Evolution of YOUR Technics Instruments

Let us start a new topic that could be of interest to all.
What was your First Technics Instrument and the evolution up to what you are playing now.
I started with the first digital piano Pr ??,then the KN800, (still have it), next came the KN3000, replaced by the KN6000, (now for sale) and the KN7000 will be here next week.
I have and have had a lot of other keyboards too but this post is only for TECHNICS.
Let us hear from you all
Best to all
Bebop

My wife's (The Player) 1st Technics instument was an old used SX-EX35 organ.
It was traded for an SX-EA5 organ, which
was quickly traded for an SX-G100 organ (still have ).
About a year later I convinced her that she should also have a KN-6500 keyboard, which we sold after about a year and purchased a KN-7000.
Wish she were twins so she could play both the G100 and the KN7000 at the same time.
"LOVE to LISTEN"

MeBob in Central Florida (The Listener)

My first Technics was the KN550, way back when.

Growing up in a house where my Father bought a new organ every 6 months (not much of an exaggeration)I got to play everything from a Hammond B-3 to a Lowery Genie to a (cough) Yamaha. Back then Technics, did not have the reputation it now has today.

I purchaced the KN550 when it first came out in the early 1990's. I kept that, swithched to Yamaha for a few years, then came back to Technics and the 3000, which I still have. Took a Giant leap to the latest and greatest present keyboard, The KN7000.

Since Bebop brought this subject up, I thought I would check to see if by chance that MP3.Com still has me there, and WOW they do! Me and that young looking guy playing 2 songs on the KN550 . Yikes !!! I have got to remove that site soon, it's kinda scary, remember this is 1992 (or close to it) and it's a KN550 folks...I can't believe they keep this stuff. http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/391/larry_hawk.html
...Don't say I didn't warn you.
LOL

SeeYa
Larry Hawk

As a comparative newcomer to Technics I started with a Kn3000. When the 5000 came along I opted - biggest mistake of my life - for the Yamaha PSR8000. Altho' the sounds were good the styles were dullsville to the extreme and Yamaha's back up of style disks, pathetic. So,The Yamaha was replaced by the Kn6000 - great sounds, great styles. This was updated to 6500 standard, and now happier still with the 7000.

Peter

My first Technics instrument was the KN920. I didn't do much with it because I couldn't play, but I enjoyed tinkering around with it and thought it was a very nice keyboard. Then I upgraded to the KN6000 which I am currently using and began taking lessons. I think the KN6000 is a wonderful keyboard, especially for a beginner. But, I plan to upgrade when the next Technics flagship hits the music store shelves unless I opt for the KN7000 in the meantime.

Chuck

In a row I had Technics: AX7, KN800, Kn1000, KN2000, KN3000. Then I thought what am I doing, only sponsoring Technics? So I deceided not to buy the KN4000 , and continued with KN5000, KN6000 and the KN7000.
Wow, this is a tricky post, Bill. Should Technics rely on me buying the KN8000?
The reason I did? I don't smoke or drink (to much) and it keeps me from the street. Seriously: I am following the technique, each time technique etc. evolves. I meant the Technicstechnique, not my playingtechnique
Cees.

I started out with a K450, which basically got me started with portable keyboards.....I then moved onto an AX5, then an Kn1000, which I purchased in '92.....I've been using it until last month, when I purchased a Kn2400....

Needless to say, the change in the boards from the Kn1000 to the Kn2400 is unbelievable, & I am very happy with my new purchase....

Like Cees says, it keeps me off the streets...

Cheers,
FlutteringBy

My only entry was a kn5000. I'm more of a "creationalist" than an evolutionist" !

I guess I'm with Uncle Dave on this one, I only had the KN5000
which I still have but don't play very much anymore.
I played the heck out of it for 18 months, then bought the
Yamaha 9000 Pro, & I'm still very happy with it after playing it
for 29 months.
I have played the KN6500, & the KN7000, the KN7000 has great
organ sounds, & the SD card is nice but, I wouldn't trade the
9000 Pro for it. I get along just fine with the old floppy drive,
& Hard drive.
I've played the Roland VA's, Korg PA's, also & they are fine boards
too but nothing to shake me loose from the 9000 Pro. Yet but maybe
the next generation will.
Just goes to show yaw everyone likes something different, I guess that's
why we have so many to choose from.
I love it
Denny

My first Technics was a KN1000. Then on to the KN3000, the KN6000, and just recently the KN7000.

Although the job of sequencing was much more difficult with the 1000 and the 3000, I did a lot of it.

I wasn't until the 6000 introduced the fantastically easy to do sequencing system that I really started to enjoy the job of sequencing itself.

I hope the 7000 will last me for a good while.

