not playing the main melodic part and the chords I hear. I always think someone is trying to deceive me.

I’m fully Ok when I see a computer is playing preprogrammed sequences.

So, using the style is ok, using the chord looper is really « my personal limit ». It’s an opinion. No more.

I understand other people disagree. But I wonder why they choose an arranger and not a sequencer with VSTs. They would have better results and it would be less expensive than a Genos.

As far as the sax sound is concerned, I think the Genos is currently able to reproduce the same result by carefully using the good midi messages in any sequencer.

I think Artificial Intelligence will help « normal players » to get such results « manually » in the future.

[Jeff Hollande]

Hey Guys :

Received a message this morning the Event/Ketron ( 76 n ) would cost approx. US$ 4,999.-- and supposedly available for sale in December 2022.

Hopefully time will tell soon if this news is fake or true.
Do not shoot the messenger, please. 

Best regards, JH

[Gunnar Jonny]

Received a message this morning the Event/Ketron ( 76 n ) would cost approx. US$ 4,999.-- and supposedly available for sale in December 2022.

https://audioproct.com/ketron-event-76-key-flagship-arranger-keyboard/?showHidden=true

[Jeff Hollande]

Thank you very much, Jonny, for your link that confirms the content of my message of this morning.

The Event looks to be an impressive arranger keyboard with ( too ? ) many " frightening " features and/or applications ?
Best regards, JH

 

[jugge]

This guy is using both Genos and a Ketron SD90 and have some comparison videos between the two.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2bFH7ms9A4

[Jeff Hollande]

Hey Jugge :

Thank you for this link.

Never seen/heard such a weird presentation/comparison. Sorry.
I do not know what to say.

Best regards, JH

[mikf]

The guy presents badly, talks too much, repeats the same points over and over, …but…cutting through all that it does show a very neat editing ability on the Ketron, and it’s definitely a step ahead of the Yamaha.
Of course, it makes little or no difference to many - maybe most - arranger players, who don’t want to do this kind of editing anyway. They just want to select and play.
Mike

[keynote]

Here's a new demo from the Ketron Event - Soft Rock. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJpONy1_rx4

Sounds very good to me. Being able to have a different intro and ending when using a different key with the same Style is interesting.

Best regards,
Mike

[usaraiya]

Listening to these short demo clips is fascinating to know its superb sounds, but I cannot find a full review of the KB, which would be great to get to know the ins and outs of it.
MSRP $6000, street price of $5000 is quite sobering.
 
Uday

[Lee Batchelor]

Listening to these short demo clips is fascinating to know its superb sounds, but I cannot find a full review of the KB, which would be great to get to know the ins and outs of it.
MSRP $6000, street price of $5000 is quite sobering.
 
Uday

Agreed on the price. I'm definitely waiting to hear Yamaha's response. Arrangers are getting way out of some peoples' price range. They used to be pricy but within grasp. I'm starting to wonder if my current Genos will be my last arranger. All I need is for Yamaha to fix my registration issue 👿!

[keynote]

The Ketron Event will cost $5,000 here in the USA, and it will apparently be available in December in some countries. I really like the Event, although it apparently doesn't have Seamless Sound Switching/Transition, but of course the Pa5X does. I would rather have a Joystick than wheels, by the way. Since I already have a top-of-the-line arranger i.e. the Genos, I would be interested in a Ketron Event 'module' if Ketron makes one. The module should be more moderately priced too. PS: The Ketron Italy website is unreachable currently, so perhaps Ketron is doing maintenance and updating the website with hopefully comprehensive information regarding the Event including specifications since the Event is now listed on the Thomann Germany website. https://www.thomann.de/fr/ketron_event.htm?shp=eyJjb3VudHJ5IjoiZnIiLCJjdXJyZW5jeSI6MiwibGFuZ3VhZ2UiOjR9&reload=1

Here is a recent YouTube video talking about the Korg Pa5X and the Ketron Event.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnTt3vNUXhk

UPDATE: There is actually specifications regarding the Ketron Event on the Thomann Germany website link. I noticed the Event has 216 note Polyphony which is a lot better than the 160 note polyphony of the Pa5X. Better yet, I'll just add the info from the Thomann website.

