What a beautiful opener, really interesting to see the wonders of Norway. Wow!

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Happy you enjoyed it! :)

@miskelproducts41

3 жыл бұрын

I agree. I was wondering where that might be. Then I played the video back and at the beginning, there is a sign that says Hoddevik. There is a Hoddevik Beach in Norway.

@jessihawkins9116

10 ай бұрын

norway sucks come visit the us

Kurzweil had great American engineers, even when it was acquired by Young Chang. I think it's really worth to explore these unique American digital instruments from: Kurzweil, E-mu Systems, Ensoniq, Peavey, and Alesis. The resurgence of Moog, Korg's ARP, and Sequential are not the only things American music industry had to offer. They had to offer much more.

@davids.3409

2 жыл бұрын

Don't forget Oberheim my friend 😊

@dvamateur

2 жыл бұрын

@@davids.3409 Well, Oberheim is back now. Still, I'd prefer to own an Emulator II or Kurzweil 250 to any Oberheim.

I like the Piano and Strings from Kurzweil too. The Strings sound like the Pet Shop Boys Strings used in the 80s i think. Today i will buy a used Kurzweil K2000R from someone I know and i'm very excited about it.

@utubewillyman

2 жыл бұрын

I used to hear these strings in many songs during the 90s. I remember that Elton John's hit "Sacrifice" from 1990 had them come in about halfway through the song.

@jamesmeeker6933

2 жыл бұрын

Had K2000 in the 90s and 00s. Still sounds great in 2022. They used some serious engineering alchemy in all the Kurz stuff.

Great to see this video, thank you!! I LOVE these and SO many good ideas. I was UK product manager for the importer so was lucky enough to have a 1000PX, 1000HX, 1000SX and the 1000GX in a rack (and K250 with 4 expansions, K1000 and EGP) - absolute dream job!! It has a built in MIDI analyser I used to use all the time - displays MIDI message in the display. Fantastic MIDI versatility for it's time including programme change mapping, all 16 channels available at once and high polyphony with dynamic allocation across channels and sounds with complex rules from the K250. Also the most complrehensive programmable tuning with almost every 'wierd' scale you would want and the ability to 'invert' parts of the keyboard. Also if you change sounds whilst holding notes from a previous sound, the previous sounds will stay - great for layers. Also inherited from the K1000, it had 'controller check' on start up so wherever controllers were on start, was the default "off" position - so worked with any pedal, both push-to-make and push-to-break. I bought one second hand about 12 years ago to upgrade an aged Clavinova and found I had an incredibly rare beast. They later launched the PX Plus which had an additional set of sounds (e.g. Drums, Electric Bass and Rhodes) on ROM but there was a very short period when they released retro-fit upgrade boards for a 'normal' PX. I remember us getting an engineer into UK HQ to fit the boards to a few PX's. To my delight that was what I got and now have - although now stored in the attic and unused. Things I learnt from the Boston engineers: The PX Piano and Strings are the seminal K250 ones but can sound brighter due to the D2A cut-off frequency. The SX has the same string sounds as the legendary K250 but because it has higher bit processing and more crucially, a better D2A converter, the sound is much brighter and therefore got criticised for not being as 'warm'. Many of the sounds on the GX were meant to be used with guitar effects pedals - they never wanted to put such 'dirty' sounds in a Kurzweil module. And it was that thinking that led to one of it's biggest problems vs the competition, it had no in built Signal Processing as Kurzweil thought internal DSPs were poor quality. Main thing to watch now is the LCD backlight which being so old, becomes dim making the display hard to read.

@EspenKraft

23 күн бұрын

Thanks for sharing your story! Very interesting. :)

I own a Kurzweil PC3 76 and absolutely adore the quality of the sounds. There is something about Kurzweil sounds that are so rich and warm and they certainly give Roland and Korg a run for their money

@kevinlangley9644

Жыл бұрын

I agree 100% and im a huge fan of both roland and korg. I picked up a k2000 a few weeks ago after lusting for one for many years. I'm not dissatisfied at all !! Only problem it has is the backlight is almost completely shot.

HX horn expander is one of my favorite racks ever! Incredibly useful sounds, midi implementation, and cost only me $10 at a flea market. Ray Kurzweil pioneered the highest quality of sampled sounds and is one of the main contributors to modern voice recognition software.

Beautiful pictures from Norway and music ! Great expander with killer sounds. 👍

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks man! :)

Very deep stringsound...thx for the reviews/ discoveries. Crgans were very nice too...everything just sounds right enough. Very warm presence to the sound. LIKE!

