KETRON USA

Keyboard

KETRON SD5 - Specs

61 keys velocity sensitive. 6 Velocity curves. Pitch & Modulation joystick. Aftertouch.

Multi-tab

1-16 multifunction buttons. Mode Select On/Off, SFX, GM Part access, Free Assignable, Registration Groups, Arabic scale.

Display

240 x 128 pixel backlit graphic TCF.

Floppy Disk

3.5 2DD/HD.

Voices

290 Orchestral Presets Sounds. More than 1000 Percussive sounds. 32 parts Multitimbral.

User Voices

110 User Voices. Editing capabilities: A,D,S,R, Cut Off, Resonance, Effects.

1 Touch

60 programmable 1 Touch/Favourite Sounds, assignable to Styles.

Drawbars

10 Digital Drawbar effects.

Programs

120 Programs. 4 Voices, 4 splits. Sustain, Portamento, Velocity switch, Duet, Trio, Morphing, Steel, Slide, Harmony and 2nd voice assign. Single & Global Program loading.

2nd Voice

292 Preset & programmable Second Voices.

Registrations

198 panel/song settings. Single & Block modes. Registration Groups 1-16.

Drum 1

24 New Drum sets . 24 User Drum Sets.
10 Drum sections. Drum Mixer. Manual Drums.

Drum 2

62 Live Drum sets. New Acoustic and Latin audio Loops.

Arranger

128 Internal Styles. New Real Latin, Unplugged, Ballroom. New features: Riff, Arranger Mute, After Fill, Smart 7th, Alternate Bass, Swing Bass, Professional Guitar templates. 4 Arrangers: A, B, C, D. 3 Intro/Endings, Fill In, Break. Manual Bass. Jump. Tap Tempo.

Pattern

2 Mbyte Flash (up to 50 Patterns approx). Edit functions: Record, Clear, Copy, Remap.

Song Recording

real time Song Recording to Disk (HD or FD).

Pianist

Standard & Auto Piano-style arranger playing modes. Sustain On/Off.

Octave

1 octave Up/Down.

Double

lower octave coupling.

Harmony

Full, Jazz, Bluegrass, Trill, Repeat, Folk 1/2.

Transposer

+/- 24 half tones.

Arabic Scale

13 arabic setups (footswitch assignable). Tune + / - 99 cents per note.

Accordion

International, Belgique. Velocity control to Left&Right. Bass&Lower octave. Left Drum to Bass&Chord.

Effects

Multieffect DSP. 60 different Reverberation, Chorus, Tap Delay 4 / 8, Wha Rotor Slow/Fast , Bass Legato function.

Micro

Input with Gain control. Echo, Reverb., Pan/Pot, Pitch Shift, Talk mode (with no effects).

Midifi le Player

SMF Song playback with karaoke and Txt fi les. Converts .kar & Midi type 0 fi les to 1. Juke box. Intelligent Transposer. Song Chain. Drum & Bass. Lead On/Off. Drum Remix.

MIDI

In 1, In2 , Out, Thru. 32 Channels. GM standard.

Outputs

Left/Mono, Right. Sustain & Volume Pedal. Micro.

Inputs

Stereo headphone. Micro jack.

Computer

PC/Mac host Interface.

Amplification

New 2x22W RMS Stereo 2 ways amplifi cation. Speaker On/Off switch.

Optionals

VIDEO INTERFACE (Systems : PAL, NTSC, Super VHS. Monitor, Mirror, Zoom, Karaoke). VOCALIZER (Harmonizer, Vocoder, Melody types, Midi Vocalizer track, Vocalizer to Arranger, Vocal effects) HARD DISK (Type ATA IDE 2.5. 6G min) PATTERN EXPANSION (2 Mbyte). FOOTSWITCH (6 or 13 switches)

Click "Accessory" Tab at top of this page for more detail

Dimensions

115 x 39 x 12,5 cms (46 x 15.6 x 5 inches).

Weight

17 Kg. (37.4 lbs)

Question:- How do I select different voices?

