Topic: New TOTL Arranger from Ketron

[RoyB]

A lot was made of the new Korg PA5x Arranger on this forum so, as no one has mentioned it so far,  I thought I would start this thread about the forthcoming flagship arranger from Ketron called the Ketron Event.

So far, Ketron has only released this video teaser:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igss1qU9_8c

* Professional Arranger. 76 half-weighted keys keyboard.
* New dual processor
* 128 Notes polyphony. Top quality Orchestral Sounds. 2 Voices ( 3 Sounds each )
* Performance. User Voice, User Style. Registrations.
* 3 Groove Section3, with new Loops and Midi Patterns
* New Digital Drawbars are back.
* 4 x DSP Effects. External DSP controls with potentiometers.
* More than 400 Styles. Full Audio Arrangements, featuring Live Drums, Real Bass and Real Chords, Live Guitars and 5 Midi Chords. 3 Lower Voices.
* Phrase Recording. Midi Song recording.
* User Sample Editor with 32 Splits, Stereo samples, up to 4 Layers

Other than the above highlights listed on this teaser, Ketron has not yet released any futher details on specs and features, but it has been inferred that it contains 'exciting' new creativity features.

To this right of the keyboard, there is a collection knobs which give real-time physical control of a number of DSP effects.

[Jeff Hollande]

Thank you, Roy for this Ketron video.
Their new arranger, I guess ?

I am very impressed by the sound quality of the guitar ( sounds like a Fender Stratocaster ) and the live sound of the drums.
A total different sound than the PA5X ( in my ears ).

Now I am sure Yamaha will also come with a new high end arranger keyboard.
And ... as I said before, there is no doubt in my mind Yamaha will show the world an arranger with a unique sound, equiped with their latest technology.

Best regards, JH

[BogdanH]

I'm not a person of interest in this price category, but at least in my eyes, it's an example of fine italian design. 76 keys and no space wasted on each side -I think many will appreciate that in regard of portability (even I think, that  joystick is more practical to use).

Ok, visually, it's a nice teaser. But as we all know, more important are the things that we can't see on that video. So, let's wait and be impressed hopefully :-)

Bogdan

[Lee Batchelor]

Interesting. No tip screen? Is the screen a capacitive touch screen? Great sounds! Yamaha has a lot of homework to do. If they stick with the status quo of inferior pianos, organs, etc and out of date styles, they'll get swamped by the other arrangers. I have faith though 😀!

[usaraiya]

Superb sounds, like the Pedal Steel guitar, live drums, which they call "Real Drums," "Real bass," real everything, style modeling, and it goes on and on. It feels like an ideal TOTL arranger, and we'll know in a few weeks.
What can we expect from Genos 2 to knock our socks off? Holding my breath, I hope I don't pass out!
 
Uday

[tyrosman]

A lot was made of the new Korg PA5x Arranger on this forum so, as no one has mentioned it so far,  I thought I would start this thread about the forthcoming flagship arranger from Ketron called the Ketron Event.

So far, Ketron has only released this video teaser:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igss1qU9_8c

* Professional Arranger. 76 half-weighted keys keyboard.
* New dual processor
* 128 Notes polyphony. Top quality Orchestral Sounds. 2 Voices ( 3 Sounds each )
* Performance. User Voice, User Style. Registrations.
* 3 Groove Section3, with new Loops and Midi Patterns
* New Digital Drawbars are back.
* 4 x DSP Effects. External DSP controls with potentiometers.
* More than 400 Styles. Full Audio Arrangements, featuring Live Drums, Real Bass and Real Chords, Live Guitars and 5 Midi Chords. 3 Lower Voices.
* Phrase Recording. Midi Song recording.
* User Sample Editor with 32 Splits, Stereo samples, up to 4 Layers

Other than the above highlights listed on this teaser, Ketron has not yet released any futher details on specs and features, but it has been inferred that it contains 'exciting' new creativity features.

To this right of the keyboard, there is a collection knobs which give real-time physical control of a number of DSP effects. i dont kno why this has any thing to do with Genos

[tyrosman]

why on Earth has this got any thing to do with genos

[Jeff Hollande]

Hey Tyrosman :

Another Genos' competitor, maybe ?

JH

[Lee Batchelor]

It has everything to do with the Genos. Basic business principle.

Competition makes a company great, otherwise they sit back in their padded leather chairs counting their profits, while some smaller company brings out a far superior product. It's happened a lot. Classic example: Japanese cars in the 70s nearly destroyed the entire Big Three auto makers in the US because the Japanese solved the problem of gas guzzling cars in the midst of an energy crisis, while the Americans were satisfied with the status quo and did nothing but continue to produce 8-cylinder muscle cars so Mrs. Smith could drive three blocks to the grocery store. But I digress...🙄.