Ketron Event Entertainer-Keyboard, 76 semi weighted touch responsible keys with aftertouch, 464 voices with 3 independet sounds each, 62 drum kits + 580 live drums, dual/layer, split, more than 400 styles, 4 banks with unlimited registrations, polyphony: 216 voices, 7" touch screen display, 15 sliders with LED indicator, 8 potis, pitch bend and modulation wheel, audio & midi Recording, audio player with 5+1 mulitracks, 2 separate player units, effects: DSP (reverb, chorus, flanger, overdrive, distortion, tremolo, autopan, equalizer, and more), 3-voice vocal harmony, 240 GB SSD (80GB for system), SD-Card slot (up to 512 GB), 1 GB user sample storage,bluetooth audio (input), WiFi network remote control via Ketron App, connections: main stereo output (2x 6.3mm jack, L/R + R), aux 1 & aux 2 (L/R), headphones 6.3mm stereo jack, sustain pedal, volume pedal, footswitch, Midi In1/In2/Out/Thru, line in L/R (2x 6.3mm mono jack), microphone input 1 (XLR), microphone input 2 (6.3mm jack), 2x USB to Device, USB to host, HDMI Out, dimensions (W x T x H) in mm: 1140 x 365 x 125, weight: 14.8 kg, color: black

No Seamless Sound Switching/Transition mentioned, so that's somewhat disappointing. All in all, it seems to be a great option for consideration.

All the best,
Mike 

 

[usaraiya]

http://ketronamerica.com/dealers.html

This website lists multiple dealers of Ketron in the US including 2 in Canada.
This may be useful information to some.

 

[Lee Batchelor]

http://ketronamerica.com/dealers.html
This website lists multiple dealers of Ketron in the US including 2 in Canada.
This may be useful information to some.
 

Thanks. I didn't think we had any dealers. The one in Niagara Falls is about 2.5 hours away from me.

[ugawoga]

This keyboard has my attention 

[mikf]

Well, dont get carried away, they made a decent looking list of dealers, but look at it in detail and you see many of the states are covered just by a bloke who plays a Ketron, not what I would think of as a a real keyboard dealer. I met one of the 'dealers' in Texas, and he was just a bloke responding from his house, and when I heard him play he sounded like my granddaughter who is just learning. Not an impressive company image.
I dont want to knock Ketron because it is a nice product, but their distribution and support network in North America seems very embryonic, and has been that way for many years.   
Mike

[Jeff Hollande]

Have you heard/seen this video ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxYRuchkqw4

JH

[Lee Batchelor]

Have you heard/seen this video ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxYRuchkqw4
JH

Great sounds. That's not the Event though. He's likely a good player. Just wish he'd actually play something. Thanks for the link, Jeff.

[Jeff Hollande]

Hi Guys :

Finally we hear/see more about the Event's features and applications.

In these videos ( links below ) this gentleman ( of the Balkan region ? ) is explaining the various features and applications of the EVENT.
Some Yamaha Genos' and Korg's PA4X comparison.

It might be useful to know this man confirms there will be an EVENT MODULE available next year ( 2023 ) with the same features of the Event 76n.

Apparently there will come a 61n Event version - with less features - but it will be called differently.
I understand the 61n will have another brand name.

LINKS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_W8ozk2ZhM.
Some corrections/additional information : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8zOFRps0PQ

Have fun !
Best wishes, JH

[mikf]