Answer:- On the top right side of the unit, you have all the various voice groups (PIANO, CHROM, ORGAN ... BASS/FX). Within these groups, you will find the individual voices which are related to the group ... eg. the Alto Sax will be found under the SAX/FLUTE group. Press the corresponding group button where you feel the sound you are looking for resides; then use the F1-F10 buttons to the side of the screen to select the corresponding voice. If the voice you are looking for isn't on this screen, press the same group voice button OR use the -PAGE+ buttons to move to the next page (1/3, 2/3, 3/3 - displayed on the top of the screen as you change pages), to see other voices available within the selected group.

Question:- Can I play more than one voice at a time?

Answer:- Yes. The 2nd VOICE feature allows you to play any voice that has been pre-assigned with the selected MAIN/LEAD voice. Usually on the top-right side of the screen, the sound in bold/capital letters is the lead/right/main voice currently selected, while the voice below in smaller font is the 2nd voice assiged to this lead voice. This voice is only heard when the 2nd VOICE button is pressed (truned on).

Question:- Can I change the voices and assign my own 2nd voice to a lead voice?

Answer:- Yes you can. Select the Lead voice first. From the default screen, press the 2nd VOICE button to turn on and hear the 2nd voice currently being used with your lead voice. Now press the RIGHT MENU button on the right of the panel. Press 2nd VOICE EDIT (F4). An arrow ">" will be displayed next to the 2nd voice (now shown at the bottom-center of screen). In this mode, all voice changes you make will affect the 2nd vocie. So if you want to assign a VIOLIN to this voice, you simply press the voice group STRINGS and then VIOLIN1 (F1). Watch the selected voice change at the bottom of the screen. Play the keyboard to see if you like what you hear. Use the 2nd VOICE VOLUME buttons to the left side of the keyboard to adjust the volume relatively and the -TRANSPOSE+ buttons to change the octave accordingly. Press EXIT when done to return to the default. It would be wise to repeat the above for many/all the lead voices you will be using frequently, then proceed to SAVE your new settings (otherwise you will have to re-do the next time you turn on your keyboard). To save the 2nd voices association with lead, press the SAVE button, then press 2nd VOICES (F6) and SAVE (F10) (OR RESET F9 - if you want to reset ALL 2nd voice settings to factory values).

Question:- Can I play/layer more than 2 voices on the SD5?

Answer:- Yes - you can play up to 4 lead voices at once using the PROGRAM mode. To check out the factory programmed voice layers, simply press the PROGRAM button. Now (as you you would select the lead voice), press the corresponding lead voice button (e.g PIANO) and select (using F1-F10) the program you want to listen/use. These are settings which include 1-4 voices (depending on the selection). If you want to see the composition of the selected voice, select the program voice again (so if you pressed F1 for PIANO&STRINGS, press F1 again - which should already be highlighted. You will now be in the PROGRAM EDIT mode and the 4 columns will show you the voices used. The rows are the various parameters that impact the selected voice. You can use the F1-F10 buttons to highlight the paramter you want to change and change it with the cursor < or > buttons. Remember ... if you change anything, SAVE it before you exit the PROGRAM EDIT mode.

Question:- There are over 200 voices on this thing. Can I store and quickly recall my favourite voices?

Answer:- Yes you can - 1 TOUCH. This holds your favourite voices (10 per page) in 12 locations (PIANO/1, CHROM/2 ...BASS/FX/12). To access your favourite voices, press the 1 TOUCH button from the default screen. Now with this button lit, when you press location 1 (PIANO), you will get the first 10 vocies; when you press location 2 (CHROM), you get the next 10 ... and so on. Simply use F1-F10 to select the voice you want to use.

Question:- Can I create my own favourite voices?

