These links were kindly posted on another thread by Abacus, but so people can post their opinions of these instead of the ones Magica posted showing the Mediastation, I thought it was best to keep them separate.
http://www.wersi.co.at/Downloads/cat_view-7.html
http://www.worldofoas.co.uk/sample.htm

I've listened to them all and I have to say I am very impressed with the potential of the OAS7. Wersi with every OAS update gets better and better. I think I know where my money may be going to be spent pretty soon, especially now Wersi are firmly back in the UK.

Harmony music (UK) now have several product specialists available to help with technical, software and user queries. In addition new purchasers will benefit from a free visit from a product specialist, who will spend time with them in their own home, helping them get the best out of their new Wersi. This sounds great, I know Roland do the same sending someone out with some of their top end organs. Phone Alan Ellis at Harmony Music on 01205 355366 for more details.
Hope they don't mind me taking this info from this months Organ & Keyboard mag.
There's also German support for long term Wersi owners on 0049 6747 123 131
Nice to see Wersi are finally getting their act together over here in the UK

[This message has been edited by Craig_UK (edited 05-31-2006).]

DEAR CRAIGH

Look at:
http://www.mercy-no-wersi.com/

This is reality

If you are not satisfied with LIONSTRACS as owner you than . . . .

I viewed that site ages ago Magica and one persons problems doesn't mean much to me.
After all the problems I had with Lionstracs and the Mediastation, Wersi can't come half as close

Craig:

I just downloaded 4 random ones, and sorry but not impressed at all, the guitars sounds more like autoharps than guitars, maybe its just bad recording.

If I had nothing else to compare to, it would have sounded terrific, but playing the ty2 daily and hearing its sound, does not even come close for these old ears.

Just my opinion, maybe others might see and hear it differently. Maybe its just my system, windows 10 player with sos turned on and going thru a theather sound system??? Sounded like I was in the next room over from where the music was coming from.....

------------------
Support the arts
FEED a Musician
Cheers....Pose

Dear Craig_UK:
Are you having mabey picture of you with LIONSTRACS MS x76. Or DEMO MP3.

I don't have any demo MP3's as the thing never worked long enough for me to record anything. One of the main problems was the it kept resetting itself or the keyboard would just freeze including whatever notes you were playing. I think I had it for about a month and it was the top of the range 76 note one fully expanded with the full memory available.
As for pictures I did take some video evidence with my camera of the defective unit just in case I needed proof to get my money back should things have turned nasty, which I'm pleased to say they didn't. Doubt I still have these plus the files would be huge to post anyway.

Are you having that KEYBOARD?
Are you having last update?
Can you give me lan conection to this keyboard?
Can I see if it is something wrong with sound board?

I'm not profesion you must contact LIONSTRACS, But perhaps I can help you.


THANKS for answ.

Zmago

Hard to believe that this thing costs as much as it does and keyboardists do purchase one.
Styles are aged, sounds do not sound 'natural'.

The piano demo seems to have polyphony-problems at 4:13. (soft clicks of cutting notes?)

At the time I built an Alpha350DX there also was a lack of Wersi support/service.

Magica I don't think you get the point m8, I purchased my faulty Mediastation last September and sent it back for a refund about October time. I am NOT purchasing another, neither will I consider one in the future as they are pathetic.

the Wersi doesnt sound that hot either. Liontracs is a great concept but the delivery is very very disappointing in terms of sound quality, styles and just the way the instruments sound so unbalanced. Ireally wish Dom all the best with the keyboard but it is obviously not inm the same league as the T1 let alone the T2 or the Pax. They may be "closed systems" but i dont mind being locked in when they sound so good.

Hello All
Glad to see were finally getting some comments on Wersi.
The styles on the Wersi Austria site are produced by Wersi Austria not the main Wersi company, and like the other demos on the site, do not use a very high bit rate which does limit the quality.
If you read my report on the Blackpool Festival you will see that I placed Wersi top for sound quality, Tyros 2 top for styles and Korg PA1X for best mainstream arranger.
The Wersi OAS 7 upgrade increases the polyphony of the instruments from 144 (Exception was the early Ikarus which only had 96) to at least 280.
Keep the comments (Good or Bad) coming?
Enjoy whatever you play.

Bill

A while ago,i mentioned to abacus about some bad publicity with wersi,not to stir up problems but to make others aware that problems should be resolved,and to find out if this was resolved. Liontracks (staff) supported me with this critism,(liontracks system being similar to wersi) and now that Magica alfa has brought this up again, i am curious if Magica alfa is liontracks ? maybe not,possibly a coincidence,no big deal. 8> ).

Magica is doing a great job marketing the Mediastation on here (he's doing it on just about every available thread), so whoever it is I wish him/her all the best and even Dom and Lionstracs.

Sorry I'm not LIONSTRACS.

I'm playing in band you can see:
http://www.sraka.com/holliday%2Dband/

Sorry it is only in SLO language but you can download lot things. MP3, VIDEO e.t.c.

But sorry LIONSTRACS MEDIASTATION X76 works really well.


If you don't belive me please come here in SLOVENIA for some days.

Sorry CRAIGH, you angry me with your approach yesterday. Because of that I made a lot of things here. I want only to have good keyboard and simple question is:


Is may be somebody who works on NI KONTAKT and VIRTUAL GUITARIST together in ARRANGER?

