Well, here I go again. This is getting to be fun! First the Korg PA800 2 weeks ago and now the Ketron SD5.
I want to start off by going back to last year at the NAMM show when I thought this keyboard was going to be going up against the Yamaha PSR3000 and I heard the retail price was going to be around $2995.00 and I thought this was to high because of the $1795.00 price of the PSR3000. I only saw a prototype they were showing and until today I had no idea what the content of this new model would contain. At NAMM, Ketron only had 2 or 3 working styles in the machine and I thought the sounds sounded just like the SD1. Today, almost one year later, I have a different oppinion!
First, this thing is built like a tank. It is rather heavy for it's size and slim design. The weight is 37.4 lbs. Actually, that doesn't sound so bad but I guess I'm getting used to the lighter PSR's and the new korg PA800 which are all under 30 lbs.
Next, the buttons and layout look impressive. Nice square and rectangular shapes, but I wish they would have put lighted buttons for the style catagories so I knew which catagory a style I was currently playing came from. The Korg PA80 and PA1X has the same problem, but the PA800 has added the lights in the middle of the catagory buttons. The funny thing is that they have these lights in the middle of the voice catagory buttons and other buttons as well. This is not a big complaint just a wish list item.
I like that there is a speaker on and off switch on the back, but be careful because mine was shipped with the button in the "off" position and I thought the unit was broken!
Next to the speaker on and off is a dedicated Microphone out 1/4" jack and there are sustain pedal and volume pedal 1/4" jacks, and next to this is the connection for the Ketron 6 or 12 pedal unit. Stereo Outputs, Optional Video out slot and power switch round out the back panel.........OH! ONE MORE THING.........There is a "host" computer round interface jack which Ketron has been so kind as to include in the box an interface cable which will also provide a special additonal cable to plug into a USB port on your computer! Thank you for adding this. I had been concerned that this model didn't support USB interfacing and I see they did something about this!

The keys feel great and there is a button for aftertouch on and off. The keys feel like those on the SD1 with semi weighted keys. There is also a feature which allows you to use aftertouch to trigger on the style and it will allow the aftertouch to trigger fill ins as well.

Here's where this review gets subjective. If you loved the SD1 sounds, you surely will love the SD5. Unlike Yamaha, Roland and Korg, Ketron doesn't use all the velocity levels to add in the "extra" sounds you hear when you play the acoustic guitars and other sounds in the other brands in their most recent models. This is not to say the sounds aren't top notch, they just don't behave in the same manner. For example, if you play the user program called "nylon guitar", if you hit the octave up key and play high up on the keyboard you will hear squeeks and fret noise like on a real guitar. But, this is not like playing in the middle of say the Yamaha or Korg PA800 and playing harder and softer you are creating the realistic sounds of a guitar. Nobody can add the squeeks and buzzes with two hands playing the guitar. However, in the styles, Ketron is producing these sounds because I'm sure they used a computer and were able to multi track record all these nuances into their style arranger.
It's much like when Yamaha released the Tyros keyboard and gave us mega voices which were too hard to play but oh they really gave you great realistic styles.
But, the sounds are really good. Those that love Ketron Saxs, Strings, Accordions, Brass, etc. will surely love this board.

Styles are also each individuals taste and I happen to love Ketron Styles. There are many that I am familiar with from the SD1 and many new ones. They all sound very good to me.

Sequencer, again only a one track song record. This is not a board for someone who wants to do multitrack recording on the keyboard. You can do your recording in a computer software program. It does has a pattern record mode where you can make your own patterns from scratch or load new ones in.

It is a players keyboard! There is a rotary organ with virtual drawbars, a dedicated rotor on and off button and a dedicated slow and fast button.

The familiar jump button and the 4 variation buttons are all here. There is a new feature called "RIFF" over the 4th variation button.
It's very cool. If the style is marked with an "R" in the middle of the display and you play a chord using variation 1,2 or 3 and hit the button that is now flashing (4) the chord you play becomes the key you will be in and the keyboard starts playing different chord choices that match that key and all differnt style parts. When I used the Funky1 style, I hit a CMAJ chord and let it fly.......First I heard some very cool variations in the key of C and then brass started to come in, and the drummer started to "drive" and the bass parts started to play really funky and this continued until I returned to variation 1,2 or 3 and started playing my own chords. There are dozens of these styles and it is really fun for someone like me who's not a very good player and I love to just solo with my right hand. It's sort of like the Roland Chord Sequencer except that I don't get to control what the chord progression is.

