Posted this in the general arranger forum yesterday...

I have always liked Ketron's sounds better than anything else I might try. Started with the Solton Artist 2000, then MS40, X4, SD3. But lack of available dealerships does kill Ketron- I even know one dealer who calls me with questions because I have more experience with their products than he does . AJ has been very helpful and repaired one of my modules very quickly. But he has a lot on his shoulders, and if he were to leave Ketron tomorrow, we would be sunk here. He's just one guy stretched too thin. Ted at CMC must be very busy- it takes a lot of time to get answer on a problem , but I can get a quick response if I want to buy a 4k audya. CMC was willing to let myself and a friend of mine come to NY (from NJ) to check one out , but by appointment. And M-F daytime hours were the only choice- doesn't work if you work.

I talked to another dealer I have purchased from and his opinion is that Ketron is focused on Europe and the US market is not important enough for them to direct their resources to it.

And, good luck if you or your dealer need to contact Italy about your Ketron product from end of June till September- the country is closed. Same with Orla. Yamaha/Korg/Roland do not abandon their customers for over 2 months in the summer. Again, small time European thinking/marketing.

The remaining convincing item is the product itself, but recent Q.C. and design flaws have shaken credibility with customers.

At this point, I am pursuing using a keyboard from a mainstream company while I spend only 10% of that purchase for a Ketron module to get their sounds ( I now have an SD2 and SD4). But that means more pieces, more cables, more setup time, etc...