No sound samples in this video but a lot of information on its capabilities and advances. I took three things from this.
1. This keyboard is heavily designed to meet the needs/ dreams of live playing pro musicians rather than easy operation. Some of the features seem quite groundbreaking, although we have no idea from this video how well they actually work. But the big trade off is that all these features complicate the operation quite a bit, buttons everywhere, but good live control potential. Good gigging players will like it though because they are better for live control than having to go deep into menus to make changes.
It appears to me that both Ketron and to some extent Korg are targeting a different market segment than Yamaha, less of the home hobbies/ learner. That intermediate player or learner is a big slice of the arranger market, and I think Yamaha is dominant there. Maybe Korg are covering both bets a bit, but Ketron seems all in for the gigging player.
2. From what he says seems Ketron have concluded what became clear to Yamaha on the Tyros ….ie most people won’t choose a 61 key at almost the same price as a 76. So likely they will go the same route as Yamaha, the 61 key version will have less features, different branding and bigger price differential, a la Genos versus SX.
3. They are having same issues as Yamaha and Korg actually getting product manufactured and into the market.

To early to draw conclusions, but for what it’s worth my initial reaction is that this Ketron keyboard is not going to seriously dent the Genos or whatever Yamaha do next, nor would they expect it to. Ketron doesn’t have the market presence, or support and it is a more intimidating looking keyboard than the Genos or most Yamahas, so has less appeal to the intermediate player. But it is impressive on paper, and the gigging players with Yamaha arrangers might be liking what they see.
Mike

[Jeff Hollande]

Thanks for your interesting comments, Mike.

I wonder who might be interested in buying an Event Module next year ?
When I go back to their Audya4 ( Module ), the price difference was
small and the sales was low compared to their Audya5 ( keys ).
I guess their Event's pricing might be comparable, who knows.

I think you are right about their future 61n marketing policy.

Regards, JH

[Lee Batchelor]

Yes, excellent all around guys.

Ketron has two hurdles with which to deal: 1) Supply chain issues (as mentioned) and 2) Distribution. They can have the "best of the best" arrangers on the planet but there are about 360 million potential customers in North America but barely a handful of dealers. If they can survive on the European and Asian markets, all the more power to them but I'm old school. I need to audition a keyboard for hours before buying. I refuse to drive hours on one direction looking for a dealer who likely knows nothing about the keyboard. Buying a Ketron won't happen very often in Canada and will be difficult in the U.S.

[Jeff Hollande]

You are absolutely right, Lee.

Their worldwide distribution and their after sales' service have always been a serious issue.
Will that change soon ? Hard to believe, I guess.

In Europe Ketron most musicians know some of Ketron's products but I have no idea how important their market turnover is.
I have no clue how active they are in Asia but it would surprise me very much they are well known in this part of the world.

BUT ... IF the Event would become an attractive arranger keyboard for many pro giggers ( like you ) and home players, there might be found dealers in the USA and Canada.
Wishful thinking, I guess. 
Perhaps, our friend SOCRATIS, ( member of this PSR Tutorial Forum and one of Ketron's present Event's developers ) could tell us how Ketron's worldwide distribution strategy will look like.
I am afraid he will never answer this question due to his employment contract obligations.

Best regards, JH

[mikf]

I think he will not answer this question because he doesn’t know. He is a contract ‘outside’ development engineer, probably working on specific design issues and unlikely to be in the know about Ketron business plans.
Mike

[Sokratis1974]

You are absolutely right, Lee.

Their worldwide distribution and their after sales' service have always been a serious issue.
Will that change soon ? Hard to believe, I guess.

In Europe Ketron most musicians know some of Ketron's products but I have no idea how important their market turnover is.
I have no clue how active they are in Asia but it would surprise me very much they are well known in this part of the world.

BUT ... IF the Event would become an attractive arranger keyboard for many pro giggers ( like you ) and home players, there might be found dealers in the USA and Canada.
Wishful thinking, I guess. 
Perhaps, our friend SOCRATIS, ( member of this PSR Tutorial Forum and one of Ketron's present Event's developers ) could tell us how Ketron's worldwide distribution strategy will look like.
I am afraid he will never answer this question due to his employment contract obligations.

Best regards, JH

Hello.
This information does not conflict with the NDA that I have signed, but I am not in a position to know because I have absolutely nothing to do with the commercial department.
I will try to find out though, although I don't know how soon I might have an answer because these days the whole factory in Italy is very busy with the production and completion of the Event project so that it will be ready for shipment in early December.
However this is the distributors in accordance with site of Ketron https://www.ketron.it/en/distributors
I don't know if the list has been updated but it's not hard to find out.
Thanks.