Whoa! Something about the oscillation and the chord arrangement on those choirs at 6:37 is really beautiful

@bluelagoon2275

3 жыл бұрын

it's an effect called ensemble. kinda like a vintage chorus/ detune

Beautiful introduction! Total nostalgia with the rest of the content 😌

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Sweet. Thanks! :)

Oh yeeeeeahhh, I got one recently, because I remembered the Kurzweil as having the slickest, smoothest, most buttery piano ever. I remembered correctly. I'm using this on almost every track now.

That sounds so much better than all the modern stuff.

You uploaded this video at the time when i have my k2000 in my apartment! Overall this is a great video showcasing the Kurzweil 1000PX and i imagine how expensive these synths were in the day, i hope to see more of late 80s and early 90s era synths like this.

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

I have lots more where this came from. As I have for the last three years. ;-)

Also - while it is not terribly easy to edit, I did not find it completely unmanageable. But I guess since I've only made a few patches, that probably speaks a lot about the ease of editing. I would advise that anyone getting the 1000PX to upgrade to the 1000PX Plus, which had more sounds on board. I believe its equivalent to the K1000SE. You'll notice the difference between the original and the plus version because the Plus has two sets of buttons, which I believe makes navigating easier.

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, that's right. The Plus versions adds more sounds. The 1000PX here is the original expander.

@rogerfelez7478

3 жыл бұрын

I could be mistaken but the unit that Espen uses in the video is expanded either with the PXA or both the PXA and PXB, the 1000PX without the expansions don't have drums and flutes. The PX Plus has a more intuitive layout, those 23 buttons instead of the 8 of the standard PX make patch changes way easier

Stunning selection of sound wonderfully played

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Many thanks Darren! :)

This video made me buy a K1200, which is the super 1000PX. Thanks a lot, Espen! :)

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

Cheers!

This is definitely the best 1000PX demo I've heard Espen! Well done. I need to dust off my old 1000PX now!

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Cheers Erik! :D

Terribly underrated module.

What a really beautiful place and music on the start of the video!! SWEET retro vibes!!

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Cheers! :D

surprisingly beautiful sounds !

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

It's great! :)

Kurzweil lived on these multisamples for decades! And why not, since they were excellent. Even today the K250 and its derivative modules are usable sound sources (never mind the usability of the interfaces, which was zero) I'm sure I can find these sounds in my K2600's even. VAST was nothing if not a flexible engine, and when the K2000 hit the shelves I really really wanted one, but I would have not had food for 3 months if I did that. Cheap they were not. In 1988 I did manage to borrow one of these for a production, now lost in time. Mixed with my 2 Yamaha FM synths and a Kawai K3m and a RX15 drum machine and you had instant 80's pop!

Mr. Espen Kraft, your land is amazingly beautiful. The Northway, Norge, Norway, Noruega (in the Portuguese, which is my native tongue). Your music is also incredible.

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Many thanks! :)

NIce intro! Keep it it up like this! Really really special stuff.... I mean this time we got a show... amazing.

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Happy you liked it! :)

I just procured a K1200 Pro. Absolutely love this thing!

@framzoid

2 ай бұрын

Bought one off CraigsList in Nashville for $70. I kept asking the guy if he was sure that's all he wanted and he just said "I'm selling all my old stuff". I Love that K1200 Pro!

Beautiful! One day those old romplers will be valuable again! Still have some of mine in the closet. :)

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Take it out of the closet and use it! ;-)

I just did a revision on this unit. Fully worth it. Sounds great.

My God I wanted this so bad. Had an MMT-8 starring at me hooked to my D-50 just wishing I had this pallette of sounds and polyphony and multitymbrality.. ahh... the "good" old days😉 great vid as usual Espen!

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! :)

Thanks for this, Espen! ✌🏻😎🎹🌴🌞

Great demo !!! I have the px1000plus and the PRO 2 both bought at Sweetwater sound in the 80s. I love them ans still use them a lot despite my hardware samplers and my huges vst libraries. They have some kind of echoey unique character.

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Cheers! :)

Mind blowing sounds killer organ sounds. Kurzweil used to make really fabulous products and currently they are struggling. Fantastic review! Thank you!

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! :)

@dbefore7165

3 жыл бұрын

I wouldn’t say they are struggling, their current forte and pc4 outspec pretty much everything out now, they just need to bring the interface into the modern age.

Very nice opening video (and tune! More of that please ;) ). As always, nice run though of the sounds with examples and all. I find pretty much all of the sounds (hence that might be the "kurzweil sound"?) to be quite on the fatty and rich side. Very likeable!

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Yes, this is quite the surprise module for many people. ;-)

Completely forgot about this module. I wonder how much influence this architecture had on VAST. The K2000 completely changed the industry! IMO.

I have that unit, with the PX-A064 expansion installed. It's still an amazing-sounding sound module!

I own this module & it is indeed a joy 😊

I have a broken one of these in my loft. I used it a lot through the 90's. My K2500 rack really replaced it...though I do miss that choir sound.👍🏻

I would almost buy this for that beautiful piano alone. Brilliant!

