Kurzweil K2600

one at my local GC, going to look at it today.

Still a viable good board or long in the tooth?

Depends what you are looking for. Several here on the forum swear by Kurz. If you decide to pick one up, prepare for a small display screen and extensive menu diving.

There are several K2600 models btw; which one did they have and what was it selling for?

It was a top of the line synth just a few years ago. Quality and construction wise, it doesn't get much better than that. As for the sounds, the ROM is excellent, but it also takes samples and can be outfitted with a sampling card (if it's not already there) so the sky's the limit. I have a K2500 which is the model that came before, and it's a perfectly viable board, and a lot more - but I have mine fully expanded with the Contemporary and Classical ROM blocks, sampling card, ram etc. It's also a phenomenal master MIDI keyboard. Read the specs here: http://www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com/Product.php?product=42

They just have it advertised as the K2600 for 499.99

I already have a PC88 but I would like something with a little more horsepower under the hood

That's quite a low price. Whoever traded it in got taken to the cleaners unless it was beaten to death.

yeah the beaten to death is what I'm worried about...I'll take a look at it today.

I try not to cry when I think of what I paid for my K2600 compared to what I could get for it now.

If it's been on the road, it might have taken a beating. If it spent its life in a studio, with light use, you'd be practically stealing it for that price.

Top notch, excellent controller, and highly programmable. If you don't care for the sounds, you can add ram even if it doesn't have the sampling option and import to that.

Not so great is that it uses scsi, it's heavy, and mine has a bit of fan noise. Also, a fair bit of menu diving if you edit from the board. Pretty logically laid out though.

is there a software interface to control the board on the computer?

If everything is in good working order and it sounds OK, talk them down to $399 and bring it home.

You'll probably want to be visiting Sonikmatter if you get a Kurzweil: http://forum.sonikmatter.com/forums/index.php/topic/41488-read-this/

Editor:

http://www.tangentcats.com/About.htm

Took a look at it years ago, but I just do what I have to do from the board itself.

Not too beat up, definitely used though...and 76 key not 88 as advertised

K2600 = 76 keys

K2600X = 88 keys

Thank you...I am definitely on a learning curve here

It needed a good clean up but it was not beat up, but in the end, I decided not to get it. I've just started playing and I've got the PC88, so I really don't need this right now...maybe in a couple years, a PC3X.

thanks for all the help and advice.

EDIT: I see you decided not to go for it. That's a shame, but I'd reccomend anyone interested in to just buy it. For that price I actually think it's a total no-brainer. If anyone buys it, try to get hold of a the sampling board too if you can. I have a K2600XS and it's the boss monster. I guess I wish it had a ton of knobs, but the menu diving isn't nearly as unfriendly as what I've found on other synths. It's a time consuming instrument to use (and to learn), but the sound and the possibilites and the whole FEEL of the instrument makes up for it. The sounds also tend to work really, really well in the mix (unless you make them too big, which is not that hard). It's not the most modern sounding synth out there, though. I also have a Waldorf Q (that I bought on the same day as the Kurzweil - that was a very happy day for me! ) and the sound character of those two synths couldn't be more different. It's almost weird that I'm so completely in love with both - but I am.

People talk about the acoustic sounds on Kurz all the time, but I actually think it excels at electronic sounds. You can make really weighty synth sounds on that thing. That said, put a good cello sample into it and it sounds about eighteen times as fat as anything coming out of my EWQL libraries, which have more realistic sounds, but sound rather thin until you beef them up with something.

If you like the sound of the K2600 and don't mind spending some time (read: a lot of time) getting to know the instrument well, I think you'll be really happy with it. Mine brings me a ton of joy. I'll only stop using it the day it dies.

A couple of the buttons on mine seem to be getting a little worn out, so I would check for that. The still work fine, but I need to push them a little harder.

Broke down went back and bought it....man I have a lot of studying to do.

Make sure to make good use of the 2 ribbons. You can do crazy stuff with them.

If you don't have any pedals yet, this is the synth worth getting them for - plenty of inputs too.

It's also got a breath control input if you happen to have one. If you didn't get manuals with it, make sure to d/l them from Kurzweil's site. Excellent manuals, with a lot of good info.

I still want a purple K2600. Those things were so freaking rad back in 1998. Good find!

Congrats! It's a monster, even today!