Be aware that it weighs 72 lbs. and is very large and awkward to move around.
If you'd like to see what they're about, don't mind the defects,
and don't have something else that you'd rather put the money towards,
it might be worth taking a look at it.
You can also tell something about it by taking a look at the manuals.
The main one is the 'musicians guide' here: http://kurzweil.com/product/k2600x/downloads/
The 'reference guide' on that same page is also quite good.
They do an excellent job with their manuals.
vst equivalent to k2000
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- KVRist
- 208 posts since 26 Apr, 2018 from USA
thanksfelis wrote:Be aware that it weighs 72 lbs. and is very large and awkward to move around.
If you'd like to see what they're about, don't mind the defects,
and don't have something else that you'd rather put the money towards,
it might be worth taking a look at it.
You can also tell something about it by taking a look at the manuals.
The main one is the 'musicians guide' here: http://kurzweil.com/product/k2600x/downloads/
The 'reference guide' on that same page is also quite good.
They do an excellent job with their manuals.
This is Samuel S. I make music for fun even if it isn't music.
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- KVRist
- 180 posts since 30 Jun, 2012
Going by the included sounds, thought the k2000r was decent, quite a few sounded general midi like, onboard fx were pretty weak and limited to how many you could use at once. After diving under the hood though I was blown away by how deep the routing, some of the algorithms and modulation system was, loads of menu diving, but the level of control is still pretty amazing for me.
Glad someone mentioned the inverse envelopes, few people I knew with k2000's didn't really go in-depth with them, just skated on the surface, I'm guilty of this myself, especially with my daw, sometimes you just want to create sounds and not edit things for hours or days. Happy though that I spent time experimenting with my kurz, as most synths that I've had after are like being on a beach with a beautiful sea breeze, instead of clinging to the side of a mountain in a storm.
I'd love to see a plugin version that organised things better, as I've struggled to get my bass especially as gnarly as I could with the kurz, there are better synths in terms of sound, capabilities and workflow today, but still got and love the old beast, just not something I relish the thought of programming, gives me the fear still.
Glad someone mentioned the inverse envelopes, few people I knew with k2000's didn't really go in-depth with them, just skated on the surface, I'm guilty of this myself, especially with my daw, sometimes you just want to create sounds and not edit things for hours or days. Happy though that I spent time experimenting with my kurz, as most synths that I've had after are like being on a beach with a beautiful sea breeze, instead of clinging to the side of a mountain in a storm.
I'd love to see a plugin version that organised things better, as I've struggled to get my bass especially as gnarly as I could with the kurz, there are better synths in terms of sound, capabilities and workflow today, but still got and love the old beast, just not something I relish the thought of programming, gives me the fear still.
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- KVRAF
- 23101 posts since 7 Jan, 2009 from Croatia
There's no plugin that sounds like a Kurzweil, and I mean that in a good way. It's not a matter of surpassing it feature by feature. Kurzweils really have a very special sound to them that nothing else out there can easily emulate - very easy to fit in a mix, either studio or live, almost no effort required. Only those that own and really use one will understand.
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- KVRist
- 33 posts since 6 Sep, 2011
I've been searching for a way to replace my PC3x sounds with software and buy a better piano keyboard like Kawai VPC1. So far, it was not successful.
I got some interesting results applying DSM V2 to other synths and capturing various PC3x sounds as source. TBH, I am not completely sure what that plugin does and whether there's any logic to that, but it still the closest to the "real thing" I've ever got. Not quite the same though.
I wish Kurzweil just released their synths as VST. There's no point sticking to the hardware paradigms of the past, especially for a futurist-founded company
I got some interesting results applying DSM V2 to other synths and capturing various PC3x sounds as source. TBH, I am not completely sure what that plugin does and whether there's any logic to that, but it still the closest to the "real thing" I've ever got. Not quite the same though.
I wish Kurzweil just released their synths as VST. There's no point sticking to the hardware paradigms of the past, especially for a futurist-founded company
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- KVRAF
- 10359 posts since 3 Feb, 2003 from Finland, Espoo
Amen to absolutely everything you just said. Though I only have that damn noisy K2000R it still is sitting in the mix very nicely. I just recently turned it on and went through some of my own sounds I've made over the years. It's remarkable how capable this thing is, especially as a "starting source" for creative sound design.. where it is first in the chain as sample fodder and then further refining these sounds in for instance Falcon or Kontakt with plenty of effects to polish things. There's just something inherently pleasant with the sound of the K series. Slightly scooped and sparkly but in a very nice way, without making the sounds weak.EvilDragon wrote:There's no plugin that sounds like a Kurzweil, and I mean that in a good way. It's not a matter of surpassing it feature by feature. Kurzweils really have a very special sound to them that nothing else out there can easily emulate - very easy to fit in a mix, either studio or live, almost no effort required. Only those that own and really use one will understand.
Hard to explain.. kind of the opposite to how Yamaha or Roland stuff sounds (Korg being slightly in between with their take on the "scooped" sound output).