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

It's really good actually.

@bastiaanw3519

3 жыл бұрын

@@EspenKraft There are two for sale nearby, but I already spent my money on other gear. Perhaps some other time :)

Wow. Those organs!

That’s good sounds, greats 👍🏼

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Cheers!

The bright piano is so nice sounding. Reverb is super

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Cheers! :)

Great sounding unit nice tune

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Cheers man! :)

I love where you live, it's so beautiful.

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Many thanks! It's very beautiful in Norway. I don't live where this footage was shot though. ;-)

I was a big Kurzweil guy in the 90's having owned a K2000, a K2500XS, a K2600XS, and a K2600RS. I sure loved my Kurzweils! I remember in the mid 80's annoying the music store near me to go and play the K250 every week. Unfortunately for me though, $12k was just too much money for me since I was only earning $50 a month from my paper route. LOL

@pinkglow2402

3 жыл бұрын

Hey can you tell me anything about the k2600xs? I saw one recently and i feel like i should have gotten it, what are that boards strong points? If one “boots up slowly” is that a sign it’s about to break?

@seanchristophersynthesizer6999

3 жыл бұрын

@@pinkglow2402 I don't remember any long boot-up time at all actually. Definitely get the XS if you want sampling. There are also a lot of great sample libraries for the 2500/2600 series. I used to use SCSI hard drives such as the Zip Drive and Jazz Drive, but there may be a mod out now that allows faster transferring of files for the Kurzweil...hopefully. I paid nearly $5k for my K2600XS back in the 90's, so they are a steal used now IMO, :)

@dbefore7165

3 жыл бұрын

@@pinkglow2402 tbh you can pick up more modern kurzweils SH for not much more money.

Sometimes I think I like the sounds reverb better than the sound itself lol :)

Thank you Espen for this interesting video about the sounds of this module! And the landscapes of western Norway are almost overwhelmingly beautiful - in contrast to the much more human-made landscape of my country Nederland (The Netherlands). But for all the viewers here I think this exceptional module could use some clarification. The Kurzweil 1000PX has the same sounds as the Kurzweil K1000 "keyboard": some 170 different sounds built-in... So it is a SAMPLE PLAYER - manufactured around 1990 - with real instrument samples that are still of amazing quality. AND it is a SYNTHESIZER with all the possibilities of shaping a sound - although the tiny display makes that a cumbersome task. The user manual has some 300 pages... One can use the synthesizer part to modify a true acoustic sample to one's taste. For instance, to make the sound of the dulcimer less Appalachian and more Romanian... I have used the K1000 (76 keys) and the K1200 (88 hammer action keys) keyboards as well as the 1000AX and the 1000GX modules for years. And I still love them! The acoustic samples of real instruments are absolutely realistic and beautiful - if you are looking for a natural sounding piano, organ, string sections, brass sections, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, vibraphone, marimba, flute, guitar, harp, double bass & bass guitar etc. look no further. There are also (synthesized) variations of many instruments and fantasy sounds. And of course there are dozens of drum sounds and percussion sounds as well. An arrangement of say 10 different instruments in your sequencer coupled over MIDI to just one 1000PX module sounds amazing with just a small amount of reverb and compression added in the end mix. So, if you are looking for the sound of acoustic musical instruments, the Kurzweil 1000PX (the general module) will fulfill many dreams! The other modules 1000HX (wind instruments), 1000SX (string instruments), 1000GX (guitars) are a nice addition. If you are looking for a synthesizer, there are better (handier) options... These modules are very cheap nowadays, some € 225 in Europe, half of that in America. There is a Kurzweil users group (k1000.net/index.html) with loads of know-how from insiders ;-)

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

You are obviously a uber-Kurzweil enthusiast. Cheers :D

@lake4ishikawa

2 жыл бұрын

I was wondering, what is the difference between the sounds in a PX module and a k1200 keyboard or a Pro I module? Are they the same? Or does the latter also contain the GX and SX modules, or do they have brand new samples altogether?

@nicowagenaar7884

2 жыл бұрын

@@lake4ishikawa To my knowledge the sounds in the PX module, the K1000 and K1200 keyboards and the Pro I module are the same. They have some beautiful string and horn/flute sounds, but not as many as the dedicated SX and HX modules. The sounds of the special GX guitar module are only there.

@lake4ishikawa

2 жыл бұрын

@@nicowagenaar7884 thanks for the info :) I did a bit of research and apparently it's possible to upgrade a PX to a Pro I by slotting in some rom upgrades. Quite amazing tech!

Cant wait for a fully upgraded kurz K2000 review !

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Don't have a K2000 anymore.