May be your story is not so sad. Because you try thing but you want ordinary thing as T2. Simple for somebody works. But if you want something more you will see that this thing now really works. After some months somebody improve keyboard so much that work better than T2 but after some months we will discuss about T3 . . . .

Hello All
I have uploaded some demos on Wersi OAS 6 software, which was released on to the market early 2004, all the sounds are pure Wersi OAS 6 without any editing, or adjustment of EQ settings, and no third party samples or instruments, so the sound is exactly the same as if you had just got the instrument straight out the box.
OAS 6 mainly added new features, the sound engine and quality is virtually the same as OAS 5, which was released in early 2003.
I will post them again when I have OAS 7, so that you can here the difference in sound quality.
I recommend listening in stereo, as most keyboards use electronic processing, which can sometimes confuse Home Theatre Mode. (Feel free to experiment)
As I mentioned in a previous post feel free to comment. (Good or Bad)
Hope you enjoy. http://rapidshare.de/files/21952797/Air.wma.html http://rapidshare.de/files/21953122/Anglo_Polka.wma.html http://rapidshare.de/files/21953389/Axel_F.wma.html http://rapidshare.de/files/21953749/Classic_Piano.wma.html http://rapidshare.de/files/21954038/Miller_Sound.wma.html http://rapidshare.de/files/21954318/Tico_Tico.wma.html http://rapidshare.de/files/21954657/Vorbel.wma.html http://rapidshare.de/files/21955039/Whiter_Shade_of_Pale.wma.html http://rapidshare.de/files/21955354/Wonderful_World.wma.html

Magica I am perfectly happy with my Tyros 2, old Roland G1000 and new Yamaha S90EX which I part exchanged my SD1 for.
I'm going to listen to the Korg Oasys again this Saturday so who knows what will happen I'm currently deciding whether to go back onto the organ scene where I can easily get work and also do music lessons and get something like a Wersi Xenios or stick to what I've got and add an Oasys instead as my old manager keeps ringing asking if I'm interested in going into a tribute band. If I took this route the arranger keyboards would be useless as we'd have a drummer, guitarist etc so I'd need more synth type and pad sounds. The T2 has very good ones but they're not in the same league as a good synthesiser.
It's make your mind up time for me

Oasys is good keyboard. I had it on short testing. You will see similar thing as MS. But little bit closed. Only KORG know what to open you. My friend from Ljubljana said to me: I’m having TRITON EXTREM and I tried OASYS but I’m having better sound on ENSONIQ TS 10. This keyboads are having a lot on exciter made sounds. All of them are good for some purpose. I’m very sad that you had problem with LIONSTRACS. You know lot things. But I can tell you that I’m playing with life band on MS X76 now. If you will come in LJ sometimes please call me or send me e-mail. I’ll be happy to meet you.

My keyboard is better than your keyboard! Is not! Is too! Is not! Is too! ...

Enough already. Everybody has a right to their own opinion, and it should be obvious by now that no one has changed anybody else's opinion. This forum is for expressing opinions, so let's leave it at that, and knock off the attempts to convince others their opinions are wrong.

Peace

Hello All
I have collected all the demos of Wersi OAS 6 instruments that have been available since its release in early 2004, and zipped them together, so you can download them from this link. http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=B42BD00549B0B7FA
OAS 7 has now been finalised, so I would guess that proper demos will be available over the coming weeks, you will then be able to compare OAS 6 to OAS 7.
Enjoy.

Bill

Thanks abacus just downloaded the file so will listen to those.
Magica just had time to watch the video on your web site and although it's not very clear to see I really enjoyed it. I couldn't understand what you were singing about but the quality and musicians were very good.
Loved the drums, guitar solo, singing etc - well done. That song could easily win something like the Eurovision so I hope you do well in the Slovenian charts if you're not already doing so.

What should be of concern to all live players vs worrying about who hears the best sounds etc, whatever..... is the fact that little by little as Musicians we are becoming the minority in the world VS Dj's, Karaoke artists, & whatever else is out there BESIDES playing live instruments....otherwise we WILL become Dinosaurs in the not so distant future....

Some of us are already "Dino-saurs"...as in Dean Martin fans...

Song is speaking about guy who is dreaming (because of that is video hazy). Pair who is wants to go in nature and than is having there fun with collect of roses. You can thing about this in different way.

We will translate that song in English.

Thanks for your support.

I own both the Wersi Abacus Duo Pro and the Lionstracs Mediastation X-76 and I can assure you that the sound quality of both instruments is far superior to the T1, T2, PA1X, and any other arranger I have heard to date. The Piano sound on my X-76 uses nearly 3 Gigabytes of RAM and it's stunning. My drum kit utilizes over 300 MB alone for its sounds. In fact most of the sounds I use on my Wersi and Mediastation use more RAM than all the sound ROM combined from the T1, T2, and the PA1X. If you think that these other arrangers sounds can be as good with a fraction of the sound ROM you'd be mistaken. Yes, Wersi and Lionstracs should work on providing better demo's so people can truly hear what these great instruments can do but for those who have heard them in person, it doesn't take much to realize the sound quality is superior.

I love the fact these instruments are open ended and that I can utilize them for exactly what I do or don't want. I'm not locked in to what some manufacturer says I need or want. The Wersi and Lionstracs are expensive but given their sound, expandability, and OS support, its money well spent.

