Quote:
Originally posted by keybplayer:
Amazing... Ketron is produced in Italy too and yet their development team produces the 'best' styles according to you.

Roland apparently doesn't have the quality programmers that Ketron does even though they're both located in the same Country and possibly the same city. Go figure.

And Roland hasn't offered a high end Arranger since the VA-76 came out several (3) years ago. The recently released low end EXR-3 and 5 is the best they can do for now. Maybe they've given up on the high end Arranger market altogether seeing that the VA-76 was such a sales flop for them. Too bad because competition or lack thereof is what makes or breaks the consumer.

Best regards,
Mike



Good point about Italy. But the country of origin doesn't mean much. What matters is the people behind the product, whatever the country.
Ketron comes from Italy
Roland arranger kbds come from Italy
General Music is an Italian company
Korg PA series (PA80/60) come from Italy. Not sure about the PA1X. The PA50 is assembled in China...

Good point about Roland: nothing much new from them on the arranger side, BUT... I have been told at the NAMM Show that Roland is building its own plant in China, and that many future very good products that should have been built in Europe have been delayed, in order to get lower manufacturing costs/selling prices txs to their future Chinese production.

Mike, I am totally neutral about products. .

All I'm passing is my personal opinion, combined with extensive knowledge of manufacturers / products.

Know what? True IMO that Ketron has the best styles, but also very true that their products ergonomy is probably the worst on the market. Takes a while to find your way with knobs and OS. But there's one sure thing: the way the product is distributed in North America doesn't match Ketron's overall musical quality.

Guess that it'd be fun to have the top contenders (not only the better known brands) side by side for styles comparisons, and as far as I know on this forum, DanO and George Kaye can address this test, since they seem to carry many brands.

Regards,

Free Agent