posted 11-07-2009 01:17 PM            

They made electronic pianos with arranger features (something like a Yamaha CVP) back in 1993, and they were pretty nice...I remember we had both a Mark 150 and a Mark 10 at the music store I was working in whilst in Newfoundland.

The Mark 150 wasn't portable...it had a 200 watt, seven channel, seven speaker sound system by Boston Acoustics and it was like a grand piano, and the Mark 10 was smaller, but still not what you would rate as as "portable" either.

I think Cassp has a Mark 10.

posted 11-07-2009 04:46 PM            

quote:

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Strange they went with 64 note poly with this model, when 128 seems to be the industry standard,

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I suspect that the fact that they also never mentioned the amount of PCM data it contains suggests that there's a lot of other things well below today's standards.

posted 11-07-2009 04:58 PM            

I suspect they had a tough go over the recession...certainly, although they are great synths/workstations, the competition hasn't been sitting still, and they (Kurzeil) probably have a much smaller piece of the market than they once had.

Maybe it's time they did make an arranger again?

posted 11-08-2009 06:14 AM            

Of course the Hyundai name suits the piano business, as they make the Sonata, and the Accent.

posted 11-08-2009 06:50 AM         

quote:

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Originally posted by ianmcnll:
Of course the Hyundai name suits the piano business, as they make the Sonata, and the Accent.

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Also suits the Internet, as they also make the Santa Fe, which in Navajo is Yootó (Navajo: Yootó) or 'YouTube'.

Silliness is contagious.

chas

posted 11-08-2009 05:25 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by ianmcnll:
I always liked the Kurzweil sound...now, if they would only make an arranger based on this model in particular, as it would keep the price reasonable.

I think Cassp has a Mark 10.

Strange they went with 64 note poly with this model, when 128 seems to be the industry standard, and with a 16 track sequencer, low polyphony is not what you want...more is always better.

Casio will have a surprise for everyone in the new year.

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I always wanted a Kurzweil arranger. I have a Mark 5, same big-ass piano without the arranger features. Kurzweil has stuck with their proprietory 64-voice polyphony forever. Amazingly, I have never had issues with it and I really haven't heard complaints from any of the PC88 thru PC3 users either. Whatever they're doing works.

posted 11-08-2009 05:41 PM            

64 note poly would be acceptable on a digital piano, I'm just not sure how well it would work on an arranger.

In any case, I doubt if we'll see an arranger from Kurzweil in the near future.

posted 11-09-2009 09:53 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by cassp:
I have a Mark 5, same big-ass piano without the arranger features. Kurzweil has stuck with their proprietory 64-voice polyphony forever. Amazingly, I have never had issues with it and I really haven't heard complaints from any of the PC88 thru PC3 users either. Whatever they're doing works.

But yes, a Kurz arranger would be a real interesting proposition.

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Actually, Cassp, if you check, the Mark 5 had 32 note poly...we always had a couple in the store, along with the other two.

The Mark 5 had a very nice piano sound (for the day, and still holds up well) and I remember the Jazz and Rock organ sounds had a rotary effect that was controlled by one of the pedals.

The action was pretty good , too...I think it was Fatar.

We sold quite a few Mark 5's, mostly to churches.

Amen.

posted 11-10-2009 06:05 AM            

Awesome for sure...there is nothing in the big 3 that overshadows the Kurz.

It's in the sound!

If they ever build a TOTL arranger (yes they had a stage piano with basic arrrangr in it before)it would be one to reckon with for sure.
Very smart people work there.

Unfortuneatly past management (Owners, not internal Kurz) screwed things up for a while...but...they are back big time.

posted 11-11-2009 07:05 AM         

quote:

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Originally posted by ianmcnll:
..... Casio will have a surprise for everyone in the new year.

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posted 11-11-2009 07:26 AM            

The style engine has been expanded to four variations, and there is a new sound/tone generator, supposedly quite similar to Yamaha's SA/Mega and Korg's DNC.

Feature wise it is designed to fit in between Yamaha's S910 and Tyros3, but priced close to the former.

So far, that's what I've heard "around the water cooler", as they say....it may be a lot of bunk, and rumor, but it has been a persistent topic amongst those in the business, so time will tell.

posted 11-16-2009 01:55 PM         

About the polyphony:
The only time I run out of polyphony is when I use a lot of different drum programs in one setup, which has to do with the way the drumpatches are programmed.
You can avoid or correct this by manual editing, but since we have a drummer there's no need for it on live performances.
So that's only an issue if you are composing full songs on the K.

The overall soundprograms are so good that you never need to layer sounds, so the poly48 of the K is no problem att all.

Now this board is built in 1999 and loads audio samples, akai samples etc... if you want. You can use the effects section to run a guitar through it etc...

If you don't mind a long learning curve it's still one of the best synth's on the market...