"I own both the Wersi Abacus Duo Pro and the Lionstracs Mediastation X-76 and I can assure you that the sound quality of both instruments is far superior to the T1, T2, PA1X, and any other arranger I have heard to date. The Piano sound on my X-76 uses nearly 3 Gigabytes of RAM and it's stunning. My drum kit utilizes over 300 MB alone for its sounds. In fact most of the sounds I use on my Wersi and Mediastation use more RAM than all the sound ROM combined from the T1, T2, and the PA1X. If you think that these other arrangers sounds can be as good with a fraction of the sound ROM you'd be mistaken. Yes, Wersi and Lionstracs should work on providing better demo's so people can truly hear what these great instruments can do but for those who have heard them in person, it doesn't take much to realize the sound quality is superior."

This is just geting silly. The size of the rom used in samples is not as significant as what the sound engineer does with the sample rom.

"If you cant make a great piano sound with 32megabytes then you wont be able to with 32 gigabytes ....." read the article below and dont try and convince me that the size of the rom used makes the mediastation or wersi sound better than my PAX or the T2. My ears will tell me that !
http://www.williamcoakley.com/articles.php?article=bigger.php
read this article

With all this talk about how great the use of giga samples are in both the Wersi and the MS why oh why oh why is it that NO ONE as yet has managed to produce a demo that actually even sounds half as good as the PAX or T2 or SD1 or Gem...even models that are like nearly ten years old sound better as demonstrated by Fran on the G1000...all closed systems.

Listen i have nothing against MS or Wersi and i am open and willing to be convinced. I am excited about the future of keyboard technology but i dont buy just because someone tells me that this thing "sounds great" . It actually has to sound great !!!!

secondly i cannot see the benefit of an open system other than to obtain "potentially" better sounds if those sounds then have to be balanced and mixed and EQ'd to sound just decent.There is far more skill involved in putting an arrangement together than just throwing some good (on their own) sounds at it.

Lastly i owned the yamaha psr 8000 for almost 9 years before i changed to the PA1X which is several step changes above what i had. I held on to the yamaha because everything that it did, it did well,it inspired my creative ability and alowed me enough scope to develope the ideas that were in my head into sound. My creative ability HAS NO LIMITS. I dont need a open system to give me greater freedom when i am free already.All it does is give me greater choice but more choices does not mean better choices !

I wish you the best of luck with the MS and Wersi. But please show me what it can do, through sound,we have wasted enought bytes theorising, show me HOW GODD a zillion gigabytes of sound potential CAN ACTUALLY SOUND LIKE IN REALITY.

Cheers

Worth

Hello Spalding
You can have as many demos as you like, but if you don’t like the style in which they were played, then you will never like the sound of the instrument, no matter how good the sound.
As has been mentioned in many threads, the only way to find out if you like them, is to try them for yourself, so pop over to Harmony Music in Boston http://www.harmony-music.co.uk/index.htm were you will be able to try out the Wersi OAS instruments.
Hope this helps.

Bill
BTW I have posted many demos (on various threads) of the Wersi OAS 6 instruments (Now superseded by OAS 7 which realy does take them to a whole new level) and also sites where demos of Akai, Gigasamples and VST instruments can be heard, but I have not seen hardly any comments, good or bad, or indeed what needs improving, so I sometimes ask myself what are the point of demos, if nobody takes any notice.

abacas i live in the UK england so cant just pop over to boston to hear the MS or WERSi live. I hear there is a Wersi stockist in the UK but from the demo's alone i can see no point in traveling accross the country to hear itin real life if their best marketing tool (demo) sounds so weak.

I have listened to the official Wersi demos's several times to make sure it wasnt just my ears that are the problem. Out of politeness i have restricted my comments on the sound by saying they were not that hot but since you want some fedback on the demos....

The Demos are a huge improvement in sound quality to what i have previously heard from Wersi ...because the sounds from Wersi previously were very poor. The drums even now with the OAS 7 sound thin and cheap. The major improvement in sound has been the pianos and guitars which sound aceptable. I do not know if the demos that you provided a link to used giga samples or just the sounds that come standard o the Wersi. Either way i apologise if you dont like my comments , i deliberately toned them down in previous posts so as to avoid offence.Maybe the lack of coments on the Wersi demos is indicative.... there are lots of more polite people on the board than me !!!! Obviously others are free to chime in with their opinions and i would respectfully ask them to join in this discussion if their ears hear something considerably difernt to mine.

The styles in my opinion are weak , but thats just a matter of personal preference but in my view they are not professionally done and just underline the comments i made about puting together arrangements takes more than just throwing together some nice sounds.

Maybe i am just real hard to please. As i said earlier i held onto my previous board for many years and the T1 didnt tempt me and i nearly got the T2 but eventually got he PAX1. I had looked at he Wersi long ago and hanks for bringing it to my attention once again however to my ears the Wersi is hugely overpriced compared to the competition and the "open sytem " sales angle only works if the instrument sounds substantially better because of it.

So far all the proof you and the MS enthusiast have provided simply underline my reticence in endorsing either keyboard as a suitable alternative to the big three.

"The drums even now with the OAS 7 sound thin and cheap. The major improvement in sound has been the pianos and guitars which sound aceptable."

apologies i think the demos you loaded were of the OAS6 version right ?

