Help!

I am about to buy Fran's DigiTech Vocalist Workstation, but first I need to know if my KN6500 will accept it, as there is already a "Harmoniser" on board. (Albeit a most inferior one!) There seems to be no reference in the owner's manual, or on screen, to connecting this device. Would I be able to use it? I do know that on the KN5000 it is connected via the MIDI interface, but that's the extent of it. Also, is its voltage compatible with South Africa's 220V AC current?

Neil Bennett

Gee, thanks everybody for your response! In the meantime I found the Vocalist Workstation in Page 4 of Favorites. So I guess this time I answered my own question. Perhaps I need to explore my keyboard more thoroughly before clogging the forum with stupid queries!

Neil Bennett

It will work just fine, and sound 100% better than that pitiful atempt that came with the unit. Just use a single midi cable, and match up the channel!

Now now Dave, don’t get yourself all worked up again. Life is short and ulcers are no fun. Just plug yours in the same hole you told Neil to do and everything will work just fine. Learn how to use the rest of the fingers on your left hand and you'll be cooking in no time.

Grandpa Doug

Cooking, I can do!
Those tricky, three fingered chords are a bugger tho !
C'mon, be fair ..... the on board harmonizer in the kn series is very poor. They should have left it out and cut the price.
(no stress here ...... my harmonizer works great ! )

Dave, if you think three fingered chords are tricky you haven’t met my Ruthie yet. She’s taking my resourcefulness to the limit. That darn list of things she wants me to do keeps growing week by week, month by month and year by year. So far I have been able to ward off that bugger of a list. The other day old tricky Ruthie almost had me trapped. Just about cornered and with her long flowing list in hand I started sweating and thought I might be a goner. Digging deep into my bag of ideas I managed to slip out once again. Staring at that multi page list I decided to agree with her. Honey, I said, your right. It’s about time I started to whittle away on it and try to get it down to size. You deserve a lot more consideration than I have been giving you. Lets start on it right now. First time I’ve seen her speechless for any length of time for quite awhile. With a touch of wetness shining in her lovely big eyes she kind of draped her arms around my neck and gave me a big one right on my lips. After I got my composure back and with a small twinge of conscience I suggested she might first go over that list and order them in importance. That way might be a tad more logical than just doing any one at random. Good idea, she coddled. With pen and legal pad in hand, off to the desk she scooted. At lunch the next day she started to complain about the arthritis in her right hand. I wonder, she said, if we could use the computer to get my list in some kind of order. I keep changing my mind what I want done done first and the like. Maybe you could help me with some of the typing and I think with the word processor we could move things around better than all this pencil work. Great idea, babe! The word processor crashed the other day and as soon as I get it up and running again, we’ll start. OK? Well, I guess. That-a-girl! Put that old pencil away and relax. Now I ask you, is that is, or is that aint good for at least a few more months and maybe even till the golf season is over? Did it again.

Now, Dave, I would consider that a feat if I could just figger out why the guys who don’t own or play a KN keyboard always take such pleasure and are so devoted to finding something they can fault with the thing. The multitude of KN owners on and off this forum hardly ever are concerned about these things. They are mostly awed at the great versatility, ease of use and the wonderful rhythms and sound samples, not to mention the reliability of the board. You might say the standard that the others strive for. For Pete’s sake Dave, as much as this vocalizer thing has been beat to death over the years, don’t you think we all know about it? If you guys think the other boards are better than the KN’s and would never buy or play one, why all the concern over the price of them. Why should that even bother you? Heavens to Betsy, most all of us here on the technics forum, I think, would prefer to have a keyboard dedicated to making great music than to cut corners on quality of sound for a few crooners to make a few bucks with their V cords and a vocalizer. All the real good singers, Frankie, Bing, Ela and a host of others throughout the years probably never even knew how to spell vocalizer. But some, I suppose need all the help they can get. I would be willing to lay money on the fact that if technics made the best vocalizer on the market, there would be those that would complain of price, two finger chord system, weight, color, size, mike input and on and on and on. Maybe Bebop could set aside one day a month for a reminder thread. A thread devoted to things we should not forget. Such as, crappie vocalizer, too pricey, KN is obese (too heavy), wrong color, mine is better than yours or what not. Sort of a ‘get it off your chest’ thing. You know, a thread for everybody. You might call it a Vent Thread. Now you guys and gals got to admit, these are some great ideas, don’t you think?

