ARRANGERS

Ketron Fusion Arranger Workstation Supports International Styles


At the 2025 NAMM Show, held Jan 21–25 in Anaheim, CA, Ketron introduced the Fusion Real Arranger, an arranger workstation keyboard that supports international musical styles.

Arranger workstations are synthesizers that focus on letting you perform live with a full arrangement.

Key Features:

  • Full Audio Styles
  • Live Drums, Real Bass & Real Chords Style Modeling
  • Massive Audio Library Customizable Real Styles
  • Top Professional Sounds
  • Unique Real Solos Twin Organ
  • 240 Gb Disk Storage

Specifications:

  • Polyphony: 216 notes, multitimbral.
  • Keyboard: 61-note light weighted action with velocity and aftertouch. 4 Dynamic curves.
  • Controls: Aftertouch. Portamento. Legato Mono/Poly. Transposer +/- 24. Octave +/- 2. Sustain pedal. Volume/Expr.
  • Pedal with 6 curves. Joystick with Pitch and Modulation. 2 Articulations. Ribbon controller: Arabic Scale. Arabic Set.
  • 10 sliders with rgb led.
  • Display: 7” touch capacitive display. Brightness control. 5 different skin colors.
  • Factory Sounds: 10 Voice Families : Piano, Strings, Organ, Brass, Sax, Pad, Synth, Guitar, Bass, Ethnic. 464 Factory
  • A single Preset can be made with up to 5 different sounds. Second Voice. High quality multilayer sounds with a great selection of Real Solos ® and a large variety of oriental instruments. Advanced Voice Editing. Factory overwrite and restore. Up to 1.280 User Voices available. Preset programmable Arabic scale and key shif.
  • User Sounds: 4 GB non-volatile Flash memory for additional sounds ( 2 GB for Sound Banks and 2 GB for User Samples ). Sample Editor : up to 32.768 samples ( max 6 seconds per sample ). 128 stereo instruments ( Voice or Drum Set ), up to 4 layers per instrument and up to 64 splits per layer. Advanced editor with Split, Octave, Level, Range,
  • Tune, Cut off, Velocity, Adsr. Sample Loop utilities. User Drum kits.
  • Adsr/Filter: separate controls for Attack, Decay, Sustain, Lfo, Cut Off and Resonance.
  • Drum Set: 44 Drums kits. 18 Oriental Kits. 32 User Drum kits with Remap, Filter, Tune, FX controls. Drum Mixer : 9 sections with separate controls for level, pan, reverb, pitch, velocity compression. 86 Midi Drum styles ( Pattern )on Grv1_Loop section.
  • Arranger : More than 550 International Styles. Audio, Live and Midi styles. Freeze real control. 260
  • Live Styles. Over 64 Oriental Styles. 10 groups : Ballad, Pop, Dance, Rock, Swing, Latin, Country, Folk, Party, Ethnic. 3 Intro, 3 Ending, FIll to End, ABCD, 4 Fills, 4 Break. Reintro, Count In, Pause, Key Start, Key Stop, Variation. User Styles with unlimited store capabilities.
  • 5 Midi Chords and Bass. Close, Parallel, Logic mode. 3 x Lower with Mono/Poly function. Chord Variation. Varitone. Voice to ABCD. Auto Fill, Fill to Arrange, Fill to Aftertouch. Chord modes : Easy1, Easy2, Easy3, Fingered 1, Fingered 2. Orch. Variation Morphing. Rootless mode. Manual Bass, To Lowest, To Root. Bassist and Pianist mode ( Standard/Expert ).
  • Live Drums: over 500 Live Drums with a complete Arranger structure ( 3 Intros, 3 Endings, ABCD, 4 Fills, 4 Breaks ). Oriental and Latin Percussions loops. Reverb and 3 band Parametric Equalizer with 10 presets, programmable on each style. Drum Boost. Possibility to load external User Live Drums.
  • Drum Pad: real time control for percussions.
  • Grooves: 3 x independent Groove sections. Huge library of more than 780 Latin percussions, Electro and Acoustic
  • Drum loops, Single percussion hits. Groove to Variation. Separate volume and EFX controls.
  • Live Guitars: 216 sliced Guitar patterns including Long Chords. Separate volume and EFX controls.
