When are you going to break the news to Synthzone...Be gentle to the Yammys as well as the "New" group..

What news, what news? I'll bet PAX1.
DonM

Yeah, UD...are you going to tell them or should I ???

Gotta be a KN7000.
DonM

Yup - Tim sold me his kn7000 today. Turns out he's only an hour away from us here in Philly ! We met on the Turnplike this afternoon and I handed him a sealed envelope (that he never opened !) and he gave me a kb and acc's.

I was SO relieved to never have to play this 2100 again. i did the happy dance all night long at work. I took it to my Italian Resteraunt after having it about 3 hours. Here's my scoop (and reasons for the switch)

1) I HATE the shrimpy, flimsy keys on the 2100. Just hate 'em.

2) The left hand bass output was never quite strong enough, and had no separate output.

3) The line input was a shared jack that had to be used IN MONO. I like to use a stereo mixer with my harmonizer and laptop pumping through the kb in stereo. No can do on the Yammie.

***** Here's my first night story:

The keys are a delight, although I don't know if the edges will be a problem with certain fingerings. The end keys are boxed in by raised sides that are a little confining in certain fingering situations. No gripe here ... just an observation.

The speakers .....ahhhhhhhhhhh
Almost as sweet as beating Dallas a few weeks ago and then watching them fall again tonight. (Sorry Don!)

The inputs (stereo) are great - there are 2 sets. One follws the volume slider and one is maxed out all the time. Great for my mixer needs.

The drums.....( I still hate 'em ) maybe there is an exp board with better samples. Everything sounds like it's coming through a chorus box. A far cry from the terrific drums I'm used to with Roland, Yamaha, Ketron and Korg.

There are a few things that bug me
(surprise, surprise )

In auto mode - I can't seem to silence the left hand. It always plays the chord tones from the arranger. Can this be shut off permanently? It's not a left hand sound ... it's the arranger playing in stop mode.

When you call up a group (sound or style), the last used entry is selected. No way to search for a better sound or beat without hearing a lot of changes in the process?

Didn't play with the sequencer or SD card. I just fed the signal from my mixer into the stereo line inputs and played live almost all night. I hardly used the arranger.

Only 2 fills, 2 intros and 2 endings.....weak here. Yamaha has the best fill design going. Same button as the variation. I'll miss that.

Donny: Transpose and octave shift work with a single push. Tempo is always ready with a data wheel. All easy to get at too.

I'll do an indepth review after I load up the SD card, and see what the audio amd midi capabilities are. For now - I'm SOoooooo glad that I can get rid of the 2100. It was really messing up my head...and my technique ! I have REAL, solid, full sized keys again !! Whoo Hooo !

Stay tuned folks ........

Good Luck Dave with your new KB.... How do you like the flip up screen access? Sounds etc...

I'm betting 6 weeks tops and you'll be in the market again.
Good luck though.
DonM

seems the betting is on.
Just to be to lenient I'll give you 8 weeks
UD before you are back in the market.
most likely contendor ? the new Korg (non PRO version) with speakers and 61 keys, though I do not know when this version will hit the streets........

UD. please can we have a regular update on your KN7000 findings and thoughts....at least for the six weeks before you sell it...HA!!!!!
I have friends with KN's but I have never come to terms with the voice samples quality compared to Yamaha.Roland.Korg. The styles are very acceptable and the general easy accessibility of the KN layout is good. The 7000 is certainly the best speaker sound system Technics have ever fitted to a portable keyboard.
Your continued comments of your process with the KN7 is very welcome.

Graham UK.

The biggest drawback, other than the drums is the flip up screen. The access is fine, the look is fine, but the placement really makes it difficult to use my laptop stand where I'm used to. I now have to raise it up another few inches, and I'm not thrilled with the look of it up that high. This is a minor point if the SD card can hold enough audio to play my breaks and spec ialty numbers though ........ we'll see????????

As to the bets:
You know I don't get too chummy with anything inanimate, so I'm always in the market, but to date - there is not anything else that I can concider, so it'll have to be something brand new .... and it'l highly unlikely that 6 or 8 weeks will see that mystery Korg model.

I won't ever go back to small keys again.
I won't carry a mute, and I need access to the internal speakers. This limits my choices for the time being, so I think I'm going to be forced to at least TRY to keep this puppy till something new hits the streets. (actually ON the streets .... not on paper)

I'll tweak the drums, load the SD card and report more after I've done that !
So far - on a Kn vs. Psr sound challange, the Yamaha had a definate edge, but I refuse to hamper my abilities with those substandard keys any more. It's just not worth it. The difference in sound is not night and day ..... it's dawn and day.

More like comparing Macintosh to Granny Smith. They're both apples ... just different in their own way.