"Wisdom is wisdom, regardless of the idiot who said it." -an idiot
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- KVRAF
- 10359 posts since 3 Feb, 2003 from Finland, Espoo
Indeed. The K2000 FX are what I'd call "weird and whacky", mostly in a bad sense.. though some sound quite unique and suit the sounds.nordickvr wrote:Just an info you’d like to know about.
K2600 FXs are in another league compared to the K2000 ones.
But yeah, KDFX system for the later K series are actually amazingly good! Like seriously high-end hardware good, in my opinion.
"Wisdom is wisdom, regardless of the idiot who said it." -an idiot
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- KVRAF
- 1683 posts since 29 Sep, 2013
I personally almost never used any of the ROMs that came up with the K2600R.
I'v used my own samples and some coming from the Roland S750 (Reads: ISO-9660, Roland 700 series, Akai S900, S950, S1000, S1100, and S3000, Ensoniq EPS/ASR file formats).
Used it a lot as a synth, taking advantage of his VAST architecture (DSP building blocks).
This, mixed with the high end built in FXs, gave me pretty great results.
Editing had nothing to do with the convenience/versatility of todays softwares, but still, It seriously sounds amazing to my hear.
I'v used my own samples and some coming from the Roland S750 (Reads: ISO-9660, Roland 700 series, Akai S900, S950, S1000, S1100, and S3000, Ensoniq EPS/ASR file formats).
Used it a lot as a synth, taking advantage of his VAST architecture (DSP building blocks).
This, mixed with the high end built in FXs, gave me pretty great results.
Editing had nothing to do with the convenience/versatility of todays softwares, but still, It seriously sounds amazing to my hear.
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- KVRAF
- 2300 posts since 11 Jan, 2009 from Portland, OR, USA
why do I get the feeling that if we asked every person who positively describes something as "it fits in the mix better than other instruments" to actually explain what that *literally* means, we'd get a unique answer per person....
it's an inherently meaningless statement & descriptor, without context. what mix? whose mix? what KIND of mix? and what kind of sounds? Are we to believe it "fits" into ANY mix? any genre? Is this a property of its frequency spectrum? so then.... for every single patch it creates? or its amplitude dynamics? is it doing 'something' (what?) to every patch you make inside it to shape the freq spectrum and amplitude such that it will thereby magically 'fit into' any mix anywhere on the planet?
you never hear any descriptors answering these questions; it's just this totally vague, totally context-free "it fits well in the mix!" wheeeee.
I should maybe mention as well that I owned a K2000vx for over a decade. It was my first synth. It was my introduction to making electronic music. I used it by itself, and also in the context of mixing with other instruments, and in bands, etc. I loved the thing. I knew the factory banks and the internal sequencer inside out. Can't say the same about VAST, which was cool, but was a bit deep for me at the time -- but I dabbled plenty. It's a fantastic instrument. None of that changes my points above, and needless to say, I have no sense, then or now, that it 'fit' better than anything else, synth or otherwise, into a mix
it's an inherently meaningless statement & descriptor, without context. what mix? whose mix? what KIND of mix? and what kind of sounds? Are we to believe it "fits" into ANY mix? any genre? Is this a property of its frequency spectrum? so then.... for every single patch it creates? or its amplitude dynamics? is it doing 'something' (what?) to every patch you make inside it to shape the freq spectrum and amplitude such that it will thereby magically 'fit into' any mix anywhere on the planet?
you never hear any descriptors answering these questions; it's just this totally vague, totally context-free "it fits well in the mix!" wheeeee.
I should maybe mention as well that I owned a K2000vx for over a decade. It was my first synth. It was my introduction to making electronic music. I used it by itself, and also in the context of mixing with other instruments, and in bands, etc. I loved the thing. I knew the factory banks and the internal sequencer inside out. Can't say the same about VAST, which was cool, but was a bit deep for me at the time -- but I dabbled plenty. It's a fantastic instrument. None of that changes my points above, and needless to say, I have no sense, then or now, that it 'fit' better than anything else, synth or otherwise, into a mix
Last edited by mholloway on Sat Dec 24, 2022 8:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRAF
- 7789 posts since 28 Apr, 2013
Yep, I often find it gets lost in the mix. Which makes guitarists love it and drummers ask, "we have a keyboardist"? Some keyboardists just prefer being the obscure member of the band.
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- KVRAF
- 2946 posts since 31 Jan, 2003 from Ghent, Belgium
It's AI, invented in the 80s. James Cameron made a few movies about it.
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- KVRAF
- 21196 posts since 8 Oct, 2014
I remember when I was finally able to afford a Kurzweil rack. Absolutely loved the choir. Nothing sounded like it.
Oh those were the days.
Oh those were the days.
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- KVRian
- 1286 posts since 25 Jul, 2009
Can you direct me to your softsynths that have note off, note state, key state, inverse attack velocity, bipolar polyphonic pressure, and release velocity as mod sources please?
Thanks.
