The Midjay really turned out to be a pleasant surprise for me. I didn't really expect it to sound as good as it did nor did I expect to find the OS as easy to operate as it does for me. Ketron has really packed a lot of goodies into this little 7 pound box.

The mp3s, wavs, drum loops all sounded fine. Although you can record on it, I have not tested that.

While there are a lot of styles that sounded kind of “European” or that I just didn't care for, there are plenty of styles that will work fine to cover anything you could think of. It does sound more like playing with a live band than anything else I've tried. I especially liked the combo styles. The cymbals and brushes were quite life like. The ones with horn section sounds was not my favorite, but after playing trumpet in many different bands including big bands, I'm probably more picky about it than the average player. There are 4 intros and endings, 4 fills and 4 variations. It sounds as close to having a live drummer playing with you than anything I have heard. I have the SD1 styles also.

The voices again were a very big surprise. They sounded as good as or better than anything else out there that I have heard. The piano is very usable. The electic pianos are very good. The organs are exceptionally good. There is a couple of string settings that sound fine. The accordians sound very good, but then what else could you expect from the Italians? haha. The vocal sounds were fine. There was an alto sax and a couple tenor saxes that were outstanding. The old trombone sound I liked a lot. The flugelhorn is the best I have heard. There was a trumpet with a lip trill that sounded great. The guitars could have been a bit stonger, but then, I'm probably pretty spoiled after playing the Tyros guitars. There was a sax section that really sounded nice. There were also a lot of other sounds that I didn't care for and wouldn't use, but then that's pretty much the case with any keyboard out there, and how many voices do you really need to play out? There are plenty of voices and styles that will cover anything anybody would want to do. It was just a matter of picking and choosing which ones I would use with the music that I do.

Here's a link to Ketron with all the info to fill in the rest of the details. The brochure is especially informative. http://www.ketron.it/prodotti/index.asp?idTipo=2

I tested it using my Tyros as the keyboard controller. It was easy enough to do. I just set the Midjay recieve to upper channel 1 and lower to channel 2. Then set the keyboard to transmit at the same channels. Everything plugs into it just like you were hooking up an arranger keyboard except you need one midi cable running between the two.

The Midjay used with an Edirol PCR-80 or a M-Audio MK-461C, both 61 note soft touch midi contoller keyboards both weighing about 7 pounds would make a good combination. I think the easiest way to use the Midjay is to use the style variation buttons on the Midjay and have your favorite voices programmed on the buttons of your favorite controller keyboard. Jaime Reyes who plays out using the Midjay and the MK-461C told me that he did not have to program the buttons on the MK-461C for the voices, they just happened to work with no knowledge of midi keyboards being necessary. BTW, he moves his equipment using a folding luggage carrier and stores eveything including his Bose PAS in the trunk of his car. Jaime was the one that started the Logitech craze after he used it at the west coast SynthZone jam a while back.


Best

Scott Langholff


[This message has been edited by Scott Langholff (edited 08-31-2005).]

Scott,

Thanks for the very comprehensive review of the Midjay. I'm a SD1 owner and very pleased with its voices. Have you been able to compare the Midjay voices with those of the SD1? If so, how do they compare?

Glenn

No I've never heard an SD1.