Kurzweil me-1

[dwillis45]

I have a Kurzweil stage piano and I'm looking for a module to expand its available sounds. Any thoughts on the Kurzweil me-1?

 

[warble]

Owned one in the fall of 2002, and sold it on eBay. It really has some nice sounds - very useable pianos, rhodes, and even a couple nice guitar patches. I wasn't impressed with the synth pad stuff, but that's not what I initially bought it for. One thing I didn't like in particular was when you turn the unit off, everything is reset to default settings. I don't think Kurzweil is focused on "bang for the buck", and their quality isn't that spectacular.

I don't know what your budget is, but for about $1000 you can pick up a Yamaha MOTIF rack module. I bought a Yamaha S80 before they were discontinued, and will soon be getting the MOTIF rack. I auditioned the rack at a local music store, and it had some great stuff on it - from pianos, excellent rhodes, and some really great synth pad type stuff. I truly like the piano sounds on that thing compared to any Kurzweil product.

Warren

 

[renagade]

I agree with the rack approach using the MOTIF...I have changed my strategy on buying synths since plugins and rack products a offered these days....

Once again it comes down to the question of what sounds you are primarly instrested in...

 

[anppilot1]

I agree with the rack approach using the MOTIF...I have changed my strategy on buying synths since plugins and rack products a offered these days....

I agree MOTIF is cool. But it really depends what sounds/styles of music your interested in.

When people ask me for an "all purpose" rack, I have to go with my Triton Rack. Expanded to 96 MEG ram with a 9 gig SCSI HD and 250MB Zip disk, it rocks. I wouldn't use it as a dedicated sampler, although the sampler is great, it's not as great as say the Akai's or EMU's.

NOTE: The Triton is going to be the Korg M1 or the 2000 decade like the M1 was used heavy in the 90's


Thats just me

and my $.02


Cheers

 

[Lucho]

I haven't heard the presets for the Kurzweil stage pianos but I'm assuming they are the same good quality as of those in the ME-1, so getting more piano sounds may not be what you're looking for. As warble said, the synth pads sounds are not impressive, the organ sounds I don't think are too useful, strings are good and the drums and percussion I believe are excellent. Everything else is probably average or a little above average, but I bought it mainly for the piano sounds so I'm happy with it. I guess it comes down to what type of music you'll be using it for.

 

[dafduc]

I have an SP-88, and am very unhappy with the sounds. Guys who follow Kurz more closely say that the SP line really got some substandard sounds.

Daf