Oh yes, Korg and Ketron are in the process of helping all us Genos users. They're going to make Yamaha sit up and take notice. We'll prevail. The more TOTL arrangers, the better 😀!!

[Gunnar Jonny]

It has everything to do with the Genos. Basic business principle.

Competition makes a company great...
The more TOTL arrangers, the better 😀!!

+1 

[Jeff Hollande]

Hi :

I wonder when Yamaha will finally come with their answer ?

Hope their video teaser will follow very, very soon to make a dream come true.
Before the end of this year ?

Best wishes, JH

[Gunnar Jonny]

why on Earth has this got any thing to do with genos

Well, if we cannot speak about and compare other competitors products, it will be dull and sad.
Even at Korg forum they discuss and compare Yamaha and Ketron like it should be the most normal thing to chat about in the whole wide world......
Earlier in a post someone suggested that it could be opened a dedicated part here at PSR, in example 'Chat about other brands'. Think it got thumbs down, but maybe that was a good idea after all?

[genosmusic]

Technics and Rowland Discontinued their Arranger Keyboard lines
as sales were very poor.
Yamaha will do the same, as creating new build keyboards
for production line is very expensive, when Arranger sales are poor.

[ckobu]

Technics and Rowland Discontinued their Arranger Keyboard lines
as sales were very poor.
Yamaha will do the same, as creating new build keyboards
for production line is very expensive, when Arranger sales are poor.

I don't believe so.
New Ketron video ...

Jazz players in a keyboard
https://youtu.be/QpzKndCMOkg

[genosmusic]

I am sad for rowland and technics
people no longer upgrade any more.

[BogdanH]

... in example 'Chat about other brands'. Think it got thumbs down...

I think we must be open minded and capable to look outside our box -being a fanboy of particular brand is never a good thing. I'm sure Korg Pa5X is an excellent product and I hope Ketron will surprise too. Why? Because that means Yamaha (which I'm used to) will need do make even something better, to attract me to buy Yamaha new keyboard again. If not, I will switch to another brand -simple as that. I mean, I'm happy with my current keyboard, but I'm not married to it. So, the better the competition is, the better it is for me.

Technics and Rowland Discontinued their Arranger Keyboard lines as sales were very poor.
Yamaha will do the same, as creating new build keyboards for production line is very expensive, when Arranger sales are poor.

I don't think that will happen with Yamaha:
1. because it's business in not based only on musical instruments
2. Yamaha is still recognized as quality brand
3. competition actually isn't that big

But things can happen very fast. 40 years back, Technics was one of the most innovative brands in audio industry. But then they started to make bad decisions: to save money, products became more and more low quality and lacked innovations. At the end, even keyboard department still had quite good product, Panasonic decided to shut down the whole Technics brand. And now they are known by electric toothbrushes, shavers and some other not important stuff. Don't get me wrong, Panasonic is still big company -it's just less known in consumer market.

Roland right now.. I don't think they're doing well. I've seen a video not long ago, where it turned out that Roland is buying some chinese entry level keyboard and sells them under Roland brand. I mean... seriously?
On the other hand, chinese Medeli became worldwide known for it's AK-X10 keyboard -not without the reason!

So, I think we should keep eyes open.. and enjoy playing music on... whatever we have 

Just sharing my thoughts,
Bogdan

[Lee Batchelor]

From that recent video about Ketron's new release, it sounds like they are using Band In A Box (BIAB) styling technology. For those who have never used this program, all you do is insert the basic chords in a song and BIAB generates the correct styling complete with stylistic chords. It can be Country, Jazz, Blues, you name it BIAB will do it. That, combined with what sounds like round robin styling, will make the Ketron a most formidable competitor to the PA5X and Genos 2. But there's more...

It's one thing to produce perfect sounds and styles on a new arranger. It's another thing to make the device usable. Many have criticized the PA5X operating system as being clunky and too tech orientated. This falls under the category of "usability." For the better part, the Genos is easy to use, other than the Style Editor being similar to a bull in China shop. If Korg and Ketron have produced a superior product than the Genos, that's one thing. If their OS system is clunky or too complicated, Yamaha has little to worry about. I'm sure Genos 2 will give these two other companies pause.

[genosmusic]

Genos is due for Discontinued

[Toril S]

Where did you get that info?

[Lee Batchelor]

Genos is due for Discontinued

True. Genos 1 would be discontinued when Genos 2 comes out 😉.

[ton37]

Genos is due for Discontinued

Dear @Genosmusic, nobody knows if you are right and you don't know either. Since you just signed up and made your first post, you might know that everyone (including myself) yells every now and then. I suspect most are saying this out of 'frustration' or 'disappointment' because Yamaha hasn't communicated with its customers for so long and some of them are getting impatient. Understandable. Of course you are free to mention such 'certain' statements in your post. There are plenty of those in this forum. Is that bad or do I find that disturbing? No, as far as I'm concerned: it's part of the game and sometimes adds some color to the discussion. After all, it's not about earth-shattering topics and every forum member is perfectly capable of finding their own. It only becomes more credible if you cite a verifiable legitimate source, which you probably won't have. The future usually shows which speculations have become truths.

