I've had my MZ2000 for some time now and enjo
it very, very much. The very best feature
of the MZ2K was the price tag. I live in Canada and had to order from U.S. I bought my MZ for a bit over a thousand even with exchange rate and border crossing fees, it still is a very, very good purchase. I also own a Technics KN1400 which is a basic stripped down version of the KN5000 and paid over 2 thousand for it after taxes. Strange thing though that my KN does not nearly have the compliment of features that the MZ has.
The sounds on the MZ are superb, crisp and clear and are digital samples of real existing instruments. For example, all the guitar and organ sounds are very realistic full and vibrant. Compared with my KN1400 the acoustic guitar sounds are bassy and have to be tweaked. I don't have drawbars on KN1400 but only have presets. The organ sounds on my KN are ok, but when it comes to the leslie digital effect on my kn1400 it is weak and pitiful even when tweaked. The MZ digital Leslie simulation is awesome on the other hand. You can actually hear the swoosh of the spinning effect. Even better you can also distinctly hear both top and bottom rotating speakers on windup and spindown just like a real leslie dual rotar speaker. The strings on KN and Yamaha as well, have a distinct slow vibrato effect sounding like someone is purposely sliding the bow irritably up and down in slow motion when you play solo one key at a time. Strings on the MZ are smooth and diffinitve and don't sound whinny. Most of the rythm and accomaniment patterns are quite nice but this is opinionable to each individual according to their taste in music. Accompaniment patterns can be customized by each to their own creativeness and listening taste. However the drum sounds on MZ are really good. I have noticed on my KN1400 the drum sounds can either be to heavy or to soft. The bass drum for example can cause a calamity boomming sound with the bass guitar again more tweaking and setting has to be done to avoid this. On some keyboards I have tried and listened to carefully, I can tell you that somehow or another when it comes to drums and percussion I can just about create the same effect pounding on a few cardboard boxes and pot lids to say the least. The MZ has 8 part accompiment, my KN only has 5 and if you have to add more you have to use the sequencer to do it. The interactive feature on the MZ is great and has a much more array of digital effect and reverb choices to use. Remember, I paid over 2 thousand dollars just for a KN1400 model which is now 3 models down from the big flagship of the KN6000. Too bad that my KN model did not come complete with all the bugs like the KN6000 did, come to think of it, I can't even convert any styles on it. The best feature of all about the KN1400 is the very dusty dirty inside screen that I just can't seem get clean. This is my first time post to this forum, so bare with me as when I'm typing this and try to correct things the whole message goes kaaflooy. Thanks for taking time to read.