Curt,
My requirements for any keyboard or module are very simple. I do not use DAWs or VST software. Really don't know what they do. I am a pure "Arranger" player and that is all I need from my equipment to play my gigs. If the styles are super and the voices are real then that is what I want - therefore, Ketron has become my goto equipment - it gives me what I want and need for my gigs.

I will try to document what I discover about all this as time goes on.

Deane

Curt what is Daw of choice and why?

Not that I am an expert on SysEx, but I had to deal with it for my SD40. By the way, a great find by Curt that your A800 Pro can indeed assign sysEx messages. Good for you. Sorry that I gave you the wrong information. Since the Sd90 already has a number of buttons/slides that you can easily access, you might want to assign sysEx for SD90 functions buried in menus. System Exclusive Messages are device/manufacturer specific. However, all the SysEx messages for the Audya and MidiJ Pro seem to work on the SD40. You can refer to http://www.synthzone.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/456202/1 for more info.

Chris
PS: You're right that vArrnager being software is so flexible. I use $10 Bluetooth gamepad to assign functions or change voices in addition to a Bluetooth keyboard. That's a lot of control.

Logic Pro X

We were Cakewalk users for 15+ years and went through multiple sales and turnover between parent companies with them. When Gibson dropped the product, we switched to Mac and Logic. We do quite a bit of work with Ric (he’s the guy playing in the recent Ketron demos we released). He is also running Logic. That makes it very easy for us to transfer projects back-n-forth and keep them in the native Logic format. By doing that all the various parameters either of us set are automatically set the same. We live approx 1,000 miles from each other and for the most part, have the same h/w and s/w. Some of our projects are all MIDI, and some are a mix of MIDI and audio. Having the same software in both studios keeps things simple.

Since I switched to Logic, Cakewalk has a new owner yet again. It’s now a free download, and the new owners have been releasing updates on a regular basis. Although we now use Logic on a daily basis, we keep a current copy of Cakewalk around allowing us access to hundreds of projects that we have worked on with Ric over the years that are saved in the native Cakewalk format.

If you are running Windows you can learn more and download the full version of Cakewalk here

Curt thanx for the reply,
.....I too used Cakewalk years ago for a long while but have since changed to Mixcraft 8 pro for most of my DAW duties,......
https://www.acoustica.com/mixcraft/mixcraft-pro-studio.html

I will certainly look into the new cake walk since I am not a Mac user at all for anything....thank you for the link to the download.

Ok, an update about the SD90 - well it did arrive today on schedule. Unfortunately I returned it to AJ 3 hours after receiving it. For whatever reason the touch screen did not work properly and it was not possible to select anything from the touch screen.

I did hook up my Roland A-800 Pro controller but was not able to get any results because I was not able to get into the Menu options to see what I had to do.

I want to say thanks to AJ who spent about 30 minutes on the phone with me and eventually said to ship it back and he would either replace it or make sure it worked before returning it to me. AJ will get it back on Monday so I probably won't get it back for about 10 days.

I will keep everyone updated and as promised will post on this thread how the SD90 works out when I get it back.

Deane

Deane: Sorry to hear about the initial problems with the SD90. I’m sure AJ will get the problem taken care of.

Looking forward to your review when it returns.

jingleman

Donny: my hunch is you’ll stick with mixcraft. I messed around with the free cakewalk, but it feels clumsy compared to MC.

jingleman

I thought Donny was big on Audacity. What happened there, Donny?

Hi Deane,

I am sorry that the touchscreen of your Ketron SD90 module did not work. I received mine on Augest 14, 2018 and it has been working as expected. I added a Ketron FS-13 footswitch for the convenience of style progress control and vocal harmony on/off. I am in the process of setting up a Korg Kronos 2 88 keyboard with the intention of eventually pairing it with the SD90, pending the arrival of the Jaspers 4S-150S A-Frame keyboard stand.

AJ is great help in pre and post sale support. I once received his Whatsapp reply message at 2:33am Central time. I have full confidence that AJ will be able to take care of the touchscreen issue for you.

Thanks,
Paul