I'm very impressed with the style making on the PSR950, it looks very simple.

Here's! Bert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si1Up8qpUTs

Frank.

PS This could be my new arranger, looking good.

Hi

This video has been discussed a lot. Not that easy at all. ;-)

http://www.synthzone.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/358815/1

Regards
Jørgen

Anyone that believes creating a style is easy obviously hasn't taken the time to do the job that it takes to make a great sounding style with all the bells and whistles.

Good Luck,

Gary

I agree. However, if you know how to drum on the keyboard, it's not that hard to create a drum/bass groove to jam to.

But to create a three intro, 4 variation, 4 fill, one break, + three ending style - that would take hours, and would probably never sound as good as the Yamaha Premium Styles. If I'm correct, all variations have to be recorded in CM7 in order to be able to work.

I think Yamaha is a great brand because there are so many great styles that have already been made, and you know that Yamaha is going to make a lot more.

Could not agree more. But then why would anyone in his or her right mind start creating styles with the tens of thouasands available, either for grabs or for money ? And start by tweaking the styles nearest to your purposes, there is so much you can actually alter in styles to make them sound more up your sleeve..........

regards,
John

Larry and John, you are both correct. Over the past two decades I've created about a dozen styles from scratch. It took weeks to get that first style I created to sound good enough to use in public. And, it was a bare-bones style for the song "My Girl." A decade later, Jorgen Sorrenson's MIDI to Style program became available, and while it did a good job of establishing the basics of a style, you still have to do lots of tweaking, tuning, adding OTS settings, adding Multi-pads, etc..., and this isn't something that is accomplished in a few hours as well. It's a lot of work.

Over the years I've shared my creations with others on this and other forums. Some of the 50,000 plus styles I now have in my archives are fantastic, while the vast majority are mediocre at best. Then there are some that are just plain awful. Most of the styles in the fantastic category come from folks in the UK that are both very talented, and they also tend to be very creative. Additionally, many of these individuals were either retired and had the time to dedicate to these projects. To them, I am eternally grateful.

Now, if anyone has a need for a Yamaha style for a specific song, let me know via PM or email and I'll do my best to find it. For those that I have sent style files to in the past, they can attest that I only send the best sounding styles. But keep in mind, that I'm limited to Yamaha, and I'm also limited to somewhat older music, therefore, if you're looking for something for a song newer than 20 years, it gets a bit more difficult to find a matching style with the exact intro and ending.

Cheers,

Gary

The question was asked why would anyone in the right mind want to create styles. Some people actually like creating styles and creating things that are new and unique and not just mimicking other peoples music. You should try it if you have the time. The problem here is that many of the users are professional musicians and have very little time actually just have fun cresting original music on their instrument .

Have you any of YOUR original created styles for us to listen to, spalding?

This song i did about 3-4 years ago called "praise is what i do " is a style i programmed from scratch for the young hope choir in Birmingham . There are many examples of styles where I have reprogrammed the drums and bass pn my you tube site but this one is 100 percent me . The song is not mine but the style is. The audio is taken from a DVD the choir did with the same title . I could only post clips of the live audio because of the sensitive nature of posting children singing on the web .

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=plcp&v=-fOwxh8tIdk

I will dig up some recent examples when I get the chance

Actually Diki if you send me your email address I will send you a clip of another live performance of another style I created from scratch for the choir called awesome wonder . You can see me performing live using the style , multipads and sliders bringing in and out all the instrumentation. But I can't post it generally because of the children.

Nuff said, I think it's time for me to crawl back under my

rock, if you know what I mean.

Frank

Hi Mackie:

Before you "crawl back under that rock-haven" let me thank you for having the courage to share this topic with us. I'm not a performing talent like most of the guys here but I use styles all the time to create rough demos of my songs. The video was interesting and sure brings out some of the points made by the others... but at least I know it's possible.

I wonder if the 910 has the same capability? While I'm waiting for someone to reply, I'll get out the manual and do some homework.