I DO notice a trend in the Technics loyalty department - Tim said this was his LAST one, and you know me ....... it's doubtful that I'll be riding the band wagon as a kn poster boy. For now - it's a pro unit with a great sound system and a lot of features. I'll see where it takes me.

Hee hee ...... and How 'BOUT them Cowgirls,huh?

In auto mode, if you don't have a style running, you are hearing the 'bass and chord tones'. If you go to the "Program Menu" button, then pick sound, then scroll through all the parts. The last two parts on the list are the bass and chord tones. You can either mute both of them, or you can pick more suitable sounds.

Marilyn

Six weeks tops! That is unless the PSR-3000 shows up before then.

Gary

Dave...heres some usefull KN7000 h
Help..Demos..etc.
http://www.kn7000.net/

The imbedded [sunken] keyboard effected my playing when I played the KN7000 especially on the left hand chording...
eg: play an inverted Am,.. C-E-A..my pinky would hit the imbedded side wall making it very annoying to play certain positions. Argg!

But I did love the multipads!

I really 'tried' hard to fall in love with the KN7000 as it had so many pluses (wonderful acoustic/orchestral sounds (including piano), best on board speaker system, and superior jazz (including rootless) chord recognition in full keyboard mode), but its lack of a half way decent sounding vocalizer, and real wimpy sounding drum fills & awkward triggering of them kept me from coming back to Technics. I predict UD will be trading the KN7000 for a 61 note Korg PAX1, and then eventually go back to Yammie once again (while continuing to bitch about the keys). "Round and round there he goes, where he stops nobody knows".- Scott

Very interesting point donny. What was Technics thinking?? The Tyros of course has no such "problem". No side walls to get in the way. At least through 1/3 (outside section) of the Keys anyway. Let us know Uncle Dave if the side wall thing gets your goat at all. Also playing in a Live setting has been known to be rather tricky on the KN7000 but since your Style of playing is a rather laid back approach, ie., not much Voice switching or other parameter switching when playing a song - left hand Bass, No Style backing a lot of the time, etc., it shouldn't cause much of a problem most likely.

Best regards,
Mike



[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 01-04-2004).]

Maybe they'll change the body design on the new KN8000?

UD,

You mentioned that you hardly used the arranger and your laptop is playing all the sequences .

How do you compare midi sequence playback on any of the keyboards you have played vs. the sound card on the computer?

Doesn't the sound card dictate the playback or does hooking the lap top up to the KN7000 make a difference ?

You could make audio recordings of your sequences and put the on the SD card , is that something to think about ? Dan O'

UD... glad you're happy with your new KB, good for you! I also loved much of what the 7000 offers, but probably the #1 thing that drew me to AKs ~ a year ago, is some of the dynamite drums, fills, etc, especially on the SD1. Let us know how your drum tweaking goes.

Hi Uncle Dave,
maybe editing the drums may help. You can also create a User Drum set. There are 4 Expansion Boards Available.

Actually there's 4 Intro's & Endings (2 Major & 2 Minor).

There's actually 8 fills . 2 for each of the 4 variations.

If you check the style editing features ( composer) you'll see the different parts that make up a style.
Intro 1 Maj
Min
Intro 2 Maj
Min
Vari 1 Vari2 Vari3 Vari4
Fill 1 Fill 1 Fill 1 Fill 1
Fill 2 Fill 2 Fill 2 Fill 2

Ending1 Maj
Min
Ending2 Maj
Min

I'm not sure what Tim had as far as accessories go, but if you're planning to use Audio ( mp3's) on the Sd card you'll require the Panasonic P.C. SD Audio Writing Kit consisting of SD Card Reader/Writer & Juke Box Software. The card reader really speeds up doing back ups of your files on sd card to computer. It's also worth shopping around for sd cards, the prices can vary greatly.

best wishes
Rikki


[QUOTE]Originally posted by Uncle Dave:
The
The drums.....( I still hate 'em ) maybe there is an exp board with better samples. (surprise, surprise )


Only 2 fills, 2 intros and 2 endings.....weak here. Yamaha has the best fill design going. Same button as the variation. I'll miss that.

Hi Uncle Dave

I just kind of scanned this, but don't think I saw any mention of the styles availabe from the previous KN2000, 3000, 5000, 6000 etc.

They are available at http://www.technicskn7000.com/home.asp

Just wanted to make sure you are aware of that.

Best
Scott


[This message has been edited by Scott Langholff (edited 01-04-2004).]

Hi Scott/Uncle Dave
they're under Stylist Reprise part of the site.

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Scott Langholff:
[B]Hi Uncle Dave

I just kind of scanned this, but don't think I saw any mention of the styles availabe from the previous KN2000, 3000, 5000, 6000 etc.

They are available at http://www.technicskn7000.com/home.asp

Just wanted to make sure you are aware of that.