[andyg]

Technics' decision to pull out of all music instruments, not just keyboards, had nothing to do with poor sales. Big corporate decision from the parent company Matsushita that they could make more money doing other things.

As for Roland, no-one - apart from those high enough up in the company - knows why they stopped arranger keyboards, but then started making 'backing keyboards' that did almost the same thing! We know that Mr K's departure hastened the end for Atelier organs and I sometimes wonder if internal personality clashes and disagreements had something to do with the arrangers. I doubt if anyone will tell!

[tyrosman]

Genos is due for Discontinued

i dont thinks so this is false

[Jeff Hollande]

Hi :

The Ketron EVENT looks nice and impressive.

BUT ... specs, sound quality, styles, voices, applications, reliability and prices are not known yet.
IMO it is too early to evaluate this arranger yet. 

However, If it sounds like it looks like, perhaps it might become a commercial success, if it is reliable too.

Before jumping to conclusions, I am going to wait for Yamaha's answer first.
I am a loyal Yamaha customer for more than 20 years. NEVER met any problems with one of my Yamaha high end arranger keyboards.

Hopefully their answer will officially be published before January 1, 2023 to avoid many ( potential ) customers would be disappointed.

All the best, JH

[Gunnar Jonny]

The Ketron EVENT looks nice and impressive....
However, If it sounds like it looks like, perhaps it might become a commercial success...

Hi Jeff.
It sounds real good too, and if this video at Ketrons webpage is a result of just loading a style and play along and if the rest of the styles sounds as good and balanced as this, it probably will be a success! 
After all, the majority of arranger players use styles and 'autocomp', and what there is to find in the styles and soundarea is the major point before start explore the OS and userfriendlyness. Looking forward to the day we get to see all specs. Exiting.

www.ketron.it/en   (Remeber to uncheck the mute in video if no sound)

[Jeff Hollande]

Hey Jonny G :

Up to now the Ketron brand has never been so popular in The Netherlands.
The Ketron Audya5 was an exception. 
Giggers and vocalists were impressed by the " natural "sound of the voices and audio styles of the Audya5.
The Audya5 and 4 ( module ) were expensive compared to Yamaha and Korg.

Since 2002 most customers wanted to have a Yamaha arranger keyboard only.
The Tyros was the most wanted arranger ... and perhaps still is. 

I really wonder if the Event will be a reliable arranger ?
I am aware Ketron have replaced and ( apparently ) improved their OS now. 

Wait and see but I would be very cautious if I were a buyer.

Best regards, JH

[maartenb]

While the short Ketron Event clip sounds very good, I am very cautious with Audio Styles. It's very inflexible. I love MIDI styles, where you can change the sound of a style track.

I made songs with the Audio drums on the Tyros 5 and now I can only play them without drums on the Genos. I am sooooo glad Yamaha stepped away from Audio Drums and started using Revo drums! These are the best of both worlds: they sound very realistic, yet are still 100% MIDI and you can do whatever you want with them.

Same for the voices: I would rather have Super Articulation than audio phrases. Full control, 100% MIDI.


Maarten

P.S. When this new arranger is presented, will that moment be called a Ketron Event event?  I'll see myself out... 

[Jeff Hollande]

 Most arranger keyboard players ( will ) prefer midi - instead of audio styles and voices.
 
 I fully agree with your very interesting and useful comments, Maartenb !

JH

[Lee Batchelor]

Excellent point, Maarten. Editing MIDI is infinitely easier than audio. We just need a decent Style Editor/Creator. An external Windows or Mac program linked via MIDI USB or Bluetooth would be heaven! Even an emulator program that works with Cubase would suffice. Creating or modifying a style in Cubase and importing it back into the Genos would be excellent

[mixermixer]

Very interesting, though pretty moot point for us "USA" players since ketron has no market presence over this side of the pond.

[Lee Batchelor]

Very interesting, though pretty moot point for us "USA" players since ketron has no market presence over this side of the pond.

Heck, I never thought of that. I assume it's the same in Canada? No dealers? They could ship us one but the cost of shipping would double the price of the keyboard, nor would we able to demo it.

[Gunnar Jonny]

Very interesting, though pretty moot point for us "USA" players since ketron has no market presence over this side of the pond.

It's not totally empty 'over there' 
https://www.ketronamerica.com/

[Jeff Hollande]

Hi Guys :

The new Event ( Ketron ) might not be interesting for most of us, IMHO.

No MIDI - No FUN : see very smart comments given by Maartenb.