[Jeff Hollande]

Hi Socratis :

Many thanks for your fast reaction. Very much appreciated.
Impressive list though.

Looking forward to receiving your answer(s) soon .

Thank you.
Best regards, JH

[Lee Batchelor]

Thanks for the list, Sokratis1974. There is only one distributor in Canada and one in the U.S. What's more important is a decent dealer network. There are none in Canada as far as I can see. We can't audition one from a distributor - I don't think.

[rphillipchuk]

There are none in Canada as far as I can see. We can't audition one from a distributor - I don't think.

That is stopping me from purchasing.... I have been in touch with AJ ....I have did the math and it would be $7600 Canadian with taxes..and probably another $250 for Customs.     So approximately $8000.00 Canadian all in !!!!    WITHOUT TOUCHING THE KEYBOARD.... + 20% restocking fee........

I need to play one before spending that kind of money !

[Lee Batchelor]

That is stopping me from purchasing.... I have been in touch with AJ ....I have did the math and it would be $7600 Canadian with taxes...and probably another $250 for Customs.     So approximately $8000.00 Canadian all in !!!!    WITHOUT TOUCHING THE KEYBOARD.... + 20% restocking fee........
I need to play one before spending that kind of money !

Agreed. That price is nuts. I'd wager Genos 2 won't get that high.

[Duffy]

Ketron Event price in UK £4249
Full details now on Ketron UK site

[Jeff Hollande]

Hello Canadian Friends :

Paper is patient.
I absolutely agree with your concerns about purchasing a Ketron/Event in your country.

It is very risky to buy blindly such an unknown and expensive arranger keyboard in a region where this brand/model is barely to be found.
There is no musician in the whole world who will order a not thoroughly tested expensive instrument.

IMHO it might be wise to wait for the new high end Yamaha ( Genos2 ? ).
If it takes too long before Yamaha will launch a Genos'successor or ... if you do not like it ... there is now a very good Japanese alternative, at a reasonable price, right ?  

Best regards, JH

[ton37]

Keytron Event in Europe/ Benelux, €4849,- (delevering 3 weeks) as the Genos 1 costs €4248,- (on stock)

[Jeff Hollande]

Thank you, Ton, for this interesting local Event's price information.

I wonder if there are still musicians who have the intention to buy a brand new Genos now, at the present unit price ? 
As soon as the world will know when the new high end Yamaha arranger will be launched ( or maybe sooner ? ) we might expect there will follow a Genos price advantage
to get rid of Yamaha's and/or dealers ' remaining stock.

Best wishes, JH

[Lee Batchelor]

Hello Canadian Friends :
Paper is patient.
I absolutely agree with your concerns about purchasing a Ketron/Event in your country.
It is very risky to buy blindly such an unknown and expensive arranger keyboard in a region where this brand/model is barely to be found.
There is no musician in the whole world who will order a not thoroughly tested expensive instrument.

IMHO it might be wise to wait for the new high end Yamaha ( Genos2 ? ).
If it takes too long before Yamaha will launch a Genos'successor or ... if you do not like it ... there is now a very good Japanese alternative, at a reasonable price, right ?
Best regards, JH

Great advice, as usual Jeff. I'm still willing to wait for Yamaha to reply with Genos 2. Meanwhile, despite the shortcomings of my Genos, it still works and sounds great. It's not like I can't gig anymore until Yamaha figures out my registration issue, which I doubt they will. I haven't heard from my support guy for two weeks 😣.

[Jeff Hollande]

Hello Lee :

Let me first thank you for your critical, realistic and very positive comments as far as the Genos is concerned.
Your arranger is your much needed tool to guarantee your daily income. For us, home players, our arranger is a hobby. Two different worlds.

