Kawai K4: 💸 $300 Forgotten Digital Dream Synth Might Be The Best For Lofi!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ม.ค. 2024
- THIS SYNTH SOUNDS SO GOOD! In the late 80's there was an arms race to make the best Digital Synthesizer at the lowest cost. The Roland D-50, Korg M1 and Yamaha SY-77 are all incredible entries into this list but for some reason the Kawai K4 gets passed over a lot. In this livestream we're checking out one of the most affordable and incredible sounding digital synthesizers of all time.
►Vintage Digital Pad Sample Pack: vultureculture.live/products/...
►My Chorus / Reverb Plugin (free for a limited time!): vultureculture.live/pages/ink...
►ROLAND D-50 PATCH LIBRARY: vultureculture.live/products/...
►VINTAGE DRUM SAMPLES: vultureculture.live/products/...
►SYNTH PLAYLIST: • SYNTHESIZERS - Vintage...
#vst #vstplugins #synth #synths #vintagesynth #synthesizer #analogsynth #musicproduction #sounddesign #sequencer #keyboardsounds #vintagesynthesizer #analogsynthesizer #synthwave #electronicmusic #80ssynth #freesynthplugin #musictechnology #retrosound #freepresets
#kawai #k4 #roland #d50 #korg #m1 #yamaha #sy77 - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
I got one some five years ago for about 200 euros. Someone added different patches to it. Just phenomenal, sounds fantastic. I love it. Enjoyed this!
It's truly a phenomenal and underrated instrument
I had one of these back in the day. I purchased it new, for my first home studio: Kawai K4, Alesis MMT-8, Alesis HR-16, Tascam Porta 04, bass, guitars, etc. I lost one of the master cassette tapes full of tunes I’d made with that setup 😢, but managed to digitize another.
I wanted a Korg M1 badly, but just couldn’t afford it. Those were the days. Got out of the home studio thing for quite a while and am now way back in, and kind of wish I had it back. I guess I could get a K4r 😅.
What a could setup! I bet you could make some rocking tunes with that!
@@VultureCulture Well, I definitely put my best effort in anyway 😅.
No words. A digital dream.
It truly is!
OMFG is that a gorgeous sounding synth...
I know at the time I started getting into music this was already well past its prime, but several industrial bands had talked about using some Kawai synths as well as the JD-800 that I was living through with you the other day. But that opening pad.... good lord is this thing beautiful... settling in with some popcorn...
I'm glad you're enjoying the stream. I've done videos on the Kawai K3, K5000s and JD-800 if you're interested in watching 🖤
The Emu proteus 1 set the standard for real acoustic natural sounds and the Emu proteus 2 was the defacto module for Orchestral sounds.
The Kawai k4 was a real hybrid digital synth with some acoustic wave and digital cyclic waves with a little grit and aliasing noise in the samples, but when combined together with that monster resonant filter, beautiful sounds and dreamy atmospheric pads could be made.Kawai expanded on this with the Kawai K5000.
Yes, but for me, the k5000 lost the magic.
This is a special one:) Grateful this beauty got a spotlight✨
Such an underrated synth!
As far as I can tell, the K4 seems to be a supercharged K1 (as noted in the video), according to the guy who made the K1v VST, the K4 still has 8 bit samples, with a funny 8 bit + 8 bit (stitched together to make 16 bits) for the sounds that need clarity. Chuck in a resonant filter and effects, and boom!
I swaped my K4R for a vintage Mini Moog model D in 1998 :)
What a deal!!
I got the K4R a few months ago, and I love it! With the 4 independent layers I can create a wide range of cool, crunchy sounds! I currently have a Korg Poly61 with the tubbutec midi mod on the way too! Super stoked!
That's a great combo of analog warmth and digital beauty!
Yes now can you avoid the temptation of selling it off or trading it off.
Just keep it ! Tell yourself it was a gift that can't be easily replaced.
Well that is unless some one with very deep pockets comes along and says I'll give you $2000 for it right now ?
