scott,
Not being a keyboard player, but a store owner who loves arranger keyboards because of their ease of use in making me sound good, I possed your question to a good friend of mine who bought an X1 and also had a PSR8000 before the X1. He informed me exactly as Paul Ip has informed you that the X1 does not recognize the chords you asked about. Yet I think it is very strange becasue Andy, the musician I called plays mostly big Jazz type chords and loves the way the X1 recognizes what he plays.
I also would like to clarify that the new piano sound you mention is from the super solo 8 disk set of sounds which solton sells but does not offer as a free set or as an upgrade to their stock piano. Unless your store moderates the solton club, my feeling is that they don't know what these sound disks are all about. If Solton's distributor in New York didn't tell them about these being such an improvement, they would have no way of knowing they should load these in. Also, it doesn't matter how old their keyboard is in the store as long as they keep updating operating systems as they come out. We just loaded 3.2A last week. Paul Ip, if your still using 3.0A you should be using the new operating system. Besides adding new features it also makes the keyboard work more ifficiently. Also, please check the chord recognition using 3.2A. Maybe it fixes it. I read somewhere from AJ of the Solton Club that there was one more chord recognition in the fingered mode. I think he said fingered 2.
George Kaye

"Maybe it fixes it. I read somewhere from AJ of the Solton Club that there was one more chord recognition in the fingered mode. I think he said fingered 2."
George Kaye

Maybe Solton has been reading Scott's posts.
Clif

One thing to Solton's credit, they do respond to user input and if they are of merit they include them in upgrades wherever possible. I suppose it's because their arranger keyboard division is very small compared to giants like Yamaha and Roland.
Or maybe they have somebody working there that actually plays an X1? . . . Naw, if they did they would put the buttons in the right place!
Don

Hi George,

Thanks for the valuable info regarding the latest Solton X1 OS (version 3.2A). As I mentioned earlier, I really do love many of the sounds (especially rhythm section) & styles of the X1 so I'm am very anxious to find out if version 3.2A adds 'rootless' chord voicing recognition. Hope someone here that has installed OS 3.2A can report back on this.

BTW, can you explain the differences between Easy1, Easy2, Fingered 1, and Fingered 2 Solton X1 modes? Paul Ip's posting gave me the impression that there is only 'one' fingered mode on the X1. Is Solton's "fingered 2" mode similar to Yamaha's "full keyboard" or Technics "Pianist" mode?

In regards to your musican friend Andy who plays "big Jazz type chords" and loves the way the X1 recognizes what he plays. I assume he is playing in 'full keyboard' mode where all the notes/chords he plays are heard, right? I am sure that the X1 provides him with a great sounding backup even if he must play "stock chord voicings"(including the root) to trigger the auto-accompaniment to play the correct harmonies. The problem with this limitation (especially in ballad type tunes), is that you as a keyboard player are not allowed to play more exotic chord voicings and extensions (9th,11th, 13th) and alterations (b9,#11,b13 etc) because this would screw up the auto-accompaniment's recognition of the chord. I am just hoping that future generations of arranger keyboards will either add more chord recognition possibilities to their chord recognition palette, or better yet, allow the user to program and define their own "custom" chord recognition table. I did speak with a Technics R&D rep and he expressed great interest in the custom 'user defined' chord recognition idea so I'm hoping that this is something that may be implemented in the next generation of arranger keyboard. Perhaps you might tickle Solton with this idea as well.

George, thanks again for keeping us all posted on the latest arranger keyboard product developments and release dates as well as providing us with current arranger keyboard sales trends. I always find your postings informative.

- Scott

Hi Scott
I'm not a jazz pianist, but out of interest I tried your 5 examples on the KN6000. In pianist mode they were all recognized as per your posting. In fingered mode none were recognized however I believe that is the same on the 5000.
By the way I am reliably informed that since rectification of the original chord recognition problem on the 6000 there has been further fine tuning of the chord recognition on later software upgrades, so if you get the chance to try the 6000 again make sure it's upgraded to the latest version, 6.0.
Regards
Peter

Hey there Peter,

How have you been?

How's it going "down under"? Did you make it to Sydney for the Olympics? Wish I could have been there.

Thanks for the valuable update regarding the KN6000. I will have to check out a KN6000 with the latest version 6.0 ROM. I had played a KN6000 which contained an earlier ROM version and it 'did not' recognize some of the rootless chords I had outlined. I am "GLAD" that Technics has finally fixed this with ROM version 6.0.

Peter, how about the other known glitches on the KN6000 (delayed chord recognition etc), have they been corrected as well?

Regards,

- Scott

California (SF Bay Area), USA

Hi again Scott,
The olympics were pretty exciting for all us "Sydneysiders". I live right in the middle of town so I was surrounded by it all!
There was lots of friendly rivalry between the Americans and the Aussies throughout the games. I guess the Americans set the standard and the other athletes all strive to outdo them.
As to the kn6000, in my view the chord recognition is now the same as(as good as) on the 5000 and generally there are no other outstanding bugs of any significance. I still haven't heard the new grand piano on the expansion board but I'm looking forward to that as soon as we get the board in Australia. A few days back you mentioned the possibility of a kn7000 early next year. I wonder if that will be nothing more than a 6000 with the expansion board as standard.
Peter.

Hey Peter,

How exciting it must be to live in Sydney. I have a couple of friends here from Sydney that say San Francisco is in many ways similar to your beautiful city. Sister cities?

Wow, so many exciting new arranger keyboards coming out "just on the horizon" . . . .

Yamaha PSR9000-Pro
Technics KN6000 with piano expansion board
Technics KN7000?
Korg PA80
GEM WK8-SE

I'm getting dizzy trying to figure out which one to get for my next arranger board. If I could afford it, I'd get them all but being a working musician. . . . I can only afford one . . . at least for now.

I'm beginning to think that the possibility of a KN7000 being released in January 2001 might be 'just speculative' rumour, especially in light of the recent release of the KN6000 expansion board. I must admit though, that it does seem pretty odd that a Technics sales guy would try to convince me to hang on to my KN5000 and wait for the KN7000 (missing a great sales opportunity for him to sell me an 'in stock' KN6000). Perhaps he was having a great month and already exceeded his sales quota (yeah, right!), who knows?

I certainly am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the new KN6000 expansion board and its' new "acoustic grand piano sample" when it arrives in Australia.

Regards,

- Scott

California (SF Bay Area), USA

Hello,

Sorry for the delay. I spent an hour experimenting and here is my result:


On Sk880/Sk760/Wk8/WK6,

the following are true:

F-C-E F Maj7
D-F-C-E D min9
F-C-D-E D min9/F
-----
F-B-E F Maj7-b5 (flatted fifth)
F-G-B-E G13/F
---------
E-A-D E7_sus4
C-D-G-A C 6-9
E-G-A-C-D C 6-9/E
------
B-F-A F_b5
B-F-G-A G9/B
------
(Eb-A-D)(G-C-F): F13/Eb
but the two hands has to be on consecutive octaves.
--------

Hi,

The Os3.2a with the option Chord "finger2" mode still can't recognize the rootless chord! So, hopefully the next OS will have it fixed.