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help me choosing a kurzweil for pink floyd covers


JMS 2

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I'd like to get a kurzweil for the pink floyd cover band.

 

I'd like to use only one single synth for everything.

Does that look feasible to you ?

If so which one should I get ?

Could I get away with just an old K2000S ?

(The newer K2500 and K2600 series are above my budget)

 

The K2661 would be my upper limit as far as money goes but actually I don't find any info whether or not that one would be OK for my purpose.

And I don't even see how it is better than the K2000.

If I get the K2000S I suppose I can easily sample all the sounds from the newer series and put them into the K2000S, no ?

 

FYI right now I'm using an XP50 workstation which is OK, I like how I can easily split the board in as many zones as I need and even fade additional sounds in and out with the control faders etc ... But I have the feeling I might be better helped with a Kurzweil. Maybe I'm wrong ...

 

Give me your opinions please

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Stay away from the K2000 - its really not that great anymore. IMO the XP-50 sounds better in general. It's very hard to get decent organs and pianos out the K2000. It's also my experience that its too unstable to use live without backup.

If you can't afford a K2661 I would recommend you to find something else than a Kurzweil.

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I have a k2661 and I can send you some demos of the sound if you want. This machine sound really extremely good. What kind of sounds are you looking for? (because, for example, atom heart mother is a very orchestral album, or maybe you want to modernize the sounds, etc). I think everything for every kind of music is in the K2661 with good sound quality (which would be the same of a k2600 with more sounds, a little less controlers -without the super ribbon which you could add in the future- and less number of keys). In the smart media there are a lot of k2600, k2000 and k2500 sounds (I dont know if it has all the sounds, but it has a big big number of them).

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Kurzweil... a great way to spend way more money than absolutely necessary, to do a simple job with an overcomplicated piece of kit.

 

 

I dont feel that i have wasted money with my purchase, is like when we paid for a good food, or a a good TV, the price is given for the big quality and satisfaction that it brings to us... of course you can get good things for less price, but is it the same good than very good or excellent?... in that instance we are paying for quality. What could be expensive is the machine that could not satisfy your expectations for a high prize.

 

I have a question: have you had one of those machines?. You said "overcomplicated piece of kit". I dont think it is overcomplicated, the thing is that everybody use to try different forms of options or order, just that. I think every machine is overcomplicated when you do overcomplicated stuff.

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Thank you guys.

 

And thanks for the heads up on the K2000.

Now I googled a bit, it seems indeed unreliable.

 

 

So we'll be doing their more recent songs (say from Meddle and up)

We might do some older ones too but I don't want to take those into account when choosing a synth.

So I'd basically need the organs, a good acoustic piano (great gig in the sky), the synthy/string sounds that are all over the place, the analogue leads (e.g. the intro in "shine on" part I, the outro of part VIII), bells, female ohhs and ahhs (we don't have those covered in the band :) ) etc ...

 

I DO have most of these sounds covered with the XP50.

The strings are horrible and the analogue lead emulation is so-so but it gets the job done. More or less ...

 

So the question is :

"Would the K2661 be an upgrade or not ? "

 

Or are there other synth/workstations for $1000-1500 that would be better ?

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Yes, K2661 is definitely much better that the XP-50. And it should be possible to use it as the only synth. Just place all the patches you need in the right order and use a switch pedal to change between them during the show:thu:

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Well first than all, there is a musician (Jon Carin) that supported Pink Floyd in a tour with a k2000:

 

look at the users at the bottom of the website:

 

Jon Carin, supporting Pink Floyd on their 1994 Division Bell Tour (K2000s)

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurzweil_Music_Systems

 

http://www.pinkfloyd-co.com/band/interviews/art-rev/art-sosxtra.html

 

So, we can know that that keyboard is usefull to play Pink Floyd.