Answer:- Yes. From the default screen, press the SAVE button and then select ONE TOUCH EDIT (F4). This will take you to the first 1 TOUCH page. Select the location/voice you want to edit using F1-F10). Use the VOICE GROUP buttons (PIANO ... BASS/FX) to look for the voice you want to place into this location and select it using F1-F10 as always. When you select the voice, press EXIT, and you will see that this voice will now replace the voice that was in this location. Repeat until you have all your favourite vocies ... and remember, you do not only have 10 - you can use the 1-2 (PIANO-BASS/FX) to access the next set of 10 and do the same for them. When complete, you have to SAVE the settings, by pressing SAVE (in the 1 TOUCH EDIT screen, and F10 to save to memory. You may also use F8 to save these settings to disk for future recall incase for some strange reason your memory is accidentally erased. DEFAULT (F9) will reset the valuse to those from the factory.

Question:- How do I play only DRUMS/Rhythem machine of the SD5.

Answer:- There are some out there who would want to use this simply as a drum machine due to it's excellent drum tracks. Simply use the buttons below the screen (UNPLUGGED ... BALLROOM) to select the group where you believe your style/drum track resides in (e.g if looking for a GOSPEL beat, press POP. Press POP again (or use the -Page+ buttons to go to the next page of Pop styles, then select GOSPEL (F2).

Make sure both KEY START AND KEY STOP and HOLD are off. Now press the START/STOP button. Use the ARRANGER control buttons (A, B, D, D/RIFF) to select the variations of the current style. Press the FILL or BREAK to introduce fill-ins. You can also use the INTRO/ENDING1-3 to create introductions and endings. If you want to add background backings, simply press the HOLD button and play a chord to the LEFT of the split point and hear the drums and bass accompany you.

Question:- Can I play a bass line with my left hand manually while playing the arranger?

Answer:- Yes. Press the MANUAL BASS button. You can also change the Bass instrument by pressing the ARRANGER VIEW (F4) button (to view all the style parts), press BASS (F3) and while it is highlighted (5 sec), press the BASS/FX button to select the bass instrument. Press EXIT to return.

Question:- Can I change from one style to another and maintain the TEMPO of the previous style?

Answer:- Yes. Press both -TEMPO+ buttons together. An "*" will appear next to the tempo display. When you now change from one style to the next, the SD5 will maintain the tempo of the current style (unless the wave file within the upcoming style cannot be played at the current tempo).

Question:- I love the Ketron styles, but when I play, it appears to be too busy at times ... especially with Variation D! Any way to supress some of the tracks while I play the lead part?

Answer:- Ofcourse you can. The INTERACTIVE ARRANGER has a lot of usefull features which 'interact' with you as you perform. You can actually pick out which parts you want the arranger to MUTE while you play by pressing LEFT MENU, INTERACT (F3). Now you can select which chords should NOT play when you play CHORD2-CHORD5 (F6-F9) AND you can also select BRASS (F1) which automatically mutes all brass parts whenever you play a lead part with your right hand. Do not forget to save this setting under POWER ON SETUP or you will have to repeat each time the unit is turned on (SAVE, POWER ON SETUP (F3), SAVE (F10).

Another MANUAL option is to use the ARRANGER MUTE (ARR. MUTE) function found on the front panel. This function will mute assigned tracks when turned on. To assign the chord/tracks to be turned off when this button is pressed, press ARRANGER VIEW (F5), go to Page 5/5 and use F6-F10 to turn ON the parts you want activated when the ARR. MUTE button is pressed. These tracks will be turned off regardless of when you play on the keys - especially usefull when using Variation - D which is the busiest!

Ouestion:- With so many functions to control live, is there a device used to 'free up' my hands as I perform ?

Answer:- Yes. Ketron has a couple of accessories that can be used to make your performance 'smart'.

A. FS13/FS6 Effects Pedal - These pedals (FS = 6 pedals; FS13 = 13 pedals) can be programmed to control a bunch of features (such as start, stop, fill-in, voice change, effects, chord tonalities ...etc) on the keyboard. Programming is as easy as pressing the UTILITIES (F3) button and pressing FOOTSWITCH (F4). This will display the current footswitch pedal assignments. Use the data cursor to move the cursor to the pedal whose function you want to change. Change the value with either < or > data value buttons. When complete, press SAVE and SAVE (F10) to save the new Footswitch settings.

