JCKeeys,
as I said, I think that the SD1 is a Keyboard with a well defined personality, and that's a compliment for sure. To be more specific, I think that it's a keyboard designed mainly for live use (and not for a studio). I forgot to add that it has plenty of buttons... there are buttons for everything: you can even switch the aftertouch on and off with a button! From this point of view the midrange emphasis makes sense, because greatly adds to the overall impact: if you want to impress your audience the SD1 is the way to go. So I think that yes, it was a choice of Ketron engineers; on the other hand, if you plan to record something, this kind of "coloured" sound can become a problem and I cannot say how well it would blend with sounds from other keyboards or modules. I couldn't tweak too many effect settings because I had no time, but my feeling is that, right now, the DSP is the real weak point of the SD1 and I agree that a keyboard should sound good even in a "dry" mode. If Ketron could improve the DSP and fix the noise problem I could still consider the SD1 as a potential buy because I love its styles, but right now to make an SD1 suit my taste I 'd had to add an equalizer and a top notch DSP: I guess that an SD1 + a Lexicon would be a terrific pair, but what about the price?
Regards
Andrea