Pa3X vs Audya

Hi all,
I have already decided to go for the Audya5, but I have a question.
I have listened to some of the Pa3X styles and demo songs and to me, the Audya sounds much more live and I like the sounds of it.
And also, the Audya is much more accessible to me as a visually impaired musician with all of its buttons.
But, for those of you who may have plaied both or just listened what do you think?
I have plaied the Pa1X and Pa800 in the passed myself.
Many thanks for any comments!

Hi Christian,

Don't be lured into the Audya because of it's live sounds. This keyboard is unreliable, unsupported, and over-priced. I had two and returned both; Audya4 and Audya5. I strongly urge you to select another offering.
If you don't want to take my word for it, do your research in the Ketron Forum on this site. Do a search.
Best of luck with your decision.

Al is right don't just go jumping in, anyway I think ergonomically the Pa3x will not be beat. For someone who has problems with sight the registrations menus on the Audya will be hell to see and understand. Please listen to what Al as to say. Christian it will also depend where you live how much if any support you will get with an Audya, a bit like taking a loved one having a heart attack to an hospital you know is crap, at least you still have the chance to change your mind, I would look closely at the Pa3x. and I have an Audya!!!!

Tony

It's a shame that Audya gets a bad rap..I hope things improve for Ketron we need them in the game. If they would just talk to real players and get their opinions and address the peoples needs, change what's wrong, adjust the price to balance with the competition, and make units available and easily serviceable in stores, NAMM etc to demo. To many good times with my Ketron products for me to give up on them that easily.. I hope they get it together

Donny

On this I can't agree, they have zero customer care it's always been that way, they don't deserve to be in business.

Note no funny faces

Tony

PS perhaps one could say the a Ketron KB is only as good as the dealer you got it from, so you could blame the dealer, but who put the Ketron dealer were he is, Ketron.

They aren't going anywhere soon...But they can surly make it better if they want to ...obviously people are buying as they are still in business.

Donny,

You need to make your own judgement, the Audya is the most expensive KB on the planet, therefore there should be money in the pot for support, in fact at lot in the pot, but its not there and I know for a fact that the mark up a dealer makes on a Ketron is crap, so he's not interested when he's made a sale.

I don't know whats going on with them, and they are not interested in putting it right.

Last week one UK dealer took in stock over 250 Tyros 4, I don't think Audya sold that in the UK in the last 3 years.

Its undeniable that the Audya has the best styles in the world.


But in all other things the Korg beats the Audya.. So you could buy a KRONOS and the Audya 4 Module to get the best in both worlds...

(i have no experience with the Audya instabillity issues, but i tought they would have been solved by now)

I don't agree.

I have an Audya and had a Pa-800, and I think Christian would have an easier time with dedicated buttons than invisable layers.

As to reliability, some may have had problems with older units, but I have never had problem one.

I am lucky to have a good dealer in Frankiev, and he is always ready to help, although I know he still might have to involve the distributor.

Dnj is right about a bad rap. This was partly brought on by Ketron for being cash strapped and releasing too soon.

All of this being considered, I personally love my Audya and would buy another If stolen.

Bernie

Tony why did you buy the Audya in the first place?

Dead simple answer Donny, a fool and his money are easily separated.

and there is no fool like and old fool, but once bitten, twice shy!!!

The first one I got was built on Friday the 13th and second on the 1st April, Bernie9 was built on Mayday Mayday Mayday.

You get one,don't you let me stop you, $7000 if you say it slow it hurts.

Same as Rickenbacker basses...a boutique instrument - They have NO interest in supplying any great numbers, have no interest in exporting any at all....from what I have been told they make less than 1500 new ones a year, and expensive at that - no discounts for these....But STILL an exceptional bass!!!

I would rate Audya the same...boutique keyboard manufacturer, not all that interested in world domination or huge numbers, and they charge accordingly.

Still an excellent instrument...

You pay the price they want or go elsewhere, they don't really mind...and I suspect Ketron are ticking over nicely...

Hi all,
Thanks for your replies.
Yes, I have read about the problems people have had with this instrument in the passed and it's not fun to hear that. I have also got a friend who have the Audya and has no problems with it now.
Well, I have also been looking at the Tyros 4 wich is also a nice instrument. I have plaied Yamaha keyboards in the passed also, but I want to go for something else now and also something that is more accessible.
I am tired of being able to access just a few features of the instrument, especially when they cost what they do.
Yamaha has buttons, but it requires menu navigation and I think the Audya has a much more easier and accessible interface with dedicated buttons.
But, how do you like the sounds of the most recent update of the Audya except for the styles?
If there are no problems with it, why wouldn't you recommend it then?
Many thanks!

If I remember correctly your dealer messed the first one up when his laptop ran out of battery half way through transfering files to the hard drive and then he proceeded to try and do a back up without any of the hidden files being present?

so it was human error? would a factory rest have fixed it or?

That was back in the dark days before Tony and I were mates

Yes, a factory restore would have done the trick, but to be fair this was very early on in the life of the Audya (Tony was one of the first people in the UK to own one) and the UK distributor had literally only just taken on Ketron so must take some of the blame as no restore disks were available for a few months and either the engineer had to go out to the customer (which he did on more than one occasion) or the Audya had to be collected by the distributor (they paid freight even in the case of user error). Things are a lot smoother now thankfully!

By the way, Tyros 3 was more expensive than the Audya at the time (by about £250).

Still overhere in europe the T4 is more expensive then the Audya.

TWD,

I think you know what I am getting at here, you look after the people who bought KB from you, but others are not so fortunate. When a dealer fails to fix a Audya for whatever reason Ketron should have a fallback mechanism, that mean simply contacting the customer and asking him to send the KB back to the factory for repair, just like the chap in the UK who had a 3 year old Pa2x with faulty LEDS, Korg are going to replace them all for free, and he is not the original owner. You are fortunate to be able to take the top of an Audya like me and fix it, but once you take the top off you are on your own, just like installing AJAMSONIC in warranty, Ketron will love you because you are never going to send a KB back. Now Thomann have not got a TWD in-house, a faulty Audya at Thomann will go straight back to the factory. TWD I am not the only person who thinks that Ketron should get their house in order and they should do ASAP, it's obvious that Korg and Yamaha don't mess the customer about, whatever the dealer looks like, their system just kicks in. I stick to what I said I won't buy another Ketron now I know the overall score, I have got to sell my Audya and I don't think there are all that many takers around, even at 50% the original cost.

I loved my Audya. I may some day get the 61-note version. I had no problems at all with it.
I now have a Korg PA3X 61, and there are many things I love about it as well, particularly the layout and physical controls. It also lighter and easier to tote around.
However, my opinion would be that the Audya would be easier for a person without sight to handle.
The Korg would be o.k. after you spent a lot of time setting it up. You can't go wrong with either if you can get good dealer support.
DonM

I have said all I can about the Audya, this is my 3rd KB and it's OK, as Don says "You can't go wrong with either the Audya or Pa3x if you can get good dealer support".

Now Christian that's what you need to consider carefully, we have 1st class support here in the Uk with TWD.

Best of luck whatever you buy and do keep us in the loop, like DonM, I will be selling the Audya and buying a Korg???

Tony