Along similar lines... have any of you ever created a new "voice" (as Yamaha calls them) or instrument? I'm still needing a dobro or flatop guitar sound for accompaniment in Country or Folk or Bluegrass music.

All the best to all of you,

Dave Rice

Dave,

The S-910 has the capability of creating both the styles and voices. I believe you could capture the Dobro guitar sound very easily by modifying the banjo voice(s) is the keyboard's Sound Creator program and the mixing console effects, then save it as a custom voice. It's not all that difficult to modify one of the existing voices/instruments.

Good Luck,

Gary

If you extend the decay (not the release) of a banjo sound so it sustains longer, you can get pretty close to a dobro.

Thanks, Gary & Diki:

I'll be giving your suggestion(s) a try this evening. Thanks so much to both of you.

Best regards,

Dave Rice

But... A Dobro is usually played with either a bottleneck, or finger picked with LH bends. So it's tough to nail in arranger mode, if your LH is tied up playing chords and can't use the bend lever.

Hi,
video certainly makes it look easy, but,
a person probably requires at least 3 skill sets.

1. Knowing exactly how one wants the style to sound, and also knowing which notes are allowable for the various types of style tracks. (Manual I beleive does explain what notes can be used.)
I've always sort of thought of styles as mini compositions.

2. The ability to play reasonably well, or it can become tiresome recording the same track over & over again. Some keyboards have better editing functions than others, so the odd blooper could be fixed without re-recording.

3.Working out the settings etc for the style tracks so that they play back correctly over the various chord changes.
Again the manual should cover that.

If the onboard styles aren't 100% suitable there is the option of finding a style that's pretty close to what you want and re-recording particular tracks to make it more suitable .
There's also the option of copying tracks from one style to another, or from variation to variation within the same style.

I personally don't record from scratch, I lack skill set no.1.
i don't know what I want till I hear it. haahaa hence I mainly convert , edit & swap around style tracks.

Skill 2 , I could get away with only because my korg's got great editing functions.

Working out Settings etc , I've spent a fair bit of time on, so reasonably comfortable with that one.

It's always worth reading the manual's section on style recording, you may be amazed at what can actually be done.

This is where the Audya really shines - not style creation, but style modelling. All I need is a normal midi style with a good intro & ending. Then I simply insert the live parts in the various tracks, different for each variation.

I did 4 or 5 styles over the weekend & once again I am AMAZED at the end result & how little effort it took to create. Hard to understand for anyone who does not have an Audya. I hardly use any style as is any more.

AJ or TWD, one of you should really post a short video here demonstrating this. AJ, why don't you cut a part out of your tutorial video & post here for all to see? It would really be an eye opener for many.

Henni

Hi Henni,
interesting. Don't quite understand what you mean, do you basically cut up a midifile and put the sections into the various style parts ? If so, do you actually do chord changes or just trigger the various style parts , as is.

I can do something similar to what I mentioned above ie chop the midifile into verses , chorus etc and assign the parts to the variations, fills etc. Limitations are only 8 tracks per style part, and one doesn't do chord changes, just basically trigger each variation etc as required.

Hi,

The Audya, especially with the Ajam conversion, literally has many, many hundreds of various live audio guitar loops, many, many hundreds of live audio bass loops, more than a thousand five hundred live audio drum loops, many hundreds of audio drum grooves, many, many piano, brass, reed etc arp & lics sections that can each literally be browsed into each track of every variation of every style & even into the intros & endings should one wish.

Each one of the above plays different loops for different chords!!!

The drums & bass & most other sections comes complete with breaks & fills & auto fills and the bass comes with some stunning riffs in between that all happen & play automatically.

So, I double click any part of any style, select the first audio loop and then start to scroll through them one by one till I find something to my liking. Then I set the pan, volume & effects for that specific track for that specific variation that effects only that track for only that variation.

It is like taking any musician on any instrument playing just about any style possible on that instrument & placing him wherever & whenever I want... And the quality of these audio loops is really something to beheld!