Larry

My first technics instrument was the KN1500. Nobody here has yet mentioned this keyboard, but it was in fact, a super little music-maker. I have no idea why it was never popularised, but it really was a great introduction to Technics.

This was followed by the 6K then eventually the 7K. Apart from the organ voices on the 7K, I don't actually feel that the 7K is better than the 6K.

All this reminds me of something which has often bugged me. Can anybody tell me why, with the enormous advances in modern musical technology, todays instruments cannot reproduce material recorded on previous instruments. ? It seems such an obvious factor to cater for, that I wonder whether there aren't 'commercial' considerations at play here. ???

Does it all necessarily follow therefore, that my recorded material from my KN1500, is effectively lost forever, and cannot be re-produced in any way, shape, or form. ??

(you mean I've got to do them all over again). ?? - Colin Leaney.

My first Technics board was kn2000,Then several other brands and now i have kn6500
and psr 2100(great combination).

Colin,
Are you sure about your KN1500 Rcordings being lost forever? Do they not play on your 7000?

True the 7000 may substitute a different rhythm and sound, but your original song is there for you to tweek if neceassary.

Therefore, I believe your quote "cannot be re-produced in any way, shape, or form " may not be correct.

Larry

Trivia Question :

What was the first Technics KN Keyboard that came with a floppy drive ?

The winner gets to spend an evening discussing Politics with Grandpa Doug.

Larry Hawk

The floppy drive was an option on the KN800. The FD20 Floppy Drive was 861.00 List price as an add on at the dealer. The keyboard was 3802.00 for a total of 4663.00 plus Sales tax of 338.07 was a total of 5001.07 USDollars loaded in the car. The brand X stand was another 32.00
I be willing to take half price for it
Bebop

Hi,
I started off with the kn800, then the kn2000, then a SMAC ( something) sound module arranger, then the kn3000, the WSA Synthesizer ? ( my memory's not the best, but it was the only synth that I think they ever made) then the KN5000 , then PR602 Piano, and last the KN7000.

Actually they're not the only brands I owned along the way, but I always had a technics in some manner shape or form.

Method in the madness ( heehee) Hubby called it the ability to pay not to play.

best wishes
Rikki

[This message has been edited by rikkisbears (edited 07-05-2003).]

KN800, KN1000, KN2000, KN3000, KN5000, KN6000, KN7000 and also now Tyros - but we won't talk about that one

------------------
Willum

Already a long list of responses to BEBOP's question and here added is mine, if anyone gets down this far in the list! (Maybe this response will be "the last Rose of summer"?

Anyway, some of you already know that this Rose is a late bloomer, and I have only been playing keyboard for less than 10 years. It came about when a local piano/organ dealer offered a free introductory course in organ playing instruction for seniors, even those with no previous knowledge of music. Hmmmm, sounded like me and I was looking for a hobby/project as I adjusted to retirement. I signed up for the course and enjoyed it, but it didn't take long for me to realize I would probably never be able to learn to play the organ, and anyway, my wife wasn't about to let me move such a big instrument into our small condominium. So, a potential organ buyer I was not! But one day, there in the store, was a Technics 5000, beckoning to me. The dealer suggested I try it out; I did, and I was hooked. The wonderful easy play features, setups, etc. were great and, once I got it home, I found I was able to concentrate on learning to play. Before long, I discovered a magic gift that apparently I have had for years and never developed, namely the ability to play "by ear". Chords just seemed to come without rhyme or reason and, as I progressed, I became comfortable in more than one key. Now I feel rather adept (in all modesty) playing in C, F, Eb, Ab. At the organ store one day, the 6000 arrived. It seemed to do so much more and was so much more advanced, I was enthralled. But I wasn't sure I wanted to invest in another instrument after having the 5000 for just a few years. But a little while later, the 6500 came into the shop and that was a sign! It didn't take long for me to succumb and one fine day the 6500 came home. I was then sure I had found the final keyboard for me. How dare Technics come out with the 7000, so streamlined, so gleaming, so exciting to look at and hear! When a buyer made me "an offer I couldn't refuse" for my 6500 and I was able to negotiate a fine deal on the 7000 last November, I was the proud owner of the 7000 before Christmas last year. Will I move up again??? Who knows!

So, there is my tale. If you got this far, I compliment you and thank you for listening. (My wife is right; I sure am verbose!)

Ted Rose

[This message has been edited by Ted Rose (edited 07-06-2003).]

This is what I had....don't scare....I'm a bit nuts . Sometimes I buy a keyboard and one month later I already sold it or swapped it for another keyboard. I'd better try to improve my playing but I can't help it.

In a row I had:
-technics kn6000,6500
-technics kn7000
I hope they don't bring out a kn8000 in the near future.