Maybe the OAS7 will sound better. If you have any samples i am keen to hear what your opinion of an improvement is to what the version 6 was like. It the improvement more than just polyphony ?

Spalding,Boston that abacus is referring to is in lincolnshire uk,mike

Cheers mike. I didnt know. Still need a better excuse to go to Boston though. Have you tried the Wersi in real life ? Whats your take on the discussion ?

sent Harmony Central an email as they stock Wersi,Ketron and korg and can do a direct comparrison. Will see what response if any i get

Hello Spalding
Sorry for not pointing out it was Boston in the UK. (About 100 miles I think)
Although I now live in Torquay, I am originally from the Black Country, (Right next door to you) and I can assure you that coming from there, I call a spade a spade, (Not some Politically correct rubbish) so don’t worry about saying what you feel about the sounds.
All the sounds I have posted have been just of the OAS 6 instruments, as most people want to hear what the instruments sound like, rather then what you can add.
If you listen to the demos from the Zip file, you will notice that a some say “Real” before them, the drums on these demos are a wav file recording, (Part of all OAS instruments) of a Real Drummer playing Real Drums, and then looped to create a style, so if they sound thin, try them on a different sound system, to see if you still get the same effect.
As far as the style makeup goes, if you read my previous posts, I have always said that the Wersi styles up to OAS 6 are weak.
There are as yet no official OAS 7 demos available, the ones on the Austrian Web site are there own, and recorded at such a low bit rate, that you would get just as good a sound on an old Harmonium. (Not withstanding the poor quality of the recordings)
OAS 7 is so different to OAS 6 in sound quality that a meaningful comparison would be like taking the difference between Tyros 1 and Tyros 2, doubling it, and then doubling it again.
Apart from the Mediastation, I and others have been able to make direct comparisons of the different boards at various keyboard Festivals, and this is what I base my personal opinions on. (To see my reports on the last 2 Festivals, just search Synth Zone for Blackpool and Caister)
I have included my final personal keyboard conclusion (Taken from the Blackpool Report) below.
Best Sound Quality; Wersi OAS 7
Best Styles; Yamaha Tyros 2
Best Mainstream Keyboard; Korg PA1X Pro
Most Disappointing; Roland E80 and Ketron SD5
Hope this clarifies a few things.

Bill

BTW I play a Wersi OAS 6 instrument, (originally it was running OAS 4) and although not perfect, none of the new boards, have come anywhere close, to make me consider changing.

Being a recording engineer I understand what you are stating but there is no way a 32 MB sample that is well recorded is going to blow away a 3 GB sample that is also well recorded. Don't get me wrong, I've recorded and sampled many sounds with just a few MB that are great but given the opportunity to record the same samples with longer sample times and higher sample rates will yield better results.

I think many people are missing the point when it comes to the Wersi, Lionstracs, and other open ended systems. These systems are exactly what you make them and can be as good as you want. If the drum sounds you heard from the Wersi were "thin and cheap" then you must not have heard the instrument in person. Listen to the GIGA library, AKAI Library, and drum sounds for the MPC3000 and MPC4000. Do you think those sounds are thin and cheap? These are the exact same sounds you can play on the Wersi or Mediastation. Try loading a GB of the best drum or keyboard sounds you've heard into your T2 or PA1X. That won't happen because its not possible but with the Wersi and Mediastation it is!

Personally it bothers me to see others post negative comments about instruments they've never seen or played in person. Just because a manufacturer can make a great online demo doesn't mean their instrument is better. Sure Yamaha, Roland, and Korg's demo's are often great but when I played these instruments in person they didn't make me want to sell my Wersi or Mediastation.

As I stated in a previous post I wish Wersi and Lionstracs would make better demo's but even at that MP3's are the worst way to show off a keyboards potential due to MP3's poor audio quality.

Hi Ensnareyou. First let me eat some humble pie .

I had listened only to the official Wersi demos from their website and from Abacus and have never heard a Wersi in person. If i have given that impression i apologise.

Second,if you read the article i posted you will see that making a great piano sound for example is more than just how well the raw data is sampled which is why a well sound engineered 32 megabyte sampled piano can sound better than a 3 Giga byte sampled piano. But thats your job so i wont pretend to tell you how its done.

Last bit of humble pie. I listened again to the zip file Abacus kindly posted and listened hard to the styles labelled "Real" in particular the drum kits. They do sound much better than the stock kits but still only on par with what i can hear from the PA1X and the Ketron. Yamaha have always been weaker in the drum department.

I have read Abacus's reports on the Blackpool music festival and i read last years report too . I really appreciate the depth that abacus goes into with each report and respect his opinion. They just arnt always the same as mine but i accept he has actually heard them all live and i have not.

I have asked the Wersi dealer in Boston to send me a CD of the Wersi and they promised me that they would. I wont be driving to Boston from Birmingham on the strength of what i have heard so far but i promise i will report back when i have had a chance to hear the CD. I know its not the same as hearing the thing in person but the same can be said for any instrument. I am keen to hear something great from the Wersi camp .

I hope that no one has taken offence at my posts , ( i know you are cool with this Abacus) i know how personal an instrument is to a musician but if an honest opinion is asked for ,especially in a forum like this, thats exactly what will be given.

Anyway i have posted more in the last 6 days than i have in the last 6months so i will sit back and relax for a while until another intersting debate comes up

Best wishes

Worth

Hopefullyothers who have heard the Wersi or Mediastation in real life will chip in and sing its praises too.