Or I can replace any midi with one of the super solo specially sampled voices!

The possibilities & combinations is endless and will take you wherever your imagination leads. It is really awesome and has to be seen & heard to be appreciated.

Imagine taking any section out of any MP3 or Wave track, combine them all in one where you are in complete control, and you are only beginning to grasp what is possible in the Audya... I am not joking in the least!

Kind regards,

Henni

Hi Henni,
wow, that sounds really awesome, though without having hands on experience, hard to fully comprehend.
Ketron certainly are ahead of the time with inovation.
I'd totally misunderstood what you meant on your earlier post, so thank you for clarifying.

About the only audio loops I've had anything to do with are the Real Tracks in Band in a Box.
Basically you have to type in your chord progression first
( no realtime arranger functions), then choose a style , audio, midi, or mixed.
One does have the option of changing individual style tracks , so if you're not happy with the midi guitar track, you can browse thru & swap it for an audio guitar loop or a super midi loop.
Quite interesting, but not as good as having a keyboard that can do it. Wow.

[quote=Henni]Hi,

The Audya, especially with the Ajam conversion,

Hi Rikki,

Unfortunately I have problems with my personal internet & I cannot upload anything.

However, if you go here and look at pages 147 to 155, you'll see what audio parts are available for styles to the standard non AJAMSONIC Audya.

If AJ reads this, I rally hope that he will post new tables including the new audio loops that comes with his AJAMDSONIC upgrade. There are thoudsands of them over and above the standard ones as listed above.

Page 69 to 76 describes how to insert these into any existing style, whether standard midi or audio style.

Kind regards,

Henni

Hi Henni

Oh, an extended loop player ;-)
What about editing at note level, e.g. removing notes, changing volume etc. ?

Jørgen

Hi Jørgen,

The audio loop playing ability is what makes the Audya so unique and hence the name.

Currently, to my knowledge at least, micro midi editing is not available direct on the Audya. Because I never get involved at that specific level, I cannot accurately state what is available & what not in this regard.

However, the above link to the full manual should answer your question in detail. I'm also hoping that AJ will read & contribute over here soon as he is technically completely up to speed on the Audya.

Remember, the Audya is an audio playing arranger that also allows the use of purely midi only styles. I think the developers designed it for a complete new application whilst still maintaining some of the old. It might very well be that micro midi editing is planned as a future OS update for all I know...


Here is the update on what AJ is working on right now: (it just keeps on getting better)

It's not yet complete. However we have completed some of the Super Styles demos that will come with it (Demos 22, 23, 24, 25 ...etc) on www.AjamSonic.com. You'll need good speakers/headphones to really appriciate these!

These are a totally 'new' bread of styles with realism yet to be heard in an Arranger keyboard and due to the complex programming involved (16-32 measures long, programed in Major, Minor and 7th tonality which means for each variation, you hear something slighty different [with Audio Drums, Bass or Guitars] when you play a major, minor or 7th chord) ... etc), these styles no longer sound like an Arranger and that was our goal! Taking it to the next level. Many manufacturers have the capability to program styles in different tonalities and have the style 'breath' but very few (if any) use it and styles programmed in 4 measures just can't cut it!

* Loops are now 16 ~ 32 measures long.

* Audio Drums are now a fusio of AUDIO (effects and drum kit minus Kick drum) and Midi (Kick and toms - since Audya still has some of the best in this category). This also ensures there is no 'drag' or laps in timing - as you can now hear!

* Stereo Audio Drums:- Very important. Listen to how during the fills or breaks, the sounds 'roll' from one speaker to another. The idea was to imagine 'you' infront of the drummer. Although the kick/bass drum is right in front of you, every other instrument he plays is either left, hard left, right or hard right - so we re-created this field too and my do they sound great!


Keep well my friend,

Henni

Hi Henni,
had a read thru.
From what I could work out, what a brilliant function.