  • Real Chord: Real audio accompaniments covering a full chord range ( up to 13 different chords ). A big variety of electric, acoustic and jazz guitars patterns and other orchestral sequences synchronized to Midi. Dedicated Insert EFX with full editor, programmable for each style. Possibility to load external User Real Chords. Possibility to modify the Style voices with Adsr, filter and Q.
  • Real Bass: Real audio Basses.Twin Bass. Support to external User audio Basses. 3 band Parametric Equalizer with 10 Presets, programmable on each style.
  • Style Modeling: navigate and choose Drums, Grooves, Bass and Chords from the massive Midi and Audio Library. Multichord and Multibass templates.
  • Style Edit: advanced pattern recording and editing. Copy, Quantize, Velocity, Octave functions. Special quantize available for oriental styles ( 7/8, 9/8, 13/8, etc. ). Single GM voice edit with ADSR and Filter.
  • Registrations: 4 Banks with unlimited Registrations controlling the global set up of the keyboard.
  • Performance: fast access to Styles, Registrations, Mp3, Wav, Midi files and Subfolders. 7 Sets with unlimited file storage.
  • Play Mode: Master, Accord/Style, Accord/Classic, Organist.
  • Phrase: real time recording and play for Style chord sequences.
  • Footswitch: 20 programmable Set. Assignable to the most relevant machine functions and features.
  • Arabic Scale : 16 sets. 6 scale memories.
  • Dsp: Reverb, Chorus, Phaser, Flanger, Overdrive, Distortion, Tremolo, Autopan, Equalizer. 2 Stereo EFX Inserts (one dedicated to Voice and one to Style/Midifiles). 64 Single Presets and 64 Chain Effects. Deep editing. Dedicated reverb and EQs for Drumsets. Dedicated reverb for Arranger section.
  • Stem: 4 Scenes. 5 audio tracks per scene to be played simultaneously. Lead track, Transpose, Time Stretching, Loop, Solo, Mute, Autoplay. Fixed pitch for Drum section. Support for external User Stems.
  • Player: Transpose, Audio Time stretching, GM, Jukebox, Playlists, Drum Remix, Markers, Lyrics, Cross Fade, Search, Midi Mix, Karaoke Backgrounds. Support for wav, midi, mp3, mp4, avi, mov, flv, cdg, jpg, png, txt and pdf files.
  • KTune: audio Wav files can be assigned to keys. Synchronization with Style (Bar, Beat).
  • HD Recording: 1 stereo audio track. Midi and Song Style recording.
  • Audio Multitrack: 5+1 audio tracks with separate track control.
  • Micro: 2 x Micro inputs. Micro 1 ( XLR ) with gain control and phantom power. Effect with Reverb, Delay, Equalizer,
  • Pitch shift. Micro 2 ( jack ) with volume and reverb control.
  • Voicetron: 3 voice vocalizer. Assignable to Arranger or Midi file with Presets, Equalizer, Mode functions.
  • Video: HDMI connection for displaying lyrics, pictures and videos. Mirror mode. Up to Full HD Resolution. Support for external touchscreen displays.
  • Bluetooth: Streaming audio input ( ad2p profile ).
  • WiFi: remote control via VNC.
  • Storage: 240 GB internal SSD disk ( Up to 60 GB reserved for System ). Optional external SD Card ( up to 512 GB ).
  • Side Connections: 2 x USB device. USB Host. HDMI.
  • Rear Connections: Main Out Left / Right. Headphone/Aux. Sustain pedal. Volume pedal. Footswitch. Midi In, Midi Out. Micro 1, Micro 2.
  • Optional: Volume pedal normal or deluxe. Sustain pedal normal or piano type ( available also with Footswitch connector). Footswitch 6 or 13 switches. Midi Pedalboard 13 notes ( K8 ). Soft bag. Trolley for bag. Hard case.
  • Dimensions: 99,5 x 36.6 x 11,5 ( 39,1 x 14,41 x 4,53 inch. ).
  • Weight: 11 Kg ( 24,2 lbs )

Details are still to come at the Ketron site.

The 2025 NAMM Show Coming January 21–25


The 2025 NAMM Show – the annual trade show of The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) – is scheduled for January 21–25 in Anaheim, California.