No, not tried a wersi,it has a minimal market and so the reason for the high prices,the competition is getting closer in quality every time a new board is released,i believe they are very heavy,but also well made,mike

.

[This message has been edited by LIONSTRACS (edited 06-23-2006).]

If the Mediastation is that damn good then why do they insist on putting shite sounds in it and demos on the web site all the time.
It's been almost a year since I had mine and no advancement in the sounds or styles has happened at all. Dom you promised me that the styles would be amazing by last December and you tried telling me that by having a refund I would be missing out on all of this marvellous technology, new sounds available, new styles with live audio etc, being able to load styles from any other keyboard manufacturer.......... I've missed out on nothing at all.
It really makes my arse laugh reading all of this tripe about 3gb piano sample sounds being better than anyone elses. I have heard the 3gb in the Mediastation and it is nothing special. The Tyros 2 piano is also nothing special until you edit it.
The size of the samples makes no difference if the quality isn't there to match it.
I'd rather have small quality usable samples anyday than gigantic ones with no quality that just take up bags of hard drive space.
I've said it before on here, the Mediastation has bags of potential for studio and recording use but it is certainly NOT an arranger keyboard and never will be.
As for it's looks, it's quite heavy, the key action was reasonable very similar to a FATAR master kayboard, wobbly sliders and cheap rubber push buttons that remind me of my calculator and Dom thinks the T2 is a plastic toy. It's sad when someone has to moan about the looks of other keyboards and still has to have a go at me just because he sold me a bag of shit.
Do you see the likes of Yamaha, Roland and Korg on here stating oh deary me the Tyros 2 looks all plasticy? of course you don't because they have better things to do with their time like consentrating on good marketing and providing customers with quality machines that work - you should try it Dom.
I only use VST and Giga along with the likes of cubase, reason, pro tools, cakewalk and loads of others for doing professional backing tracks. There's no way you can use a style in any arranger keyboard that can match the song 100% so I simply create a song from scratch. VST and Giga are just other resources available to me, they are not the best thing since sliced bread though.
Each to their own at the end of the day, make music on whatever you've got and love it

Hello Spalding
Let us know what demo CD they send you, as I was only aware of the one done by Curt Prina in 2000, when the instruments first came out and were running OAS 2 or 3.
If it is an OAS 7 demo disc, then I will have to get on to Harmony Music, as they were supposed to be sending a copy to all members when it was released.
Hope you enjoy.

Bill

Hi Abacus.
When I rang Wersi for a demo DVD/CD at the back end of last year they sent me a full CD by Stephan Weiler called The Solitaire. It's very good and he is playing on the Scala organ.
I'm not sure what OAS is in use and the CD doesn't have a date on it but it sounds impressive enough to me. He's a very good player, German/Austrian I guess with the name.

sure Abacus. As soon as i get it and have had a chance to listen to it i will report back

Craig
Thanks for that info.
The CD you mention was released about the middle of 2005, as a full CD rather then a demo, (He was using OAS 6) but as you say an impressive sound, however to my ears, possibly a little to impressive for UK ears which tend to go for a bit more laid back sound.

Spalding
Look forward to your report.
Enjoy Music.

Bill

should get the cd in a few days so i promise i will report back.

Ok i have the Wersi Demo CD. It arrived on saturday. I have just had and opportunity to listen to it.

My first impression of the physical design of the CD. it says " Curt Prina plays the new Wersi OAS Keyboard and Organs" English edition.Looks good but immediately it becomes apparent that this CD is not being marketed as an arranger promotional CD. This becomes even more apparent when you listen to the CD.

The inside cover tells you word for word what the presenter says before each piece is introduced but no mention of what instrument is being used. at the very end it says " Thank you for listening. With a WERSI -Abacus, Verona, Vegas Scala or Lourve in your homer- you'll always have a great time. Isnt Music Wonderful ?!!!"

So it is impossib;e to tell what instrument is being used for each demo.Its also not apparent what version OAS is being used. There are 26 demos in all.

First the styles.

If you are a fan of Ropmanian music, waltz's and classical orchestral pieces then you will like the styles. I dont like them at all. I hope these are not representative of the styles on the boards that an arranger player might own it would be hard to see how many of the styles could actually be used in an entertainment , oneman band type setting. certainly i understand why this instrument has such poor sales in the UK. You would have to replace most of the internal styles with more current and representative styles .

This might be an unfair critiscism mainly for the fact that you cannot tell from the CD what styles are being used or whether in fact ANY style was being used. I will come back to this point later.

The Sounds

Most of the sounds demonstrated were of classical instruments, trumpets,fugel horns, brass, classical guitar , pianos and eps, some 12 string guitars orchestral sounds , you get the idea.

They were to my ear ordinary and very inconsistant in that some of the solo sounds were very good particularly the clarinet and trumpet but within the "styles" they sounded almost casioish ( WEll i might aswell offend everyone whilst i am here). The drums to my ears sounded very weak and thin.

The guitars sounded poor in some demos and better in others but none sounded even close to the bench mark T2.

The Classical piano sounded ok but just ok.

