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So, how good is the K2600?


Pr3Va1L

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I know it's a very pro board and all, but how good is this thing TODAY?

 

How does it compare to the newer stuff...

 

 

I'm mostly looking for Piano EP sounds, Organ (I know it has KB3, how good is this version?), Mellotron if it has them, etc.

 

I prefer quality over quantity, aswell

 

 

 

Would it suit my needs?

 

(And tame my Electro 3 GAS...)

 

 

 

Thanks a lot!

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Doesn't the K2600 only have 48 note polyphony also? I suppose with synth sounds that would be fine, but for a piano? In this day and age?

 

 

I'm not a k2600 user, I had it for 3 months in my home, borrowed from a friend.

I would say, you are just fine with the polyphony if playing just the piano. Kurzweil is using a "smart" voice stealing algorythm and this gives you sometimes better results then some new keyboards.

For example:

My M3 has 120 oscilators. The (new) stereo piano sample uses 60 voices because it is stereo. Than, the second oscilator produces the pedal down harmonics which cuts the polyphony further to 30 voices.

Now, when I for example hit a low bass tone and then play some fast arpeggios in the very high registers, you will hear clearly how the deep tone (which naturally lasts much longer on a piano then higher notes) gets abruptly cut off because the m3 cuts the oldest note first.

This will not happen on a k2600! In the same example, the lower tone will continuing sounding while you play some fast passages in the upper register. There are some gems in those old kurzweils where the (japanese) competition could still learn very much from.

 

Regarding the sounds:

overall a bit dated but still usable. But the KB3 didn't impress me in any way. Using good organ samples would be a better solution IMHO.

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Why not get a PC3 instead? It has more sounds, better effects, etc etc. Only thing it loses is the ribbons and the sampler.

 

 

But the ribbon and sampler are more musically useful than effects better than the very good effects on the K2600 and more sounds than the near infinite sounds of the K2600.

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But the ribbon and sampler are more musically useful than effects better than the very good effects on the K2600 and more sounds than the near infinite sounds of the K2600.

 

 

Although I had to read that line some 5 times and still don't get it, I think what you're trying to say is that the 2600 is more expressive and can sample. Personally, I would sacrifice that to get better sound (that's why I'm getting a PC3).

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Strangely, I was more impressed with a K2000 I played around with for awhile than a K2600 (although they weren't A/B and I still found the sounds on K2600 comparable to today's workstations minus the "now" patches ... )

 

 

 

K2000 was very good for its time, but there were tons of improvements made to the K2500 and then K2600.

 

Things like KDFX and controller capabilities take a bit of time to get a handle on. Casually flipping through presets won't show you its potential.

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Although I had to read that line some 5 times and still don't get it

 

 

Thats quite an achievement on my part ;-)) Too much time at the DX7's panel, I suppose.

 

Ok, I meant the ribbon and the sampler is something substantial that can add a lot of new (really new and innovative) things to your music. On the other hand, those new effects on the PC3 aren't probably very much better and could be easily replaced by something even better externally. Similarly, the greater number of sounds on the PC3 compared to K2600 makes as much difference as "infinity" and "infinity + 100".

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