A couple of thoughts:

Perhaps the organs you heard on You Tube were from the PC3 series rather than the LE series. The PC3 series has the new double leslie, the LE series doesn’t have the effect resources available to run the double leslie. Huge difference in leslie simulation, night and day. Not much you can do there other than purchase a leslie simulator like a Ventilator which will transform your LE's B3 sound so that it sounds killer.

Have you read chapter 8 of the owners manual?

http://kurzweil.com/content/migration/d ... V2(5-27-11).ZIP

Quick Access Mode provides you a way of EASILY organizing your programs and setups in one spot that stares you in the face the entire night at a gig. I solely run the PC3 from QA Mode. Programs are in one area of the LE and the setups are in a different area of the LE. QA Mode pulls it all together neatly for…… Quick Access!!! Excellent feature and should solve your issue of easily switching back and forth. Without QA mode I would be lost in a live gig, I really wouldn't be able to gig easily without it.

Electric Pianos are actually very good. You may have just gotten use to how the X50 electric pianos sound and have gotten away from what a real Rhodes sounds like. Listen to:

Real Rhodes: (starting at the 3:25 mark):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C0GkERH6gA

Kurzweil Rhodes: same band, same song, different keyboard player (around the 46 second mark):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phoxwbPXejA

They sound pretty darn close to me. If you look to the right of Myron (in the above video) he has a Nord Stage 2 but chose to use the Kurzweil Rhodes over the Nord Rhodes. That should say something in itself.

Kurzweil Pianos are Steinway-based, not Yamaha-based. Steinway's are darker and more classical sounding than Yamaha. Coming from a Korg you are used to hearing the Yamaha sound. I actually prefer the sound of the Kurzweil pianos. If you listen to a recording of a real piano and then compare that recording to a Yamaha Korg and Kurzweil, the Kurzweil is generally closer to the true tone (darker tone) of a real piano in a recording than the brightness of a Yamaha digital piano. Pianos are a matter of taste. For me, I prefer the darker piano.

The feel of the TP8 keyboard; I think it is a great compromise between players playing organ, synth and piano. Synth action doesn't work for piano playing very well and piano action doesn't work very well for synth/organ playing. The TP8 action is somewhere in between. It is different and took me about 2 weeks to adapt to it. I don't even think about the action whether I'm playing piano passages or hammond licks. The keybed action works for me and sounds as though it also works for you.

Yeah, you're pretty much wrong, pianos are better on PC3/K/LE than on ME1.

A couple of thoughts:

Kurzweil Pianos are Steinway-based, not Yamaha-based. Steinway's are darker and more classical sounding than Yamaha. Coming from a Korg you are used to hearing the Yamaha sound. I actually prefer the sound of the Kurzweil pianos. If you listen to a recording of a real piano and then compare that recording to a Yamaha Korg and Kurzweil, the Kurzweil is generally closer to the true tone (darker tone) of a real piano in a recording than the brightness of a Yamaha digital piano. Pianos are a matter of taste. For me, I prefer the darker piano.

I agree. I also prefer the Steinway sounding Kurz pianos. I suggest You spend some time with your LE. What really helped me love my Kurz was when I recorded my music and played it back. hearing my music through the PA and not through my (maybe crapy) moniters in real time was a real "ah-ha" moment for me. Having grown up on AP's I was always listening for something I didnt get through a moniter. Good luck! ~BOB

 

Voodoo, yes, check out Quick Access - it's what I use to switch between programs and setups. It works fine for me.
I haven't played the PC3le but I have the PC361 and it has great funky sounds. It IS different from Yamaha/Korg - very much so. The Korg/Yamaha sounds are generally brighter - cut through more - have more of an attack. It takes a while to get used to the Kurzweil sound. It's cool in its own way. I like it.
However, I do have an S90ES which sounds amazing and a Korg Kronos which is great in its own way.

For fusion/funky stuff, I use the PC3. For pop gigs I usually use the Kronos. For concerts, I will usually go for the Yamaha since most backline has it and it sounds fabulous live.

I like them ALL!

Hi Dave and everyone else, thanks for the video links - and yes you are right - I'm used to 'my' sounds.

Having now played with it a lot more - yes you are right - Quick Access very easy - and just what I want (too busy playing to read the manual yesterday)

My opinion is / has changed - and you're right re the pianos / electric pianos - they are different and yes more realistic. The Korg acoustic & electric pianos - do sit very nicely though when playing with my band, they are brighter and cut through when playing live - will have to see how the LE6 gets on next week.

