Kawai K1 as VSTi - Nils' K1v is here

[Nils Schneider]

One question is cc64 sustain supposed to work? Not working here 32bit reaper and plugin, although I may be overlooking a setting?

Yes, I'll check if there is an issue with it.

[mrsugmad]

Great Job!

Are the patches in your VST all the K1 factory sound cards?
I'm asking because I found all the Kawai sysex files below and didn't want to overlap them:

https://kawaius.com/technical-support-d ... ftware-os/

[Nils Schneider]

Yes, actually, these are the files that I have worked with

[Aloysius]

How about these?

http://www.sysexdb.com/synth_detail.aspx?dv=39

[moss]

Sorry, I could not resist and did a song using only the K1v
I called it "Song for Nils"

https://youtu.be/0bSXzBEUrj8

[planetearth]

One question is cc64 sustain supposed to work? Not working here 32bit reaper and plugin, although I may be overlooking a setting?

Yes, I'll check if there is an issue with it.

I can confirm the sustain pedal doesn't seem to work in the 64-bit version in Sonar and Cakewalk by Bandlab.

Other than that, this is a fun synth! But is it just me, or are there an inordinate number of presets dedicated to "Miami Vice" and/or Jan Hammer?

Steve

[Aloysius]

Nice job moss

[BBFG#]

One question is cc64 sustain supposed to work? Not working here 32bit reaper and plugin, although I may be overlooking a setting?

Yes, I'll check if there is an issue with it.

I can confirm the sustain pedal doesn't seem to work in the 64-bit version in Sonar and Cakewalk by Bandlab.

Other than that, this is a fun synth! But is it just me, or are there an inordinate number of presets dedicated to "Miami Vice" and/or Jan Hammer?

Steve

Probably due to what was popular in the late '80s - early '90s. Everyone had their own take on them to complete with Roland and Korg's market share at the time. But let's be honest, the K1 was the economy class.

BTW, I sold a lot of K1's and never wanted one because it was just too much noise to put up with. I did like the size though.
IMO, this VST is actually much better because that noise isn't there.
Always hoping for a K5 and K4 though.
(Which both suffered from noise also, but not as much.)

[Aloysius]

Great tight sound from this VSTi.

[wagtunes]

Downloaded.

Loving It!

Lots of questions

1. I see it has a bank import function. Are there extra banks out there? Even if I have to pay for them.

2. I see there is an edit function so obviously a way to edit patches. However, to save them you'd need a blank bank as all the ones that come with the K1 are filled. So how do you create an empty bank?

3. Is there a way to import your own samples or create K1 compatible samples. Naturally, this had to be done in order to create the banks inside the synth to begin with. So is there something like Audio Term for wavetables for K1 samples?

4. How do you actually save a new patch? I don't see a save function anywhere.

That's enough for now. More to come later depending on the answers to these.

PS - Always wanted a Kawai

[Nils Schneider]

Sorry, I could not resist and did a song using only the K1v
I called it "Song for Nils"

https://youtu.be/0bSXzBEUrj8

OMG OMG this is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! Thank you soooooooooo much

Maybe I can share something in return?

I just released version 1.03 with lots of fixes and some improvements:

[IMP] SysEx Parameter Changes are now fully supported
They are sent, which allows the plugin to edit a real hardware in realtime
They are recognized, which allows the plugin to be edited via external/existing editors

[FIX] UI crashed on second opening after using the Source Mix Joystick
[FIX] Reaper specific: Keyboard Shortcuts 1,2,3,4, E and C intercepted entering text to input fields (search box in Play Mode, preset name in Edit Mode)
[FIX] In Solo Mode, releasing a note always stopped all voices if the note being released was not the one being audible
[FIX] Midi control changes Hold Pedal & All Notes Off didn’t work
[FIX] UI did not update if the current preset was changed via Midi Program Change

[Nils Schneider]

1. I see it has a bank import function. Are there extra banks out there? Even if I have to pay for them.

There are some on ebay that claim to have 7000+ sounds, for less than 5 bucks, sysex format. They should load fine in K1v

2. I see there is an edit function so obviously a way to edit patches. However, to save them you'd need a blank bank as all the ones that come with the K1 are filled. So how do you create an empty bank?

The amount of banks is fixed for now, but that shouldn't be a problem as you can always restore the sounds that I included by using "Reset" on either a preset or a bank. The asterisk * indicates that a preset is modified (compared to the one I have built in).

3. Is there a way to import your own samples or create K1 compatible samples. Naturally, this had to be done in order to create the banks inside the synth to begin with. So is there something like Audio Term for wavetables for K1 samples?

The K1 had a fixed EPROM with audio data that couldn't be modified. I've read out its contents and I use it directly, this is required for some special waveforms to work correctly (Omnibus Loop X) which just loop through a larger portion of the ROM. Replacing waveforms would be possible in theory, but they have fixed lengths as there is no meta information stored in the wave ROM, just pure audio data.

4. How do you actually save a new patch? I don't see a save function anywhere.

All presets are automatically saved with the project so there is no special save functionality needed. If you want, you can export a preset as .syx file though.

[Nils Schneider]

Sorry, I could not resist and did a song using only the K1v
I called it "Song for Nils"

Can't stop listening to it Is it okay for you if I share this video on my website? With credit of course!

[Aloysius]

I managed to make the new version crash in Ableton Live 10, Windows 10. Not sure what I did exactly but will report back if I can repeat. Could be an issue at this end for all I know.

[layzer]

heads up for winXP users, XP does not appear to be supported.

heads up for Windows XP users... it is now the year 2020.

so the F what? some people like a less bloated OS that
runs a slim DAW like EnergyXT2. no bloated sample libraries,
just fast good small VSTi's and effects that let me make
the music i like a joy. (electro pop)