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#115918 - 07/29/02 07:43 AM XD9: First impressions
Anonymous
Unregistered


Well, finally I had the chance to test the new XD9 for about 3 hours at the portuguese distributor. They were nice in leting me "burn their ears" at the store. I brought the manual with me, so I could have a guided try of the several new features. I will skip all things you can learn in the manual or in the specification sheet.

Ketron strategy for this new keyboard seems clear to me: to produce a very attractive priced keyboard based in the same technology used in their X series and SD1, intended to please live users. The quality of the sounds and styles has the same excellent standards present on the X/SD instruments. I can not notice a clear difference in quality between the XD9 and the SD1, despite the different size of the samples. The grand piano is great, nothing to do with X1 piano sample. There are a lot of new styles (other are "old styles renamed): I liked very much some of them. There is a "new" (to the X series) set of jazz & swing styles (that I would use a lot), and a strong Pop & Funk set of styles (less important to me), some new latin styles.

In my opinion, the best things in this keyboard (apart from the price) are the - much better - manual (AJ "fingerprints" ) and the new features. There are surely many others, but here there are some of the ones that I tested:

- Bassist: great new feature allowing to create new bass lines, that I would love to include in my playing style.
- Drum remix (playing a style along with a midi file): interesting but a bit strange, as the style used in the mix naturally doesn't follow the volume variations and all the dynamics of the songs. Anyway, it should give good results in some tunes "less rich" variations of rhythm and volume.
- Morphing - allows you to control between two voices used in a sound, with the modulation wheel - very nice.
- Rearrange of pattern location in the memory: very hady. All the Ketron users will like this one. It saves users a lot if time.
- Rootless chord recognition - this one is for Scott Even if doesn't include all the possibilities, it's an important step for Ketron that will please jazz players.

I don't miss the sequencer or the sampler (rarely use them on my X4; not so important for the live player), but I miss the stereo line input (that I use all the time to connect a laptop). Users also have reasons to miss the balanced XLR mic input introduced with the SD1 (would it be so difficult/pricy to keep it in the XD9?).

In conclusion: it's not really an instrument with new concepts (like the X1 was), but more like a best-of-ketron-in-an-attractive-priced-package homogeneous keyboard, with some great new features that will please the live user and a good manual (that apparently is not beeing shiped with each instrument; only available online).

One last note: I was told by my dealer that the X series hard disks will NOT WORK on the XD9. SD1 hard disks will WORK IF formatted, once installed in the XD9. The X series voalizers are fully compatible with the new model. AJ, please correct me in case I'm wrong. The module (XD3) will reach the distributors by the end of the summer.

-- José.

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#115919 - 07/29/02 08:00 AM Re: XD9: First impressions
Dnj Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/21/00
Posts: 43703
Jose,

Thanx for the nice review of the XD9. It sounds like Ketron is trying to saytify its users. I hope Ketron will install AUX Auio INPUTS on the Rear in future models also, these come in very handy for sure and should be a standard feature on ALL KB's..

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 07-29-2002).]

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#115920 - 07/29/02 08:11 AM Re: XD9: First impressions
Anonymous
Unregistered


I forgot one of the most succeded changes in this new keyboard: the navigation is different, and althought I did not test it extensively, it seems to be better than the "old" one. Less buttons, and navigation more dependent on the screen.

-- José

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#115921 - 07/29/02 08:27 AM Re: XD9: First impressions
Dnj Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/21/00
Posts: 43703
How did you like the Speakers? Did you also play the Vega?

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 07-29-2002).]

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#115922 - 07/29/02 09:31 AM Re: XD9: First impressions
Anonymous
Unregistered


Hi Donny,

I'm not sure I can make an accurate judgement about the quality of the speakers. I never had a keyboard with speakers, and I tend to ignore that point. The only term of comparison is the Korg PA80, that I tried recently. I prefer the Korg speakers, but these Ketron's speakers sound pretty fair.
Please take your distances from my judgement ...

No, there were no Vegas at the store. "Only" XD9s, SD1s, X1/4s.

For those curious I can also give you the list prices of the XD models in Portugal. Prices in Euros (presently in close parity to the american dollar)

XD 9 : 1882
XD 9 HD : 2290
XD 3 : 1618
XD 3 HD : 2024

-- José.

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#115923 - 07/29/02 10:10 AM Re: XD9: First impressions
DanO1 Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 01/31/01
Posts: 3602
Loc: Maryland
Hello Jose' and others ,

I would like to point out a few features that have been incorporated in the XD9 . PLAY CONTROL and LEFT CONTROL

Ketron eliminated buttons that were usually assigned for pianist , pattern edit , harmony , aftertouch ( not available XD series) ,portamento ( not on XD) found on the X1 + SD1 . These options are now hidden under PLAY CONTROL + LEFT CONTROL feature .
Bassist is under Left contol as an example.
Drum remix feature , pianist modes are now found under play control !
Having more sub menu's ( pages) and utilizing the Function buttons was the goal !
Perhaps we will see more of this in future developments ! dano
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