Medeli AKX10

[Bouncingogre]

I know most of you guys are on serious synths but whats your opinion on upcoming Medeli AKX10 arranger? The price is set at 545 GBP or 700 EUR and its jam packed with features and high quality sounds.
I wonder why Yamaha is not updating its PSR-S670 model? Why would they leave wide open space for Medeli in this price range?

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

You may or may not know that Medeli were recently successfully sued by Yamaha for Copyright infringement. See here

Announcement of Successful Legal Action for Infringement of Copyright against Chinese Manufacturer of Electronic Music Instruments

News Releases - Yamaha Corporation

www.yamaha.com

For that reason alone, I would not buy a Medeli.
I have a PSR SX700 and a Korg Pa5X, and the SX is a superb keyboard for about the same money as a Medeli... And it's legal!

 

[keysdan]

I heard from a dealer that they are discontinued. I cannot confirm the accuracy of that, but if Yamaha sued them, it makes sense.

 

[Biggles]

You may or may not know that Medeli were recently successfully sued by Yamaha for Copyright infringement. See here

Announcement of Successful Legal Action for Infringement of Copyright against Chinese Manufacturer of Electronic Music Instruments

News Releases - Yamaha Corporation

www.yamaha.com

For that reason alone, I would not buy a Medeli.
I have a PSR SX700 and a Korg Pa5X, and the SX is a superb keyboard for about the same money as a Medeli... And it's legal!

That is very interesting.

I wonder if the owners of the AKX10 have received any buy back offers?

Also what owners of said product now think?

 

[TedS]

I'm surprised to hear about the lawsuit. There's no denying that some aspects of the Medeli OS are similar to Yamaha. So much so that I speculated on another web forum that perhaps they had licensed it from Yamaha. I guess not...!

 

[happyrat1]

Sell em on craigslist before Yamaha's lawyers start crawling up your rear ends.

It's not surprising since the company doesn't even run a legitimate website.

 

[Domingos Saude]

Hello, I'd like to know, with 'Grand suite' software of Medeli, can we import others voices to the MEDELI AKX 10 ?
I know that it is possible to import styles with this software.
Thanks

This is a way: This keyboard only receives external voices, if we put them inside an expansion. The expansion may be created by us, using the free software GranSuite. For creating the voices, we can create them editing the natural sounds of the keyboard, and saving with a name easy to identify. We may save the voices on the keyboard, and after that, we copy to the USB for later uses, as a new creation of expansions. On the expansions, we can include soundfonts, and this is the real good thing, because there are thousands of free sounds on this extension on Internet.
When we are creating a expansion it's important to check the size of the material we are including, because there are some good piano sounds on the sf2 format, which are bigger than the keyboard can support.
I found some very nice organ sounds like the Hammond, in sf2 format. And now they are part of my keyboard. For free.
My model of the Medeli is the european version distributed by Thomman. The name of the model is Thomman AK-X1100. The price was 555 euros delivered at home with no transportation costs. I live at Portugal, and it cames from Germany.
The difference from the original Medeli keyboard is the size of the user memory, wich is 256 mb. But I don't mind, because it can play the styles from the USB, and if I like one of them, I save it on the keyboard for USER.
Now, I let here a link for a page of free voices, on the sf2 extension.

Hammond organ | Musical Artifacts

musical-artifacts.com

I hope this help, as a start.

 

[Domingos Saude]

Hello, I'd like to know, with 'Grand suite' software of Medeli, can we import others voices to the MEDELI AKX 10 ?
I know that it is possible to import styles with this software.
Thanks

Yes. On the format called sf2. And talking abou the styles, this keyboard can play them from the USB, and edit and save renamed by us, for further recognition.

 

[Domingos Saude]

There are actually multiple stores in Europe who sell this keyboard. The biggest one is Thomann and they sell it rebranded under their own name Thomann AK-X1100. They ship products internationally. The other one is The Music Alliance with a chain of stores across Europe.

Thomann - Welcome Home!

Browse our huge range of musical instruments, studio, lighting, and PA equipment at Europe's largest music retailer. We have the hottest brands, affordable alternatives and many free resources for musicians.

www.thomannmusic.com

TMA - The Music Alliance

www.tma-benelux.com

The mine is the model by Thomman, and I'm satisfied.

 

[Domingos Saude]

Why are you posting the same text three times?

Are you agents for Medeli?

Good batting average 4 posts in 9 months and 3 of them the same.

they sell styles and things...

 

[Domingos Saude]

From everything I have read, and everything I have watched on YouTube, etc...

It seems that Medeli really knocked the AKX10 hardware out of the park.

Great build quality overall...

And aesthetically the best looking arranger out there.

According to several people I have actually communicated with who own the AKX10 -

The keybed is better than the Yamaha PSR-SX700/900 - and on par or slightly above the Korg Pa700.

The buttons and control knobs are better than the Yamahas' (no mention of the Korgs')

And the touch screen is much better than the Yamahas' and, of course, the Korgs'.

The only slight negative are the voices/sounds - at their defaults they are not that good.

However, I was told by Timor (not sure if everyone knows who he is - he has the AKX10 and is making sound packs for it) that if you can manage the settings (not easy for everyone) on the AKX10 it can sound very good.

And, according to Medeli, they will be releasing a huge update in about two weeks to their OS that should take care of a lot of the concerns mentioned above.

The only real questions I have are the warranty and serviceability in the US - and I should know more about that soon.

Talking about the sounds, I found something: They come with a configuration wich is a sort of atenuation. So, I discovered on Global/Keyboard, and I uncheked a small botton of the configurations, and then the volume changed to the 80 watts they say on the manual. Pay atention to not to make unvolontary changes on the split.

 

[Domingos Saude]

Looking at more YouTube videos on the AKX10...

The stock sounds/voices, etc. are really... not good...

They all seem flat, two-dimensional, etc...

According to Timor, they can be made to sound "really good" by using the editing functions - but that is way beyond what I know how to do.

I was watching a video showing how you can edit a sound on the AKX10 - very in-depth.

I made a comment about this. Explore the function on Global/ Keyboard. You may find there a small botton wich if we uncheck it, the volume changes to the 80 watts they say on the manual.

 

[Domingos Saude]

That is very interesting.

I wonder if the owners of the AKX10 have received any buy back offers?

Also what owners of said product now think?

I have the Thomman version of this keyboard. My conclusions is this: this instrument has a strong point, wich is the modifications we can do with it. We can edit or change the styles, we can edit or put new voices. It receives sounfonts, applied in expansions. So, it is better for what it can makes then the things it has from factory. The price is a very good price on Europe. as an example, I use the mixer and create some good performances. I have now some sondfonts from the Hammond. Now it plays as if it was more expensive. Very different from the first day. So, if we dedicate som minutes creating new sounds or new stiles, in a few days we'll be very positively surprised. This is my opinion.

 

[manednews]

Hi there and I've only just joined today but have been reading the comments on the AKX10 for some time. Perhaps my perspective might be of interest. I was a Korg Sponsored artiste meaning I did promotion for them on first the PA2X then the 3x. I have been watching Medeli for sometime and when this keyboard was announced I really thought this is a break through keyboard for them. I actually contacted the company and have been dealing with one of the owners for close on 15 months now. I actually wanted to get hold of one and offered them my expertise and more importantly they don't have any direct sales in the UK. Initially I had so many emails asking what I could do and how I could publicise this keyboard. However whenever it came down to the nitty gritty they would just never answer any questions..the voices, what samples they use. Availability of more styles as the keyboard grows, after service etc etc. I even offered to purchase the damn thing to get my hands on one and if their actual sales and after service are anywhere near as bad as my experience with them that should sound warning bells. I notice that someone put a video up of Johnathan who often reviews keyboards.. it's interesting that he absolutely slated them over and over in this keyboard and really bad mouthed them...then lo and behold he suddenly changes his tune and it's wonderful...simple answer they are paying him or at least given him the keyboard as usually he claims to buy all his own keyboards and is impartial .. not in this case me thinks.. right down to the nitty gritty from what I've managed to find out. I have a friend at Bax music and they are also sounding alarm bells. Regarding warranty ...there is none! You may get a guarantee from whatever music company you purchase from but in case of any problems.. Medeli DO NOT supply as yet any spare parts and despite requests none coming!! So if it goes wrong what are you supposed to do send it to China!! Next problem...there is not yet any software support or updates, or new styles planned. On a keyboard that was already to go 14 months go this is very very worrying as with this amount of facilities operational updates to fix bugs are a must. Lastly although I have played it the sounds are comparable to a Yamaha Tyros 2/3 whilst this is not bad for £500 plus pounds those keyboards are well over 12 years old...this is truly very out of date despite all the features and lastly the 256 polyphony apparently is a total fabrication and more like 128 which is what Korg or Yamaha offer on their mid range to top arrangers. I was so hoping this would be something to rival Yamaha or Korg who no doubt keep the prices very high but to buy one is a big risk even at £500 plus..no updates, no support and no extras ...be very wary

I just purchased the Thomann AK-X1100 version which comes with a three-year warranty from Thomann.