I'm into power metal and symphonic stuff, Kurzweil orchestral stuff is the best, there's no way to get that sound live with other brands.

I got the pc3 (in 2012) as the successor to the Kurzweil K2000 (in 1993), which I got :

- Because the K2000 had VAST synthesis. I wanted to make hard sounds as well as softer analog ones.

- Because VAST could do Pulse width modulation:
Many poly synths at the time were missing that feature. I actually sat in the shop and checked the K2000 manual! That was at RodArgents in London.

- Because it could load samples, put them thru VAST, and store them on disc.

- Because of the reputation of Kurzweil:
Fairlight and Synclavier were at the top.
Emulator samplers and Kurzweil were next.
Ensoniq, Yamaha, Roland and Korg were somewhere down below that.

I got a PC361 because it was almost half the price of a PC3 76 note, and because I far prefer the synth action over the semi weighted. My hands get tired playing arpeggios on the semi, but they are fine on the synth action, and (almost) fine on a real piano. The semi weighted doesnt have that 'momentum-stage' which you get after the initial press of a real piano. It has some 'weight' followed by slightly too much more weight. Fine for stomping out chords though.

I think a modular approach could work in terms of design, maybe made by fatar, so that Kurzweil and others can offer users any key/board action they want, simply by swapping the keys out. I dont know about the overall demand for something like this, but at least I could have a 88 note synth action.

Malc

An acquaintance of mine ran a recording studio in Louisville and got to visit. He showed me the main monster behind the recordings, a $200K Synclavier II. Sounded phenomenal. When I saw him playing live he had a Kurzweil K2500. I asked him why he chose that and he said the sounds and flexibility. And it did sound awesome. Next year I went to the store that he recommended and got a K2600XS. About 5 years later I bought a PC361 which I still use.

The PC3 is the most professional instrument on the market. That´s why I like and play those.

About ten years ago I started buying used synths from the early nineties on Ebay (e.g. a Yamah SY85 and a Korg Wavestation amongst others), because they were really cheap then. While the sounds they had were fantastic considering the meagre amount of sample ROM, I lacked a synth which had good orchestral sounds. When I listened to the demos of the K2000 on synthmania.com, I was very impressed and started looking for a Kurzweil. I soon found a K2500RS, which I later upgraded with the expansion ROMs and a KDFX and which I still own.

But because programming a rack synth is often cumbersome I started looking for a K2600 or K2661. I nearly bought the last one the local big music store had (the price dropped to about 900 EUR in the end), but was discouraged by the size and the weight and then the price of the PC3 dropped significantly too, so for the first time I spent more than one grand on a keyboard and got a PC3. I used it for a time in a cover band as the sole sound provider.

I never liked the key action of the PC3 (76), though, so about two years ago, I sold the PC3 and got a PC3K6 instead, with which I'm happy. I've programmed a few of my own sounds (though I don't do this as often anymore as I used too), I often use the built in sequencer as a notepad for composing, and also use the factory piano sounds when I'm too lazy to start up the computer with Pianoteq on it for piano practice (with a Studiologic 88-keys master keyboard). I don't play in a band or live atm.

Almost all my other keyboards and modules are "proper" synths, virtual or real analog, so the PC3K provides all the sounds, which they are not good at. I also have a ribbon controller and a breath controller, which I use with the PC3K.

A short story

I started with a Moog Prodigy in 1977. From there it grew.

Korg Poly61
Fender Rhodes
Korg Poly 800
DX7 ...1984
Almost went the Ensoniq route,
after playing with a Mirage.
Dreamed of an Emax II for a while.
Still would like an EII, or Emax, just for fun!
Alesis QS6, QSR
Juno 106
Kawai K1
Enter My first Kurzweil K2000VP, The Blue one
I feel in love instantly.
2x Roland JV-1080
Yamaha A3000
Akai S6000, S5000, S3000XL
Yamaha TX802
Kurzweil K1000
Since then...
Several K2000rs's, K2VX,
Several K2500RS
K2600X
3x K2661
Currently own
K2661, PC3K6, K2500RS
I have a huge Sample CD collection for Kurzweil, Akai.
I am trying to move to Mainstage, and Logic.
But I just can't get away from the Kurzweil sound, VAST, and the overall experience with Kurzweil instruments.

Grey412, that's a pretty awesome list of keyboards.... I see you don't have a Forte yet...

yes, I guess I am behind the times.

My Questions
What is the best way to use an old Kurzweil CD Library?
Re sample everything in Mainstage?
Mach5 works ok.
Translator / Sampler tools?
Im stuck w/SCSI with K2661, K2500

I would say if you can afford to do so get the Forte as for starters you can load 3.3 GB of samples into it which means you can potentially load a lot of K-series user sample based sounds into a Forte. As long as the K-series sounds you are loading into a Forte reference RAM samples and not K-series internal ROM samples they generally work pretty well in the Forte and of course you will have to edit the effects in the Forte to your liking for obvious reasons. The autosampler in Mainstage works pretty well you can try sampling some of your favorite Kurz sounds. Translator also is very useful as it generally can read most Kurzweil CDs so you won't have to deal with SCSI.Also I have found that for the most part that Translator does a good job with translating Kurz sounds over to EXS 24 format with the same requirements as I had mentioned for loading into a Forte

Originally, I was looking for orchestral strings that could actually play aggressively -- think Beethoven's 5th Symphony, or if you prefer ELPowell's "Learning to Fly." Then when I found out about KB3, I had to take the plunge. I bought a used K2500RS with neither orchestra expansion nor KDFX, and the strings were not what I had hoped for. But the KB3 was a cut above my Voce, and the pianos were wonderful, so it stayed. And I started learning how to tweak VAST programs on a rack instrument.