Greetings from Belgium,
Alain

EDITED by BEBOP. Read the topic

[This message has been edited by BEBOP (edited 07-06-2003).]

1000,3000,5000,6000,6500 and now the best of them all the 7000.

I loved every one of them but the 6000.

Cees I do not think there was a 4000 and Larry I think the 2000 was the first with a disk drive.

Alex

Hi Alex,
you know me a little , with the smiley at the end I meant I just was kidding.
BTW. Bebop was right. Optional on the KN800 was a 720KB floppy drive. I thought 1989/1990?
Normally Technics produces each two year a new model, so next summer we will meet the new KNXXXX
Greetings,
Cees


[This message has been edited by cees (edited 07-06-2003).]

Cees you are close to right. The kn800 came in Feb of 1990 and I bought the first one that got to San Jose. It also had an optioinal Memory Card Sy-p4 that was a whopping 16 KB of ram in a little plastic case with a write protect switch for about $100.00 USD, in case you didn't want to buy the optional floppy drive.
I will include the optional floppy and the memory card with the KN8000 when the lucky buyer emails me I played it all morning one day last week with the Americana software styles and it really was way ahead of the game. It is a good thing I had the KN7000 ordered before I was playing that KN800
Best to all,
Bebop



[This message has been edited by BEBOP (edited 07-06-2003).]

Hey Bill, Where'ja find a KN8000 ??

ORB

My first Technics product was a spinet organ (SX 43??) that was probably the start of the microprocessor based musical instruments for Technics and led to the development of their keyboards. It had eight processors and had some of the characteristics of the current keyboards except with very limited arranger styles.
When I decided to go the keyboard route, I had been so satisfied with the organ that I went immediately to the Technics dealer and ended up with the KN2000.
And now the terrific KN7000.
Walt

Hi
And I have new KN7500 .
It is new kb, has a great harmonizer, 76 keys, 3.500 sounds, and a 15" color screen.
It smiles me when I play well, don't smiles when my playing is bad.

My first Technics Keyboard was the KN1000, followed by the KN2000, KN6000,
and now the KN7000. If I get as much enjoyment from the KN7000 that I got from my KN2000
It will be worth the expense.
Fred UK

My first Technics instrument was a U90 organ. I traded that in on a KN6000, and then a KN7000. Migrating from the U90 to the KN6000 was a major decision, as I had previously owned a Yamaha V50 and found it very limiting (mainly because my playing skills are limited). But when I looked at the high cost of replacing the U90 with another organ, my wife suggested I try a keyboard. Buying the KN6000 was a good choice, and I am now enjoying music making much more.

Mike

My 1st Technics keyboard was a KN3000 which I traded in on second hand KN6000. More recently I purchased a new KN7000 (so my 6000 is also for sale).

Cheers
Len C.

started learning music at an accordeon.
than electronic organ played/learning a while at a theatre organ in a cinema (teacher performed there).
got myself a hamond.
then game the girls and military service.
after fooling around got back to my old love making,playing music

AX7, KN2000, KN6000 and now KN7000

rgds.
Willem

I think it is interesting to see the number of people who have taken every 'step up' with technics along the way ... I am envious of your budget...
My first was the kn1000 ... while looking to purchase my first kb (I was playing a Rhodes and using a Roland drum machine at the time), a fellow was showing me a number of kbs, and said that he found the technics to be about the most used friendly ... and so did I ..... he 'happened' to have a used one, in the original box, that a customer had traded on an upgrade .... it was in great shape and with what I saved off the original price I purchased the FD drive ... I used the kn1 until I upgraded to my present kn6000 which I purchased sight unseen, and sound unheard, primarily from the comments of owners on the OLD technics forum ... been happy with it since...



Alex.... What did you not like about the kn6???

t ....

PS In a conversation between Ted and Grandpa Doug, who would be the listener???? ....
t

Hi Tony,

From day one it gave me problems. Lots and lots of bugs.
I know there are members that are happy with their 6000 but also if you go back on this forum you will see many were not
Technic sent out a lot of udates to fix these bugs and most of them worked but I still felt uncomfortable playing it.

I feel Technics knew there were problems with the 6000 for that is why they came out in a hurry with the 6500. I always felt the 6500 was their way to say we are sorry.

I traded in my 6000 for the 6500 as soon as one was available. The best move I ever made for the 6500 was a joy to play from day one.

I can say the same about my 7000.