I also really like the 16 little buttons just above the pitch bend/modulation lever which allow me to program them to be drum sounds turned on and off while the style is playing, special effect sounds, quarter tone tuning, or any function the 13 pedal unit is capable of doing. This is great for the performing musicians. And all the buttons have lights just above them to know what you've selected.

Well, do I think this keyboard is now worth about $2500.00..........YES. It is much more Professionally designed and built than say the PSR3000 or Korg PA50. I can honestly say I am very impressed compared to the way I saw one last year. Now, Ketron, give me an oriental version of this board for my middle eastern customers and we will be thrilled!


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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

Wow! I've got a couple of other things to add already! If you go to the button called "select mode" which is right to the right of those little 16 buttons which are assignable above the joy stick, in the screen you will see in the upper right hand corner a box called "registration group". If you select this and turn on the "registration button" for those of you familiar with Ketron (like performance memory on Roland and Korg and Registration memory on Yamaha) you will now see on the bottom half of the screen 1 of 10 bank catagories which you change by using the style catagory buttons right below the screen and then you will see the names of 16 registration at a time in these 10 banks. You simply change the registration which has a name or number, your choice, by pushing on one of the 16 little buttons above the joy stick. What a great feature. In all other Ketron's this was hard because you could never see a group of registration to change easily.
I also need to mention that the lack of a light within the catagory buttons for styles is not necessary because as in the past with all the Ketrons, when you select a style to play you see the style name on the screen and the catagory it came from just below it. Sorry for the misinformation. More to discover!
All I can say is that I just received 3 and I just called to order more!
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566

George thanx for the review.......btw how do the speakers sound? can you load all the SD-1 styles into the SD5?

RIFF MODE........
When you enter Riff mode, the computer within the keyboard recognizes how you are playing. If you play fewer notes it plays less "stuff" and if you play more notes or faster it adds all these little "riffs" or more complex tracks within the style. Very Cool!

Donny,
Speakers are really nice. Loud and punchy. I haven't tried any SD1 styles yet. I will do so later. There's alot to try on this board. I just spoke with AJ and he gave me some tips regarding the Riff mode. I can actually go into the Interactive mode and check any one or all of the 5 chord tracks and so when I start playing my right hand, some or all of the tracks will go away until I stop playing and then they will return.


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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

DNJ, Fran and UD should have one of these by the end of the month and provide us with more reviews...

Cheers,

Gary

------------------
Travlin' Easy

I have loaded SD1 Styles, X1 styles and MS50 styles and they all load and play great. On the old XD9 if you wanted to load SD1 styles you had to go through a process of first taking the styles from the internal memory into the pattern record mode and then going through a copy routine and then saving them onto a floppy before loading them into an XD9, but the SD5 can read any format of Ketron Styles.
I also just found out that the SD5 has a sub woofer inside so this is why I hear such nice tight bass.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

George. Your Product reviews are very informative and welcome. I do like to keep up to date with products I have not owned.

Hey Gary,
Can I borrow a couple of thousand bucks ?

The fact that is has SPEAKERS is a big PLUS to start out with......the rest will have to be discovered......very soon.....
another Dave Fran...road trip?

No problem Dave--the check's in the mail!

Gary

------------------
Travlin' Easy

George, thanks for your excellent review. I've been impressed with the SD5 ever since I saw it demod early this year. Is the Vocalist included or an add-on? Would you say the organs are on par with the SD1... probably more like the SD1 EXP? I'll be in touch soon.

Glenn

I have to say I'm disappointed with the Riff feature...... Sure, it'll sound cool the first few times you use it, but the nature of a preset set of changes will get tiresome soon, despite the interactivity of the tracks.

Why, oh why!, doesn't anyone 'get' the Roland Chord Sequencer idea? Even Roland don't get it any more...... Wouldn't this Riff feature have been incredibly MORE useful if you could put your own changes in? Wouldn't it be more useful if you could put the chords in on-the-fly, while you were playing the first verse/chorus? Or play the changes in the first time through the 'vamp' and have it take over from there?

Sorry, Ketron, but no banana.... Bad monkey!!