I currently have both the K1000SE AND a 1000PX... am not sure I can part with the keyboard version though :/ I bought the rack to sell the keyboard, but it's such a great monster. hard to part with that! My favorite sound is the new age piano (I believe). Just love that totally warbly, haunted sound.

@rogerfelez7478

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, the new age piano is amazing, I use mainly the Slow Strings, Fluid Vibes, Trem Vibes, Synth Kalimba and the Grand Strings which I programmed manually because that sound is only included in the PX Plus and the 1200 Pro 1

What a gorgeous country!!! When the sun is out :)

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! The same place is equally spectacular when it's stormy too. But a lot more wet!

@rdoetjes

3 жыл бұрын

Espen Kraft as a Dutchman I can handle storm and rain but the snow and ice in your winters make me shiver 🥶

In context it's got that 80s pop sheen that all glues together, but in isolation the patches really remind me of the naff daytime TV soundtracks of the 90s. I wonder if units like these were a cheap way for shoe-string media composers to get a bunch of sounds back then and the dreary wallpaper music has ruined the sounds for me? On a related note, I've got to know several of the original Kurzweil people as they moved there post ARP. Would be interested to hear that story some time. Also, Hoddevik looks stunning!

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

As I don't know how much budget "shoe-string" composers had back then, but these were pretty expensive in the late 80s, as were all Kurzweil products, but I'm sure a lot of movie/tv composers used them. ;-) I find this (today) a superb "preset" machine for a lot of sounds and having this on loan from Anders has certainly made me want to get one for myself. That bright piano patch is well worth the 100 bucks I'd have to pay for one. I could sample it, and I have, but I like it coming out of THIS box. ;-) I'd be interested in any story from your new friends in the matter! Hoddevik is spectacular, and if you visit during a storm, it would stay with you the rest of your life! ;-)

@davetbassbos

3 жыл бұрын

When they came out they had some of the most realistic acoustic samples at least at retail, and I think the strings were used in some bigger budget movies (at least they sound familiar when I play them on mine). The next model k2000 (1991) put some strange processing power on top of those samples. The K2000 also had a kind of modular virtual analog, where you could route generated waveforms (or the samples) through different combinations of filters and envelopes with a pretty advanced modulation matrix but you had to do through the little window. I think Pink Floyd used them on tour for analog sounds. Wendy Carlos liked them for a while for alternate tuning tables. I still have a K2000 unfortunately with a couple bad keys but it's still magical plus Ray Kurzweil now thinks our brains will live forever within computers!

@Shred_The_Weapon

3 жыл бұрын

I myself was hitherto unaware of the direct line of connection between Kurzweil and ARP. Wasn’t aware any of those employees had work outside CBS musical instruments, where they were employed manufacturing the Chroma.

@davetbassbos

3 жыл бұрын

@@Shred_The_Weapon I'm fascinated with how designers of old synths approached decisions although cost is always a factor, when I was learning my k2000, I really got the sense that a lot of consideration for a wide variety of users preferences went into the design (of the software at least). Even though it's considered a ROMpler, it's very flexible if you want to dig in and you could start with an emulation of the traditional analog synth signal path.

@AlexBallMusic

3 жыл бұрын

@@Shred_The_Weapon Mary Lock was a big part of Kurzweil having been at both ARP and CBS. David Frederick worked there as did Phil Dodds. I think Robert Hartford of ARP also went there. Probably others too. Even Alan Pearlman did some consulting. They also hired the services of some guy called Bob Moog, whoever he was. 😉 There's an interesting story there to be told for sure.

I purchased my 1000PX used at a very good price back in 1992, and I still have it. It's build like a tank! Some programs are real classics: piano, strings, vibe, and the fretless bass I used a lot. Also, you have several temperaments - you can create your own - as well as several velocity curves (such as "DX7 Hard" and "DX7 soft": guess for which keyboard...). Playing the piano with a Balinese temperament is... let's say pretty peculiar! An application called Object Mover was available for Mac and Atari. They are really underrated: I've recently saw a Pro1 (which is a 1000PX+PXA+PXB ROMS+23 buttons interface) for sell at 60 $.

Dammit, Now I have to get around to repairing mine in the garage. It’s been sat there for 2 years with a psu issue and I thought it wasn’t a good rack. Now I hear it sounds wonderful. 😬. Cheers Espen 👌

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

You should get if fixed today! ;-) It's quite good. Cheers :)

@cp665533

3 жыл бұрын

Espen Kraft It’s my birthday today so I got the day off 😂. Looks like it will be tomorrow.

I remember seeing a demo of the 250 at a music expo and being blown away by the sounds. And the price! So when these ‘affordable’ expanders came out I was optimistic I’d be able to own one eventually. The Micropiano is an awesome little substitute! I don’t have the Microensemble yet but I’m keeping my eye out for it!