Alex

Way back in '76 I went to a demostration concert of a new organ - the JVC M1210. Organist Alan Haven. This organ was way ahead of it's time - great sounds and styles and great performance by said Alan Haven. Trouble was that it was out of my price range at that time and strangely I don't think that JVC never produced another intrument. Point about this is that the concert was organised by Technics and I've always assumed that Technics owned the JVC name?
Also the Technics HQ Sales manager demonstrated a Technics keyboard. This must have been a pretty lightweight instrument because it was suspended from a belt round his neck in the manner of an accordion. It had pretty good sounds and styles but being into organs at the time I looked on it as a bit of a novelty rather than a practical instrument. Would this have been the very first Technics keyboard??

Peter

HI Peter,
JVC is commonly known as the Japanese Victor Company and they were in a joint venture with the Lowry Organ people in the 70,s and were building the amplifiers for the Lowrey Organs and KEYBOARDS. I don't know of any association with Technics but could have been. I still have a Lowrey Keyboard and a pair of JVC amps that came with it for an extra five hundred dollars. The keyboard alone was 2600.00 USD. The amps are 35 watt each and have 5 channel EQ's with 12 inch speakers. Good stuff for their time. I use them for small venues and to pack around in the Motorhome at 25 pounds each.
The Keyboard that you hung around your neck was a Roland Remote Midi controller that controlled your organ or keyboard thru midi. I see lots of them now in used music stores and consignment centers.
That is about all I know about it.
Bebop

Alex ... Now that you mention it, my memory on this has 'kicked in' ... (Ah, the mind...) ... I do recall that a lot of units (mostly in Europe and England I believe) did have problems... apparently I got my 6k AFTER they were resolved ... (knock wood)
t.

I started with a KN901, then when the KN920 came out, it was a small price to pay to upgrade.

I stayed with that until the KN5000 was released, which has served me well - and I've recently traded it in for a KN7000 which arrives on Friday!

Gosh,
my kn7500 would then be the grumpiest little critter on earth (haa haa)
best wishes
Rikki

Tony mads Quote: PS In a conversation between Ted and Grandpa Doug, who would be the listener????

Tony,
Me.
Grandpa Doug

HI Forum Members,
I have reopened this topic as there was much interest in it.
I hope it can continue in peace and harmony.
Please keep your posts to the topic about the evolution of your technics keyboards
Thanks to all
Bebop

After a series of other brand name keyboards, I naturally evolved to the Technics brand because nothing else on the markey sounded as nice. It was the KN1500 that started me off, followed by the much improved KN6000, replaced by Technics for another KN6000. It is an amazing keyboard and still surprises me once in a while.

Colin Leaney, don't feel alone ....I got rid of all my KN1500 stuff because I was told it wouldn't convert over. I managed to get most of the commercial styles converted, but lost many recorded songs. I would recover quite nicely if someone gave me a new KN7000!!

Bud, three cheers for the people at Technics. I had problems with my KN6000, after more than a few trips to the repair people, they replaced it---the good part is that they not only replaced it, they replaced it with a KN6500. I felt that was good business and good integrity.

Cheers (nice word), John C.

Hi Peter,

You spoke of a JVC organ and thought that may have been the only keyboard instrument they produced. But in the early 80s while working in Saudi Arabia, I went into a small electronics store in a village high up in the mountains to look at Casio keyboards and saw a JVC KB700. It was far superior to the Casio boards and as you say, "ahead of its time". I bought it. It had a five-band equalizer, eight preset voices, a good selection of rhythms, and other features I have forgotten. The jazz organ voice was very good. I say I am a beginning keyboard player because I began taking formal lessons about eighteen months ago, but I have been dabbling around with keyboards for quite some time. I liked that KB700.

Chuck

Hi Bebop!

What an interesting topic! I'm pleased to see someone else was unhappy with the Yamaha PSR8000. I almost bought one, but saw the Technics KN5000 just in time! My history with Technics goes back to 1985 when I got a holiday job demonstrating their keyboards in a local music shop. I can't remember the model numbers though. All I can remember was thinking even then just how fantastic these machines were. I've owned Yamaha and Roland keyboards, none of which come close to Technics. My first was the KN1000, and I had to save hard to buy the optional disk drive! Then I bought one of the first Ensembles, also with disk drive option. It had 76 keys though, and something called FSC (Fullband Setting Computer) Remember that? I think that was the early equivalent of the sequencer. The Disk drive was a black box which sat on top of the piano. I thought it was so clever! Then came the KN2000, with its revolutionary big blue LCD screen. Magic! The KN3000 was a let-down, so I waited for the KN5000, and was not disappointed! The KN6000 was not released here; instead we got the KN6500, which is my current machine. The upgraded voicing is simply dynamic, as are the new styles, but a number of styles from the KN5000 were omitted. I'm sure you are all aware of the software available in the UK, which brings back the styles from the KN2000/5000. These have solved the problem associated with upgrading and losing previous styles! Hopefully I'll be able to catch up and get the KN7000 soon.