Hi Anthony,

I never mean to say or imply that the KN1000 or any of the older instruments were not good instruments or sound good even today. I too like many of the older styles because they have a bit simpler sound that does not make some songs sound “over produced”. And yes it would be nice if you could load a newer style or song into an older instrument but it still would not sound like it was meant to sound.

Obviously, if the song is put into midi format all keyboards can play them so in that sense they are compatible in whatever way we seem to be pointing (forward or backward) but even then there can be problems. For example the song Sunday Afternoon on my website was done using a Pan Flute on a PSR-500. Most GM sound systems make this a Flute, which does not have the breathy sound of a Pan Flute. And I’ve heard some sound cards destroy the drums because they don’t have as good of a drum kit or the same sounds in their drum kits. Are these minor points? Not to a musician.

On the KN7000 and the PR54 the style Secret Agent actually plays a totally different Into or Ending depending on whether you start or end on a Major or Minor chord. How could this be handled on the KN1000?

I’m speaking here both as a (loosely used term) musician and as a computer programmer. It would be a nightmare trying to decide what needed to be cut to make a style sound even as good as the original styles on the older instrument much less trying to make it sound close to the new style sound. I’m not saying it could not be done but I doubt that many of the owners of the older keyboard would really like the results.

Using the MS Word example again if I create a really great looking HTML document in MS Word 2000 and I wish to save it to MS Word 6.0 format I might get the text but I would not get the HTML document. For a graphic artist this would be disaster and the same is true for a musician who spends a lot of time playing a song with just the right sound only to have it sound different because some of the qualities of the song were lost.

So I stand by my original statements.

Best Regards,
Heather