I am not sure I believe what I am reading. The new Kurzweil K2600 includes an "interactive sequencer / arranger". Elsewhere, it says the K2600 includes arranger functions and a pattern sequencer. If so, the implications are V.A.S.T. (Would the the K2600R be the first rackmount arranger?)
Clif

Clif, The first rack mounted arranger was Solton TS4, Many are still in use today, .It was released 12 years ago...Fran

Hi Clif, the K2500 keyboard has one of the best internal sequencers Ive seen. It beats the hell out of alot of other workstations sequencers produced by other manufacturures in my opinion. It has a 32 track sequencer, 16 regular tracks and 16 arranger or multitrack. Its editing power is unsurpassed. It also has an internal mixer, miscellanious pages for quantizing, editing page and other possible upgrades such as a powerful multieffects processor(KDFX upgrade)program editing page, program ram upgrades etc,. To find out more, visit the Kurzweil Zone, Mike Martins K2500 Zone, and SoniK. Hope this helps!

Probably the K2600 is not an arranger as I use the term. To me, an arranger is something that responds to chordal input with harmonically appropriate patterns. I am sure that the K2500 does not do this. The K2600 has added some of what Young Chang calls "arranger functions". I do not really understand what these are. Oh, well, there are a lot of things I do not understand.

Hello Chris and Cliff,
In that case have a look at WK 8 megastation
of the for some people inferior brand GEM
Fred


[This message has been edited by freddynl (edited 12-01-1999).]

Does Kurzweil make really good boards?

I just bought a Kurzweil 2500 off of Ebay. I returned it after two days!!! Out of the box, the Piano samples sound like crap. The Orchestral patches were lean and fake sounding. I understand you can get rom blocks to upgrade the board, but at $450 for the Orchestral and another $300 for the Stereo Piano's, that's a lot of money for sounds which should be included in the base unit. The unit which I had also had very non-reactive buttons for selecting patches and O/S parameters. To me, it was unusable during live performance. I hope all of this was attributed to the unit I purchased and not all Kurz's?

Al

Al,
I have not been that impressed by Kurzweil either especially for the price. I looked at those and I bought the Motif instead.
Terry



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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

I've not been impressed with the Kurzweil 2xxx's either. If you are looking for quality sounds, esp. piano then their PC2x with it's triple-strike piano is one of the best digital piano sounds on the market IMHO. Also some of the best strings/brass I've ever heard on any board. I use one in the studio a lot and on stage when I feel like toting something that heavy (not often). Reportedly, the new KM3-61 features the same sounds from the PC2 so that could be a killer little 61-note board and it's going for like $699 - but I haven't actually played one yet so that would be the clinch.

inferior???

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Paul Davis
Generalmusic
Generalmusic.US

Oh, I didn't know you bought a Motif? How do you like it? 61, 76, or 88 keys? What do you think of the Piano patches? I understand the ES will have a 3 layer stereo Piano patch which really interests me.

And the biggest question I have is; do you find the Motif redundant to the Tyros?

Regards,
Al

Times change. There was a time when the Kurzweil piano was considered by many to be the best. But then, 4MB was alot. As good as the Kurzweil programmers were (are?), it is hard to compete with the 16MB, 64MB, 90MB, and gigabyte pianos out there with only 4MB dedicated to the piano sound. With the Yamaha Motif ES at 175MB ROM (effective), Kurzweil lags, what at 32MB. I just don't think Kurzweil has been aggressive at upgrading technology.

Al,

I think Terry parted ways with his Motif quite a while ago. I have the Motif and the PSR2000. I know the Tyros is a step up from the 2000, but I've played the Tyros a good bit too, and they aren't all that far apart in sounds. I have the 61 key Motif, plus the AN150 analog modeling plug in board and the VL150 acoustic modeling board. The 2k and Motif have some sounds that are similar, but they are worlds apart in many areas. For laying down individual tracks, especially bass and drums, the Motif shines. It sounds like I'm playing on a real drumset or bass guitar when I use it. The 2000 doesn't come close, and though the PA80 maybe comes closer, I prefer the Motif's drums and bass in most any mix. Then of course there is all the synth edit power even without the plug ins.

I pretty much agree that it would be nice to go to a different manufacturer to get a new sound set, but really, the two boards have very different sounds. Not redundant at all. You won't find those outstanding sweet saxes or trumpets on the Motif ( it does have the sweet flute though ), but the VL board makes up for it for me. The guitar sounds rock, the organs are good, and the Rhodes, Wurli, and Clavinet emulations are among the best I've ever heard. The ac piano is good, but I'd guess that the new motif's will be even better. Synths ? with the AN board, I can emulate many of the popular analogs fairly closely, plus make a whole new set of unique sounds to boot. My only grief with the board is that it could use more polyphony ( which is promised on the ES ), but as far as sounds go, the Motif is the best "all in one" for my money, though the TS2 is no slouch either. Also, the OS is very deep and can be confusing, as the manual really doesn't detail some of the functions, but I've learned it well thanks to all the support on the Motifator site.

The only thing standing in the way for me to run right to the new Motif is that new Roland VK760. I can easily see that in the studio.. what with the marvelous organ and piano sounds it has, but something here would have to go... almost certainly the PSR2000 ( there goes my backup arranger..lol )

I'm not overly impressed with the latest Kurzweil stuff either, though in the past I played a loaded k2600 at a studio that probably cost several thousand or more to put together when all of the plug ins and accessories are figured in. It sounded good, but it certainly wasn't something I would want to spend all that money on.

AJ



[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 07-08-2003).]

Yes, Paul.
You were not here in 1999.
A lot of the then active BBS posters often commented the Gem products as inferior!
I won't call names but a lot of them are still here!

By the way if you have read well, you will have noticed that I disagreed with that, and still do

About the Kurzweil;
I own one and it will take me another 10 years to understand everything of this board.

People claiming , wahhh sounds are weak after two days have no clue, and should not buy a K anyway.
They are better off with a roland XV series or another sample module with ready to go sounds.
To understand even the basic capabilities of a Kurzweil you need a lot more as 2 days.

It's like I hear someone saying , damn that guitar is not good, I still can't play it after two days practice.

And this post was 4 years old!
Thing's change a lot like cliff said.

Take care you all., I am off for holliday after thursday...(4 weeks )

Fred