Question:- How do I control the Arranger volume instantly while playing?

Answer:- You can use either the optional Volume pedal or the DYNAMIC ARRANGER (LEFT MENU, DYNAM. ARR (F2) ). This feature allows to you play the unit louder when you play hard (physically with the keys). In this screen, press ACTIVATE (F10) to activate this feature. You can also set the sensitivity (default = 32) of each part (Drum, bass and chords) in order to determine how hard one must play before the volume of the selected part turns up instantly.

Question:- When playing the arranger, I would like to have certain parts/tracks mute automatically when I play the lead (right side). Is this possible?

Answer:- Yes. By using the INTERACTIVE ARRANGER (LEFT MENU, INTERACT (F3) and turning this fuction on by pressing ACTIVE (F10) ), you can now use (F1-F10) to set the parts/tracks which should NOT play when you play (check mark will be displayed in corresponding box).

Question:- Can I activate/press the fill in without leaving the keyboard to press the FILL IN button?

Answer:- Yes. You can purchase the optional FS6/13 pedal and assign one of the pedals to the fill-in and use your feet OR you can use the AFTER FILL (LEFT MENU, INTERACT (F3), AFTER FILL (F4) should be checked). In this mode, when you press the key (any) harder (not faster), it automatically activates the FILL IN button and depending on which Arrangement (A-D) you're in, Fill in 1, 2 or 3 will be heard.

Question:- Once the RIFF is activated, can I change it's key if for an example, I made a mistake initially or ... want to change the key in the middle of the song?

Answer:- Yes. Once you go to Arranger D (only for styles with RIFF programmed in), you can change the 'key'chord' of the RIFF within the fist measure of the RIFF simply by playing a new chord. If however you're in the 2nd, 3rd ...nth measure and want to change the key, you can do so in 1 of 2 ways ...LEFT MENU, INTERACT (F3), press RIFF KEY (F5) to select ...

A - FILL IN: In this mode, whenever the FILL IN button is pressed (and held down), you can play a new chord and the RIFF will now play in that key.

B - AFTER: In this mode, whenever you play a new chord harder (press down on the keys), the RIFF will play the new key/chord.

C - NONE: No changes to the RIFF once the first measure has been played.

Question:- I enjoy a particular DRUM track of an Arranger (A) and would like to maintain that track while trying Arranger D. Can I do such?

Answer:- Yes. You can 'Freeze' Arranger parts as you change from one Arranger/Variation of a style to another. This is the LOCK feature (LEFT MENU, F7-F9). When either of these are checked, the checked component stays the same as you progress from Variation to variation. Once unlocked, the new variation part starts to play ... at the next measure.

Question:- Can I toggle the function of the Intro/Ending buttons such that when I am playing a song and I press e.g. Intro 2, the Intro plays again (rather than the Ending 2)?

Answer:- Yes. This feature is called the JUMP INTRO (LEFT MENU - JMP INTRO (F6) ). When this is checked, while playign a song, the INTRO buttons are only for INTROS and no endings. Also when you start a style by pressing the INTRO button, the ENDING is played (reverse of the standard setting).

Question:- When using the 2nd Voice feature (adding another vocie to the current lead voice) and I press the SUSTAIN pedal, only the lead voice is sustained. Can the 2nd voice also be sustained?

Answer:- Yes. By pressing the RIGHT MENU button and pressing 2nd SUST (F1) so it is checked, the 2nd voice will also be checked once the sustain pedal is pressed.

Question:- I plugged in a MIC, pressed the MIRCO button and pressed F10 to ACTIVATE the MIC. I also pressed F9 to access the VOCALIZER menu and pressed F10 to ACTIVATE the vocalizer as well ... still no harmony. Is there anything wrong with my board?

Answer:- First of all, let's go through a series of checks. After doing all the above, do you hear anything when the mic gain is turned up and your mic is on (if a switch is available). If no, there could be something wrong with the mic or cables. If yes, you might not have the optional vocalizer card installed (the software to control the vocalizer is alread installed), or your vocalizer chip needs to be replaced.

