Is the "Kurzweil Piano" a thing?

[pamier242]

In some group musician video calls, I've heard a couple of people talk about the Kurzweil piano as being iconic in recordings of the 80's and 90's eras. I had a K2000 for a while and do not remember any piano sounds standing out.

Is this a thing? or is this person misinformed or thinking of some other sound?

I think I've heard the E-Max II Grand Piano on a bunch of stuff and the M1 Piano is difficult to miss, but I have no idea what this Kurzweil piano is.

[rasmusklump]

I had the Kurzweil Micropiano in the early 2000s....had a nice piano sound.
Or more late 90s...

[Mr Arkadin]

I still have my PC88 as my master keyboard and two MicroPianos (same sounds really), and remember seeing a fair few live players using the PC88, but I don't really remember it being 'a thing', it was just one of the better pianos around at the time.

[tapper mike]

The iconic clone is what they should have said....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tosd_3yCGWc&t=866s

If you are familiar with 60's 70's and 80's those tones and the names of the songs will ring true.

[EvilDragon]

I think I've heard the E-Max II Grand Piano on a bunch of stuff and the M1 Piano is difficult to miss, but I have no idea what this Kurzweil piano is.

Oh I'm sure you've heard it plenty of times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvyCbevQbtI

IIRC this is the piano from K2000.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGt2odIUIKs

K2500 or K2600.


And then obviously Dream Theater when Jordan Rudess joined was K2600 all over the place for about 10 years, etc.

[pamier242]

Oh I'm sure you've heard it plenty of times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvyCbevQbtI

Ah! Yeah, I guess I've heard that a few times Thanks!

[briefcasemanx]

Yeah it's a thing and it's not that special nowadays. It's not as distinctive as like the m1 piano, it just sounds like a not that great piano.

[aMUSEd]

No it's the KurtWeill Piano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3barCgWQpxA

[cryophonik]

Yes, it's totally a thing and, as already stated, it was all over hits in the 90s. Kurzweil's pianos are one of the main reasons my primary weighted-key controller was a PC3X for many years.

[thecontrolcentre]

One of my ex-bands used a K2000 from '96 'til about 2004. It had a decent sampler on it and "that" piano sound ... it's on almost everything we ever released.

[dlandis]

Yeah, it was definitely a thing, pretty much up until Gigastudio hit with its Gigapiano. One has to adjust one's perception for the time period and, no, not everyone was totally sold on it. There was a change somewhere in the mix, however: originally, I believe the basis for the original Kurzweil piano was a Steinway. After Young Chang bought Kurzweil, the basis for the Micropiano was then a Young Chang piano. But the Kurzweil piano had its roots in the Steinway that was the basis before the purchase by Young Chang and, if you were into it, that was the sound you had to have. It tended to be darker than most of the sampled pianos of its day, and I think that was what sold it. If memory serves, Joe Ieraldi (of Synthogy) had a lot to do with the engineering of the samples.

Remember as well, that with the Micropiano, one could MIDI two in a chain and get a 64 voice instrument. THAT was cool (at the time.)

[Jafo]

Craving that sound is kind like craving "vintage" plugins from 2003...