K.N.A.T

Issue No. 46

Hello everyone and welcome to issue number 46 of Ketron News and Tips (KNAT).
This issue is targeted for February, 2005.
If you have a question to ask or a tip to submit, please let me know at jay@ketronus.com. Also I love your comments so don't hesitate to let me have them.

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In this Issue:
News: NAMM
News: Midjay
Tips: Modify your sound in the Midjay
News: I found stands for the Ketron Modules
Quotes: Just for fun

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The NAMM show!

I was at the NAMM show and met many fine Ketron users and Style Works users. I was representing EMC Software, featuring Style Works 2000 and the new Style Factory.
The show was a huge success for EMC. It appears that both Roland and Kurzweil are interested in including conversion software in their OS as Technics did several years ago. Kurzweil has not had a arranger keyboard for some time, but will be doing one in the future.
The Ketron display was in the same hall, but at the opposite corner and that is like being in the wrong concourse at DFW airport. There is nothing small about the NAMM show. The show in Frankfort is said to be larger, but Klaus Grosser from EMC who displays there regularly said he is not sure that it is.
A.J. was at the Ketron booth along with many of the other fine folks from Ketron. Field reps, John Deep and Vince Ramos were both visible and helpful.
A.J. was swamped with demonstrations, questions and suggestions that it was difficult to get words in to him. Listening to him, however, is always informative and entertaining.

Style Factory from EMC is going to be a great piece of software.
You simply click and drag a drum track to a slot, do the same with a bass track, a keyboard track, strings, etc. and in a flash you have a part of a style. That would do for Arrangement A for example and then you do the same for B and when you are satisfied with all your parts just output it to your machine by saving it as a style for your brand.
At this point you might think that you are limited to whatever the software comes with, but you can input your own parts to work with. This makes it one of the most customizable and exciting softwares to be developed for arranger keyboards in a long while, if not the best ever.
I got to play with the beta version and I can't wait.

I used an XD9 and Midjay to help show off the great potential of the Style Works programs.

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News about the Midjay
It is a players module for sure.

If 20 years ago someone would have asked me to define the perfect module, I would not have known enough to be able to describe the Midjay. To describe a box smaller than 13" in its largest dimension, that contains samples so realistic that you really believe them, effects, the ability to play Standard Midi Files (MIDI started about 1982), a box that plays CDs from its hard drive, has hundreds of sound effects, will record MIDI files as wave files with quality better than the best analog tape, would have been completely beyond my imagination.

This is one fantastic box, but there are several things it is not.
It is not a workstation.
It does not have an onboard sequencer. It does not have an onboard sampler in the traditional sense. It has limited functions in terms of tweaking the sounds that are already there. However, it is not inconceivable that these functions may be included in future editions since the OS is clearly designed for upgrades. I doubt that these functions will all be added to the current issue, but boy I'll bet the Midjay II or Midjay+ or whatever they decide to call it in the distant future, will be something else. Remember, this is the first module of its kind by anyone.

However, you can change the sounds.

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Changing the Sounds of the Midjay (and other Ketron products)
Last issue we talked about how to change the sounds of your Midjay. We covered almost everything except velocity switching.

It is one of the least used, but very useful tweaks is changing the velocity of the instruments you have in your sound file.

Here is a good example of how to use it.

Go to your sound Tenor Sax 1.
Press Edit
On the Vox line go to V2
Set this to Tenor Sax 1 also.
Set the Vol of V1 to 120 and the Vol of V2 to 127
Set the Shift of V2 to -12
Set the Rev of V2 to 127
Set the Amou of V2to 118
Set the FX of V2 to Dist
Finally set the V. SW of V2 to High

Press Save and then Press Enter and then Press Enter again to confirm.

Now the effect you have created is fairly subtle. While you play that sound with normal velocity you hear the Sax as it used to be. However, now when you hit the keys with full velocity, you hear the 2 saxes together, one of which has some distortion on it, and the effect is quite interesting and useful. There are hundreds of ways to use the switching and this works on all Ketron instruments. In all the other Ketron instruments you will find this feature in your Program Edit function.
You can use Velocity Switching to vary the sounds of almost anything. Play a sax section normally and bring in Brass by using higher velocity.
You have 3 Velocity settings. Normal, Low and High and they all cause things to respond differently.
Normal is what you are accustomed to and the keyboard responds no matter how hard or soft you hit it.
Low is interesting in that with regular or soft velocity you hear the instrument, but with high velocity, that instrument drops out.
High is just the reverse of Low and the instrument does not sound until you use high velocity.

If you want to check out the velocity feel to see where the switching occurs, pick 3 very different instruments and see when on comes in and when one goes out.

Have fun and let me know what you find.

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Stands for the Modules
I have found a source of heavy duty stands that are perfect for the MS40, X4 and XD3 modules. The stands have a very heavy 4 leg base with a center pole. The rack tilts into 3 different postions. The top has rubber to keep from scratching the instruments. The stand is too large for the Midjay, but is perfect for all others. I will be retailing it for $69.95 plus shipping. The shipping weight will be approximately 18 LBS. The stand weighs 13 and folds into a fairly compact unit. This stand is identical to the ones that used to be available at over $100.00 retail. You can see and buy it on the accessories page: http://www.ketronus.com/accessories.html

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Upgrades available: For all the whiners out there (not many) who have been so bitterly complaining that the X series has been made "obsolete", Ketron has just released a free upgrade for the operating system to 5.0 for the X series, including the X4, X1, X8 and X1 Oriental (arabic). I personally hope this reinforces the fact that discontinued does not mean obsolete. These downloads are available on this site on the "Manuals and Upgrades" page under the Downloads button (http://www.ketronus.com/downloads/) or at http://www.ketron.it which is the Home site for Ketron labs.
Also the 4.0c has been released for the SD1 and SD1+.

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Visit me at www.ketronus.com. Or email me at jay@ketronus.com

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Quotes: Just for fun

"What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Without a struggle, there can be no progress." -- Frederick Douglass

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