Question:- Can I store song settings (SONG BOOK/PANEL MEMORY) which can be recalled instantly on stage during a performance?

Answer:- Yes. KETRON calls these REGISTRATIONS. You can set the keyboard up for any song (e.g No woman no cry), then proceed to save this setting in a REGISTER in memory location 001 (by pressing SAVE, REGISTR (F1), giving the location a name using the keyboard keys A-Z) and pressing SAVE (F10) to save into the selected location (which you can still change using the style numeric pad 0-9. Let's say you repeat this for the next couple of songs ...

001 – NOWOMAN 002 – SHELOVES 003 – COMEGOD 004 – AVEMARIA 005 - LORDILIFT

- now on stage, how do you instantly recall these settings? Simple. Press the REGISTRATION button. As long as this button is lit, you can numerically enter in the number cooresponding to the song whose setting you want to recall. If you are playing something while this happens, the songs settings will be recalled instantly at the next measure. To change styles, simply press REGISTRATION to turn off this and use the style buttons as usual.

If you want to 'see' the list of songs you have stored before selecting, press the SELECT MODE button next to the 16 Assignable Multi-tabs and press REGIS GROUP (F6) to set these for REGISTRATION selection. Now, when ever the REGISTRATION button is pressed/lit, you will see the first 16 song settings (under location "0/UNPLUGGED". To select any song setting, press the Multi-Tab buttons 1-16 associated with the setting. To move to the next group of 16 song settings, press 1/POP, 2/Dance ...9/Ballroom.

Question: I just turned on my new Ketron SD5 and .. no sound. What could be wrong?

Answer: There is a speaker button on the back of your unit which during shipping could have been pushed in to the OFF position. Press this button to pop out into the ON position. Also make sure the volume of the individual instruments (displayed at the bottom of the screen when turned on) are up. Each individual volume is assigned to corresponding buttons on the left of the keyboard (Drum, Bass .... Right). Use this to adjust the volumes according to your desires.

Question:- Each time I turn on my unit, I get the Grand piano voice on the RIGHT side, but either a different voice or nothing on the left. What could be the problem?

Answer:- Most Ketron products usually turn on in the ARRANGER MODE, where a different voice is assigned to the LEFT of the split point and the Grand piano is assigned to the RIGHT. The assumption is when you play in ARRANGER MODE (i.e with a STYLE), you will use the different voices and left side to control the style, while using the right for the lead part.

To get the piano (or any lead voice) accross the entire keyboard, please press the PIANNIST button OR move the split point to the first key on the left by pressing and holding down the SPLIT button while pressing the first key (C) to the left of the keyboard.

You can save this setting so that when next you turn the keyboard on, you need not repeat all of this - by pressing the SAVE button, then pressing F3 (POWER ON SETUP) and F10 (SAVE).

Question:- Can I load styles into my keyboard created by other Manufacturers (e.g Yamaha, Roland, Korg) ?

Answer:- Yes, however, these styles will have to be converted for use on the Ketron products. Using (for an example, the program EMC), you can convert styles from other Arranger manufacturers to Ketron. Once converted, place the FD with the styes into the SD5. Press DISK and use the HARD or FLOPPY button to select the floppy drive (if the styles reside on the FD). Use the cursor button to move to the style you want to select. You may decide to press LOAD (F2) if you want to load just this style or move to other styles and select them first then LOAD all selected styles at once. To playback the styles which have now been loaded into the PATTERN section of the internal memory of the keyboard, press the PATTERN button from the default screen. Now use the STYLE/Numeric buttons 0-9 to locate the style and load it by pressing the corresponding F1-F10 button.

Question: Can I Create and Add New Styles (Patterns) to my SD & XD Keyboard?

Answer:- Creating Styles/Pattern can be time consuming (depending on how accurate you want to be) and just like creating songs or movies or many other art forms, you have to (at some point) draw the line, for you can always make what you have BETTER! Here you go.