Best
Scott

Hi DNJ,
the multi pads feature on the kn7 is great. Especially pads5 & 6 which allow you do a solo using a chord progression.

The pads are simple to create , too. Pads 1 to 4 have 2 tracks ie bass & drums or bass & chords etc etc while Pads 5 & 6 have one track plus a chord track.

I've managed to create a few using snippets from midifiles or from internal style parts using the seq to pad function. One's only limited by their own imagination.

best wishes
Rikki

Rikki, if you keep this up everybody will buy a KN and UD will keep his.

Good luck Dave. I tried a 7000 at my local dealer and walked away - nothing there I saw worth all that moola. I'm still interested in seeing a Hammond. It looks a little different and maybe would fit my style and needs - anybody got a line on one near Detroit?

My number one objective was to get a keyboard with real keys and real speakers. This will do the job bothy areas for now, but don't hold your breath about anything with a "psr" prefix ...... that ship has sailed already !

I'll respond to all your kind suggestions in a day or two ..... I haven't had any time with the kn yet. Just one night at work with it. I did get the SD card reader and jukebox ..... hope that's what I need to dump audio onto a card.

More to come .........

[QUOTE]Originally posted by rikkisbears:

maybe editing the drums may help. You can also create a User Drum set. There are 4 Expansion Boards Available.

Hi Uncle dave, Rikki has some great ideas about the KN7. I use the User drum edit, the sound edit,and the Sound Arranger to build on the drums and basses.
The sound arranger allows you to change drums kits and basses giving you a stronger sound. The user drum kit, which I use with the sound arranger, makes the drums come right up front.

Using the style as is, then adding the sound arranger during the song gives it a lift.

Now, my favorite, THE PADS. You have three user sections with six buttons.

Normally 1 thru 4 are for some type of effets. 5 and 6 are used for major and minor solos.

This is good Dave, I put some type of drum sound, a heavy bass drum, a stronger on two snare, cymbal rides, a driving piano or guitar strumming on all four beats-adsditional drive. And----#5 has a 12 bars blues progression--#6 has a IIm7 V7 progression. All on one user section.

In the middle of a song, I press #5 and I have both hands free to work the progression. In a latin, I press #6 and ride on a IIm7 V7 latin solo. Again, both hands free to play solo.

With this method a single style can be changed in so many ways--taking away the boring repeated phrase.

There are times when I shut off the accomp. and use drums and the pads--and both hands in split mode. This sounds great in the middle of a latin song--then back to the accomp. Not boring!!!

Hope this helps Dave. There are so many other areas in the keyboard to find what you are looking for.

Enjoy, John C.

Haa Haa Good one Frank,
suppose time will tell. hopefully Uncle Dave can work a way around his aversion to the kn drum sounds..

Meanwhile I'm sure the Techies are more than happy to help with questions & hints about the board. ( We'll probably get shot down in flames too, just like the psr guys ( haahaa)

best wishes
Rikki

Hi Uncle Dave,
sounds like it.

best wishes
Rikki


[QUOTE]Originally posted by Uncle Dave:
I did get the SD card reader and jukebox ..... hope that's what I need to dump audio onto a card.

Yes the multipads on Technics KB's were a favorite of mine and very usefull at many of my gigs.. ever since my Kn5000 years ago...whatever they did after that to the OS has turned me off...so I went else where in search of happiness.....& I'm still looking...so far the Yammys have been doing it well as long as I settle & compromise with certain workarounds on each unit...
I hope the future brings me much more joy on stage....we'll see?

take care



------------------
www.donnypesce.com

Hi Donny,
strange, I had a gap of about 4 years between selling my kn5 and buying the kn7. Took to it again like a duck to water. The sounds had improved, ended up with extra instrument tracks , 8 fills instead of 2, 4 Intro's & Endings instead of 2, the ability to create multipads either from scratch or from a midifile ( can't remember if the kn5 had that capability). Also now being able to mix n match style parts to create new styles (I'm not refferring to Easy Composer, as the kn5 had that facility too).
On the whole I still found most of the functions worked the same. Even the new ones weren't all that difficult to learn.
The main thing which did cause a couple of headaches in the beginning was the sd card. Once we understood how it worked, it was a breeze. I doubt if any of the kn7 owners would go back to using floppy disks, having to wait 30 seconds or so, for the darn thing to load a style or sequence. That loading time must have been a bit of a nightmare for performers.

Anyway, enough prattling, don't get that many opportunities to rave about the kn7, (except on the Technics forum), and it's no use preaching to the converted ( haahaa)

best wishes
Rikki

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dnj:
[B] Yes the multipads on Technics KB's were a favorite of mine and very usefull at many of my gigs.. ever since my Kn5000 years ago...whatever they did after that to the OS has turned me off...