Registered: 12/08/98
Posts: 819
Loc: Long Island, NY.
Hmm. You chose a difficult one here. The Alesis has 64 note polyphony, 100 General midi, expansion card. The sound is Okay. Kurzes PC-88 has 64 Genrl midi and room for 100 customized setups. Polyphony technically is 32 notes with layering. Single layer piano is 64 voice. The piano in the PC-88 sounds better to me than the QS-8. I would suggest to look at both websites that can be found in this forum. Also go to your music store to try both of these monsters. My opinion is an opinion, but its yours thats going to count regarding your purchase. To me both are great instruments.
make sure you can get a Kurzweil "loaner" when it goes into the shop and get it in writing. They seem to have some production problems. You will have to judge the samples for yourself. Everyone has a different ear.
Registered: 09/27/98
Posts: 310
Loc: Atlanta, GA USA
While I love my K25 and wouldn't trade it for anything, unless they have changed the PC88 it's a bad choice. Although I do not have any personal experience with a PC88, I have heard nothing but horror stories in their regards. Just a warning.
Up front, I must say that I am currently a Korg dealer, and a previous Kurzweil dealer.
The stories and suggestions about the problems with the PC-88 are true. Kurzweil (Young Chang) has had major problems with the PC-88 for a number of years (it's by no means a recent model). The major problem with the unit seems to be a lack of torsional rigidity. That is, the case twists too much. Most of the problems people have with the PC-88 come from moving it around. The stress on the long circuit boards from movin the unit cause connectors to become intermittent, and this causes software problems (random crashing).
As to the QS 8.1, I've not been overly impressed with the percussion sounds. Maybe its because I've owned Korg boards for years.
Thanks Steve. I have a friend that is a major Kurzweil dealer but everytime you walk in the store they are all broken. He doesn't deny the problem but at least now I have an idea of why they seem to break every 4 months.
Registered: 12/08/98
Posts: 819
Loc: Long Island, NY.
How about the Kurzweil Micropiano module? Ive never really heard it in action. Ive also looked at the Triton, the piano sound has a pretty good sound, but in my opinion is way too bright and tinny. I purchased the 4meg piano ROM block for my K2000, I think its the best sounding piano so far. From what Ive heard through the grapevine, the quality control issues in regards to the PC-88 have recently been resolved. I hear that the entire piano action was reworked over the past 2 years. Of course this was info was from Kurzweil so you never know.
[This message has been edited by Chris Attison (edited 09-07-1999).]
Before you do anything the Yamaha S80 weighted keyboard synth will be out in October with expandable synth options which increase polyphony above the original 64 notes. I have never heard one so I can't tell you about the sounds. the price is around $1500.
Registered: 09/16/98
Posts: 23
Loc: Cape Elizabeth, ME, USA
Update, everyone. The action on the PC88 has been replaced. What was happening at Kurzweil was that they were cranking production speeds without sufficient quality control. This led to some poor products. But about a year ago, they got it into their heads to fix things up. So they did. I just bought a PC88 and it ABSOLUTELY RULES! I wouldn't buy the Yamaha S80 because new products could have any number of things wrong with them. I strongly considered it as well, but decided against it. THe QS8 sounds to me like the sounds are lower quality than the Kurzweil. The action is also too light. And it looks cheap. And the buttons suck. The N1 has many features, but I personally hate the action. And it goes without saying that the PC88 looks the coolest by far. Whatever you choose (PC88) I hope that it serves you well for many years of intense jamming.
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