48 hours into testing.....
Dec. 9th, 2005 02:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poltr1After a struggle to get it upstairs into the loft area, the K2500S was unpacked from its case and placed on a stand. I saw the gouge that the dealer warned me about. The upper right-hand back corner is badly chipped off, and the frame inside is bent too. But it's still quite playable.
I powered up, and it came on. I checked all 76 keys, buttons, sliders, wheels, and sustain pedal. All A-OK. I ran a diagnostic and it didn't find any problems. Except that I have to press harder on the sixth button below the display due to previous heavy use by its previous owner. (One one of the menus, it's the button for "More->".)
It passed a 3-hour burn-in test. The fan below the unit is a little dusty, but it can be vacuumed out.
I'm finding and playing all the preset sounds (up to 1000), keyboard setups (I can assign keyboard ranges to sounds), sound banks (up to 10 sounds in each bank). There's a lot of stuff in this keyboard! It's practically a computer with a piano keyboard instead of a typewriter keyboard. I can record up to 16 tracks and export it as a MIDI file. It has SCSI connections, so I can interface it with a computer that has SCSI. (USB didn't come into its own until after this instrument was built. It's probably in the K2600 series.) It also has a floppy disk, so I can load MIDI files, or write them to the floppy disk. (I'd love to be able to replace it with a SuperDisk drive, but even that technology is hard to find, and there's no guarantee that it would fit.)
But how do I program sounds into it? And how can I do sampling with it? I probably won't be able to find out in the 96-hour trial period alloted to me. I can already do lots of mneat things on just the presets alone.
In short, it's a beautiful machine, despite the "collateral damage". I wish I could keep it. The heart says "yes" but the mind says "no". But it's too big and heavy to tote around. (It might barely fit in the car, and there probably wouldn't be enough room for luggage.) And the wife says "no". And so I'm leaning toward sending it back once the trial period is over. *sigh*
I powered up, and it came on. I checked all 76 keys, buttons, sliders, wheels, and sustain pedal. All A-OK. I ran a diagnostic and it didn't find any problems. Except that I have to press harder on the sixth button below the display due to previous heavy use by its previous owner. (One one of the menus, it's the button for "More->".)
It passed a 3-hour burn-in test. The fan below the unit is a little dusty, but it can be vacuumed out.
I'm finding and playing all the preset sounds (up to 1000), keyboard setups (I can assign keyboard ranges to sounds), sound banks (up to 10 sounds in each bank). There's a lot of stuff in this keyboard! It's practically a computer with a piano keyboard instead of a typewriter keyboard. I can record up to 16 tracks and export it as a MIDI file. It has SCSI connections, so I can interface it with a computer that has SCSI. (USB didn't come into its own until after this instrument was built. It's probably in the K2600 series.) It also has a floppy disk, so I can load MIDI files, or write them to the floppy disk. (I'd love to be able to replace it with a SuperDisk drive, but even that technology is hard to find, and there's no guarantee that it would fit.)
But how do I program sounds into it? And how can I do sampling with it? I probably won't be able to find out in the 96-hour trial period alloted to me. I can already do lots of mneat things on just the presets alone.
In short, it's a beautiful machine, despite the "collateral damage". I wish I could keep it. The heart says "yes" but the mind says "no". But it's too big and heavy to tote around. (It might barely fit in the car, and there probably wouldn't be enough room for luggage.) And the wife says "no". And so I'm leaning toward sending it back once the trial period is over. *sigh*
no subject
Date: 2005-12-10 01:31 pm (UTC)My criteria was:
- weighted keys (i.e. piano action instead of organ action)
- velocity-sensitive (the harder I strike the key, the harder the sound)
- lots of preset "classic" keyboard sounds (piano, Rhodes electric, Hammond B-3, clavinet, harpsichord, celesta, etc.)
- programmable (can set up a sound and save it in memory)
- sampling (record a sound and play it back)
- portable (so I can take it to house filks and filk cons).
Kurzweil is to keyboards as Lexus is to cars. High-end, professional-quality gear. I've admired them since the mid-80s, when the first model came out.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-10 05:07 pm (UTC)weighted keys (i.e. piano action instead of organ action) Check
velocity-sensitive (the harder I strike the key, the harder the sound) Check
lots of preset "classic" keyboard sounds (piano, Rhodes electric, Hammond B-3, clavinet, harpsichord, celesta, etc.) I don't know how many, if any, of the sounds on this keyboard meet that criterion.
programmable (can set up a sound and save it in memory) Nope--which I understand could be enought to kill if for you.
sampling (record a sound and play it back) Nope, which again might kill it for you
portable (so I can take it to house filks and filk cons). Check--I've taken it to a house filk. Not really easily portable but doable.
It does have MIDI bells and whistles including a floppy drive and some sort of cable connection that I haven't used.
Basically, if playing with sounds is what you want, this one wouldn't make you happy, but if you want a keyboard to play 2-handed, this thing is really nice.