Then Id say go & re_ listen
to John Cougar Melloncamp singing, a lil
ditty about Jack & Diane
Did you get it yet ? Go on
take the money & Run uh
ouh uh. In the Heartland.
But remember to have them sign a note saying sold as is condition like new, good or the truth is always best.
Very good, paint slightly worn but all functions work perfectly. With one small blemish. Enjoy it as much as I have.
Hey dude thanks for that vid! I'm really sold on that synth
I'm glad you enjoyed it! 🙏🙏
I had a K4R in my youth. Such a classic.
One of my all time favorite digital synths!
Lemon showed up to remind you to drink your absinthe, haha! She knows what's up.
It's so cool that you found all those historical documents about the absinthe ingredients! I have a bottle of La Muse Verte Pastis that I have been rationing, haha.
Used to have a K4! Like I used to have a K1 as well. I think I miss the K1 more. The K4 is really cool but those awesome grungy sounds just speak to me more. Now to check out the K11! :)
Found online*** lol
It's not like I went backpacking through Pontarlier knocking on cottage doors asking to look through people's alcoholic grandpa's old notes.
That's awesome that you have La Muse! I haven't tried it!
No doubt the K1 is pure digital grime. An unadulterated industrial machine.
@@VultureCulture LOL, still appreciated nonetheless.
I think La Muse is my favorite - both the standard La Muse Verte and the more upscale Pastis.
I'm all about that digital industrial grime!
Kawai have the Midas touch. Their pianos too. Mr Kawai was a student of Yamaha in the early days, so I heard. Great demo as always. Thank you 🙏👊
You're very welcome!
Haha. "Nothing's more 80s than the early 90s"
Great stream. I look forward to seeing you again.
Absolutely!
How's life up in Chillicothe?
4:54 lmao!! "I hate that!!" :DD
KAWAI's were amazing lush huge sounding boards similar to Korgs, no one ever talks about them... I had a couple.
Which ones do you have?
Using multi layering you can achieve amazing fat and thick sounds, good warm brass and very full string ensembles, using external hardware DSP or plugins you can achieve incredible sounds
Nice intro, dude! I'm glad you mentioned the Proteus in regards to comparing this. I've wanted to add a late 80s/early 90s digital synth to the studio for a few years, and I'm basically between; do I get a full keyboard or a rack mount? I've always leaned towards a Proteus rack unit, but you're selling me with that keyboard XD I am surprised that generally the price on both have not risen at the same rate other synths have.
Hey King! 👋
I have a video checking out my Proteus MPS + Orchestral on stream: th-cam.com/users/liveAMq7JTK89ps?si=dxiVrTSnxLOHjwkv
The idea that vintage synths are *very expensive* and require constant upkeep is mostly a myth, except for like 10 famous synths that are insanely pricey lol.
I’ve got a Proteus 2000 rack, and while it is very programmable from the front panel I would not call it “enjoyable” (doesn’t help that mine is half hidden behind a modular case, and surrounded by MIDI cables). The keyboard would be super fun. Very powerful synth design. I need to try the programming app, if it supports modern MacOS. Too many irons in the fire.
@mike.thomas always wanted to check out the Proteus 2500 for those hands on controls
@@VultureCulture oh geez, thanks a lot. I was blissfully unaware of that thing until now 😂 💸
Sorry I missed the live stream on this.... Yes, yes, I used to pine away for one of these synths as well!
Finally... when saving up for the K-4 (because I could not afford a D-50 or M1) I got a postcard in the mail from Roland announcing they were blowing out their D-50s for $1000! So I went ahead and ended up with a D-50...wondering if anyone else here got a postcard deal D-50? This would have been about 1989.
What a deal!!
I’ve made a controller for the Kawai K4R on the Electra One (a physical device with knobs and a screen) recently. Every time you change a patch it automatically dumps the sysEx from the Kawai so you get to see how the sound was made. There are some nice quirks to the K4 I exploited calling it ‘dynamic notes’: each time you press a note it changes the chosen wave per layer or resonance setting per filter. This gives it another angle of creativity. Somebody with a K4 could further build on my work and add the necessary controls for the FX section.
