In the 80s you had Technics which were the first to have PCM Sampled Drums on their keyboards/organs.
In the 90s they were the first to have lots of polyphony, a nice big screen, but ALSO great velocity switching on their sounds and sampled vibrato.

I've got 2 clips here which showcase exactly what i mean and those also show that Technics was seriously ahead of it's time.

Bradge... a bit of history for you to think about..

In 1987 the "Dream" chip was designed and produced by a company I believe from France (Dream). A lot of "ahead of it's time" manufacturers used this in expensive sound chip.

I would question the "first to use PCM sounds".. Roland used PCM in the 1985 release of Sound Canvas.. It was 24 voice polyphonic... where most where at 6, 8, and the massive 16 voice (DX7).
Sound Canvas developed to 28 voice, then 64 voice, 128 voice and 256 voice.

The Lionstracs MediaStation (80's, 90's) used the "Dream" chip as the basic sound source.. but the premium sound source was Giga sample.


The Dream Chip was a bit noisy.


Just something to think about..

Fran, give the guy a break – stop confusing him with the facts. (smile)

I feel what he is saying is, it was the first time he heard them in a successful top-of-the-line arranger keyboard. He is just trying to share.

John C.

Yeah, that's what i meant Thank you very much John.

And well, the Technics C-600 from i believe 1984 had PCM drums, before the Sound Canvas. And polyphony from that was 24 notes sure! But, that didn't came out in `85 But in `91 (The SC-55)
And it was just a glorified midifile player in my opinion.

The KN-1000 had 16 notes of polyphony in 1990 and in 1993 with the release of the KN-2000 (Either 1993 or 1994) it went to 32 While others were still indeed chewing on 16-24..

And don't forget that a keyboard was an all in one machine, the KN-2000 had great sound edit capabilities, a fantastic sequencer, a great style composer, lots of sounds and styles, and i believe was roughly the same pricepoint as the SC-55.

Not starting an argument here, but just sharing what i know..

No arguments here

Yes the SC-55 was released as you said.. Let me clarify what I should have said.. LA synthesis was developed in the mid 80's and Roland produced the MT32... a 32 voice sound source using PCM partials.. followed by other LA sound source instruments.. D10, D20, D70 (31 voice), D50, MV30, U20,U220, U110..... otherwise not a 1 shot adventure..

The only Technics keyboard I owned (personally) was the KN2000 (considered to be the best model till the KN7000). Compared to the same period models like the G1000 (Roland), and the Korg i30...I didn't think it faired that well..


I'll leave it there before John gives me an ear full

something New better come out soon as we are only talking ancient gear lately YIKES!

I'm hoping for a Yamaha PSR-S79x or 99x with SA2 or Revo Drums that'll be something i buy in an heartbeat.

And yeah i get what you mean, the LA synthesis indeed came out in 85, that WAS seriously impressive at the time, samples with synthesis, great stuff! Lot of those sounds are to this day still really powerful.

The KN-2000 has been regarded the best thing Technics has ever released, but WHY? I mean sure, it's great! But a KN-5000 sounds way better, better screen, not to mention the 6000 whew!

I loved my KN5000!!!..........then later bought a 6k,65k,7k and withing a week returned then to the dealer no match for the KN5000 which I bought from Dom Mason,.....I hated the 7k sunken keybed Grrrrrrrrr,
& the flip up display was difficult to operate in split second changes on stage.....but it did have a super on-board speaker system.

"I'll leave it there before John gives me an ear full"

That's because I like ya.
John C.

I had KN800, 1000, 2000 and 5,000. They were all the best arrangers available at the time, in my opinion. Switched to Yamaha PSR8000 because it had a pretty good vocal processor and harmonizer. They later changed the harmonizer, and I didn't like the later ones as much.
First Roland was G800. I sold it to a deep-sea fisherman to use as a boat anchor.
It did sound great though.

Not just technics...

I think GEM or General music was even further ahead...

Strange how these innovative brands didn’t survive

GEM were more ahead? The last thing i've heard from Gem was their Genesys PRO and sorry to say but it sounded like a PSR-9000, but it was priced like the KN-7000.. Can easily see why it flopped.

I Love The Boat Anchor Part!...Harold

+1
I did love all the KN's I had before KN5k as well.

But time goes by, and the technical wonders still goes forward ( I think )...
But I've more than once thought about where Technics would have been if not production closed down.
Sadly, I have a feeling about that the Arranger keyboards heading to the history books, hopefully I'm totally wrong.

I sure appreciated the SD system in the KN7000. My floppy disk drive went out on my KN5000 and impossible to fix or replace with OEM because of the proprietary components.

I had the kn1000, kn3000 and kn6000. 6000 was my favorite. I had a kn7000 on order when tecnics closed down and my 7000 was cancelled by them.
MEL

That was past the prime of Gem arranger keys..
By that time all their development went to their drake piano technollogy
Everything after the wx2 can be seen as a wx2 upgrade

I am talking Gem Wx2 vs KN2000, which where in direct competition..

MEL, I had the Kn1000 and the Kn6000 which I love (still have both, but one is at my son's house) ... I switched to KORG for the on board vocal processor and the lighter weight ...
I don't know why Donny felt such a need to return the Kn6000 in so short a time, but not every board is for everyone ...

Simply said; the Kn7000 was the best in its time, but not for the people who had a problem with the sunken keyboard.

The introduction of the SD card alone put the Kn7000 way ahead. Using a floppy disk was a nightmare. Ancient history.

John C.

I had HardDrives in both the KN3k and 5k, and at the 5k it even added two extra line out. Bass and drums.
Getting stars in my eyes by thinking of the past times.....

I also have the hard drive in my Kn6000 ... I wonder why they eliminated the Bass and Drums line outs from the Kn6000?

Good question Tony, but I guess the real answer is hard to find.
If I ever come across a KN6500 w/HD in good shape, I'll grab it.
Technics stuff sounds best played on Technics, so maybe some day....

How does a hard drive differ from a SD card in the Technics keyboard?
I never thought of using one.

John C.

Technical in every possible way
Functional : there us no difference

And not to forget, the price for the HD units for KN's was at a SKY-HIGH level at that time,
just as the floppydrives before they become standard equipment........

After Technics music closed many of the people of the R&D department get to work at Yamaha Music.

Impuls

I think you are right. Now that I am using a S975 I can see many features that were in my Technics.

John C.
PS, the overall sound is close