 

About the k2661 and the sounds you are looking for, i think pianos are very good in Kurzweil keyboards, even in the Kme 61 it sounds good, so you dont need to be worried about the Kurzweil pianos. Analog sounds are very good in general, same for strings. About organs, I dont use them, but I think they sound good. Check these PC3x sounds, In my opinion the k2661 doesnt sound too different in general than that big monster (at the right of the website there are more demos of the sounds, including organs):

 

http://www.garageband.com/artist/pc3demos/songs

 

Video of the PC3x

 

http://www.hispasonic.com/videos/sonidos-kurzweil-pc3x

 

And my own music with the k2661, but the recording session sucks. I connected the keyboard only in the microphone in, and with a default sound card. Anyway the sounds of the machine can be appreciated which is the important thing here:

 

Some experimental electronic stuff (drums loops mostly downloaded from internet)

 

http://www.sendspace.com/file/dtkt4o

 

Orchestral preset sounds:

 

http://www.sendspace.com/file/vg9obq

 

and a Tetris cover made with presets without editing anything, which was the first thing I recorded, but the recording sound suck (but i am improving my recording sessions and everything, I bought this machine just 2 months ago)

 

http://www.sendspace.com/file/jmm00x

 

cheers!

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I have a question: have you had one of those machines?. You said "overcomplicated piece of kit". I dont think it is overcomplicated, the thing is that everybody use to try different forms of options or order, just that. I think every machine is overcomplicated when you do overcomplicated stuff.

 

Nope! And if I COULD afford a Kurz I'd probably think rather differently ;) Perhaps overcomplicated was a bad choice of words but I still stand by my comment about them being more money than you really need to spend to do a very simple job.

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Well, I respect your opinion, but I personally would pay more for more quality if i am making an investment, but everybody can have a different opinion, which is respectable. About the money you need to spend, it has relation with the music you want to play and the results you want to get of your investment.

 

The k2661 is a big piece of keyboard, which has amazing preset sounds and amazing synth technology (VAST). About the sound quality, which is the most important thing to me, it is just thing of read the opinions and comments, i havent seen a bad one yet:

 

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Keyboard+And+MIDI/product/Kurzweil/K2661/10/1

 

1)

"I haven't found a sound that is not included in the presets and farm. I can't find a Vox Continental Organ yet, though? Everything else is there if you add the vintage Keys card. Best Whirley Electric I'v heard, as well as the Rhodes. I could never keep my 1973 Rhodes in ture. This one sounds better, and is actually in tune.

I bought this instrument for sound quality and the vintage keys ROM.

This is the real stuff."

 

2)

"The main attraction of this synth is the sounds. This is the first keyboard I've played in ages that sounds and feels organic, like a real instrument. Hooray! I despaired that such a synth would ever be made again. How different it is from the plasticky, swamped-in-FX boards so ubiquitous right now. And a special mention must go to KB3 mode, a real delight. So easy to use and customise, and the praise I get for it's authenticity from fellow musos and seasoned crews alike tell their own story. It easily equals any Hammond clone out there."

 

3)

"Often I have heard "only the Motif gets close"... well, it's simply not true. I sold my Motif to buy this beast, and never regret. This is a truly professional-sounding instrument, even the Motif has some taste of plastic compared to K2661."

 

4)

"Well this is the most powerfull thing on the 2661...the sounds!!!! just amazing, all stiles pianos, KB3 organs(they all rock), analog, pads, etc. etc, nothing about the sounds is a waste on this machine. Forget about Roland and Korg, these are toys compare to the K2661, only the Motif would get a bit closer...."

 

...etc...

 

I know it cost a lot of money, thats why everybody need to analyze their needs and make a balance about what they really want, what they really need, and what they can spend.

 

pd: excuse me my english, it sucks, I know.

 

pd2: I dont work for Kurzweil or something like that, i just bought this machine some months ago and this was very difficult to me to make a decision (i tried fantom, M3, etc). i want just to be helpful, i know it is hard to spend that amount in a thing that could result in the total regret of the purchase. The main thing is to try the machine in the store. if you dont like Kurz, i would recommend Motif Es or Fantom X, but it is not the same in my opinion. Maybe it is just my taste thats different.