That would be epic to check out on the channel!
@@VultureCulture sure, why not
Hey dude that sound so interesting! Please share it somewhere would love to know more about that!
Love to see a video on this. Thanks.
@user-vn1gf6sq5o glad you enjoyed it 🙏
And just like that this will be snatched up by everyone
hahaha I just checked and there's still a bunch sub $400
I just bought my second one for $230. I'll receive it in a few days. I bought one from a pawn shop in 1995. I owned that one for about 10 years. I'm going back and rediscovering my old work that requires some rework. Hence, the reason for me to buy another one. I had my first one cleaned many times from dust build up causing dead keys. I can't believe I got it so darn cheap.
That's freaking awesome!
@@VultureCulture Dude, this thing plays like a dream. I don't know if I realized it the first time I owned one. I've just gotten it integrated into my setup. Everything is working perfectly.
@jerrymarkhamhaulndiecast love to hear it!
When you experiencing MIDI lags, check your firmware version (hold system key while powering up). Latest one is 1.4. Release notes refer to the improvement of MIDI communication besides stability and bug fixes. Upgrade is changing one EPROM.
Thank you for the info 🙏🙏
Nice rompler to compose the lo-fiish synth-pop, dream punk, mall-soft, cinematic soundtrack, empty factory ambient, etc. )) And those orchestra ensemble sounds reminds me the samples from some of the SNES games (mostly the JRPGs).
P.S. Not bad playing in traditional Japanese scale =)
I am particularly nostalgic for that SNES sound
For me, the Kawai K4 has sounds that are still valid and useful for any musical production today. I have been using it for a long time, as a keyboard for live covers and versions, and for musical production with the rest of my synths. However, it is Note that some sounds definitely sound really bad, in terms of original fidelity, emulation quality, but they can be modified for something more useful, there are already some modest sampled versions out there, which could be useful in a DAW, but I prefer it in hardware, since I sold it twice and it came back to me a third time, the twists and turns that life takes
I always liked the K1 more, it was Kawai's great success, competing well, equaling the D50, it was inspired by the D-50 and to a large extent it was a perfect synthesizer for new age and ambient music of the 80s.
The K4 is all this upgraded to 16 bits and digital filter that you don't have in K1.
This is probably the biggest difference between the K4 and the K1 and possibly their biggest contribution to digital synthesis.
I sold my K4, to get my Kawai K5000S, it is my definitive ambient machine.
The module version costs 300 dollars, the keyboard is for about 500 dollars and up.
The k5000 is amazing, I used to have one. It was wayyy too complicated for me to understand sadly lol
@@VultureCulture I was about to make the mistake of taking the K5000W without controls on the panel, but they recommended the K5000S with knobs for parameter control that makes life a little easier to manage and I bought it.
The Wizoo book helped me a lot, thanks to this I can use it instantly. 😅👍
www.deepsonic.ch/deep/docs_manuals/kawai_k5000_wizoo_2_of_2.pdf
The Warmth patch sounds amazing and it definitely sounds like it may be inspired with the JX8P Soundtrack patch, along with the filter opening up on aftertouch/mod-wheel so you can play intro to Forever Young by Alphaville, which Soundtrack is purportedly a recreation of (originally played on Roland Jupiter 8 presumably). As for the Glassy Piano, in my opinion DX7II still sound miles ahead. Kawai sample-based sound is static and repetitive in comparison, misses the variation and rich texture of DX (a feature to some, an annoyance to others), and doesn't really reproduce those incomparable FM dynamics. That being said, these can be found for as little as 130$ depending on your region (though that may change thanks to your video) and are worth if at least for those few really interesting sounds (mainly pads and voices), not-too-shabby onboard effects for the era, and really nice keybed.
Yeah, that was my perception, that the FM was close but the lack of FM velocity doesn't sell it the same way. But some of the pads are unbelievably good.
@@VultureCulture Totally agree.