I've played both the ME1 standard grand today and the LE1 standard grand - I'd say they are the exact same set of samples.

The LE1 ensemble / brass / string / orchestra patches sound great through headphones - and ok through a HiFi amp and speakers.

I've also changed my mind on the organs as well - having now played all of them - they are on the whole great - I still cant find one that sounds like the Emu ESI4000 sampler I use though.

May look into getting a Boss RT20 as the ventillator option is too expensive for me.

Just setting up Quick Access mode now for a gig next week. One of the covers we do for partys is Depeche Mode 'Just cant get enough' - and out of all the synth / lead sounds on the LE6 - there isnt one that sounds like that old sound - any ideas welcome?

Some PC3 sounds are a bit thick, and can be thinned out if necessary. I've boosted highs and cut mids on some programs. The power to manipulate the sounds is ALL in there. It's easier to thin a sound than to make it thicker. Once you get comfortable editing the PC3 you'll see you have all you need and then some to shape a sound.

Do edit it just using the front panel - or have you bought the editor software ?

The Korg acoustic & electric pianos - do sit very nicely though when playing with my band, they are brighter and cut through when playing live - will have to see how the LE6 gets on next week.

Based on the video in which you heard Myron playing that should already tell you how well the Kurzweil cuts through the mix. The LE won't have any issues cutting.

I hope so to Dave - will report back on here how it goes next week, the other board I considered was the yamaha mox6 - but it was the semi weighted keys on the LE6 that swung it - plus the LE6 was cheaper (in price), the mox6 did have a mic input that you could also assign effects to - eg vocoder - but I saw this has an additional feature that wasnt really that necessary.

Dave - what do you use to edit your Kurz - do you do it manually or have you bought the software ?

Voodoo,
I own a PC3, not an LE series. The sound editor is free for PC3 series users. I didn't bother with the sound editor as i've heard reports that there were several bugs in it. I strictly edit directly on the PC3. I downloaded and read the manual before I actually purchased the PC3 so that when I got it I could hit the ground running. VAST is deep, so I'd advise that you read the manual to fully understand and can take full advantage of the keyboard. I've actually read the manual three times over the course of two years. Kurzweil has always been known for its sound; the sound is its strong point due to sample quality and VAST.

I forgot. I also use my PC361 for big band playing when there is not much space to fit an 88. I heard a recording of my PC361 with the big band the piano sounded great! Good enough for me. Using it tonight.

So far not had access to my amp and PA system as we havent rehearsed this week, so still playing through head phones and also a hifi amp / speakers.

What I need to do is upgrade the OS to the latest version - I also want to try out other peoples organ / B3 and also some electric piano patches

Heads up... When I first obtained my PC3 I did the same thing that you are doing, i.e. playing the sounds of the Kurzweil through quality headphones. I thought I had everything tweaked just right; then I went to a gig and started playing through live amplification and realized that the PC3 needed to be re-tweaked for live setting. What sounded good through headphones in isolation sounded way different once the PC3 was meshing with other instruments. In some cases the PC3 cut too much, in other cases not enough, or the envelopes for sustain needed to be adjusted due to the guitar players sustaining notes or crunching in the same Hz cycle I was playing in. What sounded balanced in isolation through headphones sounded way different live; some of it due to the amplification and speakers I was playing through on the stage as well. It took some time before I got it sounding the way I wanted to hear it live. After playing it live I also made an amplifier change from a keyboard amp to a powered speaker which then changed the color and tone of the sound again, but for the better (EV ELX112P).

Hi Dave - I noticed the same thing with my ME1 - what sounded crap to me on stage with a keyboard amp- sounded great out front - DI'd into the main PA. I'm hoping with the PC3LE6 - it will be ok, but so far through hifi speakers and also headphones - some of the organs, pianos and E pianos can sound a little harsh to my ears - I'm hoping this will be different when played through a PA.

I noticed especially with some of the organs - the bass seems very quiet and the top end almost is hurting my ears it's so harsh - previous Korgs and ESI4000 sample of lovely warm B3 sounded nice to the ear straight away.

If anyone has any hammond patches they have created - please let me know - is there a patch bank anywhere where us Kurz users see what others have done.