There was nothing on the CD that would inspire me to do any further research into the Wersi family of musical instruments

But ....back to the point regarding styles that i alluded to earlier. a the very end of the CD is a good orchestral piece done on the WErsi Scala. Its sounds really good . Actually too good. When you read the commentary in the inside cover you learn that "I was asked to write a big band arrangement with the 4 most popular songs of that time. I did so - and it was recorded in Switzerland. This recording i burned on CD loaded it into my Scala and overdubbed the whole orchestra with my organ. A fantastic sound-this Big Band and my Wersi Scala"

I would have to ask further questions about this if i were a potential Wersi purchaser ( which i definately will not be). It seems to me that he recored "real "instruments and played along with the Wersi Scala which would explain why in the last piece in particular the sound was so good.

That got me thinking. There were some very big inconsitencies in the sounds of instruments that i was hearing in the "styles" and i could not quite figure out why certain brass instruments sounded great in one demo and then really poor in the next. Why one drum kit sounded almost paper thin in one demo and the full and rich in others particularly the last demo. The one recorded with a a real band ....

Wersi need to do a number of things if they want to sell keyboards at least in the UK

1. They need to come up with a greater variety of styles if they want to promote the arranger function of they keyboards/organs
2. They need to create a promo video for arranger musicians and not for people who want to listen to classical songs
3. They need to clearly identify which instruments are being used on their demos specifically noting styles thgat used external sound support

I know this was not the kind of feedback that some were looking for. When i called the shop in Boston i told them what kind pof instrument i was interested in and told him i would be comparing it to the PA1X , T2 and G70. He said the Wersi would sound better than anything that was on the market today anbd said he would send the demo CD which true to his word he did.

Judging purely from this CD , Wersi have still a long way to go to be even considered competition to the big .

OK you can shoot the messenger now.

Hi Abacus. Just re read you post and it is obvious that this was the CD you were refering to running on OAS version 2 or 3. Wersi should be quite worried that their only UK distributor is marketing their products on how it sounded 6 years ago !!!

From one sales person to another , thats just unforgiveable. This causes more harm to the Wersi image than rightly deserved.

Spalding,

The Wersi Demo CD you heard was so old it in no way reflects what Wersi products sound like today. I believe the CD you received was a version 3 OAS demo, maybe even OAS 2. Wersi since then has come leaps and bounds so don't let that CD have you make a buying decision about Wersi. My suggestion would be to demo an OAS 7 Wersi product in person or at least hear an OAS 7 product on CD. You can also listen to demos on Claudia Hirschfelds website which will give you an idea of what Wersi sounds like. I believe the songs Claudia did were done using OAS 5 though.

I know many people on this forum say bad things about the sound of Wersi but how many of those that do really own a newer Wersi? I have an Abacus Duo Pro so speaking for myself I know exactly what a Wersi sounds like and believe me it sounds damned good!

I accept that Ensareyou and i later qualified my post when i realised how old the CD was. But what can i do ? I have asked the UK distributor to give me something to help me understand why you and Abacus are convinced of the quality of the product and what do they give me ? a 6 year old product ?And did they genuinely think it would show the WErsi in a good light compared to the other boards out there ? Had they even listened to the CD themselves before giving it to me as a potential purchaser ?

Does Wersi actually want to sell any of their instruments ?

I agree with you spalding about the demo CD's. The one I got was about a year old and would have been OAS 5 or maybe 6.
I have got to listen to the Ikarus though with OAS 7 in it as a good friend of mine has one, although he lives quite a few miles away. The sounds were excellent and the styles were pretty good. Things like the Tyros 2 sound totally different to the Wersi though. The Wersi has it's own sound which you either love or hate but you must see it and play it to either appreciate or hate it. The problem in the UK is that they only exist in a few places as we all know and they cost an arm and a leg.

Hello Spalding
I was afraid they would send you that one, good in its day but things have moved on.
The inconsistencies stem from the fact that the early OAS 2/3 instruments only had about 50 Long Wave Sampled Sounds, (LWSS) the rest of the voices (Particularly the styles) were supplied by a Yamaha XG card. (The more substantial sounding drums were probably the real drums, which are recordings of a live drummer playing a real drum kit)
There is no comparison between OAS 2/3 and OAS 7; hopefully they will soon be posting some OAS 7 demos.
Until these are posted, please keep an open mind.
Enjoy whatever you play.

Bill

Hi
Here are some tunes on OAS 6 with the EQ settings I use, (Not the ones out of the box)
Air is the same as previously posted, but with my EQ settings.
Big Band I don’t think has been posted.
Moondance uses the GM voices.
Enjoy.

Bill
http://rapidshare.de/files/22974474/Air.wma.html http://rapidshare.de/files/22974674/Big_Band.wma.html http://rapidshare.de/files/22975073/Moondance.wma.html

Recieved this email from Harmony Music in Boston England. "Thank-you for your last e-mail. That is the only demonstration C.D that we have at present – it is version 5. The only other thing we do have is a D.V.D of Franz Lambert playing the Louvre, which is on Version 6. This is £17.99 though."

Thanks for your demo Abacus. I dont mean to sound ungrateful but the demo you have kindly provided in terms of sound quality is still not very encouraging to my ears. I am probably just very hard to please. If the Demo CD that i have recieved is in fact version 5 and not version 2 or 3 then the OAS7 will have to be a massive technological improvement over version 5 to sound anything like a modern day arranger. I wish you well with your instrument Abacus and i know that you will find great joy from whatever instrument you use. Best of luck to you.