I had both keyboard versions back in the day (K1 and K4 when they were new) Now I have the K1rII, K1m and K4r. I can answer a couple questions: Both synths had 32 oscillators, with the potential of 16 and 8 voice polyphony while in SINGLE mode (two or four oscillators in the COMMON controls this.) Why would you do this? When you combine two identical patches in a multi the synth will engage a stereo chorus that slowly ping pongs. The K1 can do this as well.
I heard you say that you were thinking about getting rid of the K1, don't! I'd swear they designed them to be run with both connected together in like a MIDI loop. (Check out below when you have time.)
Great video man!!! Brought back memories cause my K4r doesn't have the FX... But I use plugins to recreate them.
--------------------------
More tech stuf: (for you to check out when you have more time)
So you can make 2 source (osc) single patches and take advantage of the chorusing in MULTI mode. While zoning where you want those at. Both Keyboards can split and layer with dynamic voice allocation 8 sounds giving you 16 part multi-timbrality using both keyboards used together.
I got the K1 at the tail end of 1988 and tried out the K4 in 1989 and longed for its filters as well as its effects. I didn't discover the 'auto chorus' in multi's until after I got my K4 in 1991. I gigged with those keys for years. I would make patches on both synths at the same time so that the two would compliment eachother. That's really the secret with them. Make 2 source sounds on both synths that compliment eachother, saved under the same MIDI bank so that when you change sounds on one it changes on the other. And then build your MULTI patches acordingly. You get the best of both worlds as far as the auto chorusing on both synths while keeping full polyphony.
I would use midi channels 1-8 for the K1 and 9-16 for the K4. I would have the main midi channels on both set to the same so that they were syncronized. Doing this gave me 16 zones to pick and choose which patches went for midi sequencing on Cakewalk 2.0 for DOS. And sounds that I ment to be linked together I just keep on MIDI channel 1 on both.
When you use them both to make sounds at the same time (even making multi's on both chosing sounds as elements on both to create the final sound your going after) plus you have 512 waves and they are different enough to really feel like having twice as many wave forms. Then you can adjust the velocity on either one to make the sound from one or the other to come to the foreground or background. As well as auto chorusing on both at the same time is an experience you have to share.
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-UT_3XGWQZCvWEAxBfyD_f1yQ9rSWHpj?usp=sharing
Here is me using my K1m with the Studiologic Sledge (as my K4 how I used to use it.)
But you can hear the auto chorusing. I was doing a paper on Additive Synthesis, and using multiple synthesizers to compsitely create new sounds. I didn't have a mic set up at the time. And these are kind of demonstration videos of a concept. I do show how to set up the auto chorusing which is done the same way on the K4. But now knowing how the K4 sounds you can see how the two would work together well using the joystick to move the K1'unflitered tones spatially while the K4 provides the lush backdrop. Sorry for the really long post. Hope it makes a case for you keeping both.
What a wealth of knowledge!
I Like that synth.
Wonderful synth! Got a k4 last year for my first synth. $150 with some broken keys and tlc needed, I restored it and use it every day now
That's awesome! Any other synths on your horizon?
@@VultureCulture oh yeah! I've since gotten a kawai k1, a kawai phm module, and a couple other sound modules :D
Yeaa .... really cool rompler with magic reso filters) It’s a pity that the effects block was cut in the rack version
Definitely! The FX are actually really good!
Probably the assumption was that people who’d use it in a rack anyways use external FX. For the keyboard it was not an option to cut cost - FX when demoing instruments sounds so much bigger than dry: One of the reasons why many VST sounds are drenched in FX. Regarding the programmability: it is quite fine with open source editors such as EDISYN (cross platform), and even fun with hardware editors such as from Stereoping.
This can be said about any synthesizer that it can probably be used with external effects. But, for example, in the Roland JD-990, JV-1080, etc., the effects remained, despite the fact that these are rack versions. In Kawai, factory presets without effects sound empty and unconvincing, so it’s stupid to leave the same factory bank, which is castrated in sound and which was designed for playback with native effects@@ollikru
@@EuroDJ Yeah, really a pity!
