Kurzweil K3000XS due out soon, I believe.

[Toddskins]

I wrote an Email to Kurzweil asking them if they had any intentions of releasing a new flagship workstation. I told them their competition seems to release a new board every year or two, and they have not done anything for 6 years.

I got a response almost immediately, as follows:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hi Todd,

Thanks for your email, and your support of our products. I, too, owned
a K2500XS for a couple of years before I bought my first K2600XS. To answer your question, yes - there will be a K3000, but that's about all I can say about it. It will be awesome, amazing, and definitely raise the bar (again)
in the keyboard world. I wish I could say more, but loose lips sink
keyboard companies, or something like that.

C.J. Lewis
U.S. Product Specialist, Kurzweil Music Systems
HQ Voicemail / 253.589.3580 x 302
Mobile phone / 303.489.6284
Home office / 303.927.7172
Email / sales@kurzweilmusicsystems.com
Web / www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com

[sajs]

I hope it's easier to use then the other Kurzweil keyboards.

[reevesman]

As a kurzweil user for about 10 years, I'm unfortunately resigned to the fact that I'll believe it when I see it. It appears as though the k2600 and 2661 were pretty much the same machine with a few upgrades and the fact that a 2600 came stock with stuff that one would have to buy for the 2500. All the samples in the 2500 all the way up to the 2661 are the same, with maybe a few added things here or there. The orchestral card doesn't give you any new strings, just reworkings of the built-in samples on the main board. However, it did add some new woodwinds and percussion. Why they weren't standard like every other keyboard on the market, I'll never know. Something like the motif is leaps and bounds ahead of the k instruments. The megga voice sounds are incredible, and the upgradability is amazing. Also, most of the presets are designed for real world applications. The motif cuts corners with stuff like programmability and polyphonic aftertouch, but the kurzweil cuts corners with polyphony, quality of samples, amount of ram, interfaces with external devices, etc. My biggest question is why they just didn't include all the amazing samples from the PC 2 in the 2661. At least that would have been a step forward. We would have gotten the new strings, the take 6 samples, the wurlitzer, which never came standard on a k series instrument, and again I'll never know why. Kurzweil will really need to step it up this time with a brand new set of samples and features. If they can't produce, I'm jumpin ship. They're machines are getting harder and harder to service, the technology is 10 years old, and the market has changed. Kurzweil spends more time catering to the physics majors who know all about synth programming, and not on the bread and butter folks who want an amazing board to play. It may seem harsh, but I've had 2 kurzweils. I currently gig with a 2661, so have been following their development in the past 10 years, and all I got was a smart media slot and adat lightpipe connectors. Just my 50 cents worth.

[noisewreck]

Originally Posted by sajs

I hope it's easier to use then the other Kurzweil keyboards.

Funny you should say that, because when I hit Edit on the K2600 I know exactly what's going on (which is a lot, but at least I can navigate around and see, complex-yes, difficult-no)... On the other hand, when I press the Edit button on the Motif, I'm like WTF am I looking at? Where can I select the wave? How do I assign an LFO? Does this thing even HAVE LFOs? (I am sure it does, but good luck finding them!). And that is a synth that aside from the Slice'n'Dice feature of the sampler the Kurzweil will eat for breakfast when it comes to sheer synthesis horsepower.

@ reevsman. I know where you're coming from and to me those are not issues. You NEED all those samples on the Motif because it's got such limited synthesis capabilities. Motif ahead of the Kurzweil by leaps and bounds? HAH! I think Kurzweil was 20 years ahead of Korg, Yamaha, Roland back in 1999... so they still got another 10 years on them

Maybe the presets suck, but then again, I have yet to see a synth that comes with useable presets (at least for me). Anyway, if you're buying a Kurzweil for the presets, you're missing the point... get a Motif (which is obviously what you need)... Kurzweil isn't a plug and play machine, it's a machine for exploration and taking it to the edge. The only things that have an upper hand on the Kurzweil are Reaktor, Max/MSP and Kyma... and they're all software... and I'd say the K2600 is heck of a lot easier to use and program than either of those applications.

[Vadim]

are they gonna try competing with OASYS?