Worth

Hello Spalding
I have uploaded a PDF file of the Demo CD cover that I have, could you please compare it with the one you have, (Particularly the pictures) as if it is the same, then it is most definitely OAS 2 or 3.
Enjoy whatever you play.

Bill
http://rapidshare.de/files/23048007/Demo_CD.pdf.html

The Demo CD you heard was not OAS 5 as that demo was out long, long before OAS 5 was even around. Just play a Wersi OAS 6 or 7 in person as that's the only way you'll truly know what it sounds like. MP3 demos suck IMO and in no way represent most keyboards well.

If you listen to Gigasampler, AKAI, Kontact, Native Instruments B4, Reason, Arturia, and other VST's and like their sounds then you will love the Wersi as it can play these sounds.

[This message has been edited by Ensnareyou (edited 06-15-2006).]

Comparing the WERSI with those plastic Japanese boxes is like comparing a RollsRoyce with a ordinary midclass-car.

It just make no sens.

I own a WERSI OAS 7, and I can only say :

"Nothings comes even close to my WERSI !!!"

(BTW, anybody wants to buy a Ketron and Yamaha ?)

Have fun everybody with your "plastic toys"

WERSI User.

hey ketron user .....thanx for the morning laugh Wersi?

Can you please back up you statements by providing us with some WERSI Demos so I & others could compare them with my Plastic Tyros 2 let the masses be the judge?

Thanx

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 06-14-2006).]

Listen to the DanishTyros2demo and compare it the dozens of Wersi demo's that have been posted here. The Tyros sounds great and its not just becuase of the contemporary styles used. If you can get a Wersi or Mediastation sounding anything like that then you have a real argument but all this talk and no result is getting tiresome.

OAS with 1 VST (Colossus) http://rapidshare.de/files/23146295/01_Track_1.wma.html
http://rapidshare.de/files/23146496/05_Track_5.wma.html
http://rapidshare.de/files/23146632/11_Track_11.wma.htm
http://rapidshare.de/files/23146855/12_Track_12.wma.html
http://rapidshare.de/files/23147018/13_Track_13.wma.html
http://rapidshare.de/files/23147231/17_Track_17.wma.html

OAS with 3rd party samples (same as Danish Tyros 2 demo)
http://rapidshare.de/files/23148399/354.mp3.html
http://rapidshare.de/files/23148523/431.mp3.html
http://rapidshare.de/files/23148602/746.mp3.html
http://rapidshare.de/files/23148821/758.mp3.html
http://rapidshare.de/files/23148980/892.mp3.html
http://rapidshare.de/files/23149120/1243.mp3.html

Enjoy

Bill

something is not right here bill. Did you or someone else create these files on a wersi instrument or not ? . The credits that appear on my real player indicate that at least some of these files were professionally done for commercial use. Can you clarify whether they were midi files that you then selcted the appropriate voices from your wersi and did whatever tweaking to ensure that the VST voices on the keyboard were balanced and EQ'd appropriately ? Or did you just play an mp3 of a studio produced demo using VST. There is a huge difference if the later as all you will have demonstrated is the skill of a studio technician mixed with the creativeness of a professional musician to produce an mp3 file.If thats so it just demonstrates precisely the problem with using VST in an arranger keyboard. It does not demonstrate the capability of the instrument. Just of the production team that put together the mp3. If the tyros demo uses the same method then i feel cheated as this does not demonstrate the capability of the machine. It just demonstrates the skill of the production team behind the mp3 of which neither you nor i have access to and so can never sound like that. May as well just put a cd in a cd player and mime.

Hello Spalding
If you look on the Danish Web site you will find the Artist mentioned in a lot of demos and Tyros 2 software, and to the right of these you will find the word admin not a music artist.
The demo was done professionally in a studio and then made into an mp3. (If you purchased the software you would probably find a midi file on the disc, which after you had loaded the new software, would play the Tyros 2 as in the demo, minus the voice)
The Wersi demos are midi files (I am not a professional musician and so could not play as good as this) that came with the software which my friend has installed on his Wersi Scala with OAS 6, (All Wersi instruments have the same sound engine) the Akai samples are converted to Wersi/Creamware sts format when they are loaded in the instrument.
All the best demos of instruments you hear are done in a studio first.
Hope this clears a few things up, and I apologise for not making this clearer. (I made the mistake of assuming that people new this, about all the high quality demos from manufactures)
I posted the Wersi demos to compare like with like.
BTW The licensing that came with the demo specified that if they were posted in the public domain, the creator must be indicated.
Speak to you soon.

Bill

thanks for that bill. So the T2 demo was done in a studio and not onboard the instrument and then the midi file created was played back through the instrument ? So the guitars were probably real guitars and then midi played into the T2 ? Thats really disappointing. I went to the site but could not understand any danish an hought that it was purely an enthusiasts site like this. I did not know that the creator was selling these files commercially. I knew that this recording technique ( doing it all offboard then selling the demo as though you could recreate it ) was done on manufacturers demo's but i was under the mistaken impression that this was just by an enthusiast like us doing a demo on the instrument. He may say he is not a music artist but those demos were as "pro" as they get and certainly better than even some of the manufacturers demos.Unfortunately it doesnt help anyone understand the capability of the machine and if what you say is true ( i have no reason not to believe you ) then i still feel cheated.Neither the danish yammy demo nor the wersi OAS demos help me understand the unstrument any better !!