* Press the PATTERN EDIT button (on the XD, it's located on LEFT MENU, PAGE 2/2, PATTERN EDIT (F1) ). This will take you into the Pattern EDITOR where you can choose to RECORD (F1), Change Parameters, copy parts ...etc.

* Press RECORD (F1) to enter the RECORD mode. The unit will display ARR_A (F1). You can press F1 to toggle to the othe arranger parts as you see fit.

* Use the cursor button to scroll down to the BAR and set the BAR (this is actually the number of measures within the style you are about to create. Take note - this value will apply to ALL the arrangeers A, B, C and D. Once set and recording begings, it cannot be changed. This value is fixed at "1" for the FILLS and cannot be changed.

* Move the cursor down to ...

** DRUMS:- This is to record the drum tracks. You can use the voice group buttons (PIANO, CHROM ...etc) to access the different Drum kits (Standard, Techno ... etc). When ready, press the START button to start the metronom count and adjust the tempo accordingly. When ready, change the pattern recording mode from PLAY to REC (by pressing F8). When you press the START button, the arranger will count-down one measure and then you can start recording. When the max number of bars is reached, recording stops and it automatically goes back to PLAY mode. To hear what you've just recorded, press START.

** BASS:- This is to record the Bass track. Again, you can press the BASS voice group to change the bass instrument. When the optimum bass sound has been found, press EXIT to return to the recording screen. From here on, (when recording bass, chords or anything melodic), keep in mind you MUST record in the key of "C" if you intend to use this style as an arranger (have the capability to change chords and the unit follows you). If you intend to use this simply as a midifile (ie you record the chord changes and progression), you can record in any key. Also, feel free to use the TONALITY (F3) feature. This displays all chord types that will respond to the current music being programmed. So (e.g) if you want to program a bass slide that should be heard ONLY when one plays a minor chord, simply press TONALITY (F3) until 'Min' is displayed in the TONALITY box. Very usefull with drums too as you can have 'accents' and minor fills within the arranger set to be heard only when the user plays a 7th chord for an example - brings more 'life' to your style.

** CHORD1-5:- Used to record the various chord parts - same as BASS above.

* When you record each part, the arranger automatically returns to PLAY mode (F8) and in this mode, you can 'test' the style by simply pressing START and playing the chords to the left of the SPLIT point. If not satisfied with anything, use the CLEAR (F10) to clear a particular note (hold F10 down and press the key on the keyboard that corresponds to the note you want to delete) or clear the entire track (hold down F10 and press GLOBAL (F5) . 'OK' will be displayed when the entire track (all notes) have been deleted.

* The "%" displayed shows how much memory is left. As you record more and more styles, this number reduces ... the more complex the style (like the Latin styles), the more memory is used. Having the optional 2MB Pattern expansion helps as it doubles the number of styles you can create/load in. The SD1 series already has this plus the capability to read styles directly from the hard drive.

* Use F1 to change and repeat the above for ALL the other Arranger parts (B, C, D, Intro1, Intro 2, Intro 3, Fill 1-4, Ending 1-3). Do not forget to press SAVE (F10) every step of the way so incase you loose power, you do not have to start/resume from scratch.

* Each new Pattern is automatically given the name PATTERN. It is up to you (when done and out of the PATTERN RECORD mode to name your new style (by pressing SAVE, STYLE (F2) and giving it a name - using the keyboard.

* For those of you who are more experienced, you may choose to use a computer to record your style directly (by using the MIDI RECORD (F7) feature in the RECORD screen. This function allows you to connect the instrument via the MIDI IN-1 GM connector to an external sequencer or midiplayer. This way, you can record ALL the tracks at once (so long as they are properly matched in the MIDI (F6) - Channel RX (F2) page and your Midi player/sequencer. For better accuracy, it is advisable to use a sequencer/software to record the individual parts (Arranger-A.mid, Arranger-B.mid ...etc) and then use the Midi Record to bring this into the instrument for more realistic styles.