The annual event provides an opportunity for music merchants to see the latest in musical instruments, and it’s traditionally been one of the most important events of the year for companies making new gear introductions.

This year’s NAMM Show is spread over five days. But the trade show is only scheduled for three of those days, one day less than it used to be.

While the LA area has been devastated by recent fires, NAMM President and CEO John Mlynczak says that “Anaheim is located 60 miles southeast of the wildfires and is currently unaffected.”

Here’s NAMM Week 2025 Preliminary Schedule:

  • Tuesday, January 21
    • NAMM Foundation Day of Service and Networking with the Pros
    • Education offerings for exhibiting brands, including a workshop on influencer-marketing strategy
    • Networking opportunities
    • International Networking Reception
  • Wednesday, January 22
    • Global Media Day, featuring iconic brands and formal executive remarks that focus on new music industry product introductions from top music brands to startups
    • Education sessions and workshops on the latest in AI for business, content creation and the financial management of a music business, as well as hands-on Dante training for pro audio.
    • International Coalition meetings and global receptions
    • Top 100 Dealer Awards ceremony
  • Thursday, January 23
    • Industry Insights breakfast session with NAMM President and CEO John Mlynczak, along with music industry special guests
    • A robust program of educational sessions for retail, manufacturer brands, pro audio, entertainment technology, event safety and music education professionals, as well as artists and college music business students
    • Exhibits open 10 am to 6 pm at the Anaheim Convention Center
    • Yamaha Concert Series and Bands@NAMM
    • TEC Awards
  • Friday, January 24
    • NAMM U Breakfast Session Focusing on Business Marketing Trends for 2025 & Beyond
    • Education sessions continue for retail, manufacturer brand, pro audio, entertainment technology, event safety and music education professionals, as well as artists and college music business students
    • Exhibits open 10 am to 6 pm at the Anaheim Convention Center
    • Yamaha Concert Series and Bands@NAMM
    • Parnelli Awards
  • Saturday, January 25
    • Grand Rally for Music Education
    • Best in Show awards
    • Exhibits open 10 am to 5 pm at the Anaheim Convention Center
    • Bands@NAMM
    • SheRocks Awards

A full list of 2025 NAMM Show exhibitors, companies and brands from around the globe is available at the event site.

Yamaha Releases Genos2 Digital & Arranger Workstation ‘Your Next Masterpiece’


Yamaha Genos2 Arranger Workstation is designed to “transform solo players into the ultimate cover band” and comes with an AI chord mode, drum ambience control and realtime adjustment of the style dynamics. Throw in AWM/FM sounds and a mic input and the stage is set for strong performance.

Perhaps, arranger keyboards are often seen as ‘fun’ instruments, but for Yamaha, they are serious business. In fact, Yamaha’s new Genos2 costs a whopping $5,699.99, and contains what the company calls “the highest cutting-edge technology”.

The aim of the Genos2 is as simple as it is ambitious: to make solo players sound like a complete covers band. To help them hit this target, the keyboard contains some significant new features – Real Ambient Drums, an AI Chord mode and Style Dynamics.

The Real Ambient Drums option means that you have instant control over your drums’ sound. Regardless, whether you want a close-mic’d tone or one that gives the impression that your drums are being played in a huge room, you’re covered. Just grab the Ambient/Dry slider and tweak to taste.

AI Chord mode will ‘listen’ to your playing and musically adjust the accompaniment to fit with what you are doing. This is said to make it feel more like you are playing with a real band, and for the audience, more like they’re listening to one.

Further control over your accompaniment comes via the Style Dynamics feature. This enables you to adjust the energy and dynamics of a style using a slider that goes from Hard to Soft (or ff to pp, in music theory language).

The Genos2 is a 76-note keyboard and offers an abundance of realtime control, while a colour touch screen can be used to navigate the various features. Sounds come courtesy of Yamaha’s AWM and FM engines – the same as the ones in the Montage M, we’re guessing – and the genre library covers every style you could possibly imagine (and, inevitably, a few that you couldn’t).

You can also plug in a mic and apply effects to the input – perfect for performers who both sing and play – and lyrics can be displayed on the Genos2’s screen or a larger one via the HDMI output.

The Genos2 cost $5,699.99. and is available from today and you can find out more on the Yamaha website.