I'm disappointed with the Riff feature......


Did you play the SD5 ?

Haven't played it (no Ketron dealers anywhere near here), already have a G70, just looking for something modern with a chord sequencer....

There's an interesting quote from George in a different thread where he says

"I just went back over to the SD5 and listened to the Nylon, Fingerpick, Brazilian, rock, tele, etc. and they are all fine to my ear. I don't think they will turn heads like the
Tyros2 or KorgPA800 but you certainly would enjoy playing and listening to these"

So, I guess if you DON'T like turning heads (and who does? ) this may be the arranger for you....

Please don't get me wrong, I enjoy George's reviews, and respect him as a reputable seller, but bear that in mind when you read him. He is trying to sell the things..... so you often have to look very hard at his writing (and in between the lines!) to garner the REAL truth.

The bar is being raised higher and higher by Yamaha, especially with the SA voices, and there has to be a really compelling reason to go elsewhere. Me, I HAVE to have 76 keys and only one keyboard, so G70 it is for me. If the Riff feature worked the way I need, I might have changed that concept, but to go to an acknowledged inferior sounding arranger, something revolutionary has to be in the OS. I don't see it yet.........

Diki,
I take offense at what you just said:
"so you often have to look very hard at his writing (and in between the lines!) to garner the REAL truth."
I have been around here for years and years. Yes, I sell keyboards and yes if I give a good review it might sell some keyboards for me, but my enthusiasm for a new board or my lack of, is stated truthfully in my words. I don't think you have to "read between the lines" with me because I am so passionate about my love of arranger keyboards that I am pretty much an open book. I say it like it is. Those who call me get an earful. If I love it, you know it, if I hate it, you know it and if I just think it's OK you know it too.
I am feeling bad that you think I don't speak "the REAL truth" because I am a dealer and my motive is just to sell keyboards. I have a lot of fun here and I've made so many good friends, not just customers. If you statement was meant as a criticism then my reply is justified, if not I just wanted to respond the way I know how.......with my words.


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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

Im not saying im someone who particularly wants to 'turn heads', but i played on the weekend ina large hall in front of around 150 ppl (probably nothing major to most ppl here), but after wards alot of ppl were comming up saying "that guitar, was that u playing it or was it a recording?"(S.A concert Guitar) also a few comments the same with the S.A Sax...

comments like that go down very well and make u feel prowd of your keyboard

Hi George,
thanks for the great reveiw. Unfortunately my SD1+ is only 1 year old, I think I'd have a divorce on my hands if I wanted to replace this early in the piece ( haa haa)
The riff function sounds so very, very interesting.

I've settled for the little SD2 soundmodule for my laptop/OMB software arranger setup.
Amazed how they can get such good sound quality out of such a tiny unit.

best wishes
Rikki
[QUOTE]Originally posted by George Kaye:
[B]

Quote originally posted by Diki:

"Please don't get me wrong, I enjoy George's reviews, and respect him as a reputable seller, but bear that in mind when you read him. He is trying to sell the things..... so you often have to look very hard at his writing (and in between the lines!) to garner the REAL truth."


Sorry Diki, but I get you wrong.

You enjoy George's reviews... I view them more with a sense of appreciation and respect.

You respect him as a reputable seller... I respect him for his knowledge, integrity and the warm welcome I have always received in dealing with him. He has always welcomed me as a friend first and a customer second.

You bear in mind that he is trying to sell things... I bear in mind that he has tried to sell me nothing, but rather provided knowledgeable input that allowed me to decide for myself.

You often have to look hard at his writing (and between the lines!) to garner the REAL truth... glad that I do not have to look that hard to recognize there is nothing between the lines and the REAL truth is that George's enthusiasm, knowledge, integrity and product review posting over the years have been a valuable asset to his many Synth Zone friends... whether they buy from him, or elsewhere.

Gee... now I feel a lot better. ;-)

keyofg

hey!

george -
i'd like to hear your oppinion about E60, when you'll get it in!

is just natural that all of us have our own preferences and we talk about it (sometimes too pasionate, as we all know) and all of us have to make a living, may that be selling keyboards. i understand what diki said and we shouldn t be that jumpy; i bet no harm was intended.

Great Review George,

Can the SD5 really be an 'arranger' keyboard when quote... "Sequencer, again only a one track song record. This is not a board for someone who wants to do multitrack recording on the keyboard".

