One thing about the Audya that hasn't been discussed a lot is how well it plays back SMF's. Much is made of the audio drums, and they certainly raise the bar for style playback, but one thing sort of bothers me... You can't play an SMF back through them. So, how well do the included MIDI kits compare, on the gig, to the live audio loops? Is it easy to tell when one stops, and the other begins? (It darn well ought to, mind you, or why bother with loops in the first place? )

Yes, I know you can take an SMF, and replace the drum track with a style drum audio part, but that doesn't work if the SMF has a particular beat not available in the ROM loops, and there is still the issue of intros, fills, endings, all of which may not be a good match for the SMF.

As much as many of us rely on SMF's as well as style play, do you think you take a fair hit on your sound quality when you go to the MIDI kits?

I don't use many midi files, but the Audya sounds good on the ones I do use. The audience has never complained about any difference in quality.
I also use quite a few older styles with midi guitars rather that audio. Again they are very good, but the audio-based are fantastic.
In the heat of battle, you don't think about a difference in sounds. In a recording studio, you would hear a difference for sure.
DonM

Thanks... Be interesting to hear the difference.

Any chance of listening to two sequenced pieces, one with the audio drums (maybe an SMF you've replaced the drum track with Live Loop patterns) and the other with MIDI drums?

Heat of battle, maybe it ISN'T all that important, but personally, I feel if it's not good enough for studio, it's not good enough for live, either...

Consistency across the repertoire is something I like to strive for, I don't feel comfortable if one song sounds GREAT and another is just so-so, and the technology is what is making the difference, not anything YOU do!

I am sure if you turned up with an E50 or a PSR instead of the Audya, the audience wouldn't complain anyway, Don, as well as you play So I'm not sure that that would make everything OK for me...!

For all their limitations, at least MIDI based arrangers have no problem making style play and SMF play consistent, and I'm not sure how many of us would be unconcerned if they DIDN'T... no matter WHAT the audience said!

Actually I DID use the E50 last week on two short jobs. Nobody noticed of course.
I'll try to find time to do some demos, but don't hold your breath.
I have never taken the time to substitute the drums, but I probably should look into it.
I use a few midi files, but probably don't average one a night!
DonM

So diki when are you ordering your new Audya..?

If the local economy was as bad a year ago as it is now, I wouldn't have one either!
DonM

Might be time to pick up Dean & hit the road again

i wish there was a way of taking regular drums, GM,
and having AUDYA trigger REAL audio samples, of the Audio Kits

is this possible, or will it ever be?

but being able to replace midi drum track with audio drum track is very nice, but limited,

and also guitar tracks as well,

makes a world of a difference..

now we need midi notes to audio notes on AUDYA...then we're talking

You can substitute the drum tracks in place of the midi drum tracks. You can also use the live guitars with midi file play back.

In general, imo , Ketron midi file play back has always been excellent. It was good with the MS series all the way up to Audya.

but we can't take a midi drum track,
and assign that MIDI info to AUDIO DRUMS kit,
so AUDIO DRUMS play the pattern of the Midi Drums,

and this is what i WISH the AUDYA could do

that would be AWESOME

Yes, it would have made really good sense to take the drum kit that the drummer for the loop played, and make the MIDI kits out of those samples. This would have helped keep consistency between the styles and SMF's, IMO.

Perhaps Ketron have those samples somewhere, and can release a sampler load that could add them in? Four velocity cross-switches would allow the MIDI drums to pretty accurately mimic the real thing...

Dikki,

The SMF playback on the AUDYA (and other Ketron products) is quit good indeed. By default, when you play a Midifile in either Ketron product, the unit uses the internal GM/2 Drum kits found within the program changes. You the user can then decide to replace the drum tracks with either the Live Audio Drums (AUDYA) or GROOVES/Sliced AUDIO Loops (AUDYA, SD and XD series). In the case of AUDYA, you can also substitue any MIDI track with the Live Audio Guitar too.

Send me a Midifile to axa130@hotmail.com and I will send you MP3 recordings of
* Your Midifile played back on AUDYA as is.
* Your Midifile played back with Drum remix.
* Your Midifile played back with Guitar remix.
* Your Midifile played back with both Drum and Guitar remix.

Thanks,

AJ

leezone,

It is possible - using AUDIO Drums you sample as MSP (kick, snare ... etc) which are assigned to keys on AUDYA. You will have to re-program the drum track (10) if you end up using a different mapping other than the GM/GM2 used by AUDYA. If you however maintain the drum mapping used, you'll be alright.

Thanks,

AJ

so AJ,

it's possible to have AUDIO DRUMS play the MIDI DRUMS?

meaning if we have a Brand New Midi Drum Track with some intense midi programming/information,
we can have the Audio Drums play it note for note all with real audio drum sounds?

Aj when thats done please post it here for all of us to checkout...it all sounds very interesting.

MIDI drums are already samples of real Drums! Then why is the audio drums better... because the drummer plays the complete drum kit in one shot and that... is what makes the feel better. Now, they probably added other studio effects (compression, etc) I agree. Now if you could find very high samples of individual drum hits that would match the sound of the snare, BD, HH and toms, etc. of one of the audio loop, and assign those ind sounds to replace the GM drum used for a MIDI file, then maybe, It could almost be as good as an audio loop... as long as the person who progreammed the MIDI sequence knows how to play good drums emulation in the first place!

Agreed, I would like to hear it also..

Thanks AJ!