Elektron Musical Instruments

At 04:14 PM 5/10/01 -0700, matt hillier wrote:

>are thses Kawai k5000r any good or as good as quirky
>as a sid?

Sorry to go off-topic for a bit, but.... ;)

I've got a K5000s (same as K5000r, but with keyboard) and absolutely love 
it!  However, I wouldn't really put it in the same category as the 
Sid.  The K5k's are really good at sweeping, shifting sounds that send 
shivers up your spine -- think ice-fields, asteroid belts, attack ships on 
fire...that sort of thing.  The only other synth I've got that's similar is 
my Prophet VS, so if you've played with one of those or a Korg Wavestation 
you probably get the picture.  It's also pretty good at reproducing some of 
the classic vox pads from the old Fairlight CMI.

If you're thinking of using a K5k for Techno, you can perhaps apply some of 
its sounds to spice up an otherwise dull trance track, much the same way a 
lot of people use their Sidstations.  You might also be able to use the 
bias sweep of the harmonics to create some interesting movement in 
303-style basslines.  However, it just doesn't have the same sort of gut 
thumping bass as many of the virtual analogs.

Final caveat is that if you're getting the K5kR, you're going to want 
knobs.  You can either try to find the Kawai Macro Control Box, or you can 
see if you can hack an outboard controller like the Phat-Boy to get to 
those functions.  The ability of this thing to realtime sweep through the 
bias frequency, high/low & even/odd harmonic ranges, or filter settings is 
really one of the best things to set it apart.  Otherwise, you're going to 
come away with the impression that it's nothing more than a Triton 
knock-off or somesuch.

So, to come full circle back to your question: K5kR any good? -- YES (!!!); 
good and quirky as a Sid? -- good and quirky, but in a *completely* 
different manner than a Sid.

         -c-


_____
"i want to reach my hand into the dark and *feel* what reaches back"
                                                     -recoil