Kurzweil K1200 1989

Portable Digital Piano from Kurzweil is a total 88 Fully-Weighted keys ~ keyboard with Hammer-Action, feels just like playing an acoustic Grand Piano but in stereo and a lot easier to take with you. Features 600 factory presets, adjustable touch responses, the multifunctional LCD display needs a new led strip (easy to do). Awesome sounding stereo keyboard can be used for both recording studio and live performance applications. The sleek control panel and clear display provides quick access to all system functions. The keyboard is housed in an attractive stage piano style cabinet and includes a sustain pedal, a detachable music stand. You are ready-to-go for either home or road ready use.

An instrument which is solidly professional in both sound and feel. Its 88-note weighted keyboard is a pleasure to play, its samples and waveforms present a versatile and well-rounded collection of instrumental and abstract sounds, and the Programs it comes with are eminently playable in a variety of musical contexts. It's not a workstation, it doesn't have onboard digital effects processing, it doesn't have filtering, its user interface isn't particularly user-friendly - but none of that prevents it from being one of the most deeply satisfying hi-tech instrument, it sounds absolutely wonderful - that warmth, that deep rich bass end - and musically it's an extremely responsive and extremely expressive instrument. I now know that there are 88, not seven, steps to heaven.

Details;
This keyboard can store up to 256 Programs, each of which can consist of up to four Layers. A Layer in turn consists of a Sound-file, various software-patchable audio and control-signal Modules for processing the Sound-file (but no filters), and various parameters providing overall control of the Layer. As each Layer can be given its own independent note-range, you can create keyboard multi-split/layer/overlap textures within a Program using up to four different sounds. Dynamic cross fading and switching between Layers and switching in and out of Layers are also possible, using a wide range of control sources.

For instance, you could set up an acoustic bass/acoustic piano split, layer a ride cymbal on the bass, and layer strings on the piano but program the strings Layer to be triggered only by notes with velocities above, say, 100. That's a fairly straightforward example; you can be a lot more sophisticated in the way you combine Layers, if you want - if you're prepared to delve into the parameters that the instrument provides for this purpose.

One welcome feature of this keyboard is its ability to hold sounds over Program changes; selecting a piano Program while sustaining a strings Program doesn't cut short the strings. Also, you can go in and out of Edit mode without interrupting active notes, which is more than can be said for some keyboards.

The three buttons labeled A, B and C underneath the LCD allow you to call three different sets of Program, map and/or table assignments onto the 0-9 numeric buttons. For instance, if a song requires you to change to and from between several Programs, simply group them together in one of the Bin Banks by assigning them to some of the numeric buttons, and then you can call them up with single button-presses. Similarly, you could assign a combination of Programs, velocity and pressure maps and intonation tables to another Bin Bank, allowing you to quickly switch between different tunings and velocity responses for different Programs. If three Bin Banks aren't enough, you can create several Bin Maps, each of which consists of three Banks, and call different Maps onto the buttons by pressing buttons 0 and 1 at the same time and then tapping in the relevant Map number.

This keyboard comes programmed with 17 Intonation tables including Just Harmonic, Werkmeister, Arabic, Bali/Java and Pythagorean w/aug4th along with, of course, Equal Temperament. You can create your own tunings by editing the tables; the pitch of each chromatic note within a master octave can be altered within the range ±1200 cents, to single-cent resolution. Another parameter allows you to define a reference note for the table, so that you can play in any key with your selected tuning. I hope I’m not getting to deep for you it just a really cool keyboard ~ it’s a Blond Melon favorite.

MIDI Features:
Programmable Receive Velocity and Receive Pressure maps allow you to define different response curves for both keyboard and incoming MIDI performance. Making use of what are known as Bin Banks, you can switch between different responses at any time, to suit a different sound or a different slaved MIDI instrument.

Selecting a channel using the front-panel Channel Up/Down buttons when in Multi mode automatically calls its Program onto the keyboard, as in the other modes. Anything you then play on the keyboard is automatically transmitted on the relevant MIDI channel, making it easy to flick through the channels and record multiple parts into a MIDI sequencer on their relevant channels.

This keyboard dynamically assigns its 24-voice polyphony across the active MIDI channels. However, you can program a polyphonic limit and select any one of four channel-stealing algorithms for each Program if you want some control over how voices are allocated. As always, it's worth bearing in mind the practical limitations imposed by an instrument's polyphony when you start thinking what you can do with 16-part multi-timbrality and four-Layer Programs. Obviously, if you're playing six-note chords using a four-Layer Program, the K1200 isn't going to be very multi-timbral.

The keyboard can be cycled round Omni, Poly and Multi MIDI response modes by successive presses of the front-panel Mode button in Play mode. In Omni mode it responds to notes received on all 16 MIDI channels and plays the currently-displayed Program. In Poly mode it responds only to notes received on the currently-selected MIDI channel in the display, and plays the Program assigned to that channel. In Multi mode it can respond on all 16 MIDI channels at once, with each channel's notes playing a different Program. If there are any MIDI channels you don't want the K1200 to respond on, you can simply switch them out.