The closest I've seen to that type of function was on the Technics keyboards, only midi phrases of course , not audio.
You basically scrolled thru, the various types of phrases for each of the style tracks & put your style together that way.
"Dial a Style" haahaa
From memory , I think it only worked for the 4 variations, not fills. I really miss that function.

Even though I can copy style tracks from one style to another, how much easier would it be to be able to scroll thru some sort of a database & audition the tracks I want replaced.

thanks Henni, been fascinating, certainly wasn't aware the audya had this type of function.

You've got me thinking , might have to get out my EMC Style Factory software again, closest thing I've got to a phrase database.

[quote=Henni]Hi Rikki,

rikkisbears and all,

You've got it. "Dial a Style" is equivalent to Ketron's Audio Style modelling, however unlike what the name suggests, the modelling is not limited to Audio, so probably "Audio and Midi phrase data bass" would have been more appropriate.

* Select a style (e.g Salsa)
* Go into STYLE VIEW (which displays all the components of the current style (Drums, bass, guitars, strings ... etc).
* Select F1 (DRUMS) and turn data wheel to scroll through MIDI drums bass. Press F1 again to go to GROOVES drum bass. Press F1 again and go through AUDIO DRUMS LOOPS (8 measures long or if you have the AJAMSONIC, 32 measures long). You can have BOTH the Midi and AUDIO drums playing in sync (so you can actually go to the Midi Drum parts and MUTE say the Kick, snare and hi hats but leave the percussion) and have the AUDIO Drums cover the drum parts! AjamSonic adds over 1500 more!
* Select F2 for Percussion track and repeat above (as for drums).
* Select F3 for BASS and do the same. The bank consist of bass lines from other styles plus those of previous Ketron libraries too. AjamSonic adds even more!
* Select F6-F10 and repeat for the Chords 1-5. Now here it gets interesting because you can press F4 twice (Chord4) and toggle between Midi bank parts or Arpeggios - or in the Ajamsonic version even more Professional studio quality Aprs like those found in today's workstations. If you press F5 twice (Chord5), you can toggle and scroll through either Midi parts or AUDIO guitar banks - or in the Ajamsonic version even more Guitar parts, PLUS you can use the AJAMSONIC voices to replace the current MIDI voices and these add nuances to the style parts automatically (similar to SA voices on Yamaha products) such as brass thrills, sax valves and breath ... etc. Check out demos of these at www.AjamSonic.com (the SUPER STYLES [soon to be released - which are Demos 22, 23 ...etc] will also shed some light on the new Audio Drums and Bass!). The banks for all Drums, Bass and Chord parts are not limited to only style parts but also contain other phrases KETRON added exclusively for AUDYA!

To add injury to this degree of flexibility, you can pick a phrase and select a new voice for it by simply going to the Preset voices and selecting a new one (so you could have picked a Nylon Guitar phrase but then change the Guitarist's instrument to say a Pedal Steel Guitar or Strings)! The same phrase is played ... just now with the new instrument!

So what does this mean? You can take the SALSA above, and to chord 1 in variation A, change the current Piano to say the horns from the Big Band style. If GLOBAL (U5/10) is on, this change impacts all Arranger parts (A-D) or if doing fills or breaks, all Fills/Breaks (1-4) or all Endings (1-3) at once. If set to SINGLE, only the current part is edited (e.g only Arranger A). Now for Chord 3, change the current Midi trumpet line to the Midi guitar line from another style within the bank and for chord 5, replace the Midi Guitar strum with an AUDIO Guitar strum from a Country style. See where this is going? As for the drums, I can now take out the current drums and replace with the Audio Drums from a Son or Bachata or ... - endless combination and permutations here! With the AjamSonic upgrade, you can also assign Arps to ALL chord parts (not just Chord4).

* When done, save and you have the option to save with a new name (you just created a new style so the one you've been working on remains unchanged) or leave name unchanged (over-write old style if it was a USER STYLE). Style gets stored in HD (SSD - if new AjamSonic is installed).