@jimmyhankins7487

3 жыл бұрын

Love your videos btw. Thanks for doing them with so much obvious love and care!

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Many thanks man! :)

Good luck findin' one of these things but u got one already so kudos to you indeed. Like u said kinda really just blows away Proteus, pretty much out of the water. Think this instrument was the precursor to what spelled the beginning of the end for EMU.Then when the subsequent merger/acquisition of/with Ensoniq happened, it became a realization when Propellerhead bought'em out & sealed the deal (fate) of both companies. Sorta indirectly caused IMHO by the Kurz effect as they weren't the only synth makers that were affected by this & succumbed to it. thanx dude 😎

@EspenKraft

2 жыл бұрын

Cheers!

Nice vid and thanks for the info. However, I have to add a few extra bits of information. The 1000 series was arguably the first synth built with upgrades in mind, having a common chassis with extra sockets to add more RAM and ROM upgrades. This gives you not only extra sounds but huge improvements to the OS and the capability of storing up to 1000 MIDI locations. Some of your sounds that you claim are bells are actually vibes. I have 13 1000 modules of all the varieties (PX, SX, HX, GX) going back to my first PX in 1988, and up to the beginning of this year when I got my 4th GX module on Ebay for £40! The seller couldn't test it so was offering it as 'for parts or not working', and it turned out to work just fine. As you say, the sounds are terrific, and that's why I'm hanging on to mine. You may ask why I need 13 of them? Easy, you can chain link them together via MIDI for added polyphony. Even though a PX is nominally 24 voice poly, as soon as you add soundfiles together (up to 4), the poly amount reduces - only 6 voices with a four later patch. So 4 PXs chain linked together give you potentially 96 voice poly or 24 voices with a four layer patch, as on the K2000. Regarding using the 1000s as presets - you're not limited to that. If you head on over to k1000.net you'll find info and many libraries for the 1000 series. Some of those are mine!

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Bells or vibes... they basically fill the same need in a production. ;-) Thanks for the extra info though, always nice to have users chipping in. I was referring to the editing of programs when I used the word "preset". I really don't see much point in editing anything on these. Just load in new programs if needed.

Great Espen! Kurzweil is pure cream. My first synth was a Kurzweil k2600x . Back then I was very lost and I didn’t know very well how to program and edit, always I was using the program presets. Few years later I sold it. Now I regret very much. ;/

@coolpoolshark

3 жыл бұрын

Where are you located? I plan to sell a K2600X and an Ensoniq SQ-80.

It IS a great, and underrated module indeed. So many impressive sounds for the year it came out. Some say there were 10 modules in total, and the intent was that composers (mainly in the US where this was a famous brand) could pick their type of sound as an expansion (if you were wealthy of course). However, it's only nine and that's only if you count the ROM expansions for the five main modules (AX, GX, HX, SX and PX): • 1000 AX Plus Acoustic Expander (185 presets - all SX and HX plus more) • 1000 GX Guitar Expander (100 presets) • 1000 HX Horn Expander (75 presets) • 1000 HXA Expansion ROM: Soprano sax, Alto sax, Baritone Sax, Brass stabs • 1000 SX String Expander (99 presets) • 1000 SXA Expansion ROM: Clarinet, Flute, Oboe , Bassoon, Fr. Horn, Timpani • 1000 PX Professional Expander (120 presets) • 1000 PXA Expansion ROM: Flute, Rhodes, E. bass, Drums, more waveforms • 1000 PXB Expansion ROM: Steel guitar, Harp, Marimba, Tenor Sax, Percussion To my knowledge, these were used by such west coast/LA-fusion artists as Chick Corea, David Foster, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones and probably a whole bunch of composers for radio, TV etc. :)

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Kurzweil gear was so expensive back then. I never really used any of it, until the K2000. ;-)

The demo at the start is awesome. It has a bit of a Mark Mothersbaugh vibe with the piano and Georgian choir.

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

Cheers!

Love the license plate! :-D

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Cool that you say that. ;-)

Good vidéo Espen 👍

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

We used the 2600 rack modules a lot in college. Their pianos were first class.

Very interesting.....

Too funny. One of these just came up on Craigslist near me and I was wondering if it would be worth it. Thank you for the demo. I will def pick up.

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Do it! :)

Pretty sure some of these samples are still in ROM on the current products (not necessarily with programs onboard, but for legacy purposes--Kurzweils have always been very backwards compatible). And many of them are still very very good. So much on here still sounds fresh and relevant.

The K250 was like the CS-80 of early romplers (specially in terms of size and weight). Solid state memory was still bulky and expensive back in those days. But the sounds were just fantastic.

Very very good piano on the PX, Very Thick , its nearly like a stage piano

I saw a listing for the Digital Music Corp MX-8 on that magazine cover! I have that still to this day and it works FLAWLESSLY. Far better than any Motu unit!

