Having listened to the new demos I just wanted to say a big WOW!! Many of these demos are simply astounding in my opinion. The drum kits are THE BEST DRUMS "EVER" on ANY Arranger PERIOD!! Very natural and live band sounding for sure. In fact, the drums are a HUGE compliment to each and every demo on the Audya demo page in my humble opinion. If you want professional drum sounds in a (high end) Arranger then there is really only one choice in my opinion and that is definitely the Audya.

I thought the Sax demos were outstanding!! I would also like to personally thank Marcello Colo', Robert Messier, and Richard and Gerry Auteur for their brilliant performances on the Audya. Very well done indeed, and Ketron should do everything in their power to hold on to those guys!

Back to the demos. There are a few areas of concern, in my opinion, but they appear to be minuscule. One area of concern is the Orchestra voices like the strings. I feel they are pretty good but the fullness (presence) and articulation (emulation and authenticity) could be improved somewhat. The Grand Piano still gives me a little hesitancy especially in the lower mid range. But I will have to play it in person before I could make a final determination of its (or their) worth.

I have to come back to the Sax's. These saxes, in my opinion, blow the T3 saxes out of the water. I'm sorry but that's how I feel. They have better "realism", a more "natural" sound to them and I have NOT heard better sounding Sax's on ANY keyboard regardless of class i.e. Workstation, etc. I am flabbergasted by their sheer brilliance and the Big Three must be standing with gaping mouths opened in utter awe and amazement at what Ketron has accomplished! I know I am..

Final verdict... This is one amazing keyboard folks, that's all I have to say.

PS: I'm not sure how these demos were produced but I have to believe it was all legal with no hanky panky going on. In other words, this is all Audya WAV ROM with no 'tainted' outside or illegal influence cooking the books right? After listening to the mediocre video demos from Portugal you can see where one might be "concerned" about the obvious and startling differences from those demos that are on the Ketron Italy website. I am just saying... I hope everything is on the up and up. If it is, I could see myself forking over the dough for an Audya very easily. Depending on the price of course.

Sorry if I seem to be implying that the new demos may somehow be something other than what they really are or are supposed to be. I am not meaning to accuse Ketron of doing anything shady or underhanded mind you. I am just trying to assimilate in my mind how there could be such a huge discrepancy from the Portugal video demos and those on the Ketron website is all I guess. [img]http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Thinking/bad-idea-014.gif[/img] I realize the Portugal demos didn't include any "audio" styles apparently, but the single voices from those demos didn't sound near as good as the factory produced demos either. Factory demos should sound better of course, but a night and day difference? [img]http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/confused.gif[/img] Kudos for Ketron's outstanding effort and the result they achieved nonetheless. [img]http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/cool.gif[/img] It's gotta be legit. [img]http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/smile.gif[/img] I'm just astounded by how fantastic the Audya can sound, even though the new demos were all factory produced apparently.

All the best, Mike


[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 01-29-2009).]