I liked the keys very much: after touch, and release velocity.
Crazy how fully featured this synth is! And Korg can't put aftertouch on a WaveState lol
We need kawai to release a New K4 synth with a killer sequencer on board. This thing has such a nice warm analog sounding filter with resonance wow😅
As a matter of fact they should make a Q80EX TYPE OF Unit with a 32 track128 note polyphony with the K4/5000 engine on it.
Id be the first in line to buy it $$$
Me too!
There’s a K4 on sale for $200 down the street for me. I’ve been dying to grab it. I just picked up a K1r, the model with 4 individual outs, which I had never seen. So far I’m loving the k1 and looking for more Kawai gear.
$200 is sick if you can snag it!
The group Shadowfax used one of these. In 1989, they won a grammy for best new age album, "Folksongs for a Nuclear Village."
Awesome to know!
People are starting to get hip to how great Kawai’s vintage synths are I think.
I hope so!
@@VultureCulture I think you and some other folks have done a great job of putting them out there!
Recently I ran into a Kawai K1 free VST, and was quite impressed. For me it's got a great balance between overly realistic of M1 and overly pseudo-analog of D-50. Since K4 has added effects and resonant filter compared to K1, I'd really love to get my hand on one.
It's a real treat. Just insane value for less than $400
the k1 vst is so choice
I have the rack mount versions of the K1 and the K4. Lots of modulation possibilities.
Very cool synths!
Any other good rackmount synths I should check out?
Very nice.
Does anyone have any of this synth sounds sampled for Kontakt that might be willing to share or sell ?
This was my first "real" synth. It was ok. I got a D-50 a little later and I recall liking the keyed a LOT better. Recently found one in my local music go round and the keybed is actually better than my MODX+
I'm surprised, I just walked over to both my D50 and K4 and felt the keybeds were remarkably similar.
@@VultureCulture If I recall, they were close, but I distinctly liked the D50 better. Both had aftertouch - before it became "premium" :)
@ckatheman technically the K4 has release velocity too which the D-50 doesn't have. Crazy!
@@VultureCulture I didn't know that (I was in high school at the time so I didn't pay too much attention to the specs) - I always liked that "JungleLife" patch - totally unusable, but was fun to show off. I also bought the Q80 sequencer my senior year, but couldn't wrap my head around it.
I LOVE K4
I cannot remember how much I paid for my K4 around 2014. I got it mainly because it came with a couple of memory cards that would work in my Kawai XD-5. (Used memory cards were so expensive that it made sense to get a synth on the side.)
Nice! Yeah those memory cards are expensive!
Just made an offer on one of these. Lets see where it goes. What is the camera setup that pan around during the video?
I use a motorized slider to move the camera during the stream
Cant believe how many Kawaii sounds I recognised from the early 90s.
Such an iconic synth!
How to find these tones you use in Kawai k4?
I don't know what you mean? They're just the presets the synth comes with
Eurodance and Techno Synth
This video remained me i have a K4r in a box somewhere. Not played it for at least 30 years. Never got around to throwing it out lol.
Please do not throw it out!!
@@VultureCulture oh god no, im not about to do that. I gave up playing keys for the past 30 years, went to bass, but im now back and realise the synth world hasn’t really moved on lol.
@@davebassP5 🤣😂👍
@davebassP5 it has - I haven't 😂
There's a free of charge software emulation of the K1 around. Have you tested it, and what do you think of it?
I haven't tested it, but the demo's I've heard are spot freaking on!
Moreover, the same developer all but promises/promised to also develop a K4 emulation, which he's already started, having been donated a K4R unit and already dumped/analyzed its PCM ROM (which is the source of the claim reiterated in this video that part of the K4 PCM is actually only 8-bit resolution).
@@VultureCulture + also @ShallRemainUnknown, thank to both of you for your quick replies! This is excellent news indeed. Now I am very curious about virtual K1+K4.
if you had to rate the K3, K4, K5000 for your own preference which one would be first and witch one would be last?
Probably K3 first, then the K4 and then the K5000.