@ASH-ou4cg

3 жыл бұрын

@@michael69040 That is too bad. My unit was bought second hand, for $100 maybe a year ago? It is still working flawlessly. I immediately replaced the battery and it appears to be an earlier unit, with a date of 1986. I admit, the screen is fading, but in reading around, that is VERY common and one of the only real things I found go wrong on these things. If it died, I would probably get an other however, if the price was right. It just works.

Wow, I don't want to get rid of mine now!

I have a K2000RS (2 actually...I need to swap some parts between them to make one really good one) and you can really see how hand-built they are (by Young Chang, since they bought Kurzweil after the 250) when you open one up. In a way, it kinda looks cheap because things look kinda sloppy compared to automated factory soldered components on smaller scale PCBs, but on the other hand, it looks like it was lovingly made by someone who cared how it all worked...like it was personally made for you. I'm not sure about the later models. One of the best things about early Kurzweils is that they have tutorial videos made by Jordan Rudess, when he was a geeky long-haired (though thinning) guy before he became badass/edgy bald guy w/ facial hair. ;-)

@davetbassbos

3 жыл бұрын

I have a k2000 with the keyboard and I've been meaning to take apart to try to fix some key velocities by cleaning the contacts but am afraid I wouldn't be able to put it back together, lol! The k2000 training video is fantastic because it really communicates how groundbreaking it was and they had a bunch of the engineers talk about it too.

@DarkSideofSynth

3 жыл бұрын

I remember those videos with Jordan. Priceless.

i have it, it sounds great. My favourite are the glass sounds, which you didn't show in this video. it's used a lot in "the big blue", by Eric Serra. " Huacracocha", "second dive" ( piano i think ) , some others ..

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, great sounds indeed.

Food for thoughts. After looking at many "sound modules" of the era, at your channel the question, which ones are unique enough, accours. Most of us are on an budget and taste i personal, but it you invest in one synth what synth should you not invest in? Example. if you have the JV1080 what synths can you skip, as they are too close. If you got the Roland Alpha Juno 2, do you need to invest in the Juno 106? (no not really) If you got a Emax do you need to invest in an Akai sampler etc etc. Maybe an aspect to include in you great videos, as you have been through a lot of them over the years? And yes I know - You always need one more... :)

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Good ideas Anders. I will take this into consideration. :)

@crhkrebs

3 жыл бұрын

Anders, I know you didn't ask others this but may I offer an opinion? Look at the Korg Wavestation A/D module. That will be unique and not overlap capabilities with any of your other synths. I assume Espen would concur.

@anderslarsson6149

3 жыл бұрын

Bowman Stringer Thanks for reaching out. Had an WS EX back in the early 90-ies. The WS as I know it is unique 👍🏻

@pinkglow2402

3 жыл бұрын

Omg YES absolutely this is a brilliant idea!!!! I have faith that Espen has the skills to do it and is up to the task. I started running into this problem recently, buying e-mu proteus modules(after watching espens vids on them hahaha), i got an e-mu ESI32 as well which has some of the same patches but didn’t know that when i bought it. Will you please consider doing this Espen? Maybe to keep the videos short you can put in description which modules are similar & can share patches? For example, e-mu Emax 1 patches work on the Emax II(Just bought Emax II btw, im SUPER EXCITED!!!!! I bought one 3 weeks ago but seller canceled :/ so i bought a slightly broken one lol, i need to clean 2 keys i think Anyways love your videos as always much love for you and the eighties!!!! 😁😁😁💖👾🌺🤩😋😇♊️

@FancyTailAquatics

3 жыл бұрын

I have the JV 880. After that, until you get to a Fantom X, sounds are recycled so much and even then! Check out the Behringer Deepmind 12 as it is a good clone to the Juno 106 if that is your thing? That is a low-cost Synth.

Great video on the Kurzweil but the intro clip and song are just BRILLIANT. You should be Stad's tourism ambassador!!! 🏖 Or maybe you are....🤔

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Many thanks for saying M! :)

When I hear the Strings patch, I always think of Super Mario RPG since Yoko sampled the patch to be used in the game's soundtrack.

Weirdly, I hear a lot of 90s TV theme shows in these sounds, both British, US and Australian (thanks to Amazon Prime, you can hear them all in one day!) ;-)

I remember lusting over the ad normally at the back of music tech mags showing a stack of different KW 2u modules. I never did get around to a Proteus 1 or 2000, only the 2xr & 3 world. Eventually I was lucky to find a KW 1000PX plus from Australia I think & the GX 1000 guitar expander. I've never compared the PX with my 2500 RS rack, though the latter of course is handy for its sampling & KDFX boards etc. I'd like to know if any famous artists, especially 80's used the 1000 series? Even regarding the 2500 rack I can only think of Paul Hardcastle. In my previous now sadly dismantled studio I even attempted copying his famous rack of synths starting with the 2500 at top, then my Korg 01RW (ex Gary Barlow btw!) etc. In some cases I had to do nearest substitutes e.g FS1R for the TX802 I don't own. But there you go!

