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#267290 - 07/21/09 09:21 AM
Re: It's Coming!
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Senior Member
Registered: 06/25/99
Posts: 16735
Loc: Benton, LA, USA
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Update: The first Audya I received had a problem, probably caused by shipping. A few of the keys "clunked" when released. It was mechanical and didn't affect the sound or operation. Anyway, I received a replacement immediately and then returned the first one. This one has no problems. I have not had time to fully set it up, but I started on it yesterday and since it is raining today and I don't like to play golf or fish in the rain, I will spend the rest of today with it. I can tell you that the OS is much improved. The update was simple, and the new styles were easily loaded. They appear as factory styles. You can plug it into the PC via USB and it appears as another drive. It also quickly recognizes pen drives and will play midi files directly from them. I haven't tried MP3s or styles from external. The mic processor and vocal harmonizer are much improved over SD models, and much easier to edit and adjust. As with previous models, it's easy to change voices, levels, effects, etc on styles and save them. There's a new registration feature that allows for sub-registrations. You can have a Registration Block containing either multiple single registration, or multiple settings (such as lyrics, various sounds, tempo changes, mic settings--anything the kb will do. I can see myself setting, for example, a Rock-n-roll Registration, with instant access to preferred guitar, piano, organ and sax voices, with or without second sound, and with or without two rh voices with a secondary split without ever leaving that screen. Many other possibilities make this a really powerful feature, at least for me. I will next load my collection of MP3s to the hard drive, to play on breaks. Not certain how I will set up text files. They can easily be associated with registrations, but I already have them arranged in alphabetical folders (from the PSR900) on a pen drive, so I will created a folder on the hard drive and transfer all the text files to it for now. I can decide later if I want to link to registrations on a few of them. I don't look at the lyrics that much, but it's essential for requests that I haven't done in a long time. Since I appear every night in the same place, it is very important to me to have a wide variety of styles and songs, so that I don't become too stale for the audience, and this kb will help greatly with that, because of the large variety of fresh styles, particularly in the RnR and Country genres. I've only touched on a few of the many features at my disposal. Of course there are a few things I dislike. I have grown used to moving my left hand only one inch to access the joystick on the E50. The PB and MOD wheels on the Audya are about three inches above my left hand. Not quite as convenient. It's heavier than I like to carry around, but I leave it in one place most of the time anyway. It does eliminate the need to carry and set up my laptop, MP3 player, recorder, vocal harmonizer and mixer. All I have to do take is the Audya, Bose Compact (or two), and kb stand. My mic stand is attached to the kb stand. Quick and easy. Regarding the sounds. I like most of them, especially the pianos and organs. I have grown really fond of a particular Roland guitar sound and there is nothing similar on the Audya. I'm hoping I will be able to edit something or load one. The standard Solidbody, Strat, Tele, Clean, and acoustics are fine. No built-in slides or gimmicks as Yamaha and Roland have--you have to do it yourself. Good news is that I didn't use them on the Yammys much anyway. Regarding the much-discussed audio guitar fall-out: It does exist when you play aug or dim chords. As far as I can tell it plays everything else with no problems. Most of the time it is not noticeable when actually performing. If you isolate just the audio guitar (killing drums, bass and other chords parts) you can hear it drop out or change to a midi guitar. I would never use it that way, so that's not a major problem for me. I assume that sometime in the future they will address this. In the meantime, I will enjoy the many things it does right. Once I get it all set up and in use, I'll record something. Gotta get back to work. DonM
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DonM
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