Other then that, the SD5 sounds incredible.
Now to find a place, close by, to try it out...maybe Guitar World?

------------------
Larry
SynthZone Frapper

George thanks for the review, as always I think you shoot straight from the gut in your comments. After reading your review about the PA800 you created lots of interest on my part and your unbiased review of the SD 5 got me interested in that as well. Too bad there isn't enough money hanging on the tree in my backyard. Just doesn't seem to grow fast enough. I'm with Rikkisbears, after spending almost $7500 bucks on equipment in 2005 and another thousand this year, I'd have to be prepared for the divorce.

Rikki I know a good divorce lawyer



[This message has been edited by Stephenm52 (edited 12-15-2006).]

Larry,
An arranger keyboard is one with styles and sounds. In actuall musical terms, you are correct.
An Arranger is someone who takes a song and creates individual parts for several musicians to play in a band. The term arranger in keyboards is having the ability to play this keyboard with 1 or more fingers. What you are playing is a simple or complex arrangement with very few fingers.
A workstation keyboard is one with a multitrack sequencer and you create an arrangement after you've recorded these tracks.
The SD5 has all these styles which you play with 1 or more fingers and thus is defined as an arranger keyboard.

Rikki, maybe you and Steven can get together after your divorces. The family that "plays" together stays together!
:}
DonM

Please don't get me wrong, I enjoy George's reviews, and respect him as a reputable seller, but bear that in mind when you read him. He is trying to sell the things..... so you often have to look very hard at his writing (and in between the lines!) to garner the REAL truth.

Diki,

Are you out of your mind? George has always been straight-forward and unbiased with every review he has posted about any keyboard. He is honest, caring, and has vast knowledge of all the keyboards he sells, and he spends a great deal of time researching the information he posts. If you want to take pot-shots at someone please do it on another forum.

Gary

------------------
Travlin' Easy

The SD5 does have a sequencer on board (just not a 16 tracks one with thorough editing capabilities).

You can ...

A. Use the Arranger (pre-record sequences or your own recorded in C) which already uses 8 tracks plus 1-4 more for lead so a total of 12 tracks...in this case, you would have to play as you record...

OR

B. Use the Arranger alone (with chord variation recorded within) and record up to 32 measures per variation of the various song parts. When completed, compile in real-time ... however the final recording process to disk is only once while the arranger recording process into memory is open to 8 tracks per arrangement!!

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

AJ

George. We have a few good dealers like yourself in the UK.
Don't get upset with the occasional remark about your credibility and no need to excuse the fact that you are in business and invoices have to be paid.
I have been visiting this forum daily for some years now and you George do a fine job reporting back your product finding. Your reviews are very much appreciated by 99.9% of us.

Hehehe

I enjoy your reviews very much, George. I've never found you anything other than helpful and you seem to tell it like it is. It's not like you're tooting the horn for one brand... you sell several brands and models. Keep 'em coming!

------------------
Bill
SmallGig.com

Look, everybody, I DID say, in my earlier post, that I enjoyed George's reviews, and respected him as a VERY reputable dealer. I am not taking 'potshots'.

But..... you have to understand the difference between a review from a dealer, and a review from a buyer. Firstly, George's status as a dealer of Ketron, or any other arranger line he sells, is going to suffer if he slams the product online. Just think what your opinion would be of an employee (or associate) of YOUR business if he started slamming YOU online.....

So George has to be careful about how he phrases less than stellar aspects of a product he handles. We, as buyers do not have this constraint, so often our reviews and initial comments may concentrate on things that we don't like, and broadcast them as a warning to other buyers. George does a wonderful job of describing the positive aspects of the SD-5, with it's strong points to the fore, but when he talks about something that is less than stellar, he is obliged to use language that is more circumspect.

Hence, while on the other thread, he initially talks about guitar sounds that 'won't turn any heads', in his review here he goes;



So a slightly different 'spin' than they won't turn heads.....

Now, once again, let me remind you that I respect George, value his reviews, and have nothing but the utmost respect for his professionalism and the kindness he shows our members here at SZ.

But I realize the constraints he is under, and respect those, but merely, in my earlier post, tried to direct our members attention to a less than glowing statement he had earlier made, which he didn't, for obvious reasons, include in his main review. That is all...... it was NOT a 'potshot'..... My apologies, George, if you took it that way.