Got Ruthie figgered but not quite sure about some others. Grandpa Doug

Grandpa Doug...
I REALLY don't want to start another verbal 'war of words', and I don't like to get in the middle of 'family' squabbles, especially between a Grandpa and an Uncle, but I HAVE TO agree with Uncle Dave on this... When I purchased my kn6, sight unseen and sound unheard (because there wasn't a dealer around who had one!!!), I went on the faith I had built up by owning a kn1000, and reading comments of owners of the kn2, kn3, kn5, extolling the wonders of the technics boards over the years... technics advertized the 'vocal harmonizer' as much as they advertized their great sounds and styles ... at least I feel they were right about the sounds and styles ..... Being one of those "crooners", I looked forward to having a board with a built in harmonizer ... and no, Frankie et al never did need a vocalizer, but they didn't need an arranger keyboard either, they had a live band behind them, and great back-up singers.... When I had my own combo with REAL players and three/four part harmonies being sung by REAL PEOPLE, I didn't need an arranger kb or a vocalizer,..... but unfortunately, MOST things change in time ... AND if a company is going to advertize a feature in order to gain greater sales, even at a higher price, the feature SHOULD WORK!!! ...
I LOVE my kn6, and the musical pleasure it gives me and the people I perform for, but I still resent technics for falsely advertizing an 'on-board' harmonizer that is USELESS ...
And as for complaints about cost, size, etc, etc, a visit to ANY forum for ANY kb will show that VERY few owners are totally satisfied with their board, regardless of the brand... I think complete satisfaction will ONLY come when we get to pick our own board in 'that great music studio in the sky' ...
Keep making beautiful music, and
keep on keepin' on ...
t.

Tony, there is no war between Uncle Dave and me. We both agree the vocalizer is not as good as it could be. Nowhere near the standard it could be. Him and I agree on many things and enjoy each others ideas. My only point is that this vocalizer thing has been beaten to death over and over and over again for quite some time. Come on! Enough is enough. I don’t see how you after reading the comments about the thing could have been misled. Nothing good was ever said about it on any forum as far as I can remember. I don’t sing but have messed with it and agree with Dave and the others, by comparison it is a toy. However when I plug my mike into my KN and talk or make jokes in my performance my voice comes out loud and clear over my speaker system. On a rare occasion I utilize someone that can sing and it seems to project the voice quite well to their and the audiences satisfaction. Have never used the vocalizer in public or intend to. With that said, Dave on occasion uses some satire in his comments. Once in a while I have detected a bit of humor also. There have been times that some will nail him to the wall for things he says. Justified or not, I also can sympathize with Dave for I too have had that problem. I believe with out a doubt old Unc most always has the best intentions when he says things. Once in a while I think everybody gets carried away a little with something that bugs them. The never ending reminding me of things Ruthie would like me to do bugs me, just as does this never ending thing about the vocalizer. Dave however has a thing about the vocalizer but for a different reason I suppose. I use satire and a bit of comparison humor to make my point. Dave handles it in a different way. I like to pull Dave's leg or jerk his string once in a while as he does mine on occasion. For goodness sake, I don’t think Dave is mad at me because of that, and I certainly am not mad at him. I would deem it a good thing however, to put this vocalizer thing to bed. What technics or anybody does is what we get. If we like it we buy it. If we don’t we won’t. If we don’t try it before we buy it and don’t like it, it’s like we used to say in the Navy, TS. By the way, Tony, my vocalizer does work. It works the way they designed it. Crappie, and not to my liking, but it does work every time I turn it on which was twice since I bought the thing. I bought a new car a few years back that had a gosh awful radio in it. After using it a few times I went to a third party shop and bought one that did everything I wanted it to do. Do you think that because they advertised on their poop sheets that their product came with a radio, that it should satisfy my every desire? On every brochure they printed, all the features of the car was advertised as well as the radio. So what? They advertised with these to sell cars and for this reason everything about it should be to everybody's satisfaction? Wake up and smell the roses. This is what is called the good old American way. With out a doubt if our Uncle Dave lived close to me, he and I would hit it off pretty darn good. At least I think so but I can’t speak for Unc. I think old Grandpa is pretty well set in his ways and thinks like he thinks. Ruthie, for years has been trying to change that. All I can say is good luck Ruthie and anybody else. Now how’s that for a challenge?

Grandpa is Grandpa is Grandpa and his name is Doug.