Greetings all, and that includes you too Grandpa Doug Well sir, I had the chance to talk to a Key technical representative from Technics on Saturday and I took that opportunity. The establishment that has the KN7000 that I was considering had their Grand Opening this weekend and Chris Hanlon and his assistant from Technics were there to help kick off the celebration. Chris was very gracious to take time from his busy schedule and talk to me about my concerns with the KN7000. Golly, I must have spoken to him for a good 45 minutes. I told him my story about how I was thinking about purchasing the KN7000, in fact, it was perched no more than two feet away from where we were standing. I told him how I had heard from many seasoned Musicians how the KN7000's Vocal Harmonizer was inept in its duty to perform and function in a relatively acceptable manner. And when I say a "relatively acceptable manner" I mean that the Harmony sounds, ie., (voice reproductions) emanating from the speakers were reasonably authentic and realistic and clean sounding. Right off the bat he agreed with me. He realised that, yes, the KN7000's Vocal Harmonizer is less than adequate and he shared my frustrations. He told me that Technics for whatever reason decided to devote the majority of resources for the KN7000, eg., CPU, PCM Voice samples, Keyboard layout, and OS Navigation; on ease of use and in the Sounds of the Keyboard. And that is the KN7000's strong points, ie., the sounds and ease of use.

I was even able to hook up a Microphone to the KN7000's Mic In and test the Harmonizer for myself. Right away I could tell that the Harmonizer was sub-par.

I let Chris know that had the Harmonizer been up to par I would have purchased the KN7000 that day. I also told him that there were many Musicians out there that if the KN7000's Vocal Harmonizer was decent they would have purchased it too but instead opted for the Tyros or one of the other High End Arrangers. He and his assistant "Dan" agreed with me that the Tyros's Vocal Harmonizer is probably the best one out there on an Arranger Keyboard. I told him that Yamaha dedicated a separate CPU chip to the Vocal Harmonizer, a fact he seemed to be unaware of. Even my PSR 2000's Vocal Harmonizer runs circles around the KN7000's IMO.

I don't think Chris Hanlon was aware either of the fact that so many people had passed on buying the KN7000 because of its poor performing Harmonizer. So in my telling him about those facts I was bringing a major concern of people to the "fore front" of an influential person "Chris Hanlon" of Technic's technical and production personnel. Hopefully my words to him will have an impact and Technics will eventually improve their technology and produce an excellent Vocal Harmonizer on their KN series Keyboards.

I also wanted to mention that Chris's assitant Dan, when I asked him about the possibility of a KN7500 appearing next year, told me that they hope to have a prototype on display at Winter NAMM 2004. When I asked Chris when he thought the KN8000 would be out he said it would probably be a few years. NOTE: You know the word: "few" could mean as little as '2' years don't you?

So the conclusion to all of this is that Technics lost 'another' potential customer because of the quality "or lack thereof" in the KN7000's Vocal Harmonizer. And I told Chris Hanlon that. But the encouraging news is that a top Technics Keyboard product specialist heard my spiel and I am looking forward to the day when a KN series Keyboard will have an outstanding Vocal Harmonizer on it. When that day does come I will be the first in line to check it out and most likely would purchase it if it does. But not until then. Sorry Technics.

PS: The reason I want and need a decent Vocal Harmonizer "ON" "IN" the Keyboard is because: 1. I sing, 2. Because an onboard Harmonizer is less hassle with the setting up and breaking down that would be the case with an external unit, 3. Ease of use where everything is at your 'immediate' fingertips, and 4. Vocal Harmony technology is progressing by leaps and bounds so why should I settle for a sub-par Harmonizer on ANY Keyboard?.

Those that don't sing I would tell them in a heartbeat to buy the KN7000. But those that sing and want to use an onboard Harmonizer I would tell them to get an Arranger Keyboard that has a decent built-in Harmonizer and pass on the KN7000. These are all MY thoughts and opinions and I am sure there are those who won't agree with me. To whom I say: Wake up and face reality! Ha, ha, he, he, LOL.. Just kidding. Although there is a ring of truth to that statement. lol.

Final Evaluation: The KN7000 is a great sounding Keyboard with a sub standard Vocal Harmonizer. As if we didn't already know, right?

Best regards,
Mike

Mike,

I was wondring what you wanted to do with a Kn7000 that you cannot do with the Psr2000?

