Ketron X1 Review

My Weekend With the X1

If you think this is going to be like "My Summer Vacation" or "My Winter Weekend in Bismarck" you’re wrong. This was wonderful fun, work, learning and much, much more.

First, even though I am very good with manuals and usually enjoy them, I really like to get into a piece of gear in a touchy-feely way first just to see how easy it is to get around on.

The X1 is as good as a keyboard can be that is this complete. The top has, according to my rough count, about 117 buttons. They are, for the most part, clearly labeled although many do double or triple duty.

If you read the markings for the buttons, it really is easy to get the feel of this keyboard and it seems to get from one thing to another with a minimum of keystrokes. I found myself getting around very well with only a few false starts.

The nice large LCD is a joy to use and gives lots of useful information.

THE SOUNDS

Of course, there is no joy until you hear something. I plugged it in and behold…. Some of the best sounds I had ever heard on a keyboard. At home, where I tried this out, I have Roland, Korg, Yamaha and more so comparison was no problem. The X1 literally blew them all away. The sounds are so realistic and detailed that you can hear the spit in the sax player’s reed. Other details on other instruments are just as fantastic.

I have always felt that a weakness in the GM setup is the Oohs and Aahs. This keyboard has those, (well done), but it also has voices that go Laah, Hmmm, and a whole lot more. I found sounds that you would swear are coming from a CD because no keyboard can do that! (Samplers excluded)

By the way, this keyboard has an onboard sampler too!!

THE RHYTHMS (or Styles)

I had thought that the MS series of Ketron/Solton products had wonderful rhythm styles; and they are. In fact I was sure that it would be very hard to improve on those rhythms and even if there were improvements, they would be in small doses. I was wrong BIG TIME.

Even though I had heard this keyboard at the NAMM show I was unprepared for the quantum leap in quality and believability. If you get the balances right and have someone walk into the room blindfolded, they will be sure that they are hearing a really good live band or a really good recording on CD usually depending on how loud the sound is. Solton has a new technology called Syngroove, which brings to the rhythms all the accents and tiny fluctuations in meter that are part of the makeup of a great rhythm section.

I managed to get through about 50 of the 198 internal styles before bedtime. I didn’t find a single bad style. Every one I tried would be useful for the right situation.

On the big hard drive on this unit was a folder of other rhythms that you can load into a separate section. In a second folder I found all the styles that come on the MS 100 as internal styles. In the third folder were the internal styles for the MS 40/50/60. A fourth folder contains an assortment of the best styles from the Ketron library.

Since the MS series only has two intro/endings per style instead of the three that comes on the X1, intro/ending 3 were the same as intro/ending 2 when playing the older styles in the X1. This is a far better solution than losing all the previous great styles. Good thinking on the part of the Ketron engineers.

Another trick they used has to do with the fills. The new X1 has four fills with the fourth being a 1 bar "break" fill. This was usually fill three on the MS series. Now if you are playing an MS style on the X1, the X1 fill 2 and fill 3 will be the same MS fill 2 with the MS fill 3 being assigned to the "break" or X1s fill 4. This is particularly useful if you are using the Jump button.

Using "Jump" the arrangements move from A to B to C to D on fills 1 and 2. The arrangements move from D to C to B to A using fill 3. There is no movement using "break".

DRAWBARS

In discussing the super sounds I left out the organ sounds on purpose. This little gadget has "virtual drawbars". If you are old enough or lucky enough to have gotten to play around with a real Hammond B3 in the past, you will have a fit of déjà vu when it comes to playing with the organ sounds. In addition to the nine or more sounds in the internal section, you can modify those to your taste and save in a lot of places and then there are 16 fully programmable slots where you can play with those lovely drawbars and save your settings if you find some that you love. You also have a choice of key click and a couple of kinds of percussion very much like a B3. The key click and percussion are variable as to level from 0 to 32.

You can also get the effects to do some crazy things to the sounds.

It was with real regret that I had to stop playing with this feature and find out more about this keyboard.

PROGRAMS

The "programs" feature is an extremely powerful feature that was on the MS series but is now much more powerful with added parameters and more than double the polyphony. With this you can combine sounds in layers, splits and the less familiar "trio" in which a chord plays one note on one instrument another note on a second and yet another note on a third instrument, bringing new meaning to ensemble sounds.

This is useful for tons of tiny variations in tonal color as well as some of the huge layers used for spacey "new age" sounds.

Another thing that you can do tin the "Program" mode is set your setting to only pitch bend the bottom note of a chord. This is an incredible feature when you wish to emulate an instrument like a pedal steel guitar.

USER SOUNDS

The X1 features a simple but useful palette of ways to manipulate the sounds into a bank of user sounds that you have tweaked yourself. The tweaking is fun and easy and you can get decent variety without standing on your head. Also is a goodly supply of effects that are instrument specific. A very nice feature!

ONE TOUCH

Professional club players will find this feature useful. You can assign 48 of your favorite sounds into the One Touch section so that you can get to them quickly. Very handy for piano bar type gigs. My only problem would be narrowing my selection down to only 48.

THE SEQUENCER

The sequencer is as good as I have ever seen on a keyboard. You must go to a computer sequencer to get one that is better. I feel that the defining quality of a sequencer is how well you can edit the tracks. Check out the "logical" on the second page of editing functions. This is very computer like and very useful. Also notice the many views that you have of events. This is very cool. The nice big screen helps you believe that you are using a computer.

THE SAMPLER

OK so I am a goof because I like to do silly things with a sampler. I recorded me yelling "Don't touch me!" and set it up in the store. Of course, if you ever worked in a music store, you know that NOBODY walks by a keyboard without hitting at least one key. Laughs aside the sampler is very good and includes all the common edit functions. Not bad for a keyboard that doesn't feature itself as a sampler keyboard.

OTHER FEATURES

I haven’t had the time it takes to learn everything about this mighty machine, but as I learn more I will add to this review.

COMMENTS FROM OTHER USERS:

Jay,
... I love the sounds that Ketron/Solton has. I don't feel particularly negative
toward other brands; it's just that Ketron is my personal favorite. The
X1 is especially the right choice for me for two reasons. 1) I get the
sounds I'm familiar with and first "fell in love with" when I heard the
MS-5 plus a whole lot more. 2) There are a few similar functions that
gets me to feel comfortable with exploring the X1....
Debbie

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