I'm looking at either a ME1 or PC2R to complement my Motif and to beef up my piano patches. Any feedback regarding the pros/cons of the units and/or what the pianos sound like through the Bose. Are both using the same paino sampes? I'm thinking the the PC2R is worth the extra $550 because of the orchestral block and other samples/presets.

Larry

I used to own a PC2R and now regularly use a PC2XO: identical sounds (including the orchestral block) along with an 88 weighted key keyboard.

I think it sounds absolutely incredible through the PAS or large venue PA, and would complement the Motif quite well. My reason for selling the rack model was that with so many functions it seemed like each button was doing triple duty, and I found the user interface to be overly complex. The keyboard version spreads the same number of functions out onto many more switches and sliders.

Don't know anything about the ME1, sorry, but I think it's always handy to have an orchestral palette at the ready.

Thanks Alan! I'm more of a preset player but I know what you mean trying to find menus and commands that are several layers deep!

I just compared the Micro Ensemble patch list to the PC2 in the manuals and it appears banks 0 and 6 are identical in both units. The PC2 also has the orchestral and GM blocks as well as the B3 block. I would imagine there are more effects on the PC2 but that's not a concern of mine.

I'd still be using my K2000 but it's power supply was too tempremental during live jobs (lots of reboots at the slightest power surge!).

Are the Take 6 samples in bank 0 (patches 72-77) or are they in their own bank?

Larry

I've never used the Take 6 samples, sorry. I'll try to remember to look for them when I use the PC2 at my gig Monday night.

I'm thrilled with the PC2's pianos, and quite happy with the Rhodes, harp, celeste and several of the other patches. When I get a B3 or synth-heavy gig, though, I start leaning towards bringing a Roland loaded up with a bunch of expansion boards in addition to or instead of the Kurz. If you just need piano-family sounds, maybe the ME1 would be a great choice.

I'm a PAS user and am considering getting the Kurzweil PC1X Controller. Are there any members out there using a similar setup with any tips for an ideal set-up situation?

I have a PC2X and a bose with a B1. I put the keyboard in mono mode (under the global function button) and the piano sounds great. But I lose some of the stereo action with the leslies sim and the choruses for the epno. I use the acoustic piano sounds 99% of the time though, so I don't care much.

The Take 6 samples sound great through the PAS.

Update on PC2X and Bose L1/B1

I bought a groove tubes sfx100 spacestation, which is a 100 watt stereo amp with an sub output (for sounds under 100 hz) which I send to the bose system. Now I have stereo keys with great bottom end (through 2 B1's).

I still like the mono sound of the Kurzweil PC2X when hooked up to the bose without the sfx100, but the leslie sims and the chorus suffer without stereo. When I get a second L1, I will retire the sfx100 ($399) to a practice area.

Cameron

Thanks for bringing this topic up. I plan on trying out the very same thing this week - an SFX Spacestation MkII with the "Sub" output running through my PAS (with 1 bass module). In my case, I'll be using the stereo outputs of a Yamaha ES6.

Peter Previte

I put the SFX on top of my two B1's and it sounded great (no longer use this setup as I have two L1's now). I detected a little high end coming out of the sub out of the SFX and into the L1 tower. Seemed to help the sound when I turned up the high end on the bose channel the SFX was running into.

I just noticed that Motion Sound has a similar product called the MS360/1 (100 watts) and the MS360/2 (200 watts). They both have outputs for left and right signals, but apparently no sub out. But I bet you could take one of the outputs into the bose to boost the bass if needed. Don't know how much they cost.

Cameron Hizer
Atlanta

Getting back to the original subject, Kurzweil & Bose PAS, I'm seriously considering getting the new Kurzweil SP2 (76-key) model. Are there any members here using one of those with their PAS?? Peter

The Kurzweil SP2 (76 unweighted keys) in my opinion is not a good keyboard for piano playing. The keys are so lightly weighted that they respond too easily, making it difficult to avoid overdriving the velocities. Higher velocities mean a louder sound, which you will probably compensate for by lowering the master volume. But along with the extra volume you will also get more upper harmonics, making the whole piano sound too bright.

If you are playing more organ or synth sounds than piano, the keys might be more desirable.

Cameron Hizer
Atlanta Georgia

I realize this is an old post but wanted to chime in anyway on the Kurzweil product. I purchased a PC88 about ten years ago and this comment is not for sound as it is for longevity. Sounds have gotten more realistic over ten years as samples improve- what has rendered this board almost unplayable is the weighted Fatar keyboard Kurzweil used. The keys are weighted which is nice but they make these awful "woofing" noises and feel terrible now. I don't take this thing on the road or abuse it - in fact it has had a fairly easy life but those keys have proven themselves to be pretty awful. I wouldn't get another Kurz weighted keyboard solely because of this problem.
A friend of mine brought a Yamaha Motif to the house and the action was beautiful. The piano samples were excellent.

Yet another friend purchased his Korg Trident 88 weighted when I got my Kurz. and even after all this time and some very hard traveling the Korg action is still really nice, though I never much cared for the piano sounds in that rig.

Maybe it would pay to find out what brand of keyboard Korg uses on their weighted products and just buy a controller keyboard from that company. Then you could buy modules as technology improves over the years. This would save you from buying the whole enchilada everytime the sounds get better.

In defense of the Kurzweil some of its' signature sounds I loved back then still move me and they have always been at the forefront of the kind of synthesis that appeals to me. When they were bought out by Young Chang Co. they started using the Fatar boards and that in my opinion was a poor long term decision. If that board was equal to the Korg I would consider buying a new module to upgrade sounds but for me
the action is too far gone to put up with it.

Ahhhh.....I have never vented about this and it feels kind of nice! Forum therapy. I no longer feel the need to set fire to the Kurzweil.

I've owned 2 PC88mx keyboards. Sold them for 2 PC2X keys. Never had problems with the PC88's, but the PC2X keys are a different story.

Although they feel better at first, they are noisy now. And a quite a few keys want to stick in the up position, requiring force to get them to unstick, which then (of course) you end up playing too loudly. With repeated strikes they seem to loosen up to normal, but if you let them set for a while, they are back to sticking. Now before I play, I turn the volume down and press all the keys down at least once to unstick them. This gives me a little time to play before they stick again.

Too bad that it sounds so good thru the Bose L1. Can't bear to play anything else. I've heard the action is better on the new PC3X and the SP2X. We will see.

I've come to like the separation of keyboard from sound generator ... a bit more hassle to transport and set up, but in some ways it can be easier in that I can just take the module and cables when I know there will be a midi-output keyboard already at the destination.

I find that the finger-to-sound connection can sometimes be wrong when mating keys and modules, especially from different manufacturers.

For instance, I had a Kurzweil K2500R and a Fatar 1176 mated together and didn't like the way the sounds came out. When I switched to a Kurzweil PC88 with the K2500R, my keyboard velocities and the resulting sound matched what I intended it to be. The Fatar gave me slighly higher velocites, and also too bright of a sound (as higher velocity triggers more high harmonics).

I think this is the reason some L1 users complain about lack of warmth in their keys. The L1 has more detail in the sound, and thus you hear higher harmonics that were lost in traditional systems.