Friend has one for sale, he wants the price of a curry for it.
I need a different controller keyboard to replace my dodgy Behringer, the action on the K1 is much better, the onboard sounds I’m viewing as a bonus, but I like the 8 bit vibe.
Any opinions, or maybe I should just leave it.
Kawai K1
Re: Kawai K1
I used one for a few years mostly as a controller. The sounds are limited maybe 2 or 3 that I used. IIRC. The key bed was quite nice for synths. If it plays ok I’d take one for not much.
Ian.
Ian.
Re: Kawai K1
The K1 has three great sounds. If you like those it's worth grabbing, and the keyboard can't be worse than the rubbish that comes on many modern synths. At least it has five octaves.
I still have a K1r. I don't use it much, but when I need something gritty to add to a synth layer it's sometimes the right tool for the job. But it has to be recognised that it's mostly naff.
I still have a K1r. I don't use it much, but when I need something gritty to add to a synth layer it's sometimes the right tool for the job. But it has to be recognised that it's mostly naff.
An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.
..............................mu:zines | music magazine archive | difficultAudio | Legacy Logic Project Conversion
An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.
Re: Kawai K1
Wasn’t there an spicatto patch that was quite nice? And I seem to remember some D50-esq pads that were good? (But this is through the lens of 30 years, so I could be wrong)
Re: Kawai K1
I've had a few, it's best to look at a K1 like a controller with a bonus pack of sounds at this point - like buying a controller twenty years ago and getting some bonus software you look at once. Programming it is a pain without software, and even then the sounds are era-specific, to put it politely. The better options are the K3 or the K4 (which came before and after, respectively) if anyone wants a Kawai synth.
My favorite bit of the history of the K1 was the PH50 home keyboard and the PHm desktop MIDI module. I had the PHm for a little while about a decade ago, both devices were essentially just K1 presets in a consumer package with MIDI. At this point the PH50 is just a more interesting equivalent to the Casio MT-540 and the PHm would be compared to the CSM-1.
There's a couple of good patches, I think the biggest track it starred in was LFO - LFO (the strings I assume The Elf was thinking of) and it was good for evolving pads since the structure is like a completely digital vector synth (with the little joystick). It could do some interesting things, the problem was the programming and the limitation of the built in sounds with no filters. The K4 tried to fix that stuff by adding digital filters.
My favorite bit of the history of the K1 was the PH50 home keyboard and the PHm desktop MIDI module. I had the PHm for a little while about a decade ago, both devices were essentially just K1 presets in a consumer package with MIDI. At this point the PH50 is just a more interesting equivalent to the Casio MT-540 and the PHm would be compared to the CSM-1.
There's a couple of good patches, I think the biggest track it starred in was LFO - LFO (the strings I assume The Elf was thinking of) and it was good for evolving pads since the structure is like a completely digital vector synth (with the little joystick). It could do some interesting things, the problem was the programming and the limitation of the built in sounds with no filters. The K4 tried to fix that stuff by adding digital filters.
Re: Kawai K1
I just like the raw string waveform. I layer it under pads and it adds a bit of fairy dust.
TBH these days I most often just use the set of samples I made years ago.
An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.
Re: Kawai K1
But through the lens of "now" it sounds very good, very "Boards Of Canada"
I’m going to get it, and as others have said, the 5 octave keyboard, compared to the crappy ones we’re used to toady, is fine.
"I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil" Gandalf - J.R.R. Tolkien.
Re: Kawai K1
No it doesn't.
It's a terrible synthesizer. It has a handful of nice sounds. You can't do very much to get away from the core samples (it has no filter, and therefore very little way to actually "synthesize" sounds at all.)
The twenty or so decent sounds get boring fairly quickly.
It's main reason for success at the time was it was multitimbral, and could do that breathy "chiff" sound for cheap, when you wanted, but couldn't afford, a D50.
If you like those few samples that are OK, you'll get much more mileage putting those samples into any modern synth/sampler, and actually being able to *do* something with them.
It's fine as a cheap controller, of course.
..............................mu:zines | music magazine archive | difficultAudio | Legacy Logic Project Conversion
Re: Kawai K1
I bought a k5m in a charity shop once for £30. Backlight had gone but I replaced the inverter and the EL panel in the display and it still runs fine. Kawai made some quirky machines for sure, but like the old Casio keyboards, you never know when a sound from one of them might be useful, I guess
Re: Kawai K1
muzines wrote: ↑Sat Jul 29, 2023 8:03 pm
No it doesn't.
It's a terrible synthesizer. It has a handful of nice sounds. You can't do very much to get away from the core samples (it has no filter, and therefore very little way to actually "synthesize" sounds at all.)
The twenty or so decent sounds get boring fairly quickly.
It's main reason for success at the time was it was multitimbral, and could do that breathy "chiff" sound for cheap, when you wanted, but couldn't afford, a D50.
If you like those few samples that are OK, you'll get much more mileage putting those samples into any modern synth/sampler, and actually being able to *do* something with them.
It's fine as a cheap controller, of course.
Im thinking of how I’m going to put it through my modular, and outboard effects, things I would never have envisaged at the time, I’m hearing it in a completely different way now, I used a K1-R many years ago, and hated it, but now I’m recognising many beautiful sounds, that I was incapable of getting from it at the time.
"I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil" Gandalf - J.R.R. Tolkien.
Re: Kawai K1
True, that's the nub of it. I have my K1 samples in my K2700 and use them for layering with much 'better' sounds. Layer a nasty K1 sample with a super-deluxe pad - mmm... Gorgeous. I've shown a couple examples of this here in the SOS forum in times past.
But a vintage 5-octave MIDI keyboard is probably worth the price alone. Sounds like a bargain.
An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.
Re: Kawai K1
You’re talking to a DX7 guy here, I never missed filters, I have a few filters in my modular if a need them.
I’m looking forward to putting this through my Boss SE50 distortion sounds, plus, you can move though waves using the joystick, which makes up for a lack of a filter, in some ways.
I’m looking forward to putting this through my Boss SE50 distortion sounds, plus, you can move though waves using the joystick, which makes up for a lack of a filter, in some ways.
"I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil" Gandalf - J.R.R. Tolkien.