So then I got a used K2600S, a little better effects for the KB3, still no orchestra expansion, so-so strings, oh well. Nevertheless, the action felt great, the ribbon controllers are fun, and it could at least add some chorus to the KB3 on the way into an external pseudo-leslie stomp box.

Third time's a charm: a stock used PC361, with the Seattle strings and a decent Leslie -- now we're talking! Unfortunately, the PC361 wasn't / isn't roadworthy, I can rarely boot it without having to bang it physically. I recently bought another used PC361 with KORE64, which is a joy to play.

Since I am apparently cursed, the second PC361 soon exhibited the dreaded display-flicker symptom, so i have just taken it to a repair shop to replace the display. Once that's done, I get to decide what to do with the first PC3 (and what I should invest in it). I traded in the K2500RS for other stuff; the K2600S still has a lot of beauty (and sampling), so I am keeping it for now.

When it's working, a K2600 or PC3 with a ribbon controller is the most expressive keyboard instrument I have either owned or even played. The PC3's polyphony allows me to drive it with one or two additional keyboard controllers, with plenty of oscillators at the ready without having to worry about running out of sounds or timbres.

When I can afford it, I hope to get a PC3K6 or K7, just to get the ability to add custom samples, but in the meantime I consider myself blessed to have the Kurz's that I've got.

Almost went the Ensoniq route,
after playing with a Mirage.
Dreamed of an Emax II for a while.
Still would like an EII, or Emax, just for fun!
Alesis QS6, QSR

"Almost" went the ensoniq route lol...

I was playing/selling in the early 90's and had the 'demo' Ensoniq eps16+ given to me when the store I was working at dropped them and started selling JV's and cubase to all the mad tappers.
Not sure what it really was - some aggressive marketing on roland's part or whatever, but almost overnight they had dropped all their brands and almost exclusively went roland. They were also still selling yamaha - because the DX's were still popular. But then again, so were Atari ST's and notator etc...

Nord wasn't really a brand in Aus back then - it was seen as something exotic.
This is the reason:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx1eDmuYQg8

I bought a PC3K8 4 years ago for a terrific discount. The CDN Dollar was high at the time and the dealer gave me a substantial discount on a floor model. I was originally looking at a PC3LE8 but the difference with all the discounts was only $700 more so I bit the bullet and went for the K model instead.

I was also very impressed by the online reviews as well as the recommendations of some people on the keyboard forums.

Long story short, mine has performed flawlessly for the past 4 years and I haven't regretted it since.

However, if I were in the market for an 88 key workstation today I doubt I would buy another Kurzweil. Between the sky high price of the Forte and the weight of these monsters and the totally useless Soundtower Editor there are better choices I could make from Roland or someone else these days. I really have no need for an onboard sequencer and use a computer DAW for my compositions and since I already own a Juno DS61 for kicking around I'd probably go for the DS88 if I had to replace my Kurzweil in a hurry.

Also neither here nor there, but most of my gear budget these days goes on modules and analogue and virtual analogue keys and drum boxes these days anyway.

Gary

Hi Gary,
Do not regret PC3K, you do not know how lucky you are. If you had bought PC3LE you could have a lot of trouble ...... Believe me !!! Look at discussions about PC3LE and blaspheurs of the Lord.
Krasimir

I agree that I dodged a bullet when I bought a PC3K instead of an LE. That model has been nothing but a total lemon since day one.

I'm happy enough with my PC3K but I just wish the bloody thing didn't weigh 80 lbs inside a road case.

As I said earlier, if I ever have to replace it with another keyboard I'll opt for a different, more modern manufacturer that's not trying to keep a legacy product alive for 40 years.

Things I would look for in a replacement?

1) More lightweight.

2) An editor that doesn't bomb and corrupt the entire keyboard OS at random times.

3) A touchscreen or at least a bigger, brighter display would be nice.

4) Way more memory for samples and objects.

Some of these have been addressed with the Forte, but I'm a long way from being sold.

Like I said, I'll stick with my PC3K for now, but if it ever starts acting up on me its days are numbered.

Gary

I decided to buy Kurzweil because my favorite Dream Theater keyboard players about 15 to 20 years ago, Kevin Moore and Jordan Rudees for a while played with this brand and had excellent sounds of piano, organ, string, and so on.

Also because It's the Sound - actually,

but I was not lucky and enjoyed very little of the wonderful sound of my PC3LE7.

I've been a professional keyboardist for 50+ years, having started with an old Hammond Model A and two "phone booth" Leslie speakers (model 31h), plus a Wurlitzer EP. I've owned or played just about every "portable" keyboard since the 1970s and despite the various efforts by companies to emulate the Hammond organ in recent years, I personally think Kurzweil does the best job of generating a DECENT B3 (and especially Leslie rotary effect) AND gives you tons of other great orchestral sounds including some of the better APs and EPs you can buy (and if you're not happy with the factory loads you can easily modify the sounds and parameters to your personal taste). I've had several PC3's since they were introduced (all 61s and 76's--never had the "muscle" to buy the big boy-88), for some reason or another sold them but always came back to them after trying other companies' boards. My music has always been meat-and-potatoes rock and roll (I started with Bob Seger back in the 60s), and as a keyboardist my parts generally focused on pianos and organ. I now perform using two Artis 7's (my absolute FAVORITE board since they came out), with one assigned the Hammond B3 sounds and the other doing everything else. With the free Sound Editor software interface, I can fine-tune any of the sounds I've uploaded from my old PC3's into the Artis and achieve anything I am desiring. Frankly after having both my PC3(a7) and the Artis 7 side by side for a few weeks, I actually thought the Artis sounded more realistic. And I love the key bed--a decent compromise between organ and piano.