So 2 weeks ago a KN7000 popped up on EBay in Australia (it was in Western Australia which is on the opposite side of the country to where I am in Sydney).

It was the pride and joy of an elderly women and was being sold by her son for her on eBay. It is in absolute pristine condition!

The starting price was $550 AUD.. (about $800 USD?) and no one else placed a bid so I won it for $550!! What an absolute killer bargain !! It cost me $75 to send it over to my door via TNT couriers which took 3 business days! I opened up t he SD slot and there was a 128MB SD card still sitting in there which has all the styles from KN3000 all the way up to the KN6500 and the KN2600...

I Have never owned a KN7000 but did own a KN6000 and a KN6500 which I regret selling many years ago. I must admit I prefer the layout of the KN6000/KN6500 over the KN7000 but I am not complaining as the KN7000 sounds incredible!!

It’s great being nostalgic and I am still surprised how good this keyboard sounds compared to today’s standard. I have noticed a few frustrating limitations which are workaroundable such as: there is no style part mixer for adjusting EQ, reverb, chorus and part effects on the fly (you need to do this is in the style composer and save the edited style as a custom style). I don’t think I will ever sell this keyboard as it really is something special and the price I got it for was a steal!

One thing I have noticed is there is way too much reverb on the global setting out of the box. The drum parts from the styles are drowned in reverb. I have dialled the reverb right down and everything sounds much clearer.

There are still many sounds including the drum kits which hold up against todays top keyboards. Overall it has a very nice live popping sound that I don’t hear from my Yamaha PSR SX900 but with the obvious limitations such as limited space for custom multi pads, custom styles etc. It’s a shame you can’t play more than one multi pad sound simultaneously either...

Im a huge fan of the concert grand piano sound, as well as the electric basses. All the drum kits are awesome. I am not an organ player but the organs are fantastic. The accordions are top notch, some nice FM E Pianos, guitars are a mixed bag. Electric guitars are decent, so are some of the acoustic ones but they definitely are a bit dated. It has some very decent warm synth pads and synth leads. And then you have the brass, sax and woodwind (soloist sounds) which are absolute top class.

Another thing which is probably my all time favourite feature of this board which was also on the KN6 models is the Step Sequencer in the composer section - I absolutely wish this feature was on today’s arrangers... the ability to just punch in notes into a grid makes sequencing so easy and accurate instead of having to play each of the patterns manually and build them up later by layer (which is still also available if you want to do it that way).

I am going to try and download as many resources as I can for now and pick and chose to my liking so if anyone has any custom styles and sounds they are keen to share with me please do so - “itsnickg@hotmail.com”

Happy to be back in the exclusive technics club once again! :-)

Cheers!
Nick

Nick, so it was you who got that one!

I was going to bid against you ( or whoever ) for it but the deal was for the everything and all I wanted was the keyboard, but there then was a hassle with the bank manager this ( wife) lol.

Too many toys to play with, but I miss my Technics KN5000 and always wanted the KN7000 and it looked sooooo good too!

Best of luck bro with that one. I have a few resources if you don't already have them or get them from someone else.

Have fun........


Allan

Welcome back Nick

Welcome back Nick... Check your email !

Thanks Bill and Allan, I got both your emails.

I need to learn how to use this SD card the correct way.

currently it has a folder called "PRIVATE" and then inside that "TECHNICS"...

Is there a guide on how to structure the file system on the SD card? Ideally I would like to have multiple folders for styles / SMFs and Custom sounds if that is possible?

thanks

Hi Nick,
With regard to the SD Card File system, this is a very rigid file structure and it is not possible to just add files to the card using your PC.

The Top folder is designated as PRIVATE, as you have discovered, and then there are a series of sub-folders - TECHNICS > KN7000 > TFLD001 to TFLD099 (The actual 'Song' folders) and two other folders KN7000MN.INF (Which holds the actual Names of all the songs in the TFLD folders) and KN7000MN.BAK (Which is a backup of KN7000MN.INF). There may also be a CUSTOM folder in the KN7000 parent folder where any of your Custom Styles will be stored (XXXXXX.CST.)

There is a very good program which allows easy viewing and a good degree of manipulation of KN7000 files on an SD Card, using a PC. It runs on Windows (up to, and including Win. 10) and is called 'KN7000 SDExplorer'. It is available here : http://members.chello.nl/~f.mellink/SD-Explorer.htm

All Standard SD cards with a capacity up to 2GB can be used on the KN7000 and New SD Cards should be formatted in the KN7000 using the built-in facility > Press SD LOAD > SD Tools > Format. prior to saving files

There is also a very useful book for the KN7000 called 'Getting the Most from your KN7000' which I believe is still available Here : http://www.kn7000.com/product_detail.asp?ProdID=10701&SuppProd=&CatID=1

When the KN7000 was released it came with a CD called 'Applications and Drivers'. The programs were used to enable a direct Digital connection to a Windows PC, using a USB cable. The program - 'Song Manager' was used to transfer files directly but will only work with the versions of Windows which were around at the time - i.e. Windows 98 and Windows XP. There are ways to install and make the Song Manager work on later versions of Windows but they are quite involved. There are reports of procedures in this thread on SynthZone : http://www.synthzone.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/378100/KN7000_USB_PC_Software

I have a small ACER Netbook with Windows XP installed, which sits on the music stand of my KN7000 and is only used for this purpose.

Nick, at least they did a great copy job with the flip up, that they copied from Yamaha.
Back in the day Yamaha brought out a flip top that protected the keys when closed and had all the buttons on the inside of the lid - just like the technics KN7000.

But technics hasd taken the sound and functionality far ahead, then stopped.
Cost?

Also, for those diehard Technics fans that don't believe look at this video.....1984 Yamaha PS6100

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szoUJSh1sbQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4hVYbF5oZA

Allan

You brought back some memories there Allan !! The 6100 was my first keyboard and it was well ahead of its time. The only problem I found with it was the Tempo Control slider - it was difficult to select a precise tempo because of its very short travel.
I modified my 6100 and another 3 belonging to friends, by fitting a 10 turn potentiometer to the Right hand front of the housing and disconnecting the original slider.... Made a great difference to the Tempo setting ability.

Yes, it was a great machine for me too! Just wondering if you remember, did this keyboard have a touch bar along ( just under the keys) the length oif the 'board; and when you touch it it did a function , like " a break" in the rhythum ?? Still not sure if it was this Yamaha or one of my other Yamaha boards.

Still, great memories..........



Allan

Hi Allan,

I certainly don't remember any 'Touch Bar' on the PS6100... I have a vague memory of a keyboard fitted with that type of device - possibly more of a Synthesizer than an Arranger keyboard ?

Hi Nick Check your email

A method of providing a break in the rhythm - on the KN7000 - that would be useful...

Can be done Rog !! Provided you are willing to create a style in the Composer A silent break can be implemented as a 'Fill-In' and can be any length from 1 to 16 measures. You could even have say Fill-In 1 as a single measure silent break and Fill-In 2 as 2 measure silent break.

Rather than actually create a completely new style, you could just copy one of the existing built-in styles to the Composer and then edit the Fill-Ins as required by clearing all the parts in the Fill-In and setting its measure length to whatever 1 measure, 2 measure etc.
I've used this method a few times.....