Hey,
so I ordered a Kurzweil PC3K-7, which arrived yesterday.
Key action: vs. K6 (TP9x ? )
I like the thing so far, but am not happy with the key action.
And it's not that I just don't like weight - my fatar SL990 pro hammer action feels just fine.
But the TP8P inside the PC3K7 just feels rather uncomfortable to play, and it isn't good for piano nor synth stuff... ;-) I'm quite puzzled that some Kurzweil dude said in some forum that the PC3K will be the last to feature the lighter TP9(?) keys since the TP8P is "more versatile".
Well, I personally think they're good for nothing.
Now, I'm thinking of sending it back, in exchange for the, alas shorter PC3K-6 one, which is supposed to have lighter keys.
Thinking that, since I mostly use the gear at home anyway, I'll just use my Fatar MIDI controller for piano stuff, and the lighter K6 keys for synth & organ stuff then.
What do you think about this? Makes sense?
How would you describe the feel of the K6's keyboard?
And - which version of the TP-9 is it anyway?
Since on the Fatar site, there's also a TP9 version designated for "economic Piano", well, I've had enough cheap piano feel for now, I'm kinda afraid now that the K6 will just feel as bad - *if* it is that "piano" action TP9.
In these forums apparently people will often only discern "TP8" and "TP9", but that seems not to be accurate: there are both, Piano and Synth action variants of the TP8 as well, and then, a special Organ one.
The thing with that TP8P is, I can't comfortably play portamento stuff with it, it just feels like it's screaming "repetitive strain injury".
I do that even better on the hammer action board, lol! On the Juno-G this felt also nice, man, the keys are the only thing I miss about that thing.
I wish they just built the 6 octave PC3K versions also with lighter keys ;-)
Now, to the sound:
I'm a little disappointed here, for some reason, the stuff I was most excited about sounded better on youtube *g*
But maybe that's because I plugged my AKGs into the K7 now and hear every flaw...
Like, the Rhodes EP sounds often will have gross sampling artifacts on the lower end. I thought to myself "great, I could have kept the Kawai K4 for sounds like that"... ;)
And the lower end has no punch at all, I guess the attack transients get smeared by the lack of low samples, hence the other sound artifacts.
On YT, with HD videos even, the whole 70's electromechanical section sounded so livelike and I was so gung ho to get one...
Also, the layering on the EPs is not exactly great. I've heard better done layering in some free SoundFont2 patches for SoundBlaster Live! from 2001.
I guess that's the price for providing > 1000 sounds with 128MB.
And, there are clearly audible differences between sections on the keyboard, with different loudness at same key velocity between the two bordering keys, as well as number of audible harmonics. That's annoying, what kind of beginners did this?
Some sounds have a strange higher frequency hissing added to them (like the one "The Doors" organ), it appears to me they should hire people with ears that haven't been on loud stages all too often for doing the preset work...
Many synth sounds have clearly audible aliasing for at least the upper 1/2 octave on the 73 key board. I don't know what today's standards are, but to me it seems embarrassing.
For that price anyway.
I really like all the string, harpsicord etc stuff, which makes up for the flaws a bit.
And then, I've heard really nice 3rd party patches at least for synth stuff, so there's an option for better sounds if needed...
The display
Often things on the display seem randomly partially underscored, is this a bug or a feature?
(I have not checked the firmware version.)
I've had one spontaneous reset of the device, but that might not have been its fault, I sort of thought I heard my stereo amp click when that happened (output relays), which would mean the mains had an interruption.
All in all, I think I'm goiing to keep a PC3K.
If the K6 keys will be better, that is...
The other option sounde-wise, Korg Krome, has such crappy keys that I stopped looking in that direction alltogether, and I sure don't want to spend the money for a Kronos...
I'm not sure if the price is justified sound wise. Then again, I don't know today's standards.
I like the all-metal case, I guess I wouldn't want a plastic thing to save money, if that's what contributes a lot to that pricetag.
so I ordered a Kurzweil PC3K-7, which arrived yesterday.