The problem with a buyer giving a review is that having already spent all that money he usually has to justify doing so. A buyer giving a poor review in affect is saying he made the wrong choice which he is unlikely to do.

I believe I should have said 'potential' buyer, then.....!

And trust me, there are plenty of people here that give unflattering descriptions of equipment they have already bought..... often because they are forced into buying sight unseen because of the scarcity of dealers in their area.

This is where understanding the difference between a dealer's review and a 'potential' or existing buyer's one can save you a lot of money (and remorse!).

Hi Don,
now that's a thought,
"middle aged "keyboard addicted" divorcee,
looking for keyboard addicted hubby". haa haa.

Probably just as well my hubby does say "no" every now again, or I'd have a collection of them again. ( Currently I'm limited to 3).

best wishes
Rikki

p.s. you still using G70?? Don't remember reading any updates on your current gear.

George,
I have the X1 for several years now and I still love it. I can't find any KB have a better rock lead guitar sound as the X1 b/c I like to use this particular instrumental sound when I solo at the break, and plus the X1 style still great. I will try to stop by your place this weekend to test out the SD5 and PA800.

Dan D
LA



[This message has been edited by Dan D (edited 12-15-2006).]

Any one touch settings on the SD5?

Diki,
I accept your apology and I apologize to everyone for ever saying anything in the first place. My wife has always told me over the years to think before I write and to not try to read between the lines. In this case I realize you were not criticizing me as much as you warning folks to be cautious of music store owners giving opinions. I thank all those who know me well for jumping to my defense. I am certain that all that have read these posts know that my intentions are always to report as objectively as possible. The one thing about me that you all must know by now, and that all my manufactures know and expect, is for me to say what I think and nothing less.
Now, let's get on with having fun around here.
You can have 12 pages of one touch settings. These 12 pages come factory loaded but you can make the pages fill up with all of the sounds you want in all these location. When you touch the "1 touch" button, a light comes on and you are now in the one page of the 1st page of the 12
Next, there is another button called "1 touch to style". If you turn this button's light on, any 1 of the 12 pages you select to be the one which is assigned to a style will be selected.
In each page of the 1 touch you have 10 choices.
I also just realized that there is about 4 mb of additonal memory in the SD5 over the XD9 and you should be able to load about 130 patterns of your choice from floppy or hard drive without needing the pattern expansion memory which allows you to load 200.
I also want to let Allen know, who bought one from me and asked me this question, you can load single registrations from a hard drive but you must have the patterns you need with these single registrations already loaded into the pattern memory.

------------------
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566 www.kayesmusicscene.com

[This message has been edited by George Kaye (edited 12-15-2006).]

No problem, George. I hope you understand the post was in no way a criticism of you personally, and to clarify a little further, I would never warn anyone about one of your reviews! Read EVERYTHING is my motto, and then go play it for an afternoon (I would drive you crazy if I lived nearby!).

I was merely trying to point out the constraints you have to write under (and I even believe that, if you got a total lemon from a manufacturer you WOULD be the first to let us know, dealership be damned!).

We so often hear of members that have to buy sight unseen, and often relatively unheard, due to SOME manufacturers' poor websites (hint, hint!), that having a clear understanding of where and who a review comes from helps the potential buyer to sift through the mess of conflicting reviews (the partisanship when the G70 first came out is a case in point). This gives them a clearer picture of what they are plonking down their hard-earned cash for!

FIRST comes the manufacturer's glowing description, NEXT comes the dealer opinions (and George's are some of the LEAST biased I have ever read - kudos!), and finally come the reviews from the users themselves, with their own set of needs and expectations layered in...... It's a minefield out there!

As the manual is downloadable, it might be a nice place to find out

Link : http://www.ketron.it/manuali/manualeSD5Eng.zip

Quote: 1 Touch 60 programmable 1 Touch/Favourite Sounds, assignable to Styles.

Happy Playting
GJ

Just reading the owner's manual and I see on page 22 it says the Polyphony is labeled as 64.

It does say that it is dual oscilators per note,

I thought it was 128?

I hope to really enjoy the SD5 Demo this week....Im really hearing some nice things in many ways about it. Some very kool features inside this baby!. More to come.