Ketron SD90

[Decbox]

Hi Everyone. After almost 25 years of working with the Korg o5rw module I'm considering changing to the Ketron SD90. I was wondering if anyone has experience of using one with an accordion. I have some specific questions such as:-
Is it possible to specify the inversion (not the octave) the bass when playing in manual mode?
(I have my Korg set to a low F bass note similar to a bass guitar).
Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Ventura]

it has great specs.. and looks like about $2200 dollars direct from ketron
shares a LOT of the features and concept with my Korg MP10 pro
(dual players... vocalist fx...deep soundbanks... nice touchscreen... an SSD

where they forged ahead is kinda like they incorporated what Band in a Box first did
making it possible to substitute instrument WAV files for certain MIDI soundbank files
in real time when using patterns for playback

Bot Verification

of course they have an accordion mode

suggest you talk them into sending you the detailed user manual PDF

of course the best part is.. it is a real product currently in production

 

[Decbox]

it has great specs.. and looks like about $2200 dollars direct from ketron
shares a LOT of the features and concept with my Korg MP10 pro
(dual players... vocalist fx...deep soundbanks... nice touchscreen... an SSD

where they forged ahead is kinda like they incorporated what Band in a Box first did
making it possible to substitute instrument WAV files for certain MIDI soundbank files
in real time when using patterns for playback

Bot Verification

of course they have an accordion mode

suggest you talk them into sending you the detailed user manual PDF

of course the best part is.. it is a real product currently in production

Thanks for that. I do have the manual. It looks like it has huge potential. I work as a solo entertainer so it would be very useful for accompaniment.

 

[JerryPH]

There is a Facebook group for SD units. If you can afford it, there is not much out there better, but it does have it’s flaws and issues, some that may impact live performances.

 

[mbaggio65]

Hi, don't want to hijack you off this forum, but the Ketron SD90/9/60/40/7 group is pretty active on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/KetronSD90 About 1,800 members.

I have my SD90 for about a year, connected to my Roland FR-8x and I love it. Yes, there were some software kinks, but I have not experienced any in the past month. If you know how an arranger works, it is really powerful. I played before with a Roland BK7m for many years.
Markus

 

[JerryPH]

I've had arrangers since the early 80's (they were pretty darn sad at that time... starting with the ones that came with the ElkaVox accordion, and I soon moved up to a Ketron Programmer 24 and from there a Ketron X4 before I picked up the FR-8X and the BK-7m. The Ketron X4 actually has ibetter quality instruments, but a BK-7m was just made for the 8X.

If you plan to use an arranger, don't think that all you need is an arranger and you are done... you will need foot pedals (the more pedals/buttons, the better), and if you really want to start to go fancy, BlueTooth integration, and all that adds $$ to the bottom line, so don't think that all you need is the arranger and you are done, there is an addition needed on top of that. That said, if you are willing to spend $2000 for an arranger, an extra $200-$1000 is not that big a thing.

I will say one last thing, the SD-90 is very nice, but also very complex, and unless you want to use only 1-2% of the SD-90, you are going to spend SIGNIFICANT amounts of time learning it and programming it to apply to your needs. All arrangers do, more or less.

 

[Alan Sharkis]

Just curious, Jerry. Have you seen the newish arranger from Cavagnolo?

 

[JerryPH]

Just curious, Jerry. Have you seen the newish arranger from Cavagnolo?

Nope, not looking to expand at this time. I've pretty much settled on what I own already, which are 1 Elka product, 2 Ketron products and 1 Roland product and unless something really special happens that is all that I am going to use for a very long time.

That said, after taking a fast look at it, right off the bat you can see that an iPAD is mandatory to work with the Cavagnolo unit, so it better be super cheap in price because you need a nice big iPad screen to control it. The sounds... slightly better than what I have but not in the same class as an SD-90, that is my opinion.

 

[Alan Sharkis]

Hello Jerry,

I know it’s confusing, but Cavagnolo’s digital accordions use apps that run on iPads, and their arranger uses an Android tablet. The arranger, by Cavagnolo’s admission, has styles that are limited to those that are popular in France. Anyway, Cavagnolo’s distributor network covers only France, a few countries in Continental Europe, and one lone outpost in Southeast Asia, so we won’t see their digital line in North America in any large quantity.

 

[Giovanni]

I've seen several demo's of the Cavagnolo midi accordions ,the demonstrators are without doubt first class ...I agree with Alan Sharkis the sounds and styles are all too french sounding .......it does not make me want to change or replace my set up .

Just my thoughts ...............Giovanni