I am looking for an arranger which has the best European styles. In particular I need the best "Schlager" style. I know in Germany they use alot of SD1's and PSR9000's. I generaly do not buy 1.0 of anything (TYROS). I like to wait till the bugs are out and the next revisions are in place. The only glitch is my audience here in Las Vegas also want to here other styles like rock, disco, country, swing, etc... Again, I want a plug and play arranger. Translation: NO SEQUENCING REQUIRED. This unit has to be the best sounding. Please advise,
Herbi...

Herbie,
I own a music store in Los Angeles and I sell both the Yamaha andthe Ketron products. From my customers experience, the Ketron SD1 has been used more in clubs around my area for it's great sounds and exciting styles. One of it's big strengths is in the Europeans sound and style catagory. The Schlager style is in the catagory called Party in the SD1 and there are 3 intros and ending and 4 variations. There is no style in the 9000pro called Schlager although I'm sure one could be made or converted. Because Ketron is a European made product (Italy) and Yamaha is a Asian made product (Japan) I think the strong European influence can be found in the Ketron products. One of the big differences is in the Accordian catagory There are 18 different accordians in the SD1 and only 8 in the Yamaha. I also think the style tracks in the SD1 are much more exciting for an audience to listen to when it comes to contemporary styles such as funk, rock, hip hop, etc. Both keyboards are similarly priced. I sell both of these and would be happy to answer any questions you might have besides what you have already asked.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566

Herbian,
I agree with George. I think the SD-1 would be your better choice.. George knows his stuff and he can hook you up with a good deal.. Also, you mentioned that you don't care for a sequencer, but want a board that sounds good and performs well....,,,, Solton just made the perfect board for you... It's the XD-9... It's seems to be exactly what you're looking for...

Squeak

Squeak and Herbie,
I would ask if you need 76 keys and would prefer the more weighted feel of the SD1 over the XD9. Also, so of the styles on the SD1 are not on the XD9 and if you are playing gigs for a living, I would suspect you would rather have 76 keys over 61. One more thing is the SD1 comes with a hard drive and a vocal harmony board which could be of importance to you. You have to add these to the XD9 if you want them.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

Thank you all for your reply. I believe the SD1 is more my style. Has anyone heard of this S G 1? Is this the SD1 replacement? I saw this on the www.solton.com site.
Please advise,
Herbi

The Solton SG1 has been advertised on the Solton of Germany website. It is confusing to all the readers because the Solton Germany company has made a mistake on it's site calling it a Ketron made product. It is however made by Generalmusic and is the same product as the Genesys which is coming out right now. Genesys is a 61 key 60 lb. arranger keyboard with a built in CD drive which can be used like another floppy or hard drive and can also be used to load mp3 files and record CD's. It will replace the Generalmusic WK8 keyboard.
The mistake being made on the Solton website is that they are saying it is a "Solton SG1 by Ketron" when it fact it is a "Solton SG1 by Generalmusic.
Last year, I explained what had happend to the name Solton on Ketron products and why they took it off. Maybe I should explain again.
Ketron Labs, is a manufacturer of keyboards. Solton, Germany is a distributor of music products throughout Europe. For many years Ketron was calling their keyboards Solton by Ketron because they had a certain kind of relationship with Solton to produce keyboards using the Solton name. These keyboards also were sold to different distributors throughout the world. Here in the US, the brand Solton became the known name. Most people didn't know what Ketron was, they only knew what Solton was. Then, Solton,Germany decided to start selling Generalmusic keyboards as well and Ketron Labs decided not to put the Solton name on their products. So now all Ketron models, even those that used to say Solton, such as the X1, only says Ketron.
When I saw the SG1 by Ketron on the Solton website, I checked with my distributor for Generalmusic to make sure I wasn't crazy because if you look at the picture and the description on their website for the SG1 it is exactly a Generalmusic Genesys. For some reason Solton has made a mistake by calling it "SG1 Solton by Ketron".
So after this long explanation, to answer your question, no, this is not a replacement for the Ketron SD1. The SD1 is the "flagship" of the Ketron line of keyboards.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566

Herbianddegators: I think the Ketron SD1 is certainly an excellent choice (if 76 keys is needed) but it does not include onboard speakers. I would also checkout and consider the 61 note Technics KN6500 or new KN7000 (coming out in August) as they both include a great dedicated 'accordion register' feature which includes an impressive selection of different accordion registers (both Italian & German) as well as a good variety of great sounding schlager type styles as well. - Scott

I heard the kn6500 and it sounded great! The only thing missing was the hard drive which I believe the kn7000 will have.(I may be wrong). The onboard speakers is not crucial since we are running stage monitors anyway.
The following are important to me:
1. On board hard drive (no flipping discs)
2. harmonizer(vocoder)
3. Great European arrangements out of the box.
I was actually thinking about running my accordion mic directly into the input channel and then I found out how great the onboard accordion sounds are so I will just midi it live.
Has anyone been to Namm and got a report back about the kn7000?
Please advise,
Herbi
P.S. Thank you George Kaye for the well explained Solton/ketron. Now it makes sense.

Herbie,
On the SD1 you can call up and play songs directly from the hard drive and you can arrange these songs in any order you like. There is also a demo and hit folder which allows you to have hundreds of songs in any order you want and by just hitting the button called demo and hit these songs become instantly available. The good thing about this is that you will not have to hit the button called song play and then hit directory function button and then scroll through and find the song you want to play. It's really fast using the demo and hit button.
There is also the ability to call up and play styles directly from the hard drive so if you have hundreds of great style customized or loaded in from vast libraries available, you do not have to stop to call up one of these hard drive styles.
The vocalizer in the SD1 allows for your voice to be used on all harmony voices or gender specific, including female, male, robot or other crazy voices.
there are 4 outputs on the SD1 so you can assign whatever you like to a live PA system for working situations.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

Thank you for your reply! This brings up an interesting topic which no one could explain to me(including dealers).
Lets say I like the style "schlager" and want to string them into a song. I believe there is a one shot take on recording this. How can I record or program my hamonizer changes? For example, when I used to sequence my digitech vocalist into my MPC60 sequencer, I just played the harmonies on the keyboard in vocoder mode. If this is a one shot take, I don't believe I have enough hands to do this in one shot. If this does not make any sense I apoligize.
Please advise,
Herbie