The AJAMSONIC upgrade now offers a 120GB SSD (yes, Solid State Drive) which makes access to this huge database an even faster breeze. Ignoring shock to the keyboard as there is no more 'fragile' Hard Disk, you can now travel more with assurance that when you power on your AUDYA, that disk WILL WORK! Plus with the module version in particular (AUDYA 4), you need not worry about what angle it is (HD are limited to a 10 degree incline for ultimate performance). More information on this at www.AjamSonic.com

Hope this better explained it. Editing the actual AUDIO file itself in details is limited but basic modifications such as EQ (low and high), slicing and setting loop point (using internal SAMPLER) ...etc can be done on the AUDYA. Of course most would have prepared the AUDIO Drums at a professional studio (or using software like Protools) where everything would have been edited prior to installing in AUDYA, but hopefully someday, we'll please most of the people most of the time :-)

Thanks.

Hi AJ,
well, to me that sounds like a brilliant function, wish I had it on my keyboard, I'd be happy to have that type of function, even if it was only midi phrases.
Such a great way of putting a style together, especially for someone like me, who doesn't quite know what they want, till they hear it.

"Dial a Style" is a name I made up, I think the actual function on the technics keyboards was called Easy Composer.
You're welcome to use it, to me it sort of describes it pretty well. haahaa

[quote=Ketron_AJ]rikkisbears and all,

You've got it. "Dial a Style" is equivalent to Ketron's Audio Style modelling, however unlike what the name suggests, the modelling is not limited to Audio, so probably "Audio and Midi phrase data bass" would have been more appropriate.

Hi all,

I made a short demo to illustrate & verify all I stated above. Read all about it & listen to it here.

I always put my money where my mouth is. Now, I'm not even close to being a pro musician like ie. Diki, Fran, Don, Gary & most of the rest of you. If I can do this, just think what can be achieved with the Audya in the hands of the likes of most of you...

Keep well all,

Henni

Henni,

I'm not a pro musician - I'm an entertainer.

Gary

Henni nice comparisons.....the Audya clearly sounds terrific in the demos

I agree...

Potentially, the only problem with the Audya is, if a style has a groove or kicks that no Audya pattern covers (audio pattern, that is), you have to substitute something that starts to take away from the groove.

I do not know if the Audya deals with audio loops by time stretching them, or whether they are sliced into each and every transient, then a MIDI file plays it back (if each 'slice' is given a separate note to trigger it) with a bit of time stretching on the tail of the individual slices for when the loop is played slower than original. Maybe AJ could help me here?

The thing is, IF the Audya uses this last system (this is basically how you do it in ReCycle, which was the software that got the whole loop manipulation thing started back in the mid-90's), if you have access to the sequence that plays back the loop slices, then you CAN reorder kicks and snares, etc, and change the 'swing' value and groove templates around. All it is is basically moving some MIDI notes around.

But if the loop is merely time-stretched into new tempi, you can't do this.

Of course, doing this (if it can be done) also revolves around software that makes it reasonable easy to do, or few will attempt it. But it strikes me as this is the answer to being able to use audio loops, AND still get a fair degree of flexibility from them...

Hi Henni,
sounds great. Good to be able to listen to the comparison.
The audio tracks make such a difference.

The only thing I've ever had audio tracks on is Band in a Box, and the difference there too, with songs that use just midi styles compared to songs that use aduio, or even a mix of audio & midi is amazing.

I assume with the Audya, if you don't have quite the right
( just say guitar audio loop for a particular song) you'd just use a midi loop and mix it with other tracks that are audio loops, and probably still sound great.

Thanks for the demo.

Hi all,

Made another demo. Just follow the initial link given somewhere above.

Diki, on mine I have 2028 user drum loops, many, many original audio drum & groove loops. I estimate I have far over 3000 drum sections available to me covering just about every genre I might need. The onboard drum loops come complete with different sections for all the variatiions, fills, breaks, intro & endings. I just dial in a single drum loop, the rest is all automatic. I doubt if you'll find many songs for which you cannot find suitable drum sections.