The analog filter / additive synthesis combo of the K3 is so unique. I really love the K4. I sold my K5000s, it was a very deep synth I couldn't dedicate the time to learning, tragically.
@@VultureCulture Glad to hear this as I got a K3 for cheap a while back, and just bought a $200 K4 which I should arrive next week. Really wanted the K5000 instead because of the programming depth but the price difference (200 vs 1000) sold me on the K4. Really enjoying your channel and takes. Quality stuff!
@marekrosinski3025 glad you're enjoying the videos! 🙏
Haven't seen one of these up for sale around here, for a very long time. Guessing the owners/users have grown very attached to theirs. 😅
They're very very cool so I wouldn't be surprised.
Could you make a chapter of the e-mu proteus /1 or the korg x5dr
th-cam.com/video/bubheZZrEn4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=yIMkAHzvWoCgcQ8z
Thanks for causing the price of the K4 to inflate.😢 I have the K4r along with the TG77 and D550 in my rack. I hope the XD5 doesn’t go up in price as well. I’ve been looking for one.
I just checked and thankfully the prices are still low 😅
What a sick rack!
Ahoi! I purchased a K4 back in the early 90s. After playing with it for a couple of weeks it left me disappointed. My only reference at the time was my Juno 6 which I loved from the get-go. The K4 just felt and sounded cheap,.like a plastic toy. It didn't feel like I was playing a real musical instrument. Its limited physical UI didn't inspire me to explore and create. I was only browsing the factory programs.
Funny how it is. No doubt the Juno is amazing, but I love the shit out of the way this synth sounds!
You know that Stereoping controller you have works for the K4 too, right? Maybe you can stream the Stereoping controller editing all your synths it works with? The Matrix 6, the K1, K3, K4, the SX-240, the JX-3P, Alpha Juno, DW-8000, SQ-80, etc. One controller to rule them all!!! You’d have to do some SysEx dumps in stream but it’s quick. Also you’d have to get the overlays or just print them out for reference.
That's fucking awesome! I did not know that
For $300 that’s pretty crazy
Insane!
5 years ago, i bought mine for 120€!
Nice! Any other vintage faves?
@@VultureCulture
SH 101, MS 20; MICROWAVE is good too, but very expensive. I have bought mine for 1600€
The poor man's M1 but nevertheless a forgotten synth of some sonic ability.
Nowadays I think I prefer the lower fidelity character of the K4. Just such a cool sounding instrument.
I don’t think there’s any similarity to the m1 whatsoever but 🤷🏻
Yeah, I got a K4 because I couldn’t afford an M1. I have very fond memories of the K4. Shoulda kept it :-)
some pianos of k4 sounds really good, but it does not have a good rhodes or wurly piano emulation, but rather a very weak approximation to that sound
I'm not convinced by the pianos either lol. I just don't think that's this synth's strength.
No one could beat the M1. And when you hear the M1 you will see why.
I still prefer the K4 - although I'll admit that the M1 does a few types of patches better than anything else
Really? I’m on the verge of purchasing a k4 right now because I’m looking for something comparable to the D-50 or m1 without dropping 1200$, you recommend k4?
You can get a D 50 for $450 around. @@Jesoteric
@@JesotericBuy the K4, then buy the M1 & D50 VSTs.
@@dare2win215 I already have them
Anyone here who would like to donate or sell me the factory sounds for my K4? The little on board battery died and took all my sounds and voices with it. If I can even leave a deposit, I'd send them back after copying the sounds off the cards. I do not have a computer or I'd download the voices from a Sysex(?) file. I'm using my Android phone for everything right now and have no personal computer, just the free desktops at the public library. Any ideas to help get my minty K4 back to factory sounds would be great. Thanks.