AWESOME 🤗🤗🤗💗💗💗👍👍👍!!!!....

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Marius!

Instant Robert Miles vibes when I hear the Kurz piano.

@DmitryGorbushin

3 жыл бұрын

The vast majority of sounds on the Children came from Kurzweil. I would say 90% of the first album is K2000.

EK-007 love it!!

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

You have a good eye. ;-)

I'd love to see you do a review of the Kurzweil PC2R Espen. ❤

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

Don't have one. ;-)

Italian last 80s/90s erotic movies had soundtrack with similar sounds! :D

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Hah, nice! ;-)

Espen I just aquired this free i love the 'iano i hope you use more

@EspenKraft

2 жыл бұрын

Congrats! This PX was never mine so it has returned to its owner some time ago.

Hi there. Thanks for uploading this video. In fact, I had an actual Kurzweil keyboard that just was getting old and so bought a 1000px just like this one to go with a brand new piano for the midi. How did you set up the expander from the back of the expander box? mine comes on and I can select the different voices like you were showing but no sound. DId you plug audio in or out or midi in, thru, or out? thanks

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Midi out of a master keyboard into midi in of the 1000px. Audio out of the 1000px into a mixer or audio interface. That's it.

Thanks for making this video. It helped me to decide to get a 1000 PX Plus. But I found some info as I did research. Your model must have the PXAB expansion sound blocks. So a basic PX 1000 would not have the Flute, Rhodes Piano, Electric Bass, Drums. I was lucky to find a PX Plus but someone could buy an unexpanded PX and be disappointed that it didn't have the extra sounds. The good news is that company is reproducing the chips. I'm curious if your PX has the guitar and harp samples?

@EspenKraft

9 ай бұрын

This isn't mine and it got returned to its owner a long time ago. Don't remember what was in there. ;-)

The 1000 series was supposed to be a more 'affordable' way to have access to the great quality K250 sounds. Even though over $2k, they cost only about 10-15% of what a K250 cost.

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

It was incredibly expensive.

I have K-1200 keyboard (88 keys) and it contains all 1000px sounds + more. Negative to all K1000 series is lack of filter (no filter of any kind), no individual audio outs (1x stereo only), no onboard effects and sometimes very noticable aliasing when transposing (especially on strings and choir). K-1200 has sluggish MIDI timing.

I have just bought a Kurzweil K2600xs a few months ago to replace my alesis Qs8.1. The sounds on it are out of this world! the pianos are to die for, But i am not to sure if kurzweil stuff is geared for the dance, techno market. Like Korg etc. I maybe wrong.

@pinkglow2402

3 жыл бұрын

Hey what do you like about the k2600xs? There was one for sale locally for about $650 that the girl said “booted up slowly”, and i felt like i should have bought it but wasn’t sure if it was any good cuz id never heard of the 2600 or used kurzweil gear. Im still subliminally kicking myself for not getting it, i feel like i might have missed out? What does it do well? Would i be better getting the k2600xs or one of these racks?

@procta2343

3 жыл бұрын

@@pinkglow2402 If you want really realistic sounding pianos, then the K2500/K2600 is the one, also some other sounds are very realistic like the wind, brass and organ sounds too. For the heads up, The beegees used a k2500xs and so did new order, So they are very solid bits of kit and were very expensive too new at the time, if fully loaded with the full spec. Have a google on the k2500 xs and the k2600xs

@raimondnu3

3 жыл бұрын

All you need to do is dirty the sound up a little, sidechain the melody off the kick, reverb and set at 128BPM (BPM based on which dance genre you doing). Now this is with me assuming you using a DAW

Even if you didn't run everything through the Strymon, you would still made it all sound like gold. ;)

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

There's no Strymon here, but thanks anyways. ;-)

Have you done anything on the Kurz K2000? Remember when that baby came out? It was supposed to be THE synth to end all synths, having EVERY synth engine possible. Or, how bout the Kawai K5000? Man, I'm having so much fun on your channel remembering all these great expenditures of my parents' money, lol...Bless 'em!

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Not done anything on the channel, but done tons of music with it back in the day. Used it for a couple of years in the mid 90s, the K2500 too. Very good workhorses, but used them mainly for samples, not so much the synth engine. I've always used samplers way more than synths. ;-)

@thegood9

3 жыл бұрын

@@EspenKraft yep, the k2 and k25 were amazing instruments for the time. I had a friend who was a recording artist in NYC (Jennifer Rush) and saw she had a Fairlight, it was over...I could see all the potential. when computer based sampling came along...everything changed!