Key action: vs. K6 (TP9x ? )
I like the thing so far, but am not happy with the key action.
And it's not that I just don't like weight - my fatar SL990 pro hammer action feels just fine.
But the TP8P inside the PC3K7 just feels rather uncomfortable to play, and it isn't good for piano nor synth stuff... ;-) I'm quite puzzled that some Kurzweil dude said in some forum that the PC3K will be the last to feature the lighter TP9(?) keys since the TP8P is "more versatile".
Well, I personally think they're good for nothing.
Now, I'm thinking of sending it back, in exchange for the, alas shorter PC3K-6 one, which is supposed to have lighter keys.
Thinking that, since I mostly use the gear at home anyway, I'll just use my Fatar MIDI controller for piano stuff, and the lighter K6 keys for synth & organ stuff then.
What do you think about this? Makes sense?
How would you describe the feel of the K6's keyboard?
And - which version of the TP-9 is it anyway?
Since on the Fatar site, there's also a TP9 version designated for "economic Piano", well, I've had enough cheap piano feel for now, I'm kinda afraid now that the K6 will just feel as bad - *if* it is that "piano" action TP9.
In these forums apparently people will often only discern "TP8" and "TP9", but that seems not to be accurate: there are both, Piano and Synth action variants of the TP8 as well, and then, a special Organ one.
The thing with that TP8P is, I can't comfortably play portamento stuff with it, it just feels like it's screaming "repetitive strain injury".
I do that even better on the hammer action board, lol! On the Juno-G this felt also nice, man, the keys are the only thing I miss about that thing.
I wish they just built the 6 octave PC3K versions also with lighter keys ;-)
Now, to the sound:
I'm a little disappointed here, for some reason, the stuff I was most excited about sounded better on youtube *g*
But maybe that's because I plugged my AKGs into the K7 now and hear every flaw...
Like, the Rhodes EP sounds often will have gross sampling artifacts on the lower end. I thought to myself "great, I could have kept the Kawai K4 for sounds like that"... ;)
And the lower end has no punch at all, I guess the attack transients get smeared by the lack of low samples, hence the other sound artifacts.
On YT, with HD videos even, the whole 70's electromechanical section sounded so livelike and I was so gung ho to get one...
Also, the layering on the EPs is not exactly great. I've heard better done layering in some free SoundFont2 patches for SoundBlaster Live! from 2001.
I guess that's the price for providing > 1000 sounds with 128MB.
And, there are clearly audible differences between sections on the keyboard, with different loudness at same key velocity between the two bordering keys, as well as number of audible harmonics. That's annoying, what kind of beginners did this?
Some sounds have a strange higher frequency hissing added to them (like the one "The Doors" organ), it appears to me they should hire people with ears that haven't been on loud stages all too often for doing the preset work...
Many synth sounds have clearly audible aliasing for at least the upper 1/2 octave on the 73 key board. I don't know what today's standards are, but to me it seems embarrassing.
For that price anyway.
I really like all the string, harpsicord etc stuff, which makes up for the flaws a bit.
And then, I've heard really nice 3rd party patches at least for synth stuff, so there's an option for better sounds if needed...
The display
Often things on the display seem randomly partially underscored, is this a bug or a feature?
(I have not checked the firmware version.)
I've had one spontaneous reset of the device, but that might not have been its fault, I sort of thought I heard my stereo amp click when that happened (output relays), which would mean the mains had an interruption.
All in all, I think I'm goiing to keep a PC3K.
If the K6 keys will be better, that is...
The other option sounde-wise, Korg Krome, has such crappy keys that I stopped looking in that direction alltogether, and I sure don't want to spend the money for a Kronos...
I'm not sure if the price is justified sound wise. Then again, I don't know today's standards.
I like the all-metal case, I guess I wouldn't want a plastic thing to save money, if that's what contributes a lot to that pricetag.