The truest test is where a demo is done using the instruments onboard styles played live. I have heard the tyro 2 and the PAX1 live and they are very very impressive. The next best is hearing a recording of live playing ,again i have heard this of the yammy and Korg and was not disappointed.

Can you give me one last try bill by recording something contemporary on the wersi using either its internal styles or converted styles on Version OAS6 or 7 using different VST's to show how well the sound integrates ? I know you are not a pro , neither am i but i know when something sounds good and it is just the sound that i am interested in. I dont know how i am ever going to hear this instrument live but a recording is the next best.If the previous demos showing the styles were done using version 6 then I can stop this enquiry.

You have been very helpful and very gracious Bill. A true ambassador for Wersi an they should be grateful that someone is prepared to go further in promoting their instruments than their own dealership over here.

Cheers and best of luck.

Eventhough valid points have been raised in regard to studio production of the demo's, and true that most of us can't like this, I don't think many can argue that the sound is as realistic as it gets.

I have Colossus in my Muse Receptor, and agree that the samples are of better quality than can ever be achieved by any standard keyboard. The Wersi, being open ended, would produce the same quality.

This, however, is not to say there are not other issues using large samples like Colossus.

So, are you saying that you are a gigging musician playing a Wersi on each gig in a live situation? Or are you folks using these Wersi's in the living room?

I'd love to see some photos and recordings of the Wersi in action on the road. Perhaps I have a hasty judgement towards the Wersi.

There are quite a few artists that play Wersi, and most of them tend to use the organ variants, however as there is no difference in the sound from the small Ikarus to the large Lourve, listening to any will show you some of there capabilities.(Manuals, Pedals, Layers and cabinets are the most differences)
http://www.wersi.net/LambertLIVE_small.wmv is one short video of a professional European player. (Using just OAS 6 voices)
I will try and find some more.

Spalding
My friend has a lot of VSTs and Akai samples on his Scala, and when he returns from holiday I will see if I can get him to do some demos, as you requested.
BTW The sounds of OAS 7 easily equal and in most cases better a lot of the Akai samples that are available, so if you do a search for quality Akai sample demos, you will have an idea of the sounds that OAS 7 can produce.
Hope this helps.

Bill

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0RgDdAkgUqLCHKAc7xzWzKQE9t*8HRv*NrQUuc5UKD8YUf4NOnSYFX2SWYaHZWQgtXR6M1qvchIiZsO0K!2QC4ep2y469S4K1cuOHBaKdzl8/DSC00499.JPG?dc=4675577044876594521


http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0RgDhAkEU*K5gKTESS0us7X880OLinSuhOfTRr!OS6HFgXpIssSZHK5DtQdCWP98GEpQvcNgQuphzV0YeGBnMMG2pIdj0!tz2kFfz3Unw!mM/DSC00564.JPG?dc=4675577044794678359


http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0RgAAAD0UCK5gKTESS0us7SvaXSj8Muvs7EfV40QkooGvYk4MHYlQhpcqBg5d19Tq58rUeputtmACvQCk5MYjNzdue5R4!iD5CH!SEannhsY/DSC00560.JPG?dc=4675577043247099836

Nice pics thanx for sharing...I love the drawbars!

Adding 3rd party samples and VST instruments into OAS instruments.

In the old days of arrangers, the number of sounds was very limited, and so one sound had to be suitable for many different genres of music, if you added external sounds then the chances are that their sound characteristics were totally different from the existing sounds and so required extensive adjustment to get them to blend in.
Modern arrangers have 100s of sounds, and so you can choose the type of instrument to suit the song, (Jazz song – Jazz Trumpet, Big Band – Big Band Trumpet) if however you mix the wrong sounds, (Jazz Trumpet – Orchestral Trombone) then the mix becomes unnatural.
The same applies when importing 3rd party samples into OAS, if you mix the wrong sounds it just becomes unnatural, however if you mix the sounds correctly, then they blend in as if they had come with the OAS instrument, (According to the sales blurb) in reality adjustments to the volume and reverb of the new voice are required to enable matching with existing voices. (Each manufacture has their own particular settings for volume and reverb)
This is easily achieved in OAS by loading in the sound, and then going into sound edit function and adjusting the virtual sliders for volume and reverb, the voice can then be resaved, once this is done, it becomes as if it was part of the original OAS instrument. (Just like loading Yamaha samples into a Yamaha arranger)
The above also applies to VST instruments, however as they are instruments in there own right, you make the adjustments from within the instrument itself. (Just as if you connected a Tyros 2 to a Roland G70 via midi)
If it is a sample VST (Such as Colossus) then while the sounds will be more accurate, providing you keep the sounds matched, (Jazz – Jazz, Big Band – Big Band) then the sounds will blend in with the OAS instrument.
If it is an instrument VST (Such as B4 or FM7) then the sound quite correctly will not blend in, this is because the B4 emulates a Hammond B3, and the FM7 emulates a Yamaha DX7, (If you had the real instruments, you would expect them to have there own sound) therefore you would mix these instruments in the same way as if you were playing in band, where other members were using these instruments.
I hope the above explanation helps, if you require any more info then just post your question, or if I am online and you have Skype, then give me a call.
My Skype name is; abacusks1

Bill