I used to own every synth modules made by EMU, except maybe for the voices, synth and the B3 where the Vintage keys sounded better (not the OB patch thought this one sounded great), the rest especially the piano really sound better than my Proteus'ss. I still miss my vintage keys passing through my Boss SE70 though, boy that was something.

The 1000 series costed a fortune back then. Great studio quality. People who did film scores bought these.

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

They sure did.

Beautiful sound can u stack or split. Gr8 demo

@MarkAnthony5150

2 жыл бұрын

That verb wow so lush makes this really come alive.

magic sound

might i suggest the yamaha TG55 as a good candidate for an episode? it's a very interesting thing, not very easy to program from the front panel, but a little easier to use now that there's a sysex patch editor for CTRLR. there's also a custom waveform card you can get for it in the same style as the wavestation's waverex, but it's a bit too expensive for me to justify getting.

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Sure, just send one to me and I'll do a video. ;-)

@Wazoox

3 жыл бұрын

The TG77. It's mighty. 6-op FM + AWM. The best of 90's Yamaha.

Can someone tell me the name of the patch at 4.25? Would love those samples for my Nord Stage.

I wish Kurzweil were just more widely distributed so that sales and support were better, which has been shockingly poor here in the UK. Having repaired a few vintage Kurzweil key actions myself, the acrylic escapements are usually brittle and prone to snapping, so avoid machines with busted keys unless you have spares and expect failures if they don’t.

@dbefore7165

3 жыл бұрын

They have the worst marketing dept in the world

Thanks for great review & inspiration!! I am looking for that module right now and want to be sure - those drum sounds in the track - are they all from that module and every 1000PX has them ?

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

When I state that all sounds are from this module, I mean it. ;-) Cheers

@bartekpersich5852

3 жыл бұрын

​@@EspenKraft Don't underestimate the power of statement by Espen Kraft :-) I was asking because someone complained that he bough one and It doesn't include some of the drum sound that he heard in some demo. Probably he heard the demo of module that has PXA and PXB expansions k1000.net/basics.htm. Thanks once again for inspirations and great work. All the best.

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

In my demo, I mix and master the music to the best of my pro ability. I also use effects like reverb, chorus and delay. Many of the drums here have been treated with a classic 80s gated reverb (lots of it) and of course it does not sound like this straight out of the module, nor do I claim that. This IS a standard 1000PX btw. ;-)

@bartekpersich5852

3 жыл бұрын

@@EspenKraft I got hooked on those percussion sounds in particular because they remind me somehow drums from my fav "Ministry" song "The Angel". Probably they were using a lot of Fairlight on this album (Twitch 1986) but I felt some "vibe" similarity. kzread.info/dash/bejne/eqGYssqaZJjKnNo.html

Hi, Espen! I see you still use your Audient id22. I’m thinking about upgrade of my audio interface. I was interested in id22 but I read about problem with some of the components in it - something inside the unit melt over time causing death of the device after 3-4 years of usage. Thread on Gearslutz about this problem takes 8 pages. Do you have any problem with your device or do you have any ideas how to deal with this problem? I also thinking about apogee duet and uad arrow, what do you think about them? Duet looks good idea but I’m not sure about reliability of their cable with in and outs, what do you think about this? UAD Arrow is very limited in terms of plugins cause it has only one of their chip, but Twins X duo cost almost double price of Arrow and still not usable for mixing with their plugins, so is arrow good enough to use it without plugins or maybe with one or two plugin (something like ssl Chanel Strip and la-2a compressor for example)? Sadly, RME stuff cost much more in Russia and buying in foreign internet shops is not an option, because shipment and custom payments negates all benefits.

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Well, I've had two ID22s for longer than that now and they always work. Never had any problems with any of them. You do get converters that sound better, but you'd have to pay a lot more so it's really a cost ratio at play here. I don't record acoustic instruments or record at high frequencies so it's more down to connectivity and driver latency that might get me to throw out my Audients in the future.

@duranduran287

3 жыл бұрын

Espen Kraft Thanks for your response

I like the sound of your reverb, Espen. What is it?

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! It's Valhalla VintageVerb. No hardware at all ;-)

i used this thing to death for its newage piano preset till i sampled it.

I have one of this unit. What effect unit are you running thru in the video? Strymon Bigsky?

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Only Valhalla VintageVerb throughout. Different custom programs.

Great!! What reverb you used for the sounds?

@EspenKraft

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Valhalla VintageVerb on all the sounds. Some custom presets.

Interesting, I recognize the string and choir samples, but I can’t quite recall where I’ve heard them exactly.

@Gazdatronik

3 жыл бұрын

The choir is from rocko's modern life, that I recognize