Rikki, yes, the modified styles are a combination of audio & midi. Why replace a midi track that sounds great. However, in the same style track, I can ie. have midi in variation 1, audio in variation 1 & 2 and then again midi in variation 4. I can mix & match to my hearts delight. In this new demo, I liked one original midi track so much that I copied & pasted to the same track of all other variations (easily done direct on the Audya) I also copied part of some midi intro & ending tracks from another style, also done direct on the Audya.

In my opinion, this "dial a style" feature is what makes the Audya so unique. I say again, I only need a midi style with a reasonably good intro & ending & the rest I'll use my thumbwheel to dial in in no time & no sweat at all.

Listen to the demo. It uses audio drums, many, many onboard audio sections not made for that specific style, yet hear just how authentic this style now sounds...

I'm really extremely pleased with my Audya.

Keep well all,

Henni

Hi Henni, I would have never dreamed you were happy with the Audya!
Keep up your great work and wonderful ministry!
DonM

Hi DonM,

Thank you for the kind words. We are preparing for a full time ministry. Lately I spend 4 to 8 hours a day, after work (mostly at night) preparing the Audya. I think this time round we'll sound a little different...

Keep well my friend,

Henni

Try to figure out, with only 3000 loops available, what the math is. First of all each style has what, 4 intros, 4 variations, 4 endings, 6 fills, 4 break/fills, right? 22 distinct loops..?

That's 136 styles' worth of loops. I don't think that's right, is it?

Last time I looked, wasn't there just one or two audio reggae styles in the Audya..? Best of luck stretching those out over an entire evening!

I have always said... if the Audya suits YOU perfectly, there is no finer arranger on the planet. If it doesn't fit your musical needs, you are kind of on your own. I can import as many MIDI reggae styles into the Audya as I want. There's going to be next to nothing onboard that I can replace any of the parts out with...

Diki,

I told you clearly, the number of standard onboard audio drums from the factory each includes all 22 of those. Thus, 3000 and something minus 2028 can each be used for a full style.

Yes, the 2028 user drums needs 22 loops each per style. I heard you once complain that the Audya does not have many Latin styles. Good heavens, the majority of the styles are Latin orientated.

You are loosing out on a lot of good things because of your preconceived ideas about Ketron. But then it is your full right to do so.

Fact is, you will not create good quality styles from existing midi based ones more easily on any other arranger out there - Period! I did 6 or so good conversions over the weekend & I'm getting better at doing so with every conversion. I have more than 30 000 midi only styles for the Audya, so I have more than enough to convert for our requirements!

Keep well my friend,

Henni

Don't believe I have ever even mentioned Latin music. I perform very little of it.

Having listened to much of your demos (and very nice they are!) I definitely think you don't seem to stray much outside of traditional popular genres, which would make the Audya's ROM audio perfect for what you want to achieve.

Try this, though... How about a song or two in 'township' style? How many of those grooves exist in the Audya? Or live guitar loops in that style?

Imagine that your ministry involved playing less westernized music, and needed more along those kinds of lines... Would it be as good a fit for you?

Hi Diki,

This is where the Ajamsonic upgrade shines. How I wish AJ would get his act together and list all that comes with his upgrade. Many new township styles with new drum and guitar loops to suit. I'll make a short demo of a few of those and upload here for all to see.

AJ, come on man. Can't you see how urgent you need to list your sruff accurately for all to see. You are loosing out big time my friend and that just because of this.

Kep well all,
Henni

Hi Diki,

I've asked AJ very nicely to list all Reggae & Township styles with links of demos that comes as standard with the Ajamsonic Audya.

I'll go even further & ask AJ very nicely to also list all non Western styles that comes with the Ajamsonic Audya. I'm totally convinced that you'll be amazed by the reply.