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The Who used both the K2600 and K2661 along with 2 B3's (2 Leslies) on their last world tour and the rig sounded phenomenal. I was lucky enough to have a friend stand in for their N. Am. tour when Rabbit went home to care for his wife. Brian took me on a stage and backstage tour, after seeing their setup and hearing it live I bought the K2500r and love it. Now the rack was only $450 loaded with all the sounds in it from the kybd version. I just think the the Kurz. samples they used for their roms are a higher quality than the others but as in everything YMMV.

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Our band covered most of the Pulse live set (DSOTM, The Wall etc) and I used predominantly an XP50 with vintage card added and an Emu Esynth for sample triggering (clocks, aeroplanes, cash registers etc). I quickly changed from the XP50 to the XP80 to allow for more keys per split. Although I'd happily swap my XP for a Kurz, I must admit that with the Floyd set I never felt that my rig was at all lacking.

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Our band covered most of the Pulse live set (DSOTM, The Wall etc) and I used predominantly an XP50 with vintage card added and an Emu Esynth for sample triggering (clocks, aeroplanes, cash registers etc). I quickly changed from the XP50 to the XP80 to allow for more keys per split. Although I'd happily swap my XP for a Kurz, I must admit that with the Floyd set I never felt that my rig was at all lacking.

 

 

Yes dear fellow HC dinosaur, I'm with you all the way.

Having more keys per split would be great indeed but I also think the XP50 does a really honest job. The waveform quality is average IMO but in a live band mix you don't really notice that.

One real shortcoming I see is the single FX available per performance set (chorus and reverb aside). The FX engine isn't the greatest too ...

 

I trigger the special samples (clocks etc .. ) from an MP3 player connected to a small mixing board so that's sorted out.

 

Did the vintage keys card really add something for you ?

 

 

 

Problem is mainly that I DO have the money to think about a Kurz now ....

But maybe I shouldn't ...

 

Decisions decision ...

 

 

BTW can anyone tell me how the key action is on a K2661 wrt the XP50 ?

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FWIW, the 2661 is just a 2600 with a 5 octave unweighted keyboard.

 

 

Well, there's a few more differences than that. ;)

 

I won't go over them again - they're on Kurzweil's site. But yes, overall, there's more similarities than differences.

 

I wouldn't like to go without the 2 ribbons on the 2600 - one is long and can be split into 3 sections (or used as one long ribbon), and the other is short and is pressure and position sensitive. There's differences in storage and included sounds and stuff too.

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Yes dear fellow HC dinosaur, I'm with you all the way.

Having more keys per split would be great indeed but I also think the XP50 does a really honest job. The waveform quality is average IMO but in a live band mix you don't really notice that.

 

I think that is a very valid point. Playing at home say with headphones vs playing through a full PA with the rest of the band tends to really level out the differences. The way our band was mixed really put the focus on the guitar. The keys were very much a supporting role. In that context I never felt the need to look for more than the Roland could offer me.

 

One real shortcoming I see is the single FX available per performance set (chorus and reverb aside). The FX engine isn't the greatest too ...

 

Ah, that

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Thank you for the comments.

So you never even stacked several layers to give it a bigger sound ? (which is what I do in performance mode, for the string ensembles it's really a must have) Wow ...

 

Auditioning is tough : small town, small stores, small stock etc

The euro/dollar ratio is incredibly tempting right now but I'll probably leave it to the XP50 for now.

 

I still need to buy me a pair of good stage monitors anyway ...

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Thank you for the comments.

So you never even stacked several layers to give it a bigger sound ? (which is what I do in performance mode, for the string ensembles it's really a must have) Wow ...

 

Actually, no! I

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I have owned in my career around 90 keyboards, one of them was Kurzweil 2500XS-88 fully loaded, cost a fortune. Eventually I sold it: the OS was rediculously archaic ( there was a separate full manual just to show you how to load sounds from a CD!), the keyboard assembly crapped out (studio use only), upgrade installations were extremely difficult, and in the end it was a time waster and it didn't sound that good to MY ears. Get a 5080 and load with some SRX boards for the Floyd stuff.

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