Donny, I don't know if you've played the KN7000 or not but the sounds on it are just amazing. Especially the Organ sounds and I'm a BIG fan of Organ sounds. I play them quite often in my musical arrangements. The other big thing over my PSR 2000 is the SD Memory Card storage capability. The SD Memory capacity is up to 1 Gigabyte size Cards now and pretty soon they will be "8" Gigabytes in size. Sampling capability is another big thing. Also the KN7000 has 128 note Polyphony which is double that of my PSR 2000. I've pretty much decided I will not buy another 64 note Arranger so unless Korg changes the specs of the Pa1X before mass production to bump up that pathetic 62 note Polyphony to at least 128 I will most likely pass on the Pa1X too. I've thought about getting the Motif ES 7 but I don't like the fact that it's not an Arranger and of course it doesn't have onboard speakers. Although if I got the Mo' 7, onboard speakers on it wouldn't be necessary because I would keep my PSR 2000 and use it when wanting to get ideas for songs, etc. So my options are very limited right now on an Arranger that has great onboard speakers, great sounds, at least 128 note Polyphony, and SD or SM mass storage capabitity. SD Memory is preferred over, let's say, Smart Media because of SM's smaller storage capacity spec., ie., 128Mb "Maximum". And I would prefer 76 Keys on my next Arranger but that's not a must have. If I could get all of those things in an Arranger I wouldn't have to spend extra dough on your typical Workstation to suppliment for use in my Band. I would be killing two birds with one stone if I could get everything I need 'musically' in "one" Arranger Keyboard. But the one thing the KN7000 lacked imo is a decent Vocal Harmonizer else you would be speaking to a proud KN7000 owner right now Donny.

Best regards,
Mike

[This message has been edited by Idatrod (edited 08-24-2003).]

Mike,

I am an ex Kn5k player but have since changed KB's many times .....but when I played the Kn7k months ago when it came out I was dissapointed, due to the useless Mic/Vocalizer input, and the Sunken Designed keybed [to allow the control panel to sit flush when folded].. which hindered my playing due to the low and high C being set so low back into the body which doesn't allow any space for your fingers to stretch out above the body. Also I didn't like the tilt up control board in realtime being up instead of the conventional laying flat like most KB's making navagation difficult for fast changes. Another problem is switching between the Sd card, and live arranger Modes in realtime its not that smooth, all these things weren't my cup of tea for my style of playing.
It had a nice sound, some styles were just too busy for my taste....seemed like more of a Home use KB to me.

Theres nothing that excites me out now, but if I were you I would just hold back, save your money, and wait and see what turns up down the road for now.



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 08-24-2003).]

The PSR740 doesn't have a separate chip for the Vocal Harmoniser. It's on the synth engine chip (SWP30B as used on several other synths) along with the voice samples and effects. I imagine all the other PSRs are similar. Just shows that Yamaha make a better synth engine.

Bryan

Stick with the Yammies and you can't go wrong! The best advice I can give anyone in the market for a new keyboard is to place them side by side, play them right out of the box with no tuning, then decide which sounds best. IMHO the Yammies come out well ahead of the competition.

Cheers,

Gary

Hi Mike

"I've thought about getting the Motif ES 7 but I don't like the fact that it's not an Arranger and of course it doesn't have onboard speakers"

If it sounds that good and you don't mind carrying a laptop you could use Jos Maas' onemanband program.

I wish we could get all styles from all companies in a laptop and then use any midi keyboard to perform. Add sheet music on the screen and hmmmm.. sounds good to me right now anyway. It could mean traveling with only one keyboard.

Scott Langholff

Get the PSR2100 and the HDM2 so you won't miss the lack of hard drive so much. The HDM2 is an excellent unit.

Beakybird

Just my three cents worth. I have a Tyros, and while it seems i have a bad vocal processer and have to return it, my preference for vocalizer is the Ketron. Either the X1, or SD1 are one of the best i've heard and used. Bob

Well Mike,
I hope Technics is listening.
You have to be able to get exactly what you want, or it's not worth swapping over. One day some manufacturer will make exactly what you're after.
Fortunately for me, a voice processor is not a requirement, so the kn is perfect for me. I for instance found some functions that I was not happy with on my 9000 pro ( mainly to do with style editing & creation, in which the kn7 shines) So after 2 years, out of the blue, I ended up selling it a couple of days ago. It was a fantastic keyboard, great voice processor, but, not 100% perfect for me, but, it appears that it was just what the fellow who bought it, was looking for. So it worked out great.

best wishes
Rikki