Not THIS pro ! I rely on the onboard speakers to bring the sound closer to me so I can better control the volume to me audience. The advent of monitor speakers is nothing new, but having it built in to our tools is a GREAT advantage over the old way of "one job - one tool"

Todays pro market includes many smaller, less "sonically demanding" performances, and as a working musician who does his own hauling and setting up - I refuse to carry anything that I don't need.

The keyboard manufacturers have yet to really address the needs of the full time working pro that does these smaller velues. All the atention seems to go to the guys that might get on MTV. They are getting closer, but in fact, no one is building a roadworthy, lightweight, fully featured keyboard that MOST pros will be happy with. They all have SOME of what we want, and SOME of them sound better than others, and SOME of them are more portable than others, and SOME of them ..... you get the idea.

From the Pro's point of view - as soon as someone gets it right ... REALLY right - I'm sure there will be a flood of customers rushing to the stores to get their hands on the beast. Until that day, we are all in an endless cycle of upgrades and compromises - workarounds, and sacrifices. And through it all ..... we somehow find time to get to work and PLAY these keyboards !

Maybe my post from general arranger is also on topic here.

The criteria of semi pro or pro musicians are quite different to the home player. For them a harmoniser is important because they can save money on a Digitech or Prism, even if the Yamaha harmoniser is not the equivalent, it may very well be good enough for the job, and another box does not have to be carried and connected up, and the wires go wrong. The Technics harmoniser is not good enough. For many home players a harmoniser gets tried out at Xmas or a party and then forgotten about. Thus Technics don't spend money on a chip and patent license, they use a dsp.

It all depends where you decide to spend the money in design and whether the function is worth it, i.e. going to be used by the majority of your market, I suppose.

That's right Willem.

So, applying that argument, why did Technics experiment (and fail miserably) to build a vocaliser for their keyboard?

For the price that most dealers charge for a high-end Technics keyboard .... they should GIVE you a harmonizer, deliver it to your house, set it up, and play FOR you for free !

Singing isn't everyone's bag, but it sure is important to alot of us. The built in harmonizer is a definate PLUS when I shop for a keyboard.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Uncle Dave:
[B]For the price that most dealers charge for a high-end Technics keyboard .... they should GIVE you a harmonizer, deliver it to your house, set it up, and play FOR you for free !

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When I last played as a semi pro it was in a five piece vocal harmony band
drums, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar, organ, with all five members singing vocals/harmony. We practised very often & were really tight on the harmonies.
Sometimes I would go & play solo in nursing homes for free & entertain the old folks or maybe in a hotel lounge for a good fee.

As a band we were offered a contract to go pro & tour Germany for less money than I earned in my day job & that is where a lot of bands started the long grind & most called themselves pro but went nowhere.
Today we are blessed with the KN range agreed the 6K harmoniser is a non starter but don't let us be short sighted here have a look at what there is in the rest of the box for your money.
KN5000 £1999/ KN6000£19999/ KN6500£1999/ KN7000 £2099 now I defy anybody to say they did not get great value for their money.
My A100 Hammond of course today a classic never had built in styles nor a sequencer or any of the features that today make the KN a joy & 30 years ago minus the Leslie cabinet it cost as much as any of todays arranger keyboards.
I'M SATISFIED thats entertainment
Johnnie

The SUSPENSE is killing me!

It's now practically a whole month since I initiated this thread and I STILL don't know for sure if the KN7000 includes a built in vocal harmonizer or not.

From the closeup pics I've seen of the KN7000's control panel, I can't seem to find a dedicated vocalizer button. Is perhaps the vocalizer is accessed via the KN7000's entertainer/mic settings window?

If the KN7000 does include a vocalizer, is it substantially improved over the inferior ones included on the KN6000/6500, or did Technics decide to forego the vocalizer altogether now? If so, this would (imho) be a major setback, as a decent sounding built in vocalizer has now become an essential feature of most top of the line arrangers these days and required by many pro arranger kb performers like myself.

I hope Alec Pagida (and others who have auditioned the KN7000) can finally provide the real 'low-down' on the KN7000 vocalizer.

Scott

Hust read a write up on the 7000 in the Organ Player (UK) magaazine, and yes Scottyee it does have a vocal harmonister, but no comment in the mag about quality. I'm pretty sure that Alec mentioned in a posting some while back that the harmoniser was no better than the 6X00.... is that right Alec?

Peter

Hi Scott, Long time no hear trust it's because you've been busy "socking it to 'em"
If Alec doesn't get a chance to answer your plea, I should be able to do so, this weekend - I've been promised delivery of mine, Saturday or Sunday.

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Willum

Hi Willum: WOW ! You must feel like a little kid waiting in anxious anticipation & excitement, counting down the days & hours till Christmas morning or your 10th birthday. I'm so excited for you. We all can't wait to read your feedback on your new KN7000 after you get it home, and in your hands, including finding out the details regarding a vocal harmonizer. Bill, looks like you may be Synthzone's honorary FIRST KN7000 owner.

- Scott

As far as I can see it is very similar or the same as the 6500. Since I don't sing, it does not worry me, since I've never used it since writing a tutorial about it a long time ago now.
I should get another 7000 tomorrow...