[ugawoga]

I must admit a fantastic guitar sound on demo
I think that a new Genos will be out shortly

[Jeff Hollande]

It looks to be true, John.   

Hope the new Yamaha high end arranger will be #1, as usual.
And ... for me 61k are a must. No 76k ! Lack of space.

JH

[mikf]

Ketron has always made interesting products, and quite innovative, but the company was just too small to build large distribution/support networks. The presence in the USA was quite limited so only got traction on word of mouth mainly between pro players. I did hear a demo and play one briefly at the arranger get together Don Mason organized, and was particularly impressed by the piano voices, and the whole thing was pretty good. On the negative side there were comments I heard about bugs in the OS and lack of resources to get them resolved.
The Ketron and the the PA5X are the main competitors for the Genos, although Genos is the clear market leader. But at the moment they have both made what seems like a significant step ahead of Yamaha. And so far the silence from Yamaha on the next TOTL arranger has been deafening.
Mike

[Jeff Hollande]

Apparently it looks like Yamaha will announce a new high end arranger soon, Mike. Not confirmed by Yamaha yet.
Let us cross our fingers.

Kind regards. JH

[EileenL]

And will you be the first to buy one Jeff as you have written so many hopes that it comes out soon.

[Jeff Hollande]

Hey Eileen :

A good question.
I cannot answer that question right now due to recent health problems in my family.

If e.g.the new one will available in 61 keys ( lack of space in our apartment for 76 k ), I might be interested in buying that new arranger at the end of 2023.

Time will tell.
Best regards, JH

[mikf]

Apparently it looks like Yamaha will announce a new high end arranger soon,
Kind regards. JH

Don't know how you deduce that, it might or might not turn out to be the case, but there is currently zero evidence to support such a statement.
It might be interesting to know if there is to be a new Genos, but I really don't think its a big concern for most forum members. If they like their Genos, which most do, then they are not desperately waiting with fingers crossed for a new model, and if they are disappointed with their Genos they have a couple of new choices to look at - Korg and Ketron. Its all good. 
Mike

[Del B]

And will you be the first to buy one Jeff as you have written so many hopes that it comes out soon.

[ugawoga]

Ouch!!

[Lee Batchelor]

Let's not kid ourselves. When Yamaha posts the first 45 second teaser video for Genos 2, everyone on this forum will suddenly have overactive salivary glands. Even those with no intention of upgrading will comb over the video in awe of this new creation from Yamaha 😁. And those who will be upgrading will simply not sleep at night 🤣.

[keynote]

Here's the newest video sound demonstration from the Ketron Event arranger keyboard that I found on YouTube. I didn't notice any other posting of the same link in this thread but I just skimmed through them since a lot of people posted a comment. Anyway, here ya go...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ6sLw95mXs

[keynote]

As a follow-up, this raises the bar for sound quality in the style category. All the styles on the Event are fully audio and have good sound quality and presence. The drums sound very natural as do the guitars. But I'm somewhat concerned that what we're hearing may be .mp3 (compressed) audio not .wav (uncompressed) audio. You can make .mp3 sound pretty good but .wav (uncompressed) audio is a whole lot better because compressed audio loses both high-end and bass response. Uncompressed audio reveals more of how a recording and playback should actually sound since it retains more of the audio data and therefore resulting in better sound quality. If the Event styles are .mp3 I would expect Yamaha to give the Genos 2 .wav audio styles to one-up the competition. 

Best,

Mike

[Lee Batchelor]

But I'm somewhat concerned that what we're hearing may be .mp3 (compressed) audio not .wav (uncompressed) audio.

...not to mention that YouTube applies its own compression. They need to get into the modern world of sound and make sure every video's audio track plays back at about the same level. One minute, you're hearing a low signal, the next minute, you're killed with high dB!!

[Sokratis1974]

Hello. Here is the Original playlist demos of EVENT in 16 bit/44khz (uncompressed) wav file.
It's an official list and I have company approval for these demos since I'm working for Event for a year as a developer.
This guy on YouTube took them from here and and after downloading them made the video.
Thanks
https://soundcloud.com/sokratis-1974/sets/ketron-event

[Gunnar Jonny]

Thank you Socratis.
It sounds **** good, if I may say so. Actually sounds like a real band. 
I think Audiostyles is the future. Just look at BiaB, it's amazing how much it has evolved.
Looking forward to see more of the features and specs....

[BogdanH]

I think I'm quite sensitive to audio quality... But I challenge everyone above the age of 30, to recognize the difference between wav and hi quality mp3 just by listening. Saying that, the problem is not mp3 format itself. It's more about the quality of audio source before converting to mp3 and what compression settings are used.
Youtube is recommending to use high audio quality for uploading, but not every Youtube uploader knows how to do it properly.

Just my 2 cents,
Bogdan

[Sokratis1974]

NEW VIDEO https://youtu.be/u3Ab71Rf77U