My first impression of the Ketron SD1000

Ketron SD1000


My first impression of the SD1000.

Ketron has always had strong bass and drums, and the SD1000 continues the tradition.

The GM 2 sounds will improve most sequence playback of current keyboards..

Where the SD1000 shines are the other banks of sounds.. You will need to access these
via your DAW or controller that will transmit LSB, MSB and program change.

Stand out sounds beside bass and drums, are the Electric Pianos, Organs, Accordions etc.

All of the sound groups are well represented in the optional banks.
There are four banks of patches MSB 0, 1, 10, and 11. Also MSB 4, gives the 248 audio drum instruments.

This is a great compact sound module with professionl sounds that are hard to beat..

It has USB and MIDI connections.. RCA outputs and 1/8" stereo out..

The SD1000 is not USB powered. Power adapter is supplied.

If you think that's good, look at the SD40

Bernie at five times the price it should be.

John C.

In all honesty I haven't got a clue where this is coming from all of a sudden. This module has been around for five years and is reputedly the follow up to the SD2 module which I owned ( ...twice..) Was not a bad combination with a Korg arranger , all the more so as you can fairly easily program stuff into the memory of the former Korg models, referring to the Ketron module.
However to the best of my knowledge and from what I gathered from the forums this unit, being rather pricey, adds some good samples in comparison to the SD2 and SD4 (kind of double SD2) but apparently has also dropped some good stuff from the SD2.
All in all pretty old wine in new barrels, no buttons or sliders to speak of and like I said quite hefty on the purse stringgs, at least here in Holland ( 500 euros, well over 600 bucks)
Seriously Fran, it may add some juice and colour to your trusted G70 but it does not add all that much to the current generation of keyboards, though in all fairness it should be said that the wellknown strongholds of Ketron ( drums, bass, sax, musette) still stand out....

regards
John

Bernie at five times the price it should be.

John C.

Ha ha, just sayin

You need now vArranger your SD1000 power will be * 1000

John, I did not buy the SD1000 to enhance the G70....The G70 still stands alone at the top of my gear..

The SD1000 did improve drastically, my Yamaha np v60... and the software synths that are shipped with One Man Band..

My interest in the SD1000 was for a single purpose..to use with my Code61 controller as a compact standalone combination..

BTW.. The Yamaha was on the bottom of my gear list.. the weak EP's finally caused me to give it to my 14 year old granddaughter.. ( my 19 year old grandson passed on it)

Hi Fran,

You mentioned "The SD1000 is not USB powered. Power adapter is supplied.".

Yes, the SD1000 comes with a power adapter with a plug mix of 4 interchangeable plugs for different countries. My SD1000 came with the old power supply which did not match the new plugs. Before AJ shipped me the new power supply replacement, I powered the SD1000 using USB 3.0 port of my laptops directly without any issues. I have since then powered the SD1000 using USB 3.0 port only. I use vArranger2 software with the SD1000, and I like its sounds in general.

There is a discussion thread about SD1000 USB power issue in Dan's vArranger discussion forum. Some SD1000 owners power their SD1000s with USB port, while the rest found that powering SD1000 through USB was impossible:
https://www.varranger.com/vforum/index.php?topic=1932.0

Thanks,
Paul

Paul I have tried USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 without a hub and still no USB powered..

I did read about a replacement part that seems to correct this issue..

Hi Fran,

Some SD1000s can be powered through USB by default. I got lucky to get such a unit.



Thanks,
Paul

Glad you like it Fran...

Digging up an old thread here.

My question is about the RCA output on the unit. I tried all 8 cables of mine. Some don't even go in because of the casing. The ones that do, don't fit properly. They're just hanging loose. Is it like a special RCA cable?

Talk to aj

Sam,

You'll have to use those which do NOT have the shielding on the exterior (check email for pic) ... and here is a pic of it for others to see too who may have similar issues with connections :-)