When a new high end competitive arranger is presented on the internet, like the PA5X and the Event, most of us are reacting differently : critical -, positive - and negative impressions.
After the first impressions, we want to know much more about their new baby and we are comparing the differences between the new competitive arranger and our Yamaha : features, novelties, appearance, quality, applications etc.
Yamaha's competitors have very good products but they are different than ours.

BUT finally ... generally, many of us have decided not to go for a competitive arranger keyboard. We are buying an other Yamaha again and we all know why.

For more than 20 years Yamaha is the global market leader. That is a fact.
Of course our keyboards have shortcomings. All arrangers have their pros and cons.
And of course Yamaha must stay sharp and continuously improve their products to keep their #1 position.
It is our duty to keep Yamaha sharp, right ? 

Even our competitors are always comparing their arrangers with ours.
They do not even hide their deep respect for Yamaha's reputation. See all video's on YouTube.
I am also respecting Korg and Ketron, nice new arrangers, but ... I prefer Yamaha.

Best regards, JH

[Lee Batchelor]

Thanks and good points, Jeff.

The one Golden Egg we Genos users have is, the competition has shown their hands early in the card game (using a poker analogy). Yamaha knows what they're up against. They are also experts at reverse engineering a competitor's product. If the Genos 2 is delayed by 6 months or a year so Yamaha can surpass the competition, so be it. We Genos users will be the beneficiaries of that technological gain, assuming Yamaha can achieve the desired results. I have faith that they can.

[EileenL]

When you are spending a lot of money you want to know what the company you are buying from has in the way of Tech support and after care services. We all know that Yamaha are top notch at this.
 In the past I had very poor service from Korg and had to get in touch with the Managing Director to get my faults put right. I did not keep my Korg long after that.
 Have never had dealings with Ketron and feel I don't want to risk dealings with the unknown.
  I always say better the Devil you know than not.

[ugawoga]

When you are spending a lot of money you want to know what the company you are buying from has in the way of Tech support and after care services. We all know that Yamaha are top notch at this.
 In the past I had very poor service from Korg and had to get in touch with the Managing Director to get my faults put right. I did not keep my Korg long after that.
 Have never had dealings with Ketron and feel I don't want to risk dealings with the unknown.
  I always say better the Devil you know than not.

Hi Eileen
Today i listened to the Ketron up against the Genos  and  Sandra my other half immedietly said that the Ketron sounded to sharp.
The Genos sounds a lot mellower than the Ketron.
I remember when you said that my songs sounded sharp and that as i have found out was due to missing low mids.
Now i have found a program called AB Metric which compares your song to the original and you can match between  sub, lowmid, highmid, bass and high.
After the ears get used to soloing each frequency you are in the final mix ballpark.
So my latest recording will be a lot warmer HOPE!!!
I am nearly at the end of my apprentice learn curve now and hope to be an average mixer at my age, but still the master!!Lol



All the best
John

[Jeff Hollande]

Hi John :

Making a recording, a mixing and a mastering is a very difficult job.

Today many musicians have their own " home recording studio ".
 It became a huge business to sell home recording gear since the digital era took over the analogue period.

However there is a big difference between professional recording and home recording.

With a home studio one can make reasonable demo recordings but professional recordings can only be made in pro audio recording studio's.

Best wishes, JH

[Amwilburn]

I'll be blunt, the Event looks pretty cool. But even working at a music store, will I ever see one? Probably not. And for exactly the reasons stated above: there is very little distribution and service in Canada. We *did* carry Ketron a *long* time ago, and so did our local competitor until a few years ago. Both of us have dropped them. Was there something wrong with the sound quality? Not as far as I know (we dropped it before I started working here), but I was told that it was just too much of a pain to get warranty service, etc (you can imagine being told "Sorry, we have to ship this to another country so you may have to wait a *year* or longer to get your keyboard back as there is no local repair depot". It wasn't the only brand we had this issue with, same reason we stopped carrying GEM (GEneral Music); which had superior Middle Eastern sounds and beats at the time, but the troublesome service issues meant it just wasn't worth carrying.

