Kurzweil K2000S

When my beloved ESQ-1 died, several people recommended this as a replacement/upgrade based on my criteria of needing a sequencer and a synth capable of good fx-type sounds as well as basses/leads/etc.- and it had to make a good keyboard controller for the rest of my setup as well. Does it fit the bill? Hell yes, and then some. I actually think I would still prefer the ESQ's keys, but only by a small margin, and I wouldn't say these are bad at all. Probably just due to the fact that I had that thing so long.

As a synth, all I can say is "wow." Yeah, it can do analog-style waveform+filter stuff, but the real treat here is all the crazy digital waveshaping stuff it can do- and all the crazy ways you can control/modulate that stuff. There is definitely a lot of button-pressing and menu navigation involved in programming this beast, but the interface is fairly intuitive, and the payoff is worth it.

The sequencer is equally cool, and is full of nice little touches like the ability to copy data between songs, and to trigger sequences from the keyboard. It's also incredibly easy to use given the tiny screen.

The biggest downer here is the onboard effects, which are not great (the reverb is especially bad), though the chorus is usable at least.

programs for the K2000:
sg-k2000prgs1 - 20 programs created with the standard ROM waves. These programs were saved to a PC from the K2000 using Tangentcats' freeware VAST Programmer (cross-platform Java app, see below for link).




hidden random DSP function:

You may be aware of the undocumented "random DSP function"- if not, read about it here (to get to it, use the following button sequence: Master->Util->unlabeled soft button->Quick Access). Below are a few I've found so far, with quick notes about the sound:

59-19-43-194 - distortion, mono

232-59-191-88 - slight dist, stepping w/data slider, poly

140-168-238-108 - dist, increase w/data, poly

63-204-33-218 - crazy dist w/multiple keys

91-116-125-36 - data slider oddness

151-171-178-242 - more data slider oddness

Eventually I will update this list.

K2000 pong:

Master->Util->unlabeled soft button->Setup


K2000 links:

VAST Programmer (patch editor)
Kurzweil official K2000 pages
K2000 @ Vintage synth Explorer
The Complete K2000 @ Sweetwater
CF card drives etc for Kurzweil synths
The Kurzweil Launch Pad Directory
Kurzweil forums @ SonikMatter