Hi guys,

(I apologise in advance for the lengthy post - I just can't seem to be concise nowadays)

Firstly, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year 2014 with lots of good health, happiness, and success in all endeavours.

Then, I wanted to thank you very much for opening and maintaining this forum. I am a new user of Kurzweil - I recently purchased my new SP4-7 keyboard from a local music instrument store here in Belgrade, Serbia. Of course, the guys at the store didn't have it in stock - they had to order it. They told me it was going to take 15 days, but guess what? I received it on day 33. But I don't care. I took it home, I plugged it in, and I fell in love with it instantly. The subjective feel of the keyboard under my hands is just... amazing. It makes me want to just keep playing it forever.

I have had several different keyboards over the years, and this is my first Kurzweil. I also currently own a Yamaha DGX-520 (which I'm planning on selling because it's too big, too heavy, and the sounds are not that great), and a Roland AX-Synth (which I'm planning on keeping and using for flashy solos in music videos and on stage), but I wanted to buy an affordable, lightweight 76-key keyboard with excellent sounds. This Kurzweil SP4-7 is it.

I am a New Age composer who happens to be into metal music. So, although I compose some purely New Age and classical music, most of what I write is actually New Age combined with power metal. I take artistic freedom from New Age and combine it with the power and speed of metal.

My songs tend to be over 5-6 minutes in length, with plenty of pianos, violins, and flutes, playing over fast & heavy guitars, bass, and drums. Most of the songs will feature operatic soprano vocals. Very powerful, lush and melodic, but not too fast. Kind of like old Nightwish - but happier, faster, and more melodic.

I also play the bass and the guitar, and I own one of each. I could never understand why real guitar players always wanted effects processors with so many different ways of making your guitar sound different. It's pointless. I just use one setup for the rhythm guitar, one for the lead guitar, and if I want a different sound in a song, I will turn on my SP4-7 and use a violin, a flute, a piano, a harp, or a harpsichord from it.

I intend to finish recording my debut album this year and make some music videos as well. As soon as I do, I'll be sure to post them here.

However, I never wanted a keyboard instrument with a sequencer. I use a software called Finale for composing, so I don't really need a top-of-the-line keyboard with a top-of-the-line price tag just so that I can do something which I do on the computer anyway, and not on the keyboard.

On top of that, I took a look at the SoundTower desktop editor for the Kurzweil SP4 keyboards, and I think I'll be buying it. In terms of tone editing and effects, I can see that the SoundTower desktop editor offers most - if not all - of the capabilities that more advanced keyboards have. So it makes perfect sense to pay another $70 for it instead of spending another $300 or $400 for a keyboard that offers that same functionality on a touch screen on the keyboard itself.

I am also a programmer, and I am building a new suite of Android apps for which I am composing music. I also intend to use this SP4-7 via USB MIDI to record the various tracks for the Android app. I just LOVE the way the SP4-7 integrates with Windows when I plug it in. No drivers, no hassle, no nothing. It just shows up as a new sound card that I can send the MIDI output to using my laptop, and then I can use the output of the SP4-7 for recording through the interface into my desktop workstation.

Anyways, that's it as far as introduction from me. As soon as I have anything worthy of sharing, I will do so gladly, and I'll try not to be as long-winded about it next time.

Cheers!