Not that both brands had tons of issues either; it's just glaring when you have no local service depot.
Additionally, Ketron's last keyboard before the Event, the SD60? Is an eye-watering $9499 CDN. Nearly all North American retailers stopped carrying them when that happened.

[pjd]

Yamaha knows what they're up against. They are also experts at reverse engineering a competitor's product. If the Genos 2 is delayed by 6 months or a year so Yamaha can surpass the competition, so be it.

Yamaha already know quite a bit about combining audio and MIDI for auto-accompaniment. They have several patents:

http://sandsoftwaresound.net/yamaha-patents-apr2017/
http://sandsoftwaresound.net/yamaha-patents-summary-2017/

There was such a hue and cry about the original (and still existing) "audio styles" that Yamaha may be reluctant to pursue this approach. We'll see, I guess.

The Ketron Event does sound good and has some spiffy features to break up the monotony of auto-accompaniment. I have to go along with Mark (and others) as to North American (NA) sales, distribution and support infrastructure. It's kind of a weak sales climate for top-end arrangers in NA already -- not a good business climate for Ketron.

I do respect Ketron products, BTW.

All the best -- pj

[keynote]

The Ketron Event does sound good and has some spiffy features to break up the monotony of auto-accompaniment. I have to go along with Mark (and others) as to North American (NA) sales, distribution and support infrastructure. It's kind of a weak sales climate for top-end arrangers in NA already -- not a good business climate for Ketron.

I do respect Ketron products, BTW.

All the best -- pj

Ketron is trying to increase their meager sales and support infrastructure. As far as sales and service there are now a few affiliations in California, Connecticut, several in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, several in New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Texas, Wisconsin, and Canada. I live in California, so if I purchased a Ketron Event I could have it serviced if need be near Los Angeles, which is around 100 miles from me. I'm not sure if Ketron provides free shipping both to and from service centers for products under warranty. There is no FAQ on the Ketron America website, and there is no way to contact Ketron America by email, since the 'Contact Us' link on the website is broken. Seems rather amateurish and archaic that there is no way to communicate with them except by phone. A professional looking and working website would draw more attention and interest to Ketron products, needless to say. Oh well. AJ i.e. Ajua Alemanji is in charge of Ketron America from what I understand and this should be brought to his attention if it hasn't already.

The Event ain't cheap but it sounds great, and it has features not found on the competition, but it also doesn't have Seamless Sound Transition/Switching that is found in the Korg Pa5X. A little bit of give and take. I agree the Saxes on the Pa5X leave something to be desired, but I'm guessing Korg and 3rd Party affiliates will offer expandable sounds including Saxes, etc., that sound superior to the factory Saxes? Also, with the Pa5X micro-editing capability, it's likely possible to improve upon the 'out of box' sounds more to your liking with a few tweaks. $5,000 for the Event is actually about a grand less than the current price of a new Yamaha Genos here in the States. When the Genos first arrived on the scene, I could have purchased one for $4,200 out the door, delivered to my doorstep. But instead I chose to buy one at a Guitar Center near me which eliminates the hassle of having to return it to an out-of-state dealer such as Sweetwater.com, etc. where I'd have to cover shipping and handling charges if I decided I didn't want it. Plus, at Guitar Center, I was able to actually play a Genos before I decided to purchase it. Buying sight unseen is a risky venture and I, for one, would rather see and play a keyboard first if possible. But I digress. Have a great weekend!

All the best,
Mike

[tyrosman]

I doubt that any dealers anywhere know a thing about a new Genos. Yamaha are very strict on who knows what and only essential staff will know anything and will risk losing their jobs if things are released before time. Dealers are the last to know anything about new launches.
  My Money is on 76 note only.

same here Eileen

[Jeff Hollande]

Hi Mike :

Thank you very much for your interesting US Event information.

Up to now Ketron's European service has always been weak.
Will that change now the Event will be available as of
December 2022 ?
Only time will tell but ... even dealers and endusers seem not be convinced yet, IMO.

It is hard to believe Korg and Yamaha customers will order
an Event now the new PA5X is available and a new Yamaha high end will arrive in 2023.

JH