You might be able to use something like this to use your phone to load the patches: www.sweetwater.com/c1224--USB_Cables?highlight=USBCtoMiniDin&mrkgadid=&mrkgcl=28&mrkgen=&mrkgbflag=&mrkgcat=&acctid=21700000001645388&dskeywordid=&lid=58700008506025409&dsproductgroupid=&product_id=USBCtoMiniDin&prodctry=US&prodlang=en&channel=online&storeid=&device=c&network=x&matchtype=&adpos=largenumber&locationid=9012032&creative=&targetid=&campaignid=20442635221&awsearchcpc=&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-r-vBhC-ARIsAGgUO2AMnQEOi3yG2n7V0IvhjaLuZoTd8jAo7z0CkrotPDPx9bdYiyz9PsUaAur4EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
Back in the day the K1 and K2 were the poor mans "synth". But you could not compete against the M1, no one could. People jumped from the D50 to the M1, and then the Proteus 1. Back then people were playing live a lot. If you had a Kaway lying around it was good, but they were never that keyboard you end up wanting.
The reality is that the Korg M1 had way better sounds. And when playing live You could have the E-MU Proteus 1 with 32 notes polyphony and 16 parts. The best part is that you could use the auxiliary outputs of the Proteus as inserts, so you could connect Your D-50 or M1 to the Proteus while controlling it so you could layer both and use just one or two inputs in the console. It was glory!
So, it is not that the K4 was bad, there just were better options by far.
I totally understand why back then the K1 and K4 sounded underpowered.
Nowadays I love that less clean, less hifi sound and both boards have some incredibly characteristic sounds.
Any favorite, lesser known synths from back then?
You're not taking into account that K4 could do significant things that D50 and M1 could not, PLUS the MSRP was about $500/$1200 LOWER than both, respectively. It also had much more advanced engine than Proteus, both 32-oscillator, and same MSRP (rack).
@VultureCulture I used to have a Kawai K1. It was my first actual synth. It was used a lot by The Dream Academy, listen to their albums and they are all Kawai K1. From that era... actually before the K1 I loved the Roland D5 because it had an arpeggiator and I was crazy about it because I was a Depeche Mode fan. But back in the day your prime synth was a Korg M1 that took over the D-50 that took over the DX-7 (for live shows). Korg basically took over the industry. The Roland D-70 came out which I have one and is amazing! 76 keys, but a bit too big for gigs. Everybody wanted the M1 piano.
Then, you had E-MU, the Proteus 1 ate everybody because of the polyphony, sound quality and being able to use the auxiliary outputs as inserts.
In Studio, people used to have Emax 1 Sampler, then Emax II rack. The Roland S-10 was sort of a joke and then the S-50 was very popular. Remember, people used to have a mac classic or an Atari St for sequencing but no audio, for sound effects you had your samplers.
And then the Kurzweil K2000 came out, with onboard sounds, sampling and effects. Parallel the Ensoniq ASR-10 came with sampling and effects. The Emax II was replaced because of the lack of onboard effects. But the Emax II Turbo (internal hard drive) was popular for live shows because it was reliable, had several audio outs and the actual power was all the midi implementation which is the menu on the right. People say the Emax line sounds "analog" and stuff but only braindead fools say that. The reality was the Midi matrix and the reliable sequencer. You were able to assign any midi function to any individual key/sample. You could move the blender and affect the filter of any key and the other wheel to control the volume of another key and then you had the pedals and after-touch... per key! THAT is what made the Emax line so popular and you see them in every concert. Akai didn't have that.
But then you had the Yamaha with the SY line which was Amazing! I remember testing my Kawai K1 at the store and having a Yamaha SY 77 below... that was a serious synth. Then Korg came up with the 01W which was actually an M10 but the story goes that they wrote the name on a piece of paper and the CEO read it in backwards. And then the T series and the Wavestation. Kawai had a lot of competition.
got one in my loft if any one wants to make me an offer?
- South Manchester
Bladerunner
yassss
Love your videos, but I think John Paul Jones just cringed…😉😆
✌🏻😎🎹🌴🌞
when roland v synth!!!
I would love to check one out! A lot of people have been asking for that and the K2000
@@VultureCulture yeet
It was noisier than an MT-32!
I don't know about that! That is one noisy lil sampler!
I’ve never played Kawai
Such underrated synthesizers!
shave the chin ponytail