Yes, we play mostly true Western music. I cannot change into something I am not by nature. I'm not a true musician, rather by nature I'm more of an evangelist type who tries to use music as a tool for reaching out to others. Yes, we minister amongst the black people mostly, yet we play Western music. I do not know why that is, but that's how it is & at least we are willing. We cannot even speak or understand their language! Yet I think willingness is more valuable than capability, which off course we lack seriously.

I have a question for you. I've converted all BK7 styles for my Audya. Although all of those are superb styles, I cannot find any Township styles amongst it. How many of those do you expect to come with the BK9? It's not only the Audya that caters mostly for the western world - I think the same could be said for just about every other arranger out there.

Keep well my friend,

Henni

I must really be out of touch. Never heard of the term Township styles. I guess that's why I don't miss them.
DonM

New to me also, Don ... maybe if i heard them I WOULD miss them ...

When I hear 'Township' I think of the South African term, as in Soweto Township. Can't say I've ever heard of a musical style of that name. Very applicable to Henni though in his location. Must be a very African style with loads of percussion going on.

I only brought up the township reference as an example of a world music you may be familiar with, not as anything I particularly use (although I'm a big fan of the style, from Ladysmith, Super Tens, all the way through to the stuff Paul Simon did in the style).

The dueling interwoven guitar lines are fascinating, in a way, a return to the Baroque style of two part inventions and the like. Hypnotic, inventive, irresistable!

I've got a couple of older Roland styles that sort of work, and can bring up that African duality between the two beat and the three beat that western music rarely uses, but nothing recently.

But the point that I've been trying to make is, yes, you can often find either factory or user styles in some fairly obscure styles, but if you bring them into the Audya to turn into audio styles, there isn't a lot of existing content in the Audya that matches it. So little chance of getting to the same high standard that the audio styles achieve.

I've got little issue with the Audya other than this, to be frank. It's a really, really good arranger, with a lot of innovative features that I only WISH other arrangers had... a different break/fill for each Variation is one of the big ones, the real arpeggiator is something ALL arrangers should have, to stand a chance of sounding reasonably modern, key triggered loops, whether audio or MIDI is something that Roland are only just starting to get into...

Don't ever get me wrong, Henni. I like the Audya in a big way!

But I feel that an arranger that uses audio loops is SO good, it obviously puts your MIDI only styles at a disadvantage, soundwise, and ONLY styles that suit existing loops can be converted.

For me to adopt this kind of arranger, I think the ONE thing I would need to see is a VERY user friendly way of computer editing existing loop libraries so that they could be incorporated into the Audya. There is a VAST number of ultra high quality loop libraries out there, in almost every conceivable style and ethnicity you could think of, easily available.

If an arranger lives or dies based on the playback of loops, having easy to use software to add your OWN choice of loops to the arranger is almost a #1 priority. Not just drum loops either, but the melodic ones. Guitar loop and bass loop (and most everything else) libraries are rapidly expanding, and being able to easily add these to the Audya is a must.

I have also noted that the Audya is finally available with a SSD... If this is tied to an increase in the width of the data pipe (speed up how fast the data can be 'streamed', not 'loaded'), this is great news for the potential to be able to have guitar loops that are ALL audio, not just audio for 3 simple chords, then MIDI grafted on (or completely replacing it) for more complex chords, also an initial issue I have with the Audya.

SSD's, as we have seen in the Kronos, really are the answer when it comes to rapid access to MUCH larger amounts of data, and if there's anything a loop based arranger needs, it is this!

But please don't misread my feelings for the Audya, Henni. It is a fine arranger, with superb styles. IF those are what you need! And the form factor and features are head and shoulders above most out there.

If there were more than a tiny handful of dealers over here in the US, I'm sure a lot more of us would have them.

Hi all,

Some non Western styles that come standard with the Ajamsonic Audya:

Here

Here

Here

Here

Here

Here

Here

Here

Here

Here

Here

There are really many more of those on the Audya, but unfortunately I could only find pre-recorded demos for those.

Keep well al my friends,

Henni