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Kurzweil K2000
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:01 pm
by Nico_Noyau
Hi !
I just listened to audio demos on
www.bluesynths.com and OMGz, it rowks !!
Now I understand why JMJ used it, this synth is a monster, its sounds are warm and soooo beautiful !!
Added to my wishlist
Regards,
Nicolas
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:48 pm
by GeeJee
It's not too expensive, but it's a bitch to program

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 2:17 pm
by Nico_Noyau
Ah yes ? Really ?
But maybe there is no need to program it, patches are maybe enough

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 5:23 pm
by GeeJee
no realtime controls + unknown synthesis approach = bitch to program

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 5:32 pm
by Jakob BC
I have never really found out what he used it for except for a controller. It has been with him since it's release I think.
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 5:35 pm
by Nico_Noyau
I have heard tha many things from Chronologie and EiC were from this synth, although I can't find which ones

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 5:42 pm
by Equinoxe
GeeJee wrote:no realtime controls + unknown synthesis approach = bitch to program

The Synthesis is the same as any other S+S Workstation,its the menu structure that will be the only alien approach if your not used to Kurzweil products,infact many users praise it as one of the best Workstations made,and one of the few that contain a 32 track sequencer.Its never appealed to me but read any user review about it and they'll say it easy to use and a workhorse especially with the sampler expansion!!! 64 Mb is a lot for a 1991 produced synth,although its dwarfed by todays standards,but you can see why many people say its great
Polyhony is a bit shit though 24 note poly????on a 32 track workstation seems a little backwards,especially if like many other synths double programs or Double PCM element sounds use 2 notes of poly for a single note
for the time it was produced it was quite a powerful machine and one of the few workstations that had a fledged sampler facility too
I thought Jarre was involved with the development of the K2000 or at least some of their Rack unitsI seem to vaguley remember reading something about his input about the time of press for EIC tour,plus I wonder if he was given the K2000 As an endorsement,as he's appeared in Magazine Ads for the K2000
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 5:49 pm
by Jakob BC
Nico_Noyau wrote:I have heard tha many things from Chronologie and EiC were from this synth, although I can't find which ones

Yes I think you are right. It can do so much different stuff that it can be difficult to say what sounds it was used for.
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 6:40 pm
by radek tymecki
Nico_Noyau wrote:I have heard tha many things from Chronologie and EiC were from this synth, although I can't find which ones

Well JMJ mostly used it as... SAMPLER

Those strange background loops at the end of chronologie 5 etc

and tic-tac seqs
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 6:48 pm
by Nico_Noyau
Owwww
I made a mistake between it and the one you used on your covers (can't remember the name...)
Re: Kurzweil K2000
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:19 pm
by Pete
Nico_Noyau wrote:Hi !
I just listened to audio demos on
www.bluesynths.com and OMGz, it rowks !!
Now I understand why JMJ used it, this synth is a monster, its sounds are warm and soooo beautiful !!
Added to my wishlist
Regards,
Nicolas
It's cool, isn't it?
Do you remember the demos I did for you with some of the VP sounds last year?
Since it has not knobs or sliders (well, one yes) it is not as quick as a virus/nord/JP-8000.
But it's a different synth in the end, and it's son of its times.
The cool thing is that all parameters are expressed in their real values (milliseconds for envelopes, Hertz for LFO, dB for levels, etc. rather than the classic 1-127 "mystic" values)
A lot of parameters are controllable via Control Changes and other MIDI parameters, so after a while you will be able to get some real time control over the sounds.
It's not really true about its polyphony being limited to 24 voices. Actually algorhytms which employs synthetic waveform generation allow a greater polyphony (up to 96 voices-if I am not wrong). 24 is the number of voices for PCM sampled waveforms.
Its real limit is the poor effect processor based on a Digitech chip
It's a very good instruments im my opinion, a must have for any synth addict. Another great feature is its ability to cut through in a mix. I remember when I purchased my K2000R back in 1998 that I was impressed in how it was cutting its sonic space in the mix between my beloved wavestation and other Roland stuff.
I was shocked to see last week in a shop a K2000 keyboard for 380 EUR and a K2000R for 300... if you are into hardware gears you can't miss one for that price.
By the way, I just ended my search for expansion on eBay. In two years I purchased the 2 additional ROMs (with doughterboard) the PRAM (to hold a lot more of objects like hundreds of presets) the SAMPLING option. Now I miss 32 mega of 30 pin RAM and my K2000R is fully beefed up!

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:33 pm
by GeeJee
Equinoxe wrote:GeeJee wrote:no realtime controls + unknown synthesis approach = bitch to program

The Synthesis is the same as any other S+S Workstation,its the menu structure that will be the only alien approach if your not used to Kurzweil products,infact many users praise it .....
Mmm.. I'll look a bit deeper into it then. I wasn't impressed by the Bluesynth excerpts though... roll:
I thought Jarre was involved with the development of the K2000 or at least some of their Rack unitsI seem to vaguley remember reading something about his input about the time of press for EIC tour,plus I wonder if he was given the K2000 As an endorsement,as he's appeared in Magazine Ads for the K2000
He did indeed appear in magazine ads, but as far as his involvement in the development is concerned, I don't know. I do know it used to be one of Dominique Perrier's favourite synths. And I heard JM used it a lot as midi keyboard because of it's nice solid touch.
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:48 pm
by Nico_Noyau
Oh yeah Pete, I remember now !

I'll listen to them again, I still have them, fosho
For that price, added to my wishlist and will be bought before 2010 !

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:57 pm
by Nico_Noyau
Just listened to Pete's demos...
Can I share them here, Pete ?
They are AWESOME !!!
Are these sounds only from the VP or from the K2000 too ?
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 11:07 pm
by Big time
I´ve got a K-2000 also!

Hehe
Bought it back in 96/97 I think! Hmm... Loooong time ago now!
But a must have! It still sounds